In the wake of the Dark Knight massacre in Aurora, Colorado, major media outlets and public figures have been making statements about guns and violence that do more to misinform than educate. Below are some of the most significant and common of these misleading assertions.
Public confusion regarding gun control and violence stems not only from the press but also from papers published in peer-reviewed journals. Under the guise of sophistication, academics can tinker with classifications, statistical methods, and other variables until they get the results they want. This is not to accuse most researchers of doing this, but to point out that this has happened on countless occasions, and it thus makes sense to examine raw data before it is subjected to statistical operations that open the doors to bias. For reams of such raw data, visit www.justfacts.com/guncontrol.asp.
See the five fallacies as Just Facts
Where I live in Australia, no one carries a gun except sometimes police or security guards. If a citizen is caught with a gun and is not a farmer or similar with just excuse (such as euthanizing injured livestock or destruction of feral animals), they will be charged with a criminal offence. There have been no murdesr or manslaughter by firearms in this area for over 40 years. Think about it.
I thought about it. I know now I do now wish to live in Australia.
Hey Biggles, your area was probably never a hotbed of gun crime. You need to re-read you city newspapers. The number of home invasions by armed thugs has skyrocketed since you allowed yourselves to be disarmed.
And whats your violent crime rate now compared to countries where guns are legal or even mandatory? Generally you find that making guns illegal lowers gun crime, but makes violent crime go way up. More violence, less guns. Less self defense.
Crime rate is going up in Australia. Yes. Reason?. Too many people, and worsening distribution of income. Yes, the poor are getting poorer. People without meaningful or fair paid work, and no moral training from family, end up turning to crime to survive with any “dignity” (in their view). If you mix with criminals you need guns, and you can get guns.There is always a black market. Don’t mix with criminals and drugs you probably wont need a gun. A gun in the average home with good folks is dangerous because sometimes people (even good people) lose their temper, or have a “minor” psychotic episode That is not a good idea with a gun around. If you fear home invasion, get a good security system. Simple.
“A gun in the average home with good folks is dangerous because sometimes people (even good people) lose their temper, or have a “minor” psychotic episode”
Habeas corpus.
I’ve had a sword on my wall, a hunting knife in my nightstand, and over a dozen more sharpies in the kitchen for years, and not once have I thought to draw any of them on my friends or family (boys who got too close to my daughter, yes, but only as an idle fantasy). The only reason I have no firearms is that I cannot hit the broad side of a barn with ranged weapons. I work in a factory that is appropriately termed “gun heaven” as I am the only employee who does not own at least one gun (this includes the janitors and secretaries). Out of those 300 people and approximately 2,000 pistols, shotguns, and rifles (including a great number of “assault weapons”), no one from my plant has ever shot another human being outside of military service, nor do they know anyone who has.
Biggles, I find your supposition flawed and baseless.
The trouble is: one day they WILL know someone who has used one. And .. so might you, you gentle fellow.
Firearms are ubiquitous in the U.S.
The homicide by firearm discharge rate amoung non-black Americans is 2.0 per hundred thousand. Virtually none. You can make up all the scenarios you want to, but they have no connection with reality.
OK. But USA is not going to be invaded (no way) – so citizens don’t need guns to fight invaders. Get a good home security system. Even Charles Bukowsky had one. I feel much safer in a community where there are no guns lying around in houses “legally”. Keep away from drugs and crims and get a good security system. What are the figures on gun accidents also I wonder?
Living in the outback is one thing, living in the city is another! Furthermore, one cannot compare apples and oranges. Two different cultures.
Finally, in Britain, they have no guns, they will use whatever weapons they can get. Knives, bats, clubs. Banning the weapons won’t stop the violence.
Where does it end?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4581871.stm
They still have massive gun crime in London. One intrepid reporter was gunned down on her front steps for goodness sakes. The Brits and the Japs have been trying to hide gun crime for decades now. An investigative reporter went in country and got admissions from street cops about tossing the guns and misreporting the crime as not gun related.
Tyranny comes in three forms. One individual against another, one government against another or the government against its own citizens. An armed citizenry is the antidote to all three forms of tyranny.
Pathway: You mean like in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan?
Armed citizenry is NOT the antidote to tyranny but the start of anarchy.
If you wish to return to the “wild west where people become judge and executioner, where people decide when they are for or against democracy it is at this point that rule by the people and for the people is lost. Society becomes dominated by the strongest and returns to near feudalistic philosophy.
Nope. Not believing it.
Why? Data disagrees with you. In fact, not even the wild west was the wild west. The famous battle at the OK Corral involved five men and killed 3. The notorious outlaw Billy the Kid killed five to nine people
(http://www.cracked.com/article_18487_6-ridiculous-history-myths-you-probably-think-are-true.html)
Ok, not the best of sources, but I’m in a hurry.
Seriously, I am the only person at my job that does not own a gun (and that’s because I cannot hit the broad side of a barn, not due to any objection to them). The number of gun crimes committed by my coworkers = 0. Number of deer shot in total = Hordes. The number of people they have shot in total = 0. The number that they have threatened with firearms = 1-6 excluding their daughters’ boyfriends and depending on how many of the “burglar” stories are to be believed.
Yep, a biiiiiggg source of anarchy and destruction all those guns have made.
In general Martin I clearly agree with you – but one can understand why people want guns in America – It IS the “wild west” – and will no doubt get worse. In Australia, guns are used by criminals, because for them, they are easy to get, but in America, where “every family and individual ” has the “right” to have a gun, they are easily accessible by people with mental problems, suicidal tendencies, people who lose their temper, get drunk or have a disagreement or grudge or one of those nasty family arguments. OK – in those circumstances people can use other things – knives, whatever. You can kill a lot more people a lot quicker with a gun. Ask my martial arts expert friend which he would rather face – a knife or a gun? – either you ban guns in society generally or you gotta have one of your own man. I know what the gun-makers would prefer. Have you read that out of print book (maybe soon back in print) called “The Merchants of Death.”? Sort of puts the two world wars in perspective. There’s money in death, man. And, yes, cars kill people too – that’s life.
You obviously do not know anything about that. Not really. I live in gun-heaven, and I’ve never found any need to get a gun aside from the venison sausage that my coworkers sometimes bring.
I haven’t shot a rifle in nearly a decade and I really don’t need to. I did routinely walk across campus in the middle of the night (UH, not so nice an area), and I never had any trouble. Though any criminal in the area was almost certainly armed (a REALLY not so nice area), they didn’t try me. Of course, Of course, I did wear a trio of fencing swords on my back.
And if you ask any martial arts expert what they would do if faced with an armed robber, the answer is simple. Hand over your wallet. It ain’t worth the risk against anything. The only time you stand your ground and is when someone is entering your home of business or encroaching on your loved ones.
BTW, Bigs, your martial arts bud is an idiot.
“Ask my martial arts expert friend which he would rather face – a knife or a gun? – either you ban guns in society generally or you gotta have one of your own man.”
A trained knife expert will slice and dice a gun owner.
Guns are superior only at range.
Good point, GC. The difference being that knives are quicker on the draw and less easily deflected. The policeman against knife-weilding attacker tests are pathetic.
Knowing that you are being tested and going to be attacked, if they are within 21 feet, you have no time to draw your gun. This is in optimum circumstances from trained policemen in a lab setting. Reality is far more complicated.
http://www.usadojo.com/articles/21-feet-valid.htm
Yes, the Tueller Drill. In spite of what is often said, if you bring a gun to a knife fight, you will die.
If the knife fighter knows what they are doing.
Big if
What I’ve said folks still holds- a really smart suicide would use a gun by choice. The wild west was definitely WILD (I saw all the documentaries), and he would be a pussy martial artist 5th dan who would hand over his wallet to a knifer, unless he felt sorry for him and was desperate for friendship.
“In Australia, guns are used by criminals, because for them, they are easy to get, but in America, where “every family and individual ” has the “right” to have a gun, they are easily accessible by people with mental problems, suicidal tendencies, people who lose their temper, get drunk or have a disagreement or grudge or one of those nasty family arguments.”
Habeas corpi. Your talking point is instantly falsified by homicide data.
Bigs, how can guns be easy to get in Australia? They are illegal. What exactly then did banning them accomplish? Criminals can get them you say. Easily. So you have disarmed the non-criminals.
BRILLIANT !!!
Suicide point. Guns don’t cause suicide. Stress causes suicide and suicidal people use what is available. See Japan, which has no legal guns and one of the highest suicide rates in the world (in fact, it is the leading cause of death for young adult men)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suicide_in_Japan
You gents obviously have no clue what the “wild west” was like. There was little crime in the old west. It was dime novel marketing that branded it the “wild” west.
As Heinlein said, “An armed society is a polite society.”