posted
Yes, that was the rebuttal that my source mentioned, too. However, it's STILL a misrepresentation of the facts by the Canadian Justice Department, and probably politically motivated (gee, they really ARE just like us!)
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
posted
And just to REALLY annoy the gun-control advocates, (and possibly a few Canadians), More actual factual data, w/sources!
Contrast the city of Chicago, which had tightened its concealed carry law, vs. the state of Florida, which loosened its law. Chicago's action followed a period of several years when the proportion of homicides committed in the city with handguns had been failing, a trend which stopped immediately; theproportion of homicides committed with handguns has increased substantially since. (Wall Street Journal, March 25, 1991) By way of contrast, Florida has experienced a phenomenal 29 percent decrease in its homicide rate since it eased its concealed-carry law (Time, March 27, 1995),
"Each year there are at least 2.5 million defensive uses of guns by crime victims, about four to five times the number of crimes committed with guns." (Kleck and Gertz in Social Pathology, January 1995).
In The New England Journal of Medicine, November 10, 1989, the authors tried to make a case for gun control as crime control by comparing homicide statistics from Seattle and Vancouver, B.C. But what came to light was that the homicide rate for "Non-Hispanic Caucasians" (about 75 percent of the population in both cities) was actually lower in Seattle, with all its lack of gun control, than it was in Vancouver. Actually, Vancouver's experience is one of many examples of a gun ban being followed by an increase in the homicide rate. In the seven years following British Columbia's ban, Vancouver's rate went up substantially ("Evaluation of the Canadian Gun Control Legislation." Elisabeth Scarff, Decision Dynamics Corporation).
Like the gum commercial says... "Chew on this!"
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
posted
If you seriously think that guns are going to solve sexual problems then it may explain a few things
As for those stats, refer to the ratio of deaths via weapons and lethal crimes involving weapons. You'll notice that the US has over 60X the number of weapons related incidents.
------------------ "Blind faith is the crutch of fools"
Now exactly how do you read this freakin chart when it comes to murders? All I can come up with are a million and a half murders every year, or 1500, both of which seem rediculous in their own way. But since there can't be 1.5 million murders every year over here, I'm going to stick with the 1500 until otherwise noted.
OK, for the record, we have 35% of their murder rates, 57% of their assault rate, 50% of their sexual assault rate, a 55% higher robbery rate, 75% of their motor vehicle theft rate, and around 55% of their rate of entry with the intent to take property. All per capita. And not accounting for the fact that 20% of their population is so isolated from the rest as to make comission of any of these sorts of crimes unworkable.
One also finds it interesting that between '96 and '97, the number of cases of armed robbery in Australia shot up by 50%. Now correct me if I'm wrong, but wasn't this about when they instituted their strict gun control laws?
------------------ You are wise, witty, and wonderful, but you spend far too much time reading this sort of trash.
While the US has higher murder and rape rates than the UK (and always has, gun bans or no, probably for ill-understood cultural reasons), the gap has lessened considerably between 1981 and 1996. (Langdon and Farrington, "Crime and Justice in the United States and England and Wales, 1981-1996", Bureau of Justice Statistics, 1998), the UK (excluding Scotland, which has a different legal system, and Northern Ireland, a place of conflict which would skew the Uk statistics even more upwards) has 1.4 times the robbery rate, more than twice the assault rate, and nearl double the burglary rate and auto theft rate. (ibid)
In fact, Britian's crime rates were far lower in the period before WWI, when any law-abiding and sane adult could buy a handgun, and get a permit to carryt it concealed. (Colin Greenwood, "Firearms Control: A Study of Firearms Control in England and Wales" 1972.
The May 9, 1999 Times of London carried an amazing article on the failure of British Gun Control, including: "Last week a 16-year-old boy, a self-confessed gang leader from a housing estate in east London, proudly displayed his 9,, Smith & Wesson... another, 14 years old, opened up his Nike bag to the reporter, showing him two .357 revolvers... a 16-year old delinquent told the reporter he could 'rent' a gun for about 80 pounds. Official statistics show children as young as 12 arrested for possession of loaded guns in public. (Eden Hamzie, "Children of 14 carry guns for 'status'," Sunday Times, May 9, 1999.
A research study done for a Parliamentary inquiry concluded that there were some 3 MILLION guns illegaly held in Britain. In some areas, 1/3 of young criminals (15-25) have acces to guns, and according to the Home Office, armed crime rose 10% from 1997-1998. (John Ungoed-Thomas, "Killings rise as 3m illegal guns flood Britain", Sunday Times, Jan 16, 2000.
And they think they're SAFE???
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
No, no fanatics here. fanatics don't have hard data. Usually, they just say stuff like "do it for the CHILDREN!" with very ill-defined goals and misty statistics as best, cross-referential quoting, like a Hangun Control Inc. spokesperson quoting a Handgun Control Inc. study. (which reminds me.. Sarah Brady gets paid a couple hundred thousand a year. The NRA president isn't salaried. not that that means anything to anybody.)
the fact of the matter is, none of the 10,000 or more gun-control laws directed at law-abiding citizens in the last 50 years have ever reduced crime and criminal activity. Only those directed towards harsher sentences for those who break the law have had any effect.
------------------ "Nobody knows this, but I'm scared all the time... of what I might do, if I ever let go." -- Michael Garibaldi
posted
Hey, notice I never assigned the fanatic label to any specific side? As far as I'm concerned, gun control ranks right up there with the Miracle Whip/Mayonnaise debate. When will people realize that neither are acceptable hamburger toppings?
------------------ "What did it mean to fly? A tremor in your soul. To resist the dull insistance of gravity." -- Camper Van Beethoven
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