I'm afraid only part of the issue is being addressed by the limitation to "when injury is incurred." The complication feature is, of course, that injury is less likely to occur when firearms are used in robberies and assaults, since the potentially deadlier the weapon the less likely it is to be used, due in part to the likelihood or expectation of the likelihood of resistance. So even if gunshot wounds cost twice as much to treat as knife wounds, knife wounds are more likely to occur in a knife-related robbery/assault than gunshot wounds in a gun-related robbery/assault. And injury is still more likely with blunt-object or weaponless robberies and assaults.
-----Original Message----- From: Cory Hojka [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] While it's true that we should ask foremost whether additional efforts to reduce gun crime will affect the overall violent crime rate, it doesn't necessarily mean that discouraging further gun crime is undesirable. This is due to the fact that different methods of armed criminal violence lead to different health costs when injury is incurred. A downward shift in the percentages of gun crime could lead to a lower total cost of treatment for crime-related injuries, even if the percentage of crimes committed with other weapons increases. If this is true, than the further emphasis on reducing gun crime rate is possibly justifiable, even though it makes no reduction in the overall crime rate. Is there any cost-benefit analysis focused on Britain itself that argues for or against a positive correlation between gun crime and the total health cost of injuries due to crime? I think this is an essential requisite before having sufficient justification to speak in favor of or against the importance of the gun crime rate. _______________________________________________ _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof Please note that messages sent to this large list cannot be viewed as private. Anyone can subscribe to the list and read messages that are posted; people can read the Web archives; and list members can (rightly or wrongly) forward the messages to others.
