[extropy-chat] The Consensus

[Mike Lorrey]

--- "Robert J. Bradbury" <bradbury at aeiveos.com> wrote:
> 
> On Sat, 29 Nov 2003, Dirk Bruere wrote:
> 
> > Or are you some US gun nut who thinks being tapped on the shoulder
> by a
> > beggar is an assault that can or should be met with automatic fire
> from the
> > assault rifle you habitually carry?
> 
> Dirk, although I do not view this as an A.H. attack I would view
> it as an inflamatory statement.  Perhaps it would be polite
> to label such a question as [rhetorical question].
> 
> In fact the days when one carried guns for personal self defense
> in the U.S. generally ended perhaps a century ago with the civilizing
> of the "wild wild west".  Of course arguments can be made that there
> are areas of inner cities in the U.S. where carrying a gun may be a
> reasonable idea.  

I don't think this argument is supported by the facts. Firstly, twice
as many states have laws recognising citizens have a 'shall issue'
right to a concealed weapons permit than did a decade ago, and these
states constitute a functional supermajority where Constitutional
amendments are concerned (39 states so far).

Secondly, areas of the country you go on to say where 'carrying a gun
may be a reasonable idea' happen to be areas in which there are laws
restricting your ability to do so. It is not an accident that the
highest crime areas of the country also have the lowest gun ownership
rates and citizens have little or no ability to carry concealed
weapons.

A rational criminologist easily concludes that the safest areas of the
country are the way they are specifically because law abiding citizens
can and do carry firearms for personal self defense. Prof. John Lott
determined that every 1% of the population that carries concealed
reduces crime rates by 2%.

Lastly, while I recognise that there are individuals with severe
allergies to facts such as these, but seem to need to be reminded from
time to time of them, though I did not raise this issue on this list.  

=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
"Fascists are objectively pro-pacifist..."
                                       - Mike Lorrey
Do not label me, I am an ism of one...
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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