----- Original Message ----- From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Monday, August 11, 2003 8:18 AM Subject: Re: Most Dangerous States
> In a message dated 8/11/2003 1:14:19 AM Eastern Daylight Time, [EMAIL PROTECTED] writes: > > > That would only hold true if the criminals were aware of who did and who did > > not own guns ahead of time. > > I think the gist of the argument is that legal gun ownership deters crime in > > general and there are stats that support this. > > > > But nothing is ever going to grind crime to a halt. > > > > I think this type of discussion tends to get people thinking about the > > extremes as opposed to the general tenor of the realities of life. > > > > There are many many millions of guns in the US, yet only a few thousand or > > so deaths in a given year. A small percentage of deaths by > > any cause. > > Its a mountain made out of a molehill. > > Except the mountain is usually not fatal and the molehill is fatal. Detering >crime is good but the cost may overwhelm the benefit if even a statistically >small number of innocent individuals (in particular the owner or a family >member is killed). After all the death rate in the mole hill is %100. If we had >effective gun control then the death rate would go down for both the >criminals and the victims.
Then why not have mandatory swimming lessons for everyone? (I think you know what comes next. I'm gonna pull a Dan!)
You are mangling the metaphor. The molehill is not 100% fatal. Many people are shot each year and survive. And that's what I meant about people only seeing the extremes of the debate.
Frex, locally, the other day a would-be robber tried to break into a house by climbing in a window. The house belonged to a retired state trooper, who first fired a warning shot. The robber kept coming, so the homeowner shot him in the leg. Crime stopped, criminal survived to be tried for his crime. Maybe he will even learn something from the experience.
FWIW, if anyone knows where I can get a _Star Trek_-type phaser with a "stun" setting which will instantly stop anyone without causing permanent damage, I'd love to get one in preference to a firearm. Unfortunately, currently available less-than-lethal weapons are not always effective—some people can still get up after being shot with a taser, and some people are naturally immune to pepper spray—which means that when someone is coming at you with the apparent intent of doing you harm, about the only option for stopping him certainly and immediately is to use deadly force.
-- Ronn! :)
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