At 03:05 PM 6/1/2003 -0700 d.brin wrote: >Sorry guys. This is unadulterated BS. I swear, we'll all be doomed >if you smart guys don't stop theorizing and look at facts. > >Fact, the South has the hugest murder rate and rate of violence. It >is also Gun Central. THE EXPERIMENT HAS BEEN TRIED and utterly >failed. accept falsification.
I tired to check this data, and while there do seem to be a number of Southern States near the top of the murder rates, the correlation does not strike me as strong as you suggest. Here is the link I found: http://www.morganquitno.com/CR03samp1.pdf Some interesting notes: The murder rate of Texas (perhaps the gun liberalization capital of the US) is below the national average. The Top 10 includes New York, Maryland, Illinois, and Michigan. Maryland is especially notable since its gun control laws are quite strict. Of course, bordering DC - with the toughest gun laws and the highest murder rate doesn't help. Oklahoma, Montanta, and Colorado (which has a major metro area in the form of Denver) are all in the bottom 25. Idaho is at #38 - if you wanted a state with a macho-male culture and few gun control laws, Idaho would be a good pick. The bottom 10 includes both Dakotas, Iowa, Nebraska, and Wyoming - the home home of the Cowboy six-shooter. This is especially notable since a State that is very comparable to Wyoming in population density, Alaska, is much higher. So, sorry Doc, but I don't think that the data backs you up on this as convincingly as you think. JDG _______________________________________________________ John D. Giorgis - [EMAIL PROTECTED] "The liberty we prize is not America's gift to the world, it is God's gift to humanity." - George W. Bush 1/29/03 _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
