Matthew Currie
NAXJA Member #760
- Location
- Vermont, land of big clay
Beej said:Actually, if you take away guns, you get a lot less murders in general. Look at pretty much every other first world country in the world...
That may be so, but I have heard some fairly convincing arguments that it isn't as simple as that. There's a cultural aspect to it too, and not a lot of evidence that murders, including murders with guns, were more frequent when guns were permitted in some of those places. I can't remember the reference now, but I recall reading a study of British murder statistics comparing current rates to those when guns were entirely unregulated and carrying a pistol was relatively routine. Of course if you can't get your hands on a gun, you can't shoot anybody, but then again, here I sit in the "safest state of the union," where guns are unregulated, anybody can carry, and where the voters elected a socialist to congress in part because the hunters were pissed off when his republican opponent backed assault rifle legislation. It's a messy and complicated world.