Your idea that governments grant or withhold the right to keep and bear arms is insufferable nonsense. The freedom to keep and bear arms is inherent in the individual. Government has nothing to do with the creation of freedom. All forms of government beyond self-government have to do with the destruction of freedom. The individual is and of right ought to be free and independent.
The argument for gun control, whoever makes it, and however it is made, is always the same: the victim of a violent crime is better off dead than explaining how her would-be rapist got all those unusual bullet holes in his body.
I submit that if there aren't many reported violent crimes in Malaysia, it has nothing to do with the fact that the government there suppresses firearms possession. Moreover, having a low rate of violent crime in "most" cities does not do the individual who happens to be facing a machete or a gun in a hostile situation.
An average of about 29 murders involving fire arms country-wide, with 26 cases solved did even convince me [for now] that limiting the right to bear arms can be beneficial to society at large - as long as it's enforced properly.
You've neglected to pay any attention to the murders that didn't involve firearms and their rate of becoming solved. Nor do you refer to society at large, but only society in Malaysia. Society at large includes very pretty places like Zimbabwe which more thoroughly illustrate the problem of a large population being disarmed.
It appears that the psychological barrier of killing another human being in hand to hand fights with knives, bats, etc. is much stronger than the hesistance to pull a trigger and hit someone 50 yards away.
And yet, where are your statistics on other types of murder in Malaysia? Other forms of violent crime not involving guns? Saying that 26 of 29 gun-related murders being "solved" doesn't convince me that non-gun murders are infrequent. Moreover, you only have the government of Malaysia's word to take on the solution of those crimes. Prosecutors lie all the time. They are often the worst sort of scum.
You also haven't convinced me that a homeowner should face a burglar or robber unarmed. Home invasions are up in England, Scotland, and Australia since rigid gun control has been imposed. Moreover, crime is now rampant in Jamaica where gun control has been in place for some time.
As for people not wanting to be close to blood being shed, I think you are thinking in terms of how a sane person deals with such things. Criminals are not normal. Only about 1.5% of the population ever commits a violent crime. I honestly don't care who they are or why they do it, only that I have a gun with me to put an end to it.
But, by the same token, allowing people to bear arms IMHO would lead to an explosive increase in violent crimes here.
That's an amusing idea. "Allowing people to bear arms" is not the issue. Eliminating the vicious government that represses the freedom to bear arms is the issue.
As for your expectation of an explosive increase in violent crime, that isn't how it has worked elsewhere. You have no case to offer of gun ownership becoming unrestricted and crime increasing. I have dozens of cases to offer of jurisdictions where gun carry was legalized or decriminalized and crime rates dropped.
Something that works well in one place might have the exact opposite effect in another.
Only if that other place had beings who weren't human.
The intent should always be to improve the life of society as a whole in each region not to copy whatever someone does somewhere else and expect that "it'll work out".
So, you are a follower of Jeremy Bentham. You seek the greatest good for the greatest number, at whatever cost to the economy, to individual liberty, to the dignity of men.
Apart from that, Indonesians, or better Malays are not a violent lot as such and generally respect authority as long as they believe that the authorities have their benefit in mind.
It seems to me that you have hit upon the main cause of a low violent crime rate in Malaysia - a people who are not very prone to violence. That, rather than the lack of guns would seem to be the heart of the matter.
Maybe the fiercer Malays were already killed off in some earlier period, such as colonization by the Dutch or Portuguese. Or maybe they all emigrated to the Philippines?
Now, finally, although I know Jim Ray is a gun enthusiast, to relate this subject to money. It is all very simple. Those who have gold and guns get to keep the gold.
Those who have gold and no guns get, by turns, murdered, raped, or robbed. I know several women in this industry who have had two out of three done unto them. And they all carry guns, now.
One very good friend of mine who was twice raped in situations where she was unarmed has indicated a strong interest in living in a country where it was expected value for everyone to go about armed openly. I'm working on building such a country.
Regards,
Jim http://cambist.net/
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