Abortion vs Gun Control

 

There is a quote making the rounds again these days.  It’s been spouted before and experiences a resurgence in popularity every time one of the horrible mass murders occurs.  If the implication made by the statement was true, I would vote for gun control.  Absolutely.

Let me explain.

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Padma Lakshmi, Elisabeth Moss, Kelly Rowland, Gloria Steinem, and  Kate Upton are among the many celebrities who have posted the comment which compares the treatment of men buying guns with that of women seeking an abortion.

The quote goes something like this, “I want any young men who buy a gun to be treated like young women who seek an abortion.  Think about it: a mandatory 48-hour waiting period, written permission from a parent or a judge, a note from a doctor proving that he understands what he is about to do, time spent watching a video on individual and mass murders, traveling hundreds of miles at his own expense to the nearest gun shop, and walking through protesters holding photos of loved ones killed by guns, protesters who call him a murderer. After all, it makes more sense to do this for young men seeking guns than for young women seeking an abortion. No young woman needing reproductive freedom has ever murdered a roomful of strangers.”

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If buying a gun and getting an abortion were the same, as this statement would make it appear, I would vote for gun control.  But there is a big difference in the two subjects covered in the paragraph.

Yes, some people acquire guns, either through legal or, more likely, illegal methods, for the purpose of committing crime.  The vast majority of gun buyers make their purchases for home/family/self defense, hunting, or some non-hunting form of recreation such as target shooting or collecting.

Let me use myself as an example.  I have never fired one of my guns on another human being in self-defense or in defense of my family, friends, or home, but I do have weapons for those purposes.  I don’t ever intend to use those guns for the purpose for which they were bought unless I am absolutely forced to…unless I have no other choice.

I do hunt but I use my guns, including the ones I bought for defense, a lot more for target practice, or just shooting for fun.  My friends, relatives, and I go out back and shoot clay or paper targets.  Together we have bought and fired a lot of rounds of ammunition.

So what is the difference?

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I am not going to claim that there are never reasons why someone could consider an abortion.  There are rapes and molestations and serious medical issues.  It is not my choice to make.  It is a decision that I hope is made only after a lot of serious thought.

But getting an abortion and buying a gun are not the same.

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For the sake of comparison, I tried to find the rates of each activity.  I wasn’t able to find an exact correlation but was able to discover that, in the U.S. in 2014 there were 3.99 million births and there were 186 abortions per 1,000 live births.  Simple math says there were approximately 742,140 abortions in that year.

I also found there were 12,556 people killed using guns that year.  My source included people killed by the police (1,773) but did not include approximately 22,000 suicides.  For the sake of the argument I will include all.  This brings the total number of people killed by guns in the U.S. in 2014, to 34,556.

In other words, in 2014 the number of people killed using guns was less than 5% of the number slain by abortion.

Let’s delve into that a bit further.  In 2013 (I couldn’t find data for 2014.), it might be pointed out that the FBI conducted 21,094,273 background checks, undoubtedly more by 2014.  Presumably some of those requests were turned down, but we’ll use the full figure for 2013.  Totally ignoring that older guns were used too, and that we can never accurately figure how many guns are in private hands in our country, we come up with the very modest estimate that .001% of guns in the states were used in the commission of a killing.  Remember, I only counted guns actually purchased that year.  So the percentage I came up with is admittedly inaccurate (on the high side) but at least we have a usable number.

Be patient.  I’m getting to the point.

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One of the biggest differences in the two arguments is that, whenever someone decides to buy a gun, there may be any of several different reasons for the purchase, by far most of them legal and, debatably, moral. Whereas, each and every time someone seeks an abortion the intent is to end at least one innocent human life.  Every single time an abortion is performed successfully, it stops a beating human heart.

If every time someone bought a gun the intent was to kill someone, you bet I’d vote for gun control.  I would.

But it’s not, so I won’t.

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Abortion and gun control are two profound issues.  Arguing that they are the same cheapens what should be two very serious, but separate, debates.

 

 

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