From: Robin Hanson <hanson@econ.berkeley.edu>
>Of course continuing this line of reasoning, we should observe
>that murder rates are a very small contribution to mortality
>rates. But people seem much more interested in talking about
>murder than about other mortality causes (e.g. no response to my
>"Why Do We Die?" thread). Similarly, people are much more
>interested in talking about gun laws than other influences on
>crime.
A good point, the other points everyone keeps ignoring is that most (over 90%) of murders are committed by people who know each other, and the vast majority of murders are not committed by guns at all, much less handguns. Two years ago here in Chicago there were some 950 murders, 132 by "kitchen knife", and 117 by "baseball bat", and one by a so called assault rifle, guess which one got banned?
Brian
Member,Extropy Institute
current reading: Everyday Zen: Love and Work, by Charlotte Joko
Beck