On 9/21/00, at 7:58 AM, hal@finney.org wrote:
>That's a better reason. One problem is that not only government and
>hoodlums, but everyone else, lives constantly in fear of the citizenry.
>I remember when I went into a jewelry store where the proprietor wore
>a sidearm. It was pretty scary knowing he could pull out his gun and
>shoot me dead at any time. I didn't go back.
Any time you cross the street, a driver could accelerate, and deliberately try
to run you over. Any time you have a cup of coffee from a coffeemaker, it
could have an alkaloid poison in it. And so on.
The incidence of crimes committed by legal gun-owners is pretty low. The
incidence of crimes committed by those legally carrying concealed is vanishingly
small, and I think is mostly cops. And, last I heard, only one violent crime
is known to have been committed by a legal owner of a fully automatic weapon.
I have been scared for my safety, but never because the people I was scared of
were armed. Rather, because either the people seemed to have violent intent,
they had an intimidating appearance, or they seemed sufficiently out-of-control
that I was concerned about the consequences. (Yes, if they had also been armed,
I would have been more afraid, but they never have been.)
I have always had guns in my vicinity, so I take them for granted.
My father was a pistol champion. Some of my earliest memories are of the
various Army bases we went to for competitions. He always carried a loaded
gun. I feared his wrath occasionally, but *never* thought he'd use a gun in
anger.
In high school, in Israel, I rode the public bus to school each day. I would
routinely sit next to soldiers with shopping bags and Uzis. Whenever we went on
field trips, our teachers were armed.
I once ran an event for the Libertarian Party. I carried the proceeds for the
evening on me, a few thousand dollars. I belatedly wondered if we should have
made arrangements for security. The vice chair of the state party pointed out
to me that we were in a room of New Hampshire libertarians -- there were
probably 200 people there carrying concealed. Who would be foolish enough to
try to rob us?
(Modestly related) I rank gun owners -- your (and Mike's) mileage may vary --
in terms of safety as follows:
Safest: target shooters. Gun safety is inviolate.
Then: military and police.
Next: hunters. Some are fine; others are the equivalent of Massachusetts
drivers -- brandishing their weapons, firing weapons within range of people's
houses, drinking while hunting, etc.
Least: liberals who get a gun for self-defense. Since they abhor guns,
they typically never learn to use them safely. Their kids are the most likely
to be accidentally killed by guns because their parents hid the guns from them,
and never taught them gun safety.
One thing I'm sure we all would agree upon, even Joe and Mike, is that if you
own or carry a gun, it behooves you to learn how and when to use it safely. If
you target-shoot, you should take an NRA class. If you want to use a gun for
self-defense, especially if you plan to carry concealed, you should take a class
through the Lethal Force Institute, or equivalent.
I'm leery of legally mandating this, because it gives the govt. too much
discretion, but I encourage insurance companies to collude, and require gun
training as a condition for issuing liability coverage to gun owners. And I'd
also encourage them to give a 10% discount on a home policy for gun owners,
much as they give a discount for a deadbolt or burglar alarm. Perhaps the city
could also give trained owners a discount on their property taxes as well,
because of the reduction in crime city-wide.
-- David Lubkin.
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