mark@unicorn.com wrote:
>
> Of course we could also ignore theorising and actually look at places
> like Florida
Allright. I keep seeing these reference to Florida. I live in Florida, and I don't see gun violence decreasing. I fully believe that murders may have gone down, but gun violence seems to be way up since they allowed concealed weapons permits. Anybody got real statistics about Florida?
I was born here and have lived here most of my life. When I was younger, I don't remember all the violence we have now. Every day there is some sort of armed robbery or shooting reported in the local paper. Often there are three or four shootings. Every few weeks a child is shot accidentally. I would say a child is shot to death every month. We have has quite a few child shooting deaths since January. Armed robbery is way up. Local convenience stores no longer allow clerks to work night shifts alone. Foreign countries warn their travellers about Florida's gun laws, and our chambers of commerce are trying to combat our negative gun image. Alos, every few months some old retiree baracades themselves in their house and starts shooting at passers-by. This has already happened maybe four or five times this year. It seems that in the retirement capital of the U.S., people are retiring with their guns. Many of them start to go senile, and then they use their guns. This is not a rare occurance. I also have seen a mass shooting almost every year since the concealed permits are allowed. Before that, I don't ever recall someone going into a McDonald's and starting shooting at strangers. Now we have it all the time, in Post Offices, in Malls, and lately in schools. You've heard the recent problems with kids and guns. Our local schools say that they confiscate guns every day from kids who bring them to class. Hospital emergency rooms handle shootings every night. So-called "road-rage" is up, where people get mad about traffic problems and shoot other drivers. There are lots of new phenomenon concerning guns that have just become common since the new gun laws.
Sorry to ramble. It may be that the "murder" rate is down, but shootings have definitely gone up. I live here, and that's my perspective. I would love to see real statistics about guns in Florida. All the statistics I have seen posted here involved "murders" or "deaths". I am more interested in how much crime or violence has increased or decreased. Most shootings are not "murders" or even "attempted murders."
-- Harvey Newstrom <mailto:harv@gate.net> Author, Engineer, Entrepreneur, <http://www.gate.net/~harv> Consultant, Researcher, Scientist. <ldap://certserver.pgp.com>