> And the best way to show how this is true is to show how the % of people > who are victims of crimes and own guns are much lower than the % of people > who simply own guns. If owning guns is as much of a deterrant as this > author suggests, than one should see a significantly lower crime rate for > households that have guns vs. households that don't. >
How would a criminal know which household has a gun in it and which household does not? If guns in households could act as a deterrent at all (which I don't believe they can), a criminal would have to avoid all households just in case he randomly selected one that happened to have a gun in it - or carry a gun himself and avoid none. Obviously the first isn't happening, and neither is the second. A first order conclusion would be that some people having guns in their houses doesn't deter crime much if at all. (And don't argue that therefore everyone should have a gun in their house; the increase in accidental or spur-of-the-moment shootings would far outstrip the crime deterred.) Tom Beck www.prydonians.org www.mercerjewishsingles.org "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I never dreamed I'd see the last." - Dr Jerry Pournelle _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
