I came back from an ACS Short Course on Emulsions that took place on Salt Lake City this Monday (I was amazed at how many PhDs were taking the course). I had a great time, learned a lot, and promptly updated my résumé upon arriving home.
On the connecting flight from Houston to Monterrey I had a great time conversing with an American consultant; one of the things that worried me was when he started telling me about the security measures he was told to take to avoid getting kidnapped while doing business in Mexico. I felt real bad about my country’s inner affairs causing insecurity, so I apologized to him… but he told me that things wouldn’t be like this if it weren’t for the US’ huge drug demand.
After reading about gun smuggling, I watched The Boston Globe’s pictures from the drug war and, as I gazed at the collection of seized ammunition, I couldn’t help but question the current purpose of guns and ammo.
Seized ammunition is shown during a presentation of suspected members of the Pacifico drug cartel in Mexico city's airport on March 12, 2009. (REUTERS/Jorge Dan Lopez)
I’m pretty sure that, if you ask John Sigler he’ll conjure the ‘feeling of security’ card in order to defend the ‘noble right’ of carrying guns. Note: The ‘hunting’ card (otherwise known as the ‘way of life’ card) is nowadays seldom used since hunting is becoming more and more an old man’s ‘sport’. But security is relative: that feeling of security is — i’m willing to bet — directly proportional to how big a gun the person has.
Then I wondered if there are statistics about the purpose of ammunition… if it’s for hunting, or target-practice or warfare. Then I started Googling for more statistics and found out that the Czech’s Ministry of Interior publishes some stats about small arms held by permits or license in the Czech Republic and about related offences and crimes, but I couldn’t find one for the US or Mexico.
I finally concluded that there aren’t any ways, as of now, to estimate some advanced statistics about ammunition: Is there a way of determining how many people are hit after one thousand bullets are fired? How about the amount of animals hit? Is the first number larger than the second? I wanted some evidence to discard a hypothesis that had been unconsciously lurking in my mind: Statistically speaking, when the trigger gets pulled, is a person standing at the end of the barrel? If so, gun manufacturers should be more responsible about who their customers are.
Anyhow, Chris Rock sums it up pretty well:
I guess what I’ve been trying to say is: I am in favor of stricter gun & ammo control.