What can be done about those who go berserk with a gun?

by badboy 206 Replies latest jw friends

  • BurnTheShips
    the sooner Simon implements the ability to ignore certain posters the better.

    Mentally defective crybabies can't see opposing views. Their cognitive dissonance starts to hurt.

    Here, besty, rub a little on that cogdiss so you can feel more comfortable.

  • kurtbethel

    Some of what I have learned from looking at various statistics"

    Violence is higher in US than UK, including violence against self. (suicide)


    Firearm ownership is higher in US than UK, and these firearms are used as weapons in some violent act in both places.

    People in UK are more likely to nick a copy of MS Office. UK-#97 US-#107 for software piracy.

    I could not find anything about firearm ownership rates or crimes that were prevented by firearms at nationmaster. Yet these numbers are among those needed to evaluate whether firearms are a net benefit or a liability, and to form a policy about them. Here is an interesting chart of ownership rates.


    Compare to this.


    Very little correlation between rates of gun ownership and murder rates.

    One interesting thing about ownership statistics, it makes it look like 90% of Americans are packing. Not so. Elsewhere there is a number of 39% of households having firearms. For everyone who had a collection of guns there is that many people who are not packing.

    One thing to watch for when someone is slinging statistics is the numbers they do not tell you. Here is something from commondreams.org:

    States with Higher Gun Ownership and Weak Gun Laws Lead Nation in Gun Death


    They conclude that higher rates of firearm ownership correlates with higher rates of gun deaths. Duh! I suppose higher rates of auto ownership correlates with a higher rate of auto accidents. So what did they not tell us? They did not tell us the overall murder rate in these places so we could see if they are inherently more violent, which could also lead to perceived danger and higher firearm ownership rates. They also did not give us any numbers about criminal acts that did not happen because they were repelled by someone with a firearm. The press release makes a case that if there are more guns available then someone will more likely use one to commit a crime, but is pretty useless for developing any sort of public policy.

  • purplesofa

    I have not read all of this thread, so this post may be off, so if it is just ignore, won't be the first time !!!!

    The info on Australia is almost a year old, so don't know what the stats are now.

    Mass Murders Agree... Gun Control Works!







    China established gun control in 1935.
    From 1948 to 1952, 20 million political d issidents, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated





    Cambodia established gun control in 1956. From 1975 to 1977, one million educated' people, unable to defend themselves, were rounded up and exterminated.




    The first year results are now in:

    List of 7 items:

    Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.
    2 percent

    Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.
    6 percent




    There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the ELDERLY. Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort, and expense was expended in successfully ridding Australian society of guns The Australian experience and the other historical facts above prove it.

    You won't see this datum on the US evening news, or hear politicians disseminating this information.


    Take note my fellow Americans, before it's too late!




  • avishai

    Thanks, purps

  • kurtbethel
  • brinjen

    Err Purps... the Australian national gun buy back scheme was in the late 90's... those figures are a lot older than 12 months.

  • brinjen

    Link to much more recent trends in Australian crime can be found here... http://www8.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/[email protected]/ViewContent?readform&view=productsbyCatalogue&Action=Expand&Num=4.5 These are the official figures as collected by the Australian Bureau of Statistics which actually show a downward trend in violent crimes.

    I'm in a mixed bag here... I don't like guns, having said that, I'm not sure gun control is the easy solution it's often sold as. I don't believe we're any better off because of gun control, I don't believe we're any worse off either. But Australia was never exactly a highly armed country and most of those who turned their weapons in, did not have them for protection purposes in the first place. What's the solution? I'll be honest, I don't know.

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