The Humanity Party® lists the average American claim vs. fact about gun violence in the United States and offers the humane solutions to address the problem

What Black Americans Say About ‘Black-on-Black’ Gun Violence

Claim: The United States is a peaceful country void of daily terrorist activity.

FACT:    American gun violence kills far more Americans than all other terrorists acts throughout the world (in all other countries) combined!

Here are the numbers of Americans killed by terrorist attacks in the last decade (2001 to 2013) compared with the number of Americans who have died in domestic gun violence:

Americans killed in terrorist attacks at home and abroad: 3,380

Americans killed by firearms at home: 406,496

Claim:  Americans are the most free and happiest people upon earth and feel that their “right to bear arms” (outside a well-regulated militia) supports their freedom and happiness.

FACT:  Most U.S. gun deaths are a result of suicide. Of the more than 400,000 people who died as a result of gun violence from 2001 to 2013, about three in five were from suicide. Just under two in five – or about 156,000 people – died of homicide. Most homicides (murders) by firearms are the result of personal conflicts, usually involving an intimate partner. The primary precipitating factors for homicides and suicides are relationship problems, interpersonal conflicts, mental-health problems, and drug related activities.

Claim:  In order to protect their standard of living and way of life (their freedoms and rights) from a tyrannical government, Americans have the right to bear arms.

FACT:  The U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment was an afterthought of the American Founding Fathers (there were no Founding Mothers). At that time, there was no conscription (no draft), and the government depended on the citizens to rally when called, bringing their guns with them, to form A WELL-REGULATED MILITIA under the control of a legally appointed government authority.

The American Revolution did NOT happen outside of a “well-regulated militia.” Early American gun owners did not rally themselves, but came together after being summoned by the leaders of the American government at the time. And when the home owners brought their guns to muster, they were then laid under the strict orders of military commanders.

Including the Second Amendment was meant to ensure that the government could muster armed men to be part of a “well-regulated militia.” There was no other purpose for including a citizen’s right to bear arms. The Rule of Law, according to the U.S. Constitution, authorizes and expects the Government to establish and enforce laws that protect individual life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. It should not be the right of a single citizen to enforce laws.

Americans own around 300 million firearms, at least one for each child, woman, and man living in the United States. The U.S. Government’s “well-regulated militia,” which includes each State’s National Guard and Reserve units, has an arsenal of sophisticated weaponry that could easily destroy 300 million people pointing firearms into the sky attempting to hit lighting fast targets or unseen drones. If the U.S. Government wanted to take over and control the American people, which it already does, it would do so with ease.

Claim:  Guns save lives. Guns save more lives than they take; prevent more injuries than they inflict. Concealed carry laws help reduce crime because criminals avoid armed citizens. There are over 2 million defensive gun uses per year—five times more frequently than the 430,000 times guns were used to commit crimes. Firearms are used more than 80 times more often to protect the lives of honest citizens than to take lives. There are millions of lives that are saved in America every year, or millions of instances where gun owners have prevented crimes and stopped things from happening because of having guns at the scene.

FACT:  Gun owners are far more likely to end up accidentally shooting an innocent person or seeing their weapons harm a family member, than be heroes warding off criminals. Gun owners often falsely claim that their gun has been used for its intended purpose—to ward off a criminal—in order to validate their ownership. Many exaggerate facts to appear heroic to their peers. Gun advocates lie and exaggerate to help bias estimates upwards by either blatantly fabricating incidents or embellishing situations that should not actually qualify as defensive gun use.

These sorts of biases are inherent in reporting self-defense incidents. In several crime categories gun owners would have to protect themselves more than 100 percent of the time for the claim to make sense. For example, gun owners allegedly used their guns in self-defense in 845,000 burglaries. Actual crime statistics show fewer than one million burglaries where someone was in the home at the time of the crime, and only 33 percent of these had occupants who weren’t sleeping. If 42 percent of U.S. households owned firearms at the time of an illegal break in, even if burglars only rob houses of gun owners, and those gun owners use their weapons in self-defense every single time they are awake, the 845,000 statistic claim is simply mathematically impossible.

Claim:  Americans can better protect their property with firearms. Law enforcement is often slow to respond. Being armed also saves lives in public active shootings.

FACT:  While it takes law enforcement an average of 10 minutes to respond to an emergency call, by the time officers arrive at the scene of the crime the criminal had killed the victim before the victim had time to secure their firearm. When the perpetrator of a property related crime is confronted by law enforcement, the majority either give up or kill themselves. The main intent of property related criminal activity is to take property, not commit murder. When personal property is being threatened, murders result from the resistance of the victim to give up their property.

Seven in 10 active shootings are in schools or businesses: Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut; a conference center in San Bernardino, California, where a holiday party was taking place; Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina. Most active shooters take their own lives before law enforcement is able to intervene.

THumP^®’s solutions:

1.  Address the primary precipitating factors for homicides and suicides: relationship problems, interpersonal conflicts, mental-health problems, and drug related activities.

The number one factor in relationship problems can be traced to financial problems. Mental-health problems are rarely confronted because people cannot afford the care it would take to deal with them. Illegal drug trafficking is much more lucrative than working for minimum wage, and there are not enough minimum wage jobs in most poor communities to accommodate those who need one.

“The problem of gun violence stems not just from petty grievances among impulsive youth of color, however, but from larger structural issues such as credibility of law enforcement, easy access to guns, and a lack of job skills and opportunities. Communities of color care about both gun violence and police violence. … Community members also recognized that areas hardest hit by gun violence often have suffered disinvestment of resources by companies and the public sector, and that many of those at high risk to commit or to be victimized by gun violence face a lack of job skills and opportunities, addiction, and other challenges. ”

Make it a Constitutional right to the basic necessities of life to end the struggle to survive, allowing people to live in liberty and pursue their individual happiness. Here is THumP^®’s Constitutional proposal:

ARTICLE IV, Section 2 – Right to the Basic (Physical and Emotional) Necessities of Life

Basic Necessities. Each person, from the moment of birth to the moment of death, shall be provided with the following basic necessities of life, free from charge or debt: 1) Nutritious Food; 2) Comprehensive Healthcare, including mental care; 3) Safe and secure Housing and Utilities; 4) Essential Clothing; 5) Public Education from an elementary level up to and including four years at any accredited University.

Past Debt for Basic Necessities. Upon adoption of this Constitution, all obligations and debts, of any kind, acquired by the people in obtaining their rights outlined in this Article shall be unconditionally forgiven; Congress shall issue fair compensatory repayment to the persons or entities that can prove a lawful claim against any such person so indebted.

These rights do not include providing money to support the pursuit of individual happiness, if that pursuit requires a new car, a new TV, a smart phone, a video game, attending sporting events, entertainment, or eating unhealthy food. These are not a right, but an individual want. People will not be forced to work to survive. People will be forced to work to pursue their individual form of happiness, which is the driving force of human nature.

HOWEVER,

The majority of peoples’ paycheck are spent on the basic necessities of life, doing very little to stimulate the economy. Economies fail in spite of people paying for their basic necessities, which they continue to do during bad economic times. Economies thrive when people have more money to buy goods and services that they do not need.

There are more bankruptcies in the U.S. because of health and mental care bills than for most other reasons. If the people had all their basic needs provided, they would be able to spend their paychecks on the things that improve the economy and create more jobs–jobs that people want to do rather than jobs that people are forced to do.

2.  Do not allow people to own firearms, except as proposed by the following THumP^® constitutional proposal: 

ARTICLE IV, Section 5 – Right to Bear Arms

Authorization to Bear Arms. No person shall have the right to bear arms except those authorized by law to do so under Section 4 of this Article. The right to bear arms shall be strictly prohibited, except as authorized by Congress in the establishment and support of Law Enforcement.

Arms for Sport and Entertainment. The people shall have the right to bear arms for sport or entertainment exclusively under the supervision of Armories and Weapon Facilities as determined and established by Congress.

Manufacture and Distribution of Weapons. It shall be strictly prohibited for any person or entity to manufacture or distribute any weapon or any of its ammunition, of any kind, except as authorized by Congress for the sake of law enforcement, or for the sake of personal sport as authorized by Congress. Weapons manufactures, of any kind, shall be regulated and only approved by a license issued by Congress. The person or entity that initiates or performs the manufacture of any weapon or its ammunition, without Congressional approval, shall be charged with an act of treason against the people of the Republic.

Possession of Weapons and Ammunition and Related Punishments. The possession of any weapon or ammunition by any person in violation of this Article shall be a first-degree felony offense and punished by imprisonment for six months on that person’s first offense, one year on the second offense, and then an additional one year of imprisonment for each new offense thereafter. A person who commits a crime with any arm, of any kind, shall be required to serve a period 50% longer than the sentence requirements of the original crime.

3.  Provide more, better trained, and better paid law enforcement officers. Here is THumP^®’s constitutional proposal for this:

ARTICLE IV, Section 4 – Right to Protection by Law Enforcement Agencies and the Armed Forces

Number of Law Enforcement Officers per Population. There shall be one hundred law enforcement officers assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population over one million persons; seventy-five assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population over five-hundred thousand persons; fifty assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population over two hundred fifty thousand persons; twenty-five assigned to each ten thousand persons in areas with a population at or under one hundred thousand persons.

One Law Enforcement Agency. There shall be one law enforcement agency empowered throughout the Republic. Upon adoption of this Constitution, this agency shall incorporate and assimilate into its single force and supervision all current Militias and Law Enforcement Agencies of any kind, in any place, upon Earth.

Law Enforcement Education and Removal from Position. (i) All officers commissioned in their duties to provide supervisory authority in any law enforcement capacity shall be required to attend a law enforcement education course of not less than two years. (ii) All non-commissioned personnel shall attend a law enforcement education course of not less than one year. Congress shall establish the curriculum and training of this course of education. (iii) Law enforcement officers and personnel shall serve and protect the people in the enforcement of the laws established by Congress under this Constitution and shall be prohibited from the violation of these laws or the enforcement of any other law. (iv) Any officer or law enforcement personnel who violates the law, in any way, after having been found guilty of any felony by a lawfully established Court, shall be denied and forever prohibited from possessing the rights of law enforcement established by this Constitution.

Use of Lethal and Non-lethal Weapons by Law Enforcement Personnel. (i) Each law enforcement personnel, as prescribed by Congress, shall be armed with two forms of weapons, one non-lethal and one lethal. Congress shall outline the specific guidelines for the use of non-lethal and lethal weapons to subdue a person. (ii) Each officer shall be required to wear a uniform-mounted video camera at all times while on duty. Any officer who does not record the events of that officer’s interactions with any person, (unless the ability to do so is inhibited, in any way, by that person), that officer’s actions in enforcing the law, or that person’s act in allegedly violating the law, shall not be admissible as evidence against that person in a Court of law.

Supervision of Law Enforcement. The Federal Law Enforcement Agency shall be under the direct supervision of the President, as given Executive authority pursuant to Article II, Sections 2(a.) and (b.) and under the guidelines of Congress as described in Article I, Sections 9(f.) and (g.) of this Constitution.

 

No change will occur unless CHANGE OCCURS. The U.S. Constitution MUST BE CHANGED OR NO CHANGE WILL EVER LEGALLY OCCUR.

If change does not occur, Americans will continue to die in unprecedented numbers. Happiness and hope will fail, and one day, the government will have no choice but to implement Martial Law.*

*Martial Law: Military force to suspend ordinary law.

The “ordinary law” of the current U.S. Constitution is the underlying problem. According to the current Constitution, it would be perfectly legal for the U.S. government to impose martial law. And if things don’t change, the government might have no other choice in response to gun violence, terrorism, riots and protests.

The people need to take back control of the government. We need a more definitive and comprehensive constitution that empowers the government to attend to the needs of the people instead of to the needs of politicians and the courts. Within the interpretations and legalities of the current U.S. Constitution, politicians, with the backing of the courts, can legally do everything that they do, have done, and will do.

THumP^®’s Constitutional Proposals puts the power back into the hands of the governed–the people.

Join us. Become a member of the Humanity Party^® and stand for REAL CHANGE.

THumP^® has the solutions. No one else does.^®

What Black Americans Say About ‘Black-on-Black’ Gun Violence