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Those of you who know me know I'm not a huge gun affictionado. But I do have an interest in trying to do what I can to keep the most people from being killed, robbed, raped, assaulted, shot, etc. in the society in which I live. It was this motivation which initially led me to oppose concealed-carry measures, and convince a few other people to vote with me. It was this same motivation which led me to actually examine the data to see if my beliefs were right. And it was this motivation which ultimately changed my views on what solutions worked here in the U.S. Today's post is triggered a bit by a recent post by Glenn Reynolds, the Instapundit, who points us to Kennesaw, Georgia, a town which not only allows people to own guns, but requires them to do so:
Since the law was passed in 1982, the population has quadrupled (from a tiny burg of 5,000 to a 20,000) and burgulary and overall crimes have been cut to about half the national average, while murder has fallen to one quarter the national rate!
It could indeed be argued this is just anecdotal evidence. True -- there might be other factors involved. Another law might have put the townsfolks in straightjackets. There might be some anti-crime agent in the drinking water which also just appeared in 1981. But the magnitude of the change seems hard to explain by other means. Further, I can't help but wonder if the town's extraordinary growth doesn't have to do with it's low crime rate. That would be interesting to learn. According some, guns have a powerful mind-warping effect that turns ordinary law-abiding citizens into power-crazed would-be criminals. The immediate drop after the passage after the law would seem to argue strongly against that hypothesis. In other news, it appears that policing troubled neighborhoods for illegal guns works as well, if done correctly -- as they seem to have done it in Pittsburgh:
The report seems to admit the conclusions are still a bit fuzzy, so I pass that along to you. But, if the trend holds in other experiments, it seems indeed that deterrence is the key concept here, where a safe society seems to be created when honest people have guns and criminals don't, or have trouble doing so. Guns in the hands of law abiding citizens: Deterrence. Having the criminal think: Who's packing heat? The granny over there? The guy in the wheelchair? The big guy? Deterrence. Having criminals know they get charged for illegal guns in public: Deterrence. Add your two cents...
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im glad you came over to the right side. the stats have allways been on the pro second amendment side.
the anti gun zealots have never had anything but propaganda and emotional attacks to create a position. ive seen some of the most irrational arguments ive ever seen, come from that group. along with the biggest lies and propaganda.
ie bowling for columbine
or Michael Bellesiles attempt to write history for the anti gun left agenda (if you have to make up out of whole cloth evidence to support your position your officially a weasil)
http://www.aim.org/publications/briefings/2002/jun28.html
Posted by: rumcrook on December 10, 2003 06:13 PM