Gun Control. - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T02:08:41Zhttps://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/537324:Topic:25593?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A25647&feed=yes&xn_auth=noI guess one answer to your hy…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257942007-04-17T22:18:50.129ZSimon Spurrierhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/sispurrier
I guess one answer to your hypothetical - an incomplete and unsatisfactory answer, I'll concede - is that if said burglar *knows* his victim hasn't got a gun, and knows that if *he* gets caught with one the penalty will be very harsh, and even moreso that if he gets caught *using* one the penalty will be extraordinarily harsh, and finally that it'll cost him a lot of money and risk to go about getting one, then the chances are he won't take a gun on his job.<br />
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In the UK, as far as I know,…
I guess one answer to your hypothetical - an incomplete and unsatisfactory answer, I'll concede - is that if said burglar *knows* his victim hasn't got a gun, and knows that if *he* gets caught with one the penalty will be very harsh, and even moreso that if he gets caught *using* one the penalty will be extraordinarily harsh, and finally that it'll cost him a lot of money and risk to go about getting one, then the chances are he won't take a gun on his job. <br />
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In the UK, as far as I know, instances of armed household burglaries (as opposed to armed robbery) are pretty low, and the lion's share of those are with replica weapons. <br />
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In short: when you know *you're* not going to get shot, you're far less inclined to put yourself in a position where you might be punished for shooting someone instead. <br />
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Like I said, not a perfect solution, but the alternative is - as we've seen stateside - to say "everyone have a gun!" <br />
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I'm not sure which is better. Yes. All very true, alas! But…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257812007-04-17T21:36:36.898ZI. J. Parkerhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Ingpark
Yes. All very true, alas! But then I wasn't raised in this country myself. I get the notion that this has something to do with the Revolutionary War and a fear of Indian attacks and the desire to defend the homestead against savages. There is a sense of living in the wilderness about it where it's every man for himself. It always seemed to me a very strange way to think about your country or hometown.
Yes. All very true, alas! But then I wasn't raised in this country myself. I get the notion that this has something to do with the Revolutionary War and a fear of Indian attacks and the desire to defend the homestead against savages. There is a sense of living in the wilderness about it where it's every man for himself. It always seemed to me a very strange way to think about your country or hometown. Dianne, the people who live i…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257762007-04-17T21:29:12.018ZIain Rowanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/irowan
Dianne, the people who live in the two places that aren't England, but which share a land border with it, might be surprised to hear England called an island...
Dianne, the people who live in the two places that aren't England, but which share a land border with it, might be surprised to hear England called an island... And that was the something gu…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257722007-04-17T20:46:32.646ZPatti McCoy Jacobhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/pattimccoyjacob
And that was the something gun owners could never really explain - if you want to own a gun but keep your kids safe from it, you have to break it down, keep it locked away, and store bullets separate from the weapon. So if someone breaks into your home, do you ask them to hold on a sec while you put all the pieces of your gun together? After retrieving it from its hiding place?<br />
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I do still want to know if the knowledge that a homeowner is allowed to own a gun deters a criminal. I wonder about…
And that was the something gun owners could never really explain - if you want to own a gun but keep your kids safe from it, you have to break it down, keep it locked away, and store bullets separate from the weapon. So if someone breaks into your home, do you ask them to hold on a sec while you put all the pieces of your gun together? After retrieving it from its hiding place?<br />
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I do still want to know if the knowledge that a homeowner is allowed to own a gun deters a criminal. I wonder about those statistics, because one source I read said it was a deterrent. Another source might say something else. I suppose the answer depends on who's gathering the statistics. Which side of the issue he/she is on. I am a mother of seven childr…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257612007-04-17T20:22:25.091ZPatti McCoy Jacobhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/pattimccoyjacob
I am a mother of seven children, all who are minors and therefore still living at home. They are why I will never own a gun. I have no intention of purchasing what is tantamout to an accident/tragedy waiting to happen.<br />
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However, I have always been curious about a certain hypothetical. It is one based on the fact that criminals of every genre have the means to possess illegal... anything. Guns, drugs, etc. That's so obvious, it goes without saying. Just look at how easy it is to sneak...…
I am a mother of seven children, all who are minors and therefore still living at home. They are why I will never own a gun. I have no intention of purchasing what is tantamout to an accident/tragedy waiting to happen.<br />
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However, I have always been curious about a certain hypothetical. It is one based on the fact that criminals of every genre have the means to possess illegal... anything. Guns, drugs, etc. That's so obvious, it goes without saying. Just look at how easy it is to sneak... anything, and anyone, into our country. Where there's a will, and a demand, there's a way. Weapons are not going to suddenly dry up and dissolve from our world even if every nation in the world banned them. they will still be made. Just like roadside bombs, they will still be made.<br />
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Okay, here's my hypothetical - I live in a country where it is illegal for a homeowner to own a gun. And let's just say I am a burglar. A burglar who can easily find a gun on the black market because, you guys, they can. Okay, so I know that when I break into Joe Citizen's home, I do not have to worry about my own safety. In other words, I do not have to think twice about encountering a cocked gun with a homeowner standing behind it. Because I already know he does not own a gun. He can't. It's against the law. So I break in. To burglarize. And maybe do other things as well, depending on what - or who - I find.<br />
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So even though I, Patti McCoy Jacob, will never have a gun in my home, do I maybe want to keep a burglar guessing about the possibility that I will? That I do? Do I want him to think twice about his own safety when breaking into my home, which would perhaps make him think twice about breaking in at all? I think about Sharon Stone, before she became anti-NRA, who scared away a burglar from her home by wielding a rifle. And shouting some pretty interesting expletives at the same time. Was it her expletives that convinced him to run away? Or was it her rifle?<br />
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When my seven little ones are sleeping at night, do I want a piece of scum who is attracted to my nice-looking house to wonder if I might have a gun? One that I would use in a heartbeat to protect those seven little ones? Yes, for their sake. No, for the sake of those murdered yesterday by someone who so easily obtained weapons.<br />
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So I guess my final answer is that I have no f---ing idea what my final answer is. Or what the answer is period. I think what we currently hav…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257602007-04-17T20:17:24.080ZDianne Dayhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/dianneday
I think what we currently have was born with the movement ever-westward. The cowboy thing is no joke when it comes to the American psyche. If you read non-fiction accounts of the settlement of the Western states, especially in primary sources like diaries, the violence is appalling. In proportion to the poverty and incredible hardship, which is also appalling. People would not have survived without their firearms, and what we need for survival becomes very deeply ingrained. Might even become…
I think what we currently have was born with the movement ever-westward. The cowboy thing is no joke when it comes to the American psyche. If you read non-fiction accounts of the settlement of the Western states, especially in primary sources like diaries, the violence is appalling. In proportion to the poverty and incredible hardship, which is also appalling. People would not have survived without their firearms, and what we need for survival becomes very deeply ingrained. Might even become part of our genetic structure for all I know. Two things: Whenever we compa…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257572007-04-17T20:06:46.134ZDianne Dayhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/dianneday
Two things: Whenever we compare anything in the US to anything in England, we have to keep in mind the sheer difference in the size of our two countries. Plus, where border control is concerned, England is an island. (Duh, you say. Yes but still I do think that makes a difference.) Nevertheless the numbers Loomis cites are appalling. If you divide the total by the year and then figure an average per state per year, it begins to make more sense. I think I got 258. Given that England is…
Two things: Whenever we compare anything in the US to anything in England, we have to keep in mind the sheer difference in the size of our two countries. Plus, where border control is concerned, England is an island. (Duh, you say. Yes but still I do think that makes a difference.) Nevertheless the numbers Loomis cites are appalling. If you divide the total by the year and then figure an average per state per year, it begins to make more sense. I think I got 258. Given that England is approximately the size and population of just one of our larger states (I can't say exactly but I think California might be about the same size as England as a whole -- you can beat me with a Yorkshire pudding if I'm wrong), then the figures come into a more understandable proportion. <br />
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Second thing: Because of our borders being so porous, though I grant we aren't likely to be inundated with much that is dangerous from Canada, we could have a problem as big as the drug problem if we make guns illegal here. The crystal meth thing has reached my little community, where marijuana has long been tolerated with not too many problems; now suddenly we have much more violent crime than in the past. I'm an oldish lady and I've begun to wonder if a handgun might not be a good idea for my own protection. Yes, this whole "torture porn…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257162007-04-17T18:33:48.665ZJohn McFetridgehttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JohnMcF
Yes, this whole "torture porn" genre is a little worrying. I can barely watch ads for movies anymore, it's all about the torture. The weird thing is, to me, it's pretty much across the board now -- men and women, boys and girls, giving and getting the violence. I guess some would call it progress....
Yes, this whole "torture porn" genre is a little worrying. I can barely watch ads for movies anymore, it's all about the torture. The weird thing is, to me, it's pretty much across the board now -- men and women, boys and girls, giving and getting the violence. I guess some would call it progress.... I suppose next there'll be a…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257042007-04-17T17:57:57.174ZSandra Ruttanhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/Sandramre
I suppose next there'll be a campaign for cutting off the hands of wife beaters as a solution to domestic violence.<br />
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I support getting to the root of the problem, not just dealing with symptoms. I've already expressed myself fully on it on my blog and won't rehash it - I find most people have already made up their minds on the issues anyways, but it is a red herring. It would be curious to do a study and see how violent the works by people with differing opinions here are. I bet the people…
I suppose next there'll be a campaign for cutting off the hands of wife beaters as a solution to domestic violence.<br />
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I support getting to the root of the problem, not just dealing with symptoms. I've already expressed myself fully on it on my blog and won't rehash it - I find most people have already made up their minds on the issues anyways, but it is a red herring. It would be curious to do a study and see how violent the works by people with differing opinions here are. I bet the people advocating gun control write stuff that's, on average, far more graphically violent than I do. Don't the statistics go that…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2007-04-17:537324:Comment:257012007-04-17T17:50:24.978ZVincent Holland-Keenhttps://crimespace.ning.com/profile/fiskerton
Don't the statistics go that if you've got a gun in your house, the person most likely to get shot by it is you? Then again, statistics also show that kids are more at risk from drowning in backyard swimming pools than getting shot by a gun. Then again, a backyard swimming pool's primary function isn't to shoot things.
Don't the statistics go that if you've got a gun in your house, the person most likely to get shot by it is you? Then again, statistics also show that kids are more at risk from drowning in backyard swimming pools than getting shot by a gun. Then again, a backyard swimming pool's primary function isn't to shoot things.