[extropy-chat] FWD [forteana] Gun control [was Re: the road to hell]

[Mike Lorrey]

--- "Terry W. Colvin" <fortean1 at mindspring.com> wrote:
> >>>Either whoever wrote this is a bare-faced liar, or this is some
> special
> gun-nut usage of "skyrocketed" to mean "reached their lowest level in
> two decades, having fallen steadily since 1995".<<<
> 
> A case of who to believe I guess.
> 
> < http://www.reason.com/0211/fe.jm.gun.shtml >

Yes, even within the British government (even to the point of different
stats on different sheets in the same exact Excel file). The British
Crime Survey, which surveys British subjects about their experiences
with crime, reports a decrease in crime. However, the actual crime
reported in the Crime Index (buried on sheet 3) shows a vast increase
in actual crimes. See:

Actual reported crime:
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/703chap3.xls

"BCS Crime":
http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/rds/pdfs2/701chap3.xls

Total violent crime has risen from 331,000+ in 1998-99 to over 991,000+
in 2003. Homicides have risen from 750 to 1,048 in the same time
period. Total property crime has risen from over 4 million to over 4.6
million. Total crime has risen from 4.5 million to 5.9 million.

In response, the Home Office has instituted a 'crime reduction' program
which does nothing but tweak the stats by reporting multiple crimes by
one perp on one day as one crime. The BCS survey also cherry picks
certain crime categories, rather than the more complete Crime Index.
Homicides of any kind, for example, are not included in the BCS.

With a population of 57 million, the British murder rate has risen 40%
in 5 years. Current homicide rate is 2 per 100,000. Contrast this with
New Hampshire's 0.9 homicide rate. Britain's violent crime rate is
1738.6 per 100,000, while New Hampshire's is 161.2 per 100k. Britain's
property crime rate is 8070.2 per 100,000, while New Hampshire's is
2058.7 per 100,000.

If we used the flawed BCS statistics, the British rates per 100k would
be even higher (though how homicides magically dissapear in the BCS is
a mystery).

While Britain has draconian gun laws, increasingly ubiquitous
surveillance, counterbalanced with an abject lack of individual respect
for individual rights, including the common law right to property, New
Hampshire has some of the most liberalized gun laws (and getting more
liberalized) an almost complete lack of surveillance, a state
Constitutional recognition of one's Natural Right to person and
property, and the right to protect both.

=====
Mike Lorrey
Chairman, Free Town Land Development
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
                                       - Gen. John Stark
Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com

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