Date sent: Fri, 28 May 1999 09:29:40 -0700 (PDT) From: mark@unicorn.com To: extropians@extropy.com Subject: Re: Safe Gun-Free Britain (was Re: Guns [was Re: property Rights]) Send reply to: extropians@extropy.com
> Charlie Stross [charlie@antipope.org] also wrote:
> >If widespread gun ownership deters crime, then one would expect the USA
> >to be a crime-free zone compared to the UK
>
> Not really; gun ownership doesn't deter crime if people can't carry those
> guns with them. Crooks may decide not to break into people's houses
> because they might be armed, but that's not really a problem since they
> can just wait until their victims are out on the streets and disarmed by
> law.
>
Murder rates are higher in those US states which have a concealed
carry law, where both citizen and criminal is more likely to be
armed, than they are in the U.K., where both is less likely to be.
>
> >-- or expect the UK to have
> >much higher crime levels than Switzerland.
>
> According to that DoJ report I posted a URL for, in some areas (assault
> and property crimes) it has much higher crime levels than America; this
> is probably one reason why the anti-gunners stick to murder rates. It's
> possible the DoJ are fudging the figures to make America look better, but
> they appear to have gone to some trouble to get accurate statistics by
> looking both at official police reports and victim surveys... and they
> would seem to have a vested interest in making it look worse to get more
> funding.
>
Murder is the irreversible crime; it is the one which forever revokes
one's right to life, liberty, property and pursuit of happiness, as well
as the one to keep and bear arms.
>
> Mark
>