Show-Me TKC Pro Gun Argument Defeated

More than anything, TKC loves SMART CORRECTIONS from our blog community and reader reactions that challenge our sensibilities and share important knowledge and insight.

Accordingly, one of our arguments against gun control was recently put to the test by a reader we respect. 

The clap back is worth checking . . .

You wrote: "If there was any empirical testing of this thesis, it would FAIL given that other parts of Missouri outside of STL & KCMO aren't enduring the same kind of murder spikes despite having the very same gun laws."

That's not true, though.

Murders are up everywhere in the country, including Missouri's small towns.

Springfield is one of the 10 most dangerous cities in the country and demographically it looks more like Boise than KC or St. Louis.

More people die by guns in rural southeastern Missouri than St. Louis or KC—though many of them are suicides.

The numbers get weird when you go county by county and there are only like 3,000 people in the county, but it's fair to say murders are up everywhere in Missouri. Only about half the murders in the state are in KC and St Louis, the rest are spread across the rest of the state, and they have been going up steadily, with a few bumps and valleys, since basically 2003 when.... well, you know.

This is good info.

Sadly, we didn't know that our white neighbors in rural Missouri were killing themselves at such an alarming rate. No matter how you feel about gun control, that's a tragic situation. 

And so, whilst we still fiercely believe in the 2nd Amendment, this EXCEPTIONAL reader response offers a better glimpse of the worsening standard of living in the Show-Me State and some of that, sadly, is sparked by gun violence and tragedy.

You decide . . .