As the tally of gun-related deaths continue to grow daily, here's a look at how gun culture in the US compares to the rest of the world. There are 120 guns for every 100 Americans, according to the Switzerland-based Small Arms Survey (SAS). No other nation has more civilian guns than people. It is then unsurprising that the US has more deaths from gun violence than any other developed country per capita. The rate in the US is eight times greater than in Canada, which has the seventh highest rate of gun ownership in the world; 22 times higher than in the European Union and 23 times greater than in Australia, according to Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) data from 2019. While personal safety tops the list of reasons why American gun owners say they own a firearm, 63% of US gun-related deaths are self-inflicted. At six firearm suicides per 100,000 people, the US rate of suicide is, on average, seven times higher than in other developed nations. Globally, the US rate is only lower than in Greenland, an autonomous Danish territory with relatively high gun ownership (22 guns per 100 people). Regular mass shootings are a uniquely American phenomenon. The US is the only developed country where mass shootings have happened every single year for the past 20 years. https://www.cnn.com/2021/11/26/world/us-gun-culture-world-comparison-intl-cmd/index.html
It looks to me like a pretty plain encumbrance on your constitutional rights. What if your right to vote was preserved, but they charged you a dollar as an "administrative fee" for the use of the polling station. The externalities of your vote are now covered, you're still allowed to vote, and yet your right has been completely trampled. Obviously the severity of externalities are different, but the mechanics are the same. Likewise, ID requirements don't obviate your voting right, but just makes it harder to access. Underfunded public defenders and tough bail requirements don't obviate your due process, just makes it harder to access. Banning books from school libraries or speakers from college campuses doesn't prevent free speech, just makes it harder to access. Your abortion provider getting sued doesn't preclude your right to an abortion, but it makes it a hell of a lot harder to access. But making your civil rights harder to access is the violation we should be opposing. Not that I mind. I'd like to see the whole second amendment abolished. And I'd like to see the significant damage caused by our irresponsible gun policies to at least be paid for (since we can't bring people back to life). But this is too much like all the other tactics to erode our civil rights to give me any comfort.
As we know there are restrictions and requirements already on voting even without ID. At the minimum you still have to prove residency. There is no such thing as absolute unfettered right and as often stated freedom doesn't mean no accountability. Most important though is that the structure of the Second Amendment is itself unique and as a right is enumerated differently than all other rights. As such it already states that regulation is part of it and even Scalia agreed with that.
Nobody will ever convince me that the amount of guns circulating in the US makes any sense whatsoever. It's crazy.
