Re: The End of Privacy ?

mark@unicorn.com
Wed, 8 Jul 1998 03:47:56 -0700 (PDT)

VirgilT7@aol.com wrote:
>But a
>better question might be that it could depend on how fast the thoughtful are
>on the draw.

In one of Arthur C. Clarke's non-fiction books he talks about an experiment one of those famous dead white dudes (Haldane?) once did with toy guns. He set up a traditional Western movie 'high-noon' shootout and discovered that the person who drew second almost always shot first; the first draw was consciously controlled and hence slower than the second person's instinctive reaction.

On that basis we could say that in most cases the hotheads will be at a disadvantage.

Of course we could also ignore theorising and actually look at places like Florida and Israel where many people routinely carry guns and the murder rates dropped significantly, but that's just reality and hence irrelevant to anti-gun discussions.

Mark