http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2012/12/27/nancy-thinks-were-being-too-mean-to-people-with-guns Comments On: Nancy Thinks We're Being Too Mean to People with Guns by Goldy en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Tue, 21 May 2013 13:15:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss Posted by GlibReaper]]> Tue, 01 Jan 2013 23:46:19 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Mister G]]> Sun, 30 Dec 2012 12:34:44 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Mister G]]> Sun, 30 Dec 2012 12:32:16 -0800 The Stranger Posted by suddenlyorcas]]> Sun, 30 Dec 2012 11:27:03 -0800 The Stranger
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publication…
Posted by randoma]]> Sat, 29 Dec 2012 21:32:31 -0800 The Stranger
So, I keep seeing references to how gun control (or rather gun banning) has worked out great in the UK. However, if you look at the actual data (published by the UK Home Office):

http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publication…

Page 2 - relevant file is 'Historical crime data'

You'll notice that from 1980 to 1997, the per capita homicide rate was an average of 11.2. Handguns were banned in 1997. From 1997 to 2002, per capita homicide INCREASED to a maximum of 17.9 in 2002. (Mostly due, I believe, to Shipman) it has trended downward since then, averaging 12.9 from 2003-2011 with 11.5 in 2011.

But wait you say! Firearms are responsible for a miniscule number of deaths (.07 per 100k) per capita! How is that possible?? Amazingly, lacking firearms, people kill each other with sharp and blunt instruments! Apparently, a lack of firearms does not deter people from killing each other! Additionally, since the 1997 ban on handguns, at-home burglaries (burglaries from occupied locations) have increased significantly. A 'gun nut' would point at that and say, "See? Guns deter criminals." A 'gun control nut' would probably say, "Things are different in the UK."

So while yes, the handgun ban did, in fact, reduce the number of homicides by firearm, it did nothing at all to reduce the overall number of homicides and if you were a 'gun nut' as opposed to a 'gun control nut', you might say that the lack of deterrence of an armed populace caused the overall number of homicides to rise!

So, once again, if you want to reduce gun violence, you need to address the root causes of the majority of gun violence in the United States - gangs, drugs and poverty, which in many respects are intertwined. If you want to reduce mass killings you need to take a long hard look at mental health. I realize that all of those things are much much much harder than another 'assault weapons' ban, which will in fact, just be part of that slippery slope to the erosion of the second amendment because it will not have any effect on the majority of firearms crime.
Posted by randoma]]> Sat, 29 Dec 2012 20:49:26 -0800 The Stranger Posted by sperifera]]> Sat, 29 Dec 2012 16:40:26 -0800 The Stranger
Seems like she's trying to shame THE STRANGER into writing pro-gun right articles. She's just shocked that there are people out there who do not believe in putting the right of gun owners over the rights of the rest of citizens to be safe.
Posted by Patricia Kayden]]> Sat, 29 Dec 2012 16:08:12 -0800 The Stranger Posted by SonicsSuck]]> Sat, 29 Dec 2012 15:37:15 -0800 The Stranger Posted by MerryChristmas]]> Fri, 28 Dec 2012 15:16:15 -0800 The Stranger Posted by i don't know]]> Fri, 28 Dec 2012 09:26:26 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Mister G]]> Fri, 28 Dec 2012 01:24:08 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Fifty-Two-Eighty]]> Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:53:33 -0800 The Stranger Posted by Mister G]]> Fri, 28 Dec 2012 00:10:38 -0800 The Stranger Posted by McBomber]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 23:47:52 -0800 The Stranger Posted by McBomber]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 23:21:30 -0800 The Stranger Posted by cracked]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:55:57 -0800 The Stranger
http://www.gallup.com/poll/159569/americ…

Summary: "Americans favor new legislation to limit gun sales, presumably to help prevent the kind of gun violence that became all too familiar in 2012. This is seen in increased support for making the laws covering the sale of firearms more strict, and for passing new gun laws. However, views toward banning semi-automatic guns or assault rifles are unchanged, and -- possibly reflecting Americans' desire to defend themselves given the rash of high-profile gun violence -- a record-high 74% oppose preventing anyone but the police or other authorized officials from owning a handgun."
Posted by cracked]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:48:36 -0800 The Stranger Posted by wilbur@work]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:44:50 -0800 The Stranger
You are correct, as is every issue of The Stranger, on every single topic.

Also, Nancy, and all other gun owners who respond to discussion of gun control with death threads (as most do), are, indeed, BATSHIT CRAZY and should either be issued cement boots and pushed into the ocean, or launched into the Sun.

Thanks,

A Loyal Customer
Posted by wilbur@work]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:40:08 -0800 The Stranger "How else do you define 'low' crime or 'high' crime?"

I don't define those because I'm not discussing those.
I'm demonstrating (with Switzerland as the example) that gun-ownership does not equate to gun-violence.

I am amused, though, that you list so many differences between Switzerland and the USofA and then claim that those differences are the cause of the gun-violence in the USofA.
Which seems to support my claim that gun-ownership does not equate to gun-violence.


Posted by fairly.unbalanced]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 21:05:43 -0800 The Stranger
So while you're apparently too stupid and/or lying to admit it, you ARE comparing switzerland to the US, and it's a fucking fruity comparison because switzerland is an animatronic clock with a lot of bank accounts and the US is a large, diverse country with an inequality problem.

Here, let me save you the trouble of replying: "same as it ever was, you think your opinion is more worthy than mine just because your opinion is backed by logic and data and mine is backed by irrational prejudices. in reality all opinions are equally valid and therefore we can't have any gun control because crazy peoples' opinions differ and the second amendment. straw man, x+1+1, something something, switzerland. thank you and good night."

Posted by waffle]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:51:05 -0800 The Stranger
1. Switzerland is the 4th wealthiest country in the world, up there with Qatar and Luxembourg. Your link is "adjusted for purchasing power," which is beside the point.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cou…

2. Poverty rate in Switzerland is 7% compared to 15% in the US.

3. Income inequality in Switzerland is low, comparable to the UK/France. The US is medium high, comparable to the Philippines, Jamaica and Iran.

4. Unemployment in Switzerland is 3%. It's more than double that in the USA.

5. Switzerland is 93% German, French and Italian. It's extraordinarily homogenous so there's less ethnic conflict.

6-100. You can't possibly believe that an honest way to look at the preponderance of the data is to say, "oh, _Switzerland_ has lots of guns and low gun crime, and _Mexico_ has few guns and lots of gun crime, therefore guns and crime are in no way correlated!" Those two countries were deliberately chosen by fairly_unbalanced precisely because they're outliers from the general trend, which is more guns == more gun crime, with the USA at the extreme on both axes for wealthy first-world countries.

Why is Mexico an outlier? Oh, right, drug war.
Why is Switzerland an outlier? It's Disneyworld in country form, and as pointed out up-thread their gun ownership is part of a very well-regulated militia, not a bunch of rednecks with assault rifles.

Posted by waffle]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:36:31 -0800 The Stranger "But could you please explain to how gun regulation of any sort equals repealing the 2nd amendment?"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man
Why don't you show where I claimed that gun regulation equals repealing the 2nd Amendment?

Again, this isn't about discussing the subject.
This is about your belief that your opinion is more than just your opinion and attempting to denigrate anyone who disagrees with you.
Even when you have to resort to beating straw men.

And so it continues. The same as it always does.
Posted by fairly.unbalanced]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 20:01:40 -0800 The Stranger Posted by CbytheSea]]> Thu, 27 Dec 2012 19:54:51 -0800 The Stranger