Gun Control and polarizing rhetoric

I have so many of my own thoughts about this issue I'm not sure I will be able to clearly explain my thoughts on this but i'll try.

When an issue like gun control arises it seems like most of the information people talk about is based on what they read on the Internet, next might be t.v. news, and lastly news papers. 

Both the Obama administration and the NRA and other organizations have used social media and the Internet as the main source of spreading "information." http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2013/01/social-media-outreach-part-of-obama-gun-law-campaign/. "Forbes Insights and Opinions looked at the data for the week prior to the Sandy Hook tragedy and trended the data over the subsequent 5 weeks to determine the ebb and flow over the gun control debate.  We found that the NRA and the pro-gun rights voices are winning the influence battle and will continue to be strong and more influential if the pro gun control voice remains fragmented. On the flip side, the pro gun control voice could certainly gain influence if they establish a more united voice." Bruce Rodgers, Forbes staff. http://www.forbes.com/sites/brucerogers/2013/02/01/nra-winning-the-influence-battle-over-gun-control/.

I don't have Twitter or Instagram but I do have Face Book and one thing I noticed right away was the paranoia surrounding gun rights after the Sandy Hook shooting. The thing that bothers me about people and the use of social media is the lack of responsibility for fact checking. It seems anyone can make a MEME http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_meme. It seems most people I know on Face book will either read a meme or post a meme and believe whatever it says. 

One meme I kept reading was the FBI statistics that more people die from blunt objects then from guns. I did a little research myself and found this isn't true. This link gives you links to the statistics. http://www.snopes.com/politics/guns/baseballbats.asp
 It seems like people don't want to know facts with this topic and the fuel for the argument on either side is emotion. Another fact I researched is that New York Chicago and Washington DC have complete gun bans and they have some of the worst gun crime. "There are a couple things worth keeping in mind when looking at Chicago. Other than Hawaii, no state is an island. Almost none of the guns used in these homicides were first purchased here because we don’t have gun stores in Chicago. They were purchased either somewhere else in Illinois or in a state with weaker laws. Because borders are so porous, it is hard for cities to regulate their way out of this problem. This is an area where federal legislation could have a more pronounced impact than city or state legislation. Like air quality, what happens in one state can have an impact on what happens in another state."

I like this video mostly because I like hearing rational thought through opinions... http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=NyYYgLzF6zU
Read more: http://nation.time.com/2013/02/01/qa-guns-cities-and-the-death-of-hadiya-pendleton/#ixzz2K9J84m1h

I know for a personal fact that it isn't very hard to take a gun over a state border just like it's not hard to buy alcohol in mesquite and bring it to St. George but it's still bootlegging. I personally had a close friend who's job was to take guns and assault riffles into Mexico where the drug cartels would give him drugs in exchange because believe it or not Mexico has very strict gun laws and bans as well. "Mexico bans virtually all civilian gun ownership and requires that toy weapons be made of transparent or brightly colored plastic." http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/01/05/realistic-shiny-toy-guns-crime_n_2415398.html

I do think that one good thing in all of this is that everyone having to do with social media seems to have a voice and a right to speech and opinion. I wish people could be more responsible and accountable in fact checking before spreading anything that feels like it supports your view.

I did not fact check either of these MEMEs that's the point these are two opinions that are being spread as fact.

I don't own a gun and I'm not against guns either. I do think better practical laws and information needs to be the key thing to think about. We can't get rid of guns but I wouldn't think most law abiding citizens would want just anyone to have a gun? right? When things like this happen my mind always goes to conspiracy's. not that the Government wants to take all guns away but that they want American citizens to be polarized in opinion so we will become paranoid and turn against each other,and I think that has been accomplished. Our media does seem to be a mirror of our fears and we feed it and we are drawn to it because it makes us feel like we understand something and we are right about it. The problem is too much emotion in all of this.