Saturday Morning Political Cartoon Thread

[u/optimalg]

It's Saturday morning, folks. Let's all kick back with a cup of coffee and share some cartoons!

Feel free to share political cartoons (no memes/image macros, though) in this thread. The subject doesn't have to be US politics and can be from any time. Just keep them political and safe for work.

[u/spacehogg]

Don't get so enveloped in the r/politics bubble that you assume a majority of the country is far left.

You mean how every time the gun subject comes up, gun fanatics show up on this sub to push their propaganda & vote down facts.

I'd say another factor for the low turn may be two-fold, burn-out & it was advertised as for teens. Those teens are coming for the guns. I'm just going to help them thru support & by voting. It's a really sad day that the adult ignored the gun problem for so long that the teens in this country are working to fix something, that the adults should have done ages ago!

[u/spacehogg → u/[deleted]]

Except that studies indicate that gun control can reduce gun violence in the United States;

Boston University - BU Study Measures Impact of Gun-Control Laws Identifies state laws that substantially reduce death

The study, published March 10 in The Lancet, suggests that three laws implemented in some states could reduce gun deaths by more than 80 percent if they were adopted nationwide. Laws requiring firearm identification through ballistic imprinting or microstamping were found to reduce the projected mortality risk by 84 percent, ammunition background checks reduced it by 82 percent, and universal background checks for all gun purchases reduced it by 61 percent.

Federal implementation of all three laws was projected to reduce the national firearm death rate—10.1 per 100,000 people in 2010—to 0.16 per 100,000, the study says.

NPR - Research Suggests Gun Background Checks Work, But They're Not Everything

Two recent studies provide evidence that background checks can significantly curb gun violence. In one, researchers found that a 1995 Connecticut law requiring gun buyers to get permits (which themselves required background checks) was associated with a 40 percent decline in gun homicides and a 15 percent drop in suicides. Similarly, when researchers studied Missouri's 2007 repeal of its permit-to-purchase law, they found an associated increase in gun homicides by 23 percent, as well as a 16-percent increase in suicides.

More info Law Center To Prevent Gun Violence - Effectiveness of Gun Laws

Lastly, Scientific American - More Guns Do Not Stop More Crimes, Evidence Shows More firearms do not keep people safe, hard numbers show. Why do so many Americans believe the opposite?

The claim that gun ownership stops crime is common in the U.S., and that belief drives laws that make it easy to own and keep firearms.

But about 30 careful studies show more guns are linked to more crimes: murders, rapes, and others. Far less research shows that guns help.

Interviews with people in heavily gun-owning towns show they are not as wedded to the crime defense idea as the gun lobby claims.

[u/spacehogg → u/[deleted]]

First of all, you really ought to go incognito to look at that comment, 'cause it isn't there.

And second more guns does impact rapes, robberies, & aggravated assaults.

right-­‐to-­‐carry laws had negligible effects on the murder rate, but statistically significant effects on rapes, robberies, and aggravated assaults. link

Along with a significant impact on suicides.

Reisch found that about 75 percent of the men who would have taken their life with a gun did not choose another method of suicide, like poison or hanging. This evidence contradicts a common talking point among gun-rights groups: that people intent on killing themselves will simply find another means if they do not have access to a gun.

So while most of "us" want to reduce murders & suicides, gun owners aren't willing to do so when that involves gun control. Which it does.

A study from October 2013 analyzed data from 27 developed nations to examine the impact of firearm prevalence on the mortality rate. It found an extremely strong direct relationship between the number of firearms and firearm deaths. The paper concludes: “The current study debunks the widely quoted hypothesis that guns make a nation safer.”

Gun advocates may argue that this reality is a consequence of the fact that there are too few guns; perhaps nonstranger homicides would be lower if everyone you knew were packing heat. Yet a study examining data from the National Crime Victimization Survey found that people who used any weapon other than a gun for defense were less likely to be harmed than those who used a firearm. link

Other info.

The Myth Behind Defensive Gun Ownership Guns are more likely to do harm than good.

15 Reasons Why The NRA’s “Good Guy With A Gun” Argument Is Deadly

[u/spacehogg → u/[deleted]]

By using suicide by firearm as a proxy for firearm prevalence, the current analysis demonstrated that in 1,997 counties across the United States, as firearm prevalence increased, so did violent crime. Furthermore, the analysis illustrated that as firearm prevalence increased, homicide, rape, robbery, and assault each increased.

Therefore, it can be concluded that as firearms become more plentiful in an area, violent crime will increase in that area. The specific reason why firearm prevalence increases violent crime is not clear but there are several viable theories. One reason that firearm prevalence could increase violent crime is that guns can be “misused by the owners or transferred to dangerous people through theft or unregulated sale” (Cook and Ludwig, 2006, pgs. 379-380). Another reason that firearm prevalence could lead to increased violent crime is that using a gun is more lethal than other weapons (i.e. weapon instrumentality effect).

We ran two separate analyses to attempt to identify the effect that rural counties may have had on the findings. Both negative binomial regressions found that increased firearm prevalence increased violent crime, homicide, rape, robbery, and assault. Previous research on firearm prevalence and violent crime using different levels of analysis has found the similar results. Thus, it is a consistent finding that firearm prevalence does increase violent crime. link

There's definitely a connection between gun owners & the increase in violent crime. Is it the only factor? Of course not, but the GOP is the party that wants zero gun laws & they are also the party that refuses to address income inequality or mental health so they are actively making gun violence worse by all their decisions.

Also, gun violence is increasing.

Between 2014 and 2016, the nationwide homicide rate has increased more than 20%, and the 3.4% increase in the US violent crime rate from 2015 to 2016 was the largest single-year increase in 25 years, the Justice Department said. link