Chris, I don't think it's about misperception. A car, a pool, a knife... each of these serve essential, non-violent, functions. A gun is designed to kill; it has no other purpose. If people want to shoot targets, use a gun that shoots an infrared beam at an electronic target, or play a video game. In terms of the theory, eliminating guns as a risk makes a lot of sense.
Eliminating cars has inherent functional problems for our society. Ian 2009/2/2 Chris Jenkins <[email protected]> > 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 -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
