Michigan Gun Violence Prevention Summit begins ahead of gun reforms going into effect.

[Lt. Gov. Garlin] Gilchrist spoke alongside other gun violence stakeholders, including Maya Manuel, 21, a student advocate at Michigan State University’s campus where a deadly shooting killed three students and injured five others on Feb. 13 [2023].

Gov. Gretchen Whitmer last spring signed several gun safety bills, but they don’t go into effect 90 days after the Legislature adjourned, which makes them effective on Feb. 13 — which happens to be the first anniversary of the MSU shooting.

“This is an opportunity for us to prepare to challenge those who are comfortable with people dying of preventable deaths in the state of Michigan. I am not comfortable with that. Gov. Whitmer is not comfortable with that,” Gilchrist said.… “On the flip side … somebody was."

Honestly? As much as I truly hope these mandated safeguards help to curb gun violence, firearms are so ingrained in American culture —unlike almost any other world —that it’s going to take a seismic cultural shift in attitude to see a magnitude less of disgraces like the almost-daily mass shootings in public places, to avoid horrors like this child who shot himself in the face, unfortunately just another one of the many instances.

Call it low-hanging fruit, say it’s obvious, but it needed to be said, Lt Governor…

“Every single death by a gun in Michigan and America in the world is 100% preventable,” Gilchrist said. “That means that we have the power to stop all of this death in all of our communities — no matter what community you live in. No matter what the shape and spirit of gun violence looks like. No matter whether it is suicide or homicide, they are all preventable.

  • stevehobbes
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    5 months ago

    They would kill them with something that is not-a-gun.

    That being said, I do believe a lot fewer people would get murdered if there were no guns. But it wouldn’t be 0.

    • Suspiciousbrowsing@kbin.social
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      5 months ago

      I disagree, you see so often things escalate to pulling a gun and getting shot. If people only had bare hands… few punches in the face is generally enough to get the anger out that doesn’t result in someone dying

      • stevehobbes
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        5 months ago

        Yes, but it won’t be zero. People are killed without guns, just less frequently.

        Some people currently killed by guns will be killed by something else. It’s not 100% of them and it’s not 0% of them.

    • raoulraoul@midwest.socialOPM
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      5 months ago

      Think about your first statement. Now think about murdering somebody. Go on, you know you want to. To make this thought exercise easier, let’s say it’s a “crime of passion.” If it happens outside of the home, how exactly would you go about murdering this person? Shooting someone, once the psychological barrier of actually doing it is surmounted, i’s just so easy. With a knife, it’s a whole 'nother process, both psychologically and also physically. It’s hard to knife someone. And further down the line (bludgeon, physical assault) just gets more difficult if you don’t have the element of surprise.

      Of course it wouldn’t be 0, as you state. But it wouldn’t be what it is today with sane restrictions in place…kinda like most of the rest of the world. Sorry for the length of this reply.

      • stevehobbes
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        5 months ago

        I think we’re saying the same thing? Hitting someone with a candle stick or a wine bottle in the head can also kill them.

        • pearsaltchocolatebar@discuss.online
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          5 months ago

          Just a fun fact, if you break a wine or liquor bottle over someone’s head, it will almost certainly kill them instead of dazing them like in the movies.

        • raoulraoul@midwest.socialOPM
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          5 months ago

          We definitely are not saying the same thing. Can you mass-candlestick? Do you think the 2023 MSU tragedy would have been what it was if the killer terrorized the campus with a wine bottle? Have a look at this 2023 Wikipedia page and tell me if you could have wreaked the damage listed with your hypothethical candlestick.