The Politics Of Gene Wolfe

David Stockhoff · 18 Mar 2009, 15:24 · from 2009-March.txt.gz

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From: dstockhoff at verizon.net (David Stockhoff)
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 11:24:25 -0400
Subject: (urth) The Politics Of Gene Wolfe
In-Reply-To: <mailman.6847.1237365859.18432.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
References: <mailman.6847.1237365859.18432.urth-urth.net at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID: <49C11229.6060200 at verizon.net>

I generally agree with you. But it is known that guns make IMPERSONAL killing easier and therefore, under the right conditions (the conditions being of greater importance) more common across the same situations. 

You'll have fewer gratuitous shootings of mugging victims after they have handed over their wallets, for example. So it is a factor. 

And there's also the matter of accidental deaths, of course, but that is also affected by gun experience. Which experience has generally been lost in the US with the demise of farming.

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Message: 10
Date: Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:41:20 -0500
From: Lane Haygood <lhaygood at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: (urth) The Politics Of Gene Wolfe
To: The Urth Mailing List <urth at lists.urth.net>
Message-ID:
	<272706220903180141h5353283fmb40a74269faabbc0 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I know. My point is that ownership or non-ownership doesn't affect
violent crime rates.  This is one of the rare occasions where I think
both sides of the American gun control debate are off-base.
Preventing access to guns will likely stop firearm-killings from
happening, but I don't think it'd have a significant affect on the
overall violent crime rate.  If you walk home and catch your
significant other with another person, and you happen to grab a
kitchen knife before you get your gun, it doesn't matter.  Murder is
murder whether you do it with a gun or not.

So pointing to countries with low gun ownership rates and low murder
rates is pointing out a correlation but what is not likely a causal
relation.  If you look at other factors, I'm going to bet that you
find the countries with the lowest per capita murder rates have a high
general standard of living, significant federal support programs, a
well-balanced population, plenty of jobs and a relatively low-stress
living environment.  I'm also willing to bet that no significant
organized crime goes on in these countries/areas. Gun ownership (or
the lack thereof) is a non-issue.

-L.

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