> In a letter to the National Post, Gary Mauser claims that > > It should not surprise many people that Canada's gun laws > have not worked (More Gun Control Isn't The Answer, John > R. Lott Jr., June 15). Anyone living in a big Canadian city has > witnessed the horrifying increase in violent crime over the past > decade.
The first question that pops into my alleged mind is "when did Canada's gun control laws hit a critical mass"? In other words, when did practical ownership of self defense weapons become problematic or discouraged -- in 1980, 85, 90, . . .? This becomes a more interesting question when: > However, if you examine a graph of Canada's violent crime rate: > http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~lambert/cgi-bin/blog/2004/06#mauser > > you will see that it has decreased over the past decade. And Mauser > cannot claim to be unaware of this since the graph comes from Mauser's > own paper. More examination of Mauser's false claims at > http://cgi.cse.unsw.edu.au/~lambert/cgi-bin/blog/2004/06#mauser We see what appears to be a faster rate of increase in Canadian violent crime in the 1980's than in the US, and a higher per capita rate as well (Tim's table #1 -- incidentally, this table cites the FBI as the source for both US and Canadian crime statistics. I was not aware the FBI tracked Canadian crime waves). More to the point, during the 1990's, when firearm sales in the US were rolling along nicely and states were passing "shall issue" laws with glee, we see a growing per capita gap between US and Canadian violent crime. If I were standing on the border, I would see the US rate steadily dropping after 1991, and the Canadian rate peaking and staying roughly level. This would make any sane person want to head south. -------------------- Guy Smith Silicon Strategies Marketing 630 Taylor Avenue Alameda, CA 94501 510-521-4477 (T) 510-217-9693 (F) [EMAIL PROTECTED] www.SiliconStrat.com _______________________________________________ To post, send message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe, change options, or get password, see http://lists.ucla.edu/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/firearmsregprof
