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.

    • @[email protected]
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      1411 months ago

      Yeah I for one hate when I’m out in nature and a wild gun jumps out and shoots at me

    • @[email protected]OP
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      11 months ago

      How so? How is it inevitable in the real world? No snark from me, I’d like your take on the matter.

      • @[email protected]
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        911 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
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          311 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

          • @[email protected]
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            011 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.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          111 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.

          • @[email protected]
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            111 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.

            • @[email protected]
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              111 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.

            • @[email protected]OP
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              111 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.

      • @LemmyIsFantastic
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        -511 months ago

        You’ll never effectively convince people to unanimously give up violence. And unless you’ve figured a way to uninvent the gun it’s a lost cause with no chance in our lifetime.

        • @[email protected]
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          611 months ago

          Yeah every argument of this form is the same: “why have laws against something if people won’t follow them 100% the time? Better to have no laws against it, then.” Doesn’t make any sense.

          • @bhmnscmm
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            -211 months ago

            This argument counters the claim that every death by a gun is preventable. A portion of those deaths would occur with or without a gun.

            It’s not arguing there won’t be a reduction in deaths.

            • @Mr_Blott
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              411 months ago

              Hold on, you’re saying that the claim is that “every death by gun is preventable” is incorrect because some of those deaths could become “deaths not by gun”?

              Do you see the wee flaw in yer statement there lad?

              • @bhmnscmm
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                -311 months ago

                Right. You’re hung up on the mode rather than the outcome.

                The argument presented is that all the unnecessary deaths would not be prevented. Obviously if there were no guns, the deaths cannot occur by gun, but a portion would still occur by other means.

                Do you understand the wee flaw in your comprehension now, lad?

                • @[email protected]OP
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                  311 months ago

                  Apparently you’ve either forgotten the argument presented or want desperately to move the goalposts. Read carefully.

                  “Every single death by a gun is 100% preventable.”

                  • @bhmnscmm
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                    11 months ago

                    I’m not disagreeing that fewer guns leads to significantly fewer deaths. I think any reasonable person would say that makes sense.

                    However, a large number of unnecessary deaths will occur whether or not guns are present. Implying otherwise is overly reductive. It misses the bigger picture issue of the causes of violence.

                    Reducing violent crimes/unnecessary deaths should be the objective. Reduction in gun ownership is only a single (albeit significant) tool to reach that goal.

                • @Mr_Blott
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                  011 months ago

                  This argument counters the claim that every death by a gun is preventable.

                  Nope

                  End of debate

                  • @bhmnscmm
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                    -211 months ago

                    Sorry, I didn’t realize a debate had begun since you didn’t make any arguments or said anything of substance.

            • @[email protected]
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              311 months ago

              That’s unnecessarily pedantic and really misses the point but I guess this IS the internet, after all.

              • @bhmnscmm
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                211 months ago

                It’s not unnecessarily pedantic if the issue at hand is unnecessary deaths. Does it really matter if a person is killed by a gun, knife, or hammer? What matters is someone needlessly died.

                The fundamental issue is violence. Reduction in gun ownership can improve the problem, but it’s nothing more than a single (but effective) tool.

              • @[email protected]
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                -111 months ago

                It’s not unnecessarily pedantic when the claim is that 100% of gun deaths are preventable.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          311 months ago

          That’s quite a stretch there from “every gun death is preventable” to “unanimously give up violence,” although it’s a noble sentiment…to which you’ve immediately admitted defeat.

    • @the_q
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      10 months ago

      deleted by creator

    • @[email protected]
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      311 months ago

      Sure it is. Guns require fingers to fire. Therefore, every single person who fires a gun made a conscious decision to fire it. They also possess the ability to not fire the gun, thereby preventing the gun death.

      • @LemmyIsFantastic
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        111 months ago

        And in the real world not everyone is working towards the objectives needed. The is all hyperbolic cheerleading.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          011 months ago

          Who’da thunk it? Really?! You mean there are people who would knowingly and intentionally fire upon another person or other people? Get outta here!

          On my planet, we call those people psychopaths or criminals…which is just different degrees of the same thing. On my planet those “not working towards the objectives needed” are part of the problem and not part of the solution.

          • @LemmyIsFantastic
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            -111 months ago

            And you got a plan for these people? Or just more sarcasm? Do you plan on the police convincing every one to come in to the station?

            Cheer squad copium.

    • Poggervania
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      311 months ago

      Except in the real world where places like the UK and Australia have banned guns and have it work really well.

      Both the UK and Australia haven’t had a mass shooting since 1996, which was when they both decided to ban guns after the Dunblane shooting.

      • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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        11 months ago

        There are still murders in those countries. The headline implies that the deaths themselves are 100% preventable, which is false. Yes, some people might not murder someone with a knife, axe, poison, whatever, but likely other means would be employed if guns weren’t available. Additionally, illegal guns would still be accessible to some people. So realistically no part the headline is accurate.

        • @[email protected]
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          211 months ago

          “But Australia got rid of their guns!”

          Australia is an island that is pretty far away from countries run by cartels that make their money shipping contraband across the border.

        • @[email protected]OP
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          011 months ago

          It appears you have a problem parsing simple sentences. For your convenience…

          “Every single death by a gun is 100% preventable.”

          You, like others here, seems to confuse “death by a gun” with death or murder in general. I, and most likely Mr Gilchrist, didn’t think the concept would be so hard to grasp. As I said in the original post, though…

          …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.

          • AwkwardLookMonkeyPuppet
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            111 months ago

            It appears you have a problem parsing simple sentences.

            Rubber, meet glue.