Crime 3: Guns and Violent Crime

The month of September has been spent talking about the politicians stance on crime. So far, we have discussed prisons and sentencing, as well as corruption and white collar crime. This wee, we will discuss guns and violent crime.

For this discussion, I will not be making a distinction between terrorism, hate crimes, and other violent crimes, unless the candidates themselves do so. American citizens losing their lives or being injured due to violent crime is a bad thing, and each candidate responds to this in a different way.

Hillary Clinton wants to violate the fourth amendment further by taking guns away from anyone on the terrorism watch list. She is in favor of expanded background checks, and wants to patch the gun show loophole. The Gun Show Loophole actually has nothing to do with gunshows, other than that people sometimes meet outside of gun shows as convenient places to sell guns to other private citizens. She also wants to increase accountability and liability for people who facilitate violent gun crime.

Clinton has worked to protect people from domestic abuse (including protecting pets). She considers sexual assault against women to be a top priority.

Gary Johnson believe[s] in the bumper sticker: If you outlaw guns, then only outlaws will have guns." He and his running mate, Bill Weld, have both commented that, had someone at the Orlando shooting had a gun, there would have been less loss of life.

Johnson's plan to reduce violent crime is to legalize drugs. In an interview with Playboy, he said that violence is caused by making drug users act outside of the law. Other than saying that more people should be armed and that drugs should be legal, he has made no public statements in regards to violent crime.

Jill Stein wants to reinstate the assault weapons ban, and pass laws in violation of the Heller decision which said that local municipalities cannot make laws banning particular kinds of guns.

Stein refers to gun violence as a public health emergency. She wants to expand background checks, demilitarize the police, and address the deeper issues that cause gun violence.

There are so many articles (followed by Snopes, FactCheck, or Politifact articles declaring them false) about Clinton and either rape or sexual abuse that it is really hard to find information on her policies in these regards. I apologize for the quality of the links regarding her this week.

This is my last post on the subject of crime. Jill Stein the clear winner on crime, as the only candidate who is moving in the right direction on sentencing, non-violent crime, and violent crime. Gary Johnson struggled with the facts this month, but he did better than on healthcare. Hillary Clinton comes in a close second behind Stein; though she has a lot of policy proposals in regards to crime, they are very bland and moderate.

Next month, I will discuss the economy, followed by two posts on foreign policy. My last post to this blog will be on the day before the election.