On 2 Feb, 17:24, Ian Pollard <[email protected]> wrote:
> 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.
>
Much the same ones as eliminating guns. The biggest one being that
those who have them and want them simply WON'T be handing them over to
anyone. This leaves ALL the guns in criminal hands. Personally, I'd
rather have one myself, so the criminal doesn't ALWAYS have one up on
me. It's obvious that we don't NEED guns or cars, as humans lived
many millenia prior to their invention, but, as you say, eliminating
things that people want is always tricky.
> 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- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -
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