February 23, 2010

The Swiss, Guns, Genocide, and the right to defend oneself.

'Nuff Said.......

13 comments:

  1. Nice video. I think the Swiss policy is less effective for preventing common crime than it is for deterring an invasion.

    In the 50 US states, there is no correlation between gun laws/gun ownership and crime. Some states with strict laws and/or low rates of gun ownership have very low crime; some states with very high rates of gun ownership have high rates of crime. And in between, there is no real correlation.

    On a world wide scale, Switzerland has very low crime with high gun ownership, while Scandinavia and New Zealand also have very low crime but very few guns. How is that explained?

    Poverty and inequality are the best predictors of crime in the United States. In states (or counties or other levels of scale) with poverty and inequality, crime tends to be high, regardless of the number of guns.

    Which is not to say that guns can never be a deterrent, or are never useful in defending one's self. Clearly, there are examples where this holds true. I am for people owning guns to protect themselves and their homes if they wish to do so; I merely think that is not a highly effective strategy.

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  2. Old but still true.
    Originally found at: http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=4706
    CWP has increased dramatically since this was written, so the numbers are probably greater.
    Nice site By the way. P.G.

    States that allow registered citizens to carry concealed weapons have lower crime rates than those that don't.

    True. The 31 states that have "shall issue" laws allowing private citizens to carry concealed weapons have, on average, a 24 percent lower violent crime rate, a 19 percent lower murder rate and a 39 percent lower robbery rate than states that forbid concealed weapons. In fact, the nine states with the lowest violent crime rates are all right-to-carry states. Remarkably, guns are used for self-defense more than 2 million times a year, three to five times the estimated number of violent crimes committed with guns.

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  3. Also:

    Lower murder rates in foreign countries prove that gun control works.

    False. This is one of the favorite arguments of gun control proponents, and yet the facts show that there is simply no correlation between gun control laws and murder or suicide rates across a wide spectrum of nations and cultures. In Israel and Switzerland, for example, a license to possess guns is available on demand to every law-abiding adult, and guns are easily obtainable in both nations. Both countries also allow widespread carrying of concealed firearms, and yet, admits Dr. Arthur Kellerman, one of the foremost medical advocates of gun control, Switzerland and Israel "have rates of homicide that are low despite rates of home firearm ownership that are at least as high as those in the United States." A comparison of crime rates within Europe reveals no correlation between access to guns and crime.

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  4. I think that morality is the great predictor of crime, and the presence of justice is the mark of a peaceful nation.

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  5. >> "States that allow registered citizens to carry concealed weapons have lower crime rates than those that don't."

    Nonsense. The worst 6 states in terms of violent crime rate are: 1) South Carolina, 2) Tennessee, 3) Nevada, 4) Florida, and 5) Louisiana, and 6) Alaska. All of these are 'shall-issue' states, and they still have higher violent crime rates than Hawaii, New York, California, Illinois, and other states where it is more difficult to get a concealed permit.

    http://www.census.gov/statab/ranks/rank21.html

    Here's an interesting study that separated out the states into a high gun ownership group and a low gun ownership group. Each group had about the same number of people (158 million for hi-gun ownership vs. 160 million for low). (http://tinyurl.com/think-bubba) And here are the numbers:

    Gun-related homicide
    High gun ownership states 15,283
    Low gun ownership states 3,668

    Non–gun-related homicide
    High gun ownership states 5,865
    High gun ownership states 3,598

    Total homicide rate
    High gun ownership states 21,148
    High gun ownership states 7,266


    So if you are given the choice between living in a US state where many people own guns vs a state where relatively few people own guns, you would generally triple your risk of being a homicide victim if you operated on the faulty assumption that guns reduced crime. Gun ownership is best seen as a lagging indicator of crime ... where crime is high for other reasons, people buy guns. It makes them feel better, but does not really lower the violent crime rate.

    JB

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  6. >> "I think that morality is the great predictor of crime, and the presence of justice is the mark of a peaceful nation."

    I'm glad to hear you recognize that Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, Norway, Canada, the UK, and New Zealand are more moral than the United States, and have done a better job over-all of promoting justice. I think the secret is that many people there seek solutions that simultaneously promote the good of the individual and the group. ;)

    JB

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  7. Please refer to:
    http://thebruha.blogspot.com/2010/02/for-jb.html
    The group does not even have to be acknowledged if the good of the individual is promoted. Why be unfair?

    If you have any questions or comments please refer to:
    http://thebruha.blogspot.com/2010/02/for-jb.html
    or go google "Peanut Butter Jelly Time".

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  8. Glad to see this still up! I had it on mine a while back, and it is very enlightening.

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  9. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  10. This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.

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  11. Anon,

    Please read the policy of this site regarding comments, specifically those regarding personal information. Left sidebar, scroll down. Labeled "Policy".

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  12. Oh, I see ... I need to muzzle myself with respect to people's names .... Ok.

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