Guns also appear to be the great equaliser among the sexes. Murder rates decline when either more women or more men carry concealed handguns, but the effect is specially pronounced for women. One additional woman carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for women by about 3-4 times more than one additional man carrying a concealed handgun reduces the murder rate for men. This occurs because allowing a woman to defend herself with a concealed handgun produces a much larger change in her ability to defend herself than the change created by providing a man with a handgun.
What are guns? In modern America the only answer, outside the military and police, is that they're toys. And tools of self-destruction. They account for a lot of suicide. — tim wood
And enshrined in our Constitution is our 2d amendment, grossly misunderstood now as a justification to possess and play with toys. But the underlying purpose of the 2d amendment is to my mind serious and not to be dismissed. It guarantees an armed citizenry to oppose tyranny - understood in late 18th-century terms. It presupposed a citizenry that understood that a gun is not a toy, nor to be played with. It also noted the importance of training and control, "A well regulated militia...". — tim wood
Gun ownership and use should be only for those willing to be trained in their use, perhaps with a psych profile included. And guns licensed and the owners responsible for them at all times. — tim wood
Violent crimes are 81 percent higher in states without non-discretionary laws. For murder, states that ban the concealed carrying of guns have murder rates 127 percent higher than states with the most liberal concealed-carry laws.
In the period 1987 to 1996, Florida issued 380,000 concealed-carry licenses and revoked seventy-two because of crimes committed by the permit holder. Most of these crimes did not involve the use of the permitted gun.
I fully agree that not everyone should be allowed a gun. And of course those who do carry them should keep them concealed in public (I thought people had to by law anyway). — AJJ
Violent crimes are 81 percent higher in states without non-discretionary laws. For murder, states that ban the concealed carrying of guns have murder rates 127 percent higher than states with the most liberal concealed-carry laws. — AJJ
Generally, concealed carry is much more heavily regulated than open carry. So, the law doesn't agree with your assessment. Many places in the US allow open carry while most require a permit which may be difficult to obtain for concealed carry. — T Clark
I am very skeptical of these statistics. If you look at the data, it is very ambiguous whether or not gun ownership has an effect on violent crime. — T Clark
...armed robberies rose by 73 per cent, unarmed robberies by 28 per cent, assaults by 17 per cent and kidnapping by 38 per cent. Murder did fall by 9 per cent, but manslaughter increased by 32 per cent.
I fully agree that not everyone should be allowed a gun. And it seems prudent for those who do carry them to keep them concealed in public (I thought people had to by law anyway). But here’s something else quoted by Hitchens from Lott’s book: — AJJ
Virginia and Texas were basically the same in this respect. So it appears that up until around 2000 at least (perhaps things have changed since) legal gun owners were behaving very well in those states. — AJJ
The problem with such figures is that they don't account for other differences in the areas that they are looking at, such as population density. The places with the strictest gun laws are ususally cities, which have higher crime rates across the board. — Echarmion
The vast majority of people behaves "well" insofar as most people respect the law to a wide extend. However, the more guns that are around, the easier those guns end up on the black market. In countries with strict gun laws, acquiring a gun is highly risky, because very few people have access to guns and therefore the avenues are easier to police. — Echarmion
Brazil and Russia, both countries with far tougher gun laws than the USA, have murder rates four times higher than America.
But I think that one of the most important factors, and one that is often overlooked, is culture. In an european country, where guns are rarely seen outside the hands of the police, people simply do not tend to think of a gun as an option or a solution. Getting a gun (either legally or illegally) requires planning and effort, and this alone provides some amount of protection. — Echarmion
In the USA, so-called ‘hot’ burglaries, committed while the victim is in the house, comprised 13 per cent of the total. In England and Wales they accounted for about 50 per cent of the total.
I haven’t read Lott’s book, but according to Hitchens his findings, though challenged, weren’t refuted. That was the case 20 years ago anyway. — AJJ
I grew up with guns - for sport and for hunting. There are other legitimate reasons to own guns. They're not toys, they're tools. — T Clark
If you look on the web, there seem to have been a bunch of studies, the results of which seem to be pretty inconclusive. That's for the US. It is my understanding that gun ownership in the US is really different than the UK. Many more people here own guns and it's relatively easy to get them. Is that also true for Australia? — T Clark
Did you need to hunt? — tim wood
If the 2d amendment did not exist, I would not write it; but as it does exist and exists for an original reason, notwithstanding modern perversions of that meaning, I would not repeal it. It is part of the original experiment. — tim wood
Question: you go to a major league baseball game only to see some clearly odd-looking people wearing guns. When asked, they say for protection: do you feel safer with them near you? — tim wood
Another thing to consider is that England’s crime rate was incredibly low at the beginning of the 20th century, compared with what it is now, and at that time we had very liberal gun laws ourselves. — AJJ
Hunting was a family tradition. We ate what we shot. Do you eat meat? Do you need to? Is it better for me to have someone else kill the meat for me? Learning to shoot was the first thing I had to do where I, at the age of 11 or 12, had to take responsibility for the safety of others in a serious way. Nothing else came close till I got my license at 16. — T Clark
Hmm. Somehow I don't think that covers it. But there are, apparently, a stunning number of suicides.Women are less likely to commit suicide because their dna makes them want to live a longer life. — christian2017
Do I undertand you correctly that when you were a child you and others were in danger, and that you required a gun to protect you from those dangers? — tim wood
A comedian, of all people, and from Australia, gets it right. Youtube, and imo required watching for people who do not understand what guns are: — tim wood
Women are less likely to commit suicide because their dna makes them want to live a longer life. I'm not saying men are less ethical than women, just that women are more focused on living into old age than men. — christian2017
Gun ownership is tightly restricted in the UK. I don’t know what it’s like in Australia, but according to Hitchens’ book they tightened their gun laws after ‘96 and violent crime went up significantly over the first two years. — AJJ
It was a very serious thing - both for me and for the people who were teaching me to shoot - father, uncle, grandfather. — T Clark
Statistics show women commit suicide less often. Gun laws don't prohibit women from owning hand guns nor assault rifles. Do you want to retract that statement? — christian2017
Are you sure about your prior position? — christian2017
well if you choose not to elaborate, i'll also refrain from elaborating my position too much. DNA is a real thing you know and in fact it does influence the decisions people make. You want to have a chat? — christian2017
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