> At 02:28 PM 3/22/98 -0500, Mike Lorrey wrote conflatingly:
>
> >New Hampshire, which has one of the highest per
> >capita gun populations in the entire world, has a lower crime rate than any
> >country its size or larger in europe. [...]
>
> >We have among the highest scholastic acheivement rates of any
> >state in the Union, have always had an average SAT score in the top 5 states
> >(concurrently with being among the lowest 5 states in terms of per capita
> >education expenditures, go figure). NH is rated as having one of the best
> >business climates in the US. [...]
> >Best of all, we also have the lowest unemployment rate in the US, at less
> than
> >2%.
>
> And the low crime rate is due to... which of these parameters?
probably a combination of the high education and the high level of gun posession,
and ease of use as concealed weapons. Vermont is even more liberal on this, you
don't need any kind of permit at all there.
> Do NH teachers force their students to study at the point of a gun? Do NH
> workers negotiate their jobs at the point of a gun?
Not at all, however anyone who has had a chance to shoot guns can comment on what
an empowering experience it is. People who live lives afraid of everything,
especially guns, can go through a rather marked change once they have overcome
one big fear, like the fear of guns. I would say that the culture-wide use of
guns here generates a sort of common feeling of empowerment and self reliance.
People here take part in town meetings, school boards, and their kids
extracurricular activities, they don't just drop them off like at a baby sitter.
> Or is violent crime elsewhere perhaps correlated with other factors that
> also damage education and employment rates, creating a vicious cycle?
Hardly, most states and cities that have high crime rates had severe gun control
laws long before, when education and employment prospects in those areas was
still excellent. Employment goes down when crime rates push businesses to
relocate to places more conducive to a decent lifestyle for their workers.I am
using NH as an example of a state which is as close to a libertarian optimum as
one can currently find in the industrialized world, and how all stats indicating
a 'livable' environment seem to be far above that in any other industrialized
polity I am aware of. Various socialist sympathizers here have expressed
disbeleif that such a system could result in anything but chaos, as they have no
faith in the ability of the common man to desire to live peacefully. New
Hampshire's health and vitality is testament to the wrongness of their
assumptions and conclusions.
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?