The Politics Of Gene Wolfe

Chris P · 18 Mar 2009, 06:25 · from 2009-March.txt.gz

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From: rasputin_ at hotmail.com (Chris P)
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 06:25:18 +0000
Subject: (urth) The Politics Of Gene Wolfe
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> > That argument can only really hold water when it comes to the U.S.,
> > though, and there has been disarmament in a number of other countries that
> > I think would be difficult to attribute to racism.
> 
> But easy to attribute to Fear Of The Lower Orders, or the Southerners (in
> Italy).

I have no problem believing that some people favor gun control for fear of the "lower orders", or for racial reasons. But I do not buy into this as a general explanation of the entire phenomena; I do not see massive support for gun control in the Deep South, for example. And for every person that doesn't like guns because they're afraid of poor people, there's another who *owns* a gun (or five) due to fear of poor people and will fight for their right to keep it.

I am not a gun control activist, but I am not emotionally invested in thinking that people on either side of the issue take the stance they do due to ignorance, fear or just generally being Bad People.

> > It surprises me that nobody has brought up the urban/rural divide on the
> > gun issue. I think there are definite, pragmatic reasons why city-dwellers
> > all over seem to be in favor of gun control in greater proportions than
> > their rural counterparts.
> 
> No there aren't. Washington DC has 400,000 people. Tucson AZ has 400,000
> people. Tucson AZ has, like, twenty, thirty murders a year. There is a
> thriving drug trade in both cities, a minority majority in both cities,
> and Tucson has also *huge* amounts of illegal humans coming through as
> well as guys who will come up the fifty miles from Mexico to steal cars to
> order.

I am not at all certain what your point is with this passage. 

> >                                 And personally I don't think it would be
> > unreasonable to accommodate both parties by limiting those who can carry
> > firearms in dense urban areas while leaving the rural areas alone.
> 
> This would make sense if the murder rate in Tucson was higher than it is
> in DC.

Tucson and Washington DC have similar populations, but Tucson sprawls out over three times the area of DC. Population density is kind of an important part of the point I was making. I can't tell if your point was to elaborate on the similarity of the areas or the differences, and I cannot tell why the relative murder rate in Tucson and DC has anything to do with it. I never said that gun ownership was the sole factor determining the rate of violent crime.

> I don't see anything wrong with requiring a permit to carry a concealed
> weapon, as long as the issuing authority cannot refuse to issue save for
> cause. I note that in Tucson there is no concept of legal concealed carry
> except for cops (or there didn't use to be): your weapon must be exposed
> to public view. When I drove the taxi there, I would put a clip-on sheath
> into my left pants pocket (southpaw) and leave a half-inch of the grip
> poking out to satisfy the legal requirement.

Well that is not horribly different from what I said.

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