Lazs and guns

[lazs2]

I would be more than willing to bet that arming every single jap  subject would not increase their homicide or crime rate... it may even drop slightly.   But... they really don't need much help in that regard... open up their country a little and we will see what happens then.
lazs

[miko2d]

Forget hypothetical arming of Japan. How about swiss? They are well armed. Same with israelis. Not much violent crime in both places.

 miko

[Dune]

International murder rate comparisions

[For international gun and non-gun homicide, suicide, and total violent death rates, see GunCite's International Violent Death Rates]
Arbitrary Comparisons Between Countries

The U.S. has a high gun murder rate, whereas a country like England with strict gun controls has almost no gun murders and a very low murder rate. Doesn't this show that gun control is effective in reducing murder rates? Not exactly. Prior to having any gun controls, England already had a homicide rate much lower than the United States (Guns, Murders, and the Constitution: A Realistic Assessment of Gun Control, Don B. Kates Jr.). Japan is another country typically cited (see Japanese Gun Control, by David B. Kopel). (Briefly discussing the difference in homicide rates between England and the U.S. is Clayton Cramer's, Variations in California Murder Rates: Does Gun Availability Cause High Murder Rates?)

Gun control opponents can play similar games. The Swiss with 7 million people have hundreds of thousands of fully-automatic rifles in their homes (see GunCite's "Swiss Gun Laws") and the Israelis, until recently, have had easy access to guns (brief summary of Israeli firearms regulations here). Both countries have low homicide rates. Likewise this doesn't mean more guns less crime.

The U.S. has a higher non-gun murder rate than many European country's total murder rates. On the other hand, Taiwan, the Philippines, and Mexico have non-gun murder rates in excess of our total murder rate.

Incidentally in 13th century Europe, several studies have estimated homicide rates in major cities to be around 60 per 100,000. (Even back then, the equivalent of coroners, kept records.)

There are many, many factors, some much more prominent than gun availability that influence homicide rates and crime in general. (See this excerpt from 1997 FBI Uniform Crime Report and GunCite's "Is Gun Ownership Correlated with Violent Deaths?")

Due to the many confounding factors that arise when attempting international comparisons, this approach would appear to hold little promise for determining the influence of gun levels (or handgun availability) on violence rates.

[ra]

The U.S. has a higher non-gun murder rate than many European country's total murder rates.

WooHoo!  U-S-A! U-S-A! U-S-A!

[Rude]

Originally posted by Dowding
It still happened. How about the hospitals that were ransacked? They were full of wounded already and were short of supplies, before the looters got there.

The Coalition dropped a bollock. They should have had troops at every hospital, power-station, water-treatment plant and museum in the city. Afterall, they've since claimed that it is all part and parcel of regime change - they therefore should have expected it.

You're an arm chair general with 20/20 hindsight....the coalition entered Bagdad and cities throughout Iraq, fed civilians, treated wounded both friendly and hostile and fought an armed enemy which removed their uniforms and wore civilian clothes, used suicide bombers and hid behind innocents, all the while looking out for Iraqi citizenship....just not good enough for you I suppose?

Have you posted anything positive regarding this war?

[Lizard3]

Originally posted by Wlfgng


blaming the Americans is a joke and is unrealistic as hell.
 

But of course, its already started, but that ones a new topic...

[Wlfgng]

yup

[Fatty]

Don't know about lazs, but I own my guns because I want to, and because I enjoy shooting them.

I don't expect to ever need any more justification than that, nor will I ever give any.

[Dune]

Originally posted by Fatty
Don't know about lazs, but I own my guns because I want to, and because I enjoy shooting them.

I don't expect to ever need any more justification than that, nor will I ever give any.

But Fatty!  Don't you understand!?!?!?!  People can't own guns just becuase they like them and like shooting them!!!  The only reason to own a gun is because you're afraid of your life or becuase you plan on overthrowing the government.

[lazs2]

fatty... those are my reasons also..plus... the protection issue.

I also feel that I shouldn't have to give them up becuse some groups in the U.S. are not responsible/criminal with them.   I think because of that I find them even more useful.   Koreans who defended their stores in the LA riots didn't get looted.

I also take every opportunity to show new people how fun shooting can be..  I have never taken anyone out shooting who didn't have a good time... Hopefully... I have combated some prejudice.
lazs

[beet1e]

Originally posted by miko2d
You would get a very good indication that it's the people who commit crime, not guns.

 miko

Miko,
A few days ago I was walking down one of the main streets in Amsterdam, and couldn't help noticing the pock marked appearance of the pavement(sidewalk) caused by discarded chewing gum. So let's ban chewing gum! But oh - I hear you cry. The problem is not the chewing gum, but the people who discard it carelessly and without regard to others. And so nothing is done, and the pavements get more and more fouled up. However, in Singapore, they took a different view. They realised that chewing gum litter was caused by people, ie. chewing gum did not spontaneously extract itself from the wrapper, mix itself with moisture and then deposit itself on the pavement. But despite this realisation, that the problem is caused not by chewing gum, but by people, Singapore has long had a ban on chewing gum. It is illegal to possess chewing gum in Singapore! And do you know what? The streets are completely free of it. The ban works. I don't mind chewing on a piece of gum occasionally, but it was worth sacrificing to walk around Singapore without my foot getting stuck to the pavement every few yards.

[Wlfgng]

heh.. yeah.. chewing gum is the same as guns..

remember that !



Beetle, can you write the same thing in 20 words or less?  
jk

[Wlfgng]

oops.. how'd that get there?

[Fatty]

So you want us to ban guns so you don't step on a shell casing next time you visit the US?

And what is your position on bananas and their well documented, exceedingly dangerous peels?

[Wlfgng]

(orders Fatty a beer)     nice one