Going back to the original subject of the thread ... .
John Lott gave a talk on campus last night. Among the interesting points:
Switzerland has more ownership of handguns and long guns per capita
than the U.S., even excluding the weapons that Swiss adult males are
required to have for military purposes.
Finland and Norway have about the U.S. firearms ownership rate
(although Norway's rate for handguns is lower).
Israel has a higher rate of handgun ownership.
All of them have low murder rates.
On the other hand, Brazil and Russia have severe restrictions on gun
ownership rates and much higher murder rates than the U.S.
But the most interesting thing in the talk was information, not about
firearms but about reporting bias. There was a news story a few
months back from (I think) Merced California, about someone who
broke into a house containing five children, killed two (with a
pitchfork) and wounded two others. Apparently the original news story
from the local paper, carried by the wire service, included the fact
that while he was breaking in the eldest child, a fourteen year old
girl with experience in target shooting, went to her parents'
bedroom, got out their handgun--and was unable to use it because of
the trigger lock that her father had put on in obedience to a recent
state law.
The interesting point was that, according to John, that part of the
story was cut out by every newspaper in the state, aside from the
Fresno Bee (I think) which is where the original appeared.
A similar story involved one of the school shootings--I think in
Mississippi. A vice principal owned a handgun, had a concealed carry
permit, and had routinely carried his firearm on campus--until the
Federal safe schools act made doing so illegal. Thereafter he left
the handgun in his car trunk and parked a quarter mile from
school--since the act forbids firearms within a thousand feet of a
school.
When the shooting occurred he ran to his car, got the firearm, ran
back, and used the firearm to force the student who was doing the
shooting to surrender. A few of the news stories mentioned his action
and the fact that he used a firearm. The overwhelming majority either
ignored him or reported his persuading the student to stop shooting
without mentioning that he did it with a gun.
--
David Friedman
Professor of Law
Santa Clara University
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://www.daviddfriedman.com/
