In 'Freakonomics', Steven Levitt explored the remarkable phenomenon of parental misperception of risk. He noted that a child was 11 times more likely to die by swimming accident at a friend's house with a pool, than by shooting accident at a friend's house with a gun, and yet parents as a generality never restricted play due to the presence of a pool, but would restrict play due to the presence of a gun. Statistically, I am far more likely to kill you with my:
car knife baseball bat or other blunt trauma intrument alcohol than with my gun, yet your perception of personal risk is so skewed that you literally feel your freedom is impinged upon merely by my possession of this tool. That's a psychological phenomenon that is really irrelevant to the greater conversation, and which probably deserves a thread unto its own. On Mon, Feb 2, 2009 at 11:39 AM, Ian Pollard <[email protected]> wrote: > > Your posession of a firearm makes me less safe. Not being murdered or hurt > is a pretty fundamental freedom; can we agree on that much? Now, am I more > likely to be a victim of gun crime in a country with lots of guns or a > country with very few? > > (First person to mention Switzerland gets bitch-slapped.) > > > Ian > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups ""Minds Eye"" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected] To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/Minds-Eye?hl=en -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
