From: Mike Lorrey (mlorrey@yahoo.com)
Date: Mon Aug 04 2003 - 13:10:52 MDT
--- Giu1i0 Pri5c0 <gpmap@runbox.com> wrote:
> Mike, please correct me if I am wrong. From your text I infer that
> the majority of issues that you consider really important, are those
> related to whether or not you can carry a gun.
> I did not change the title because I do not want to start a new gun
> thread, but I find difficult to understand why you and many others
> make a big issue of this.
> If I had to spend time in a really dangerous place, and if no other
> kind of protection is in place, of course I would wish to carry a
> gun, perhaps even if this is not allowed by the law. But the meaning
> I attribute to this sentence is not different from the meaning I
> attribute to "If I had to spend time in a place where it is raining,
> and if no other kind of protection is in place, of course I would
> wish to carry a umbrella, perhaps even if this is not allowed by the
> law". I do not consider umbrellas and guns as defining aspects of my
> worldview.
Nor do I. I consider gun ownership to be a decisive litmus test of any
political jurisdiction's dedication to individual liberty and trust of
the individual. Either you trust your fellow citizen with the power of
life and death or you don't. If you do trust them, then you trust them
with all other sorts of political rights. If you don't, then you don't
really trust your fellow man, do you? All the other "rights" are really
priviledges that may be disallowed based on future events or
prejudices, simply because if the state is the only entity with
weapons, then it can impose whatever it wants on its serfs, er, I mean
"citizens".
Trust IS the defining aspect of my worldview, and that of a number of
other extropians. I trust those that trust me. I don't trust those that
don't trust me. I therefore separate the world into two types of
people, groups, and governments: those that trust me and those that do
not. Those that do not trust me are enemies, opponents, adversaries who
I am implacably against, or else ininformed, uneducated, ignorant
innocents who may become informed, educated, and aware allies of mine.
As it happens, I live in a very safe place today. New Hampshire has one
of the lowest crime rates in the entire world, and the lowest in the
entire US. It also has one of the highest rates of gun ownership, if
not the highest rate in the world, and is one of the freest in allowing
its citizens to carry and use their firearms.
I know that the reason NH enjoys the former situation is specifically
because it guarantees the latter situation.
ANY society has a choice to make with its laws: either impose a police
state, or allow the citizens to police themselves to some greater or
lesser degree. It has been conclusively demonstrated that the more
citizens can police themselves, via CCW laws or other mechanisms, the
lower crime rates are (not just violent crime).
While there are many other nations besides the US that have lower
violent crime rates (nor is the US homogenous legally, most crime here
is in low-trust areas) such nations typically enjoy a far greater
degree of ethnic homogeneity. None of these nations, however, has a
lower property crime rate than the US. Instead, many prosecute property
owners for defending themselves and their property against criminals.
European nations do not allow the populace to police itself. Weapons
ownership is banned or highly restricted, and yet there is much illegal
weapons based crime. Individuals are restricted from protecting their
property, consequently property crime is generally five times higher
than in the US.
An individual person in the world today is at far greater risk of being
victimized by crime, and more likely property crime, than terrorism.
For this reason, I feel safe today, here in NH.
Here in New Hampshire, both our violent AND property crime rates are
lower than any european nation. I feel very safe here.
=====
Mike Lorrey
"Live Free or Die, Death is not the Worst of Evils."
- Gen. John Stark
Blog: Sado-Mikeyism: http://mikeysoft.zblogger.com
Flight sims: http://www.x-plane.org/users/greendragon/
Pro-tech freedom discussion:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/exi-freedom
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