In the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary school shooting in Newton, Connecticut, President Obama and several other congressmen have begun to push for additional gun control measures. These measures would include laws banning the purchase of assault rifles and more stringent background checks.
I do not disagree with the motive for these policies; lowering the homicide rate is hardly a bad goal for a president to try and address. The problem, however, is that these measures simply would not address the issue properly; the real reason we have a higher homicide rate than most industrialized nations lies not with our gun laws, but with the misguided War on Drugs.
To explain what I mean, it is relevant to take a look at some statistics. In 1961, a full decade before the War on Drugs began in full, the homicide rate stood at 4.8 murders per 100,000, a rate similar to our present one. Upon the introduction of the War on Drugs in 1971, this changed for the worse; the homicide rate exploded, reaching a high of 10.2 in 1980.
This is hardly a miscorrelation; the Prohibition Era is practically defined by its huge upswing in crime following the ban of alcohol to all citizens. Time and again, it is plainly clear that banning substances does not solve anything. Black markets tend to breed little more than crime, corruption, and disease. The solution to this is simple: legalize drugs, and regulate them in a far safer and healthier environment. The impact of this would be far-reaching; cities all but defined by drugs and murder like Baltimore and Detroit would almost certainly receive huge drops in their crime rates.
It is also worth noting that the homicide rate is far from the leading cause of death in America; things like corollary heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and even suicide cause far more deaths. One of the proposed measures would eliminate assault rifles, but assault weapons only amount to a fraction of the deaths per year: .012%.
When far more effective actions can be taken to save a lot more lives, why are gun laws the focus? In a country where an active, responsible gun culture exists, it would be a shame to deny those who desire guns some amount of freedom in exchange for a token amount of safety.