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Opening Arguments

Evening the odds

For the "well, duh" file:

RICHMOND, Va. (AP) - Gun-related violence has fallen steadily since 2006 in Virginia despite record firearm sales, according to a university professor's analysis.

"Despite"? How about "because of"? Bad guys already have their guns. "Record firearm sales" means we're getting more of them. Arm the right people, crime "falls steadily." Why is that so damn hard to understand?

 

Comments

tim zank
Tue, 11/27/2012 - 10:14am

It's hard for them to understand simply because the progressive/liberal mindset makes no allowance for common sense and the emotional nature of their thinking process....You'll never convince them it's a deterrent (despite the facts) for law abiding citizens to have guns because there will always be at least one kid that is accidentally shot (out of 300+ million people), therefore, we MUST protect EVERYONE from the chance that could happen...

They have an insatiable need to control and micromanage everyones life...it will not go away.......

 

Harl Delos
Tue, 11/27/2012 - 11:03am

Most criminals are in their 20s, give or take a little. 

Roe v. Wade was a 1973 decision. By the time abortion became available in Virginia, it was 1975 - and golly, gee whiz, 21 years later crime started dropping in Virginia.  Why is it so damned hard to understand that unwanted babies don't bond with their mothers and they turn into criminals?  In New York, they legalized abortion earlier, and crime started dropping earlier.  Uh, coincidence?  They didn't change the Sullivan Act!

Perhaps someone can explain to me how concealed weapons deter crime.  If they got rid of the CCW permits so that people carried weapons openly, that might result in some deterrence, but I've never understood how criminas are deterred by concealed weapons.  Do criminals have X-ray vision?  If the good citizen pulls out his gun to thwart a crime in progress, it's still a reportable crime!

Record firearm sales are largely due to people buying 15 or 20 guns or more.  Those people don't carry all their guns, and even if they did, they wouldn't deter more crime with the addition of #14 and #15. And you won't convince anyone that guns ought not be banned with a tired old argument that makes no sense.

I'm not anti-gun.  You can make a quite handy bomb with ammonia and iodine, and not only do you kill the person you want to kill, but a half dozen others at the same time.  It'd be better if criminals used guns - and were expert marksmen, so there was less collateral damage.

littlejohn
Tue, 11/27/2012 - 8:52pm

Harl, I think the theory is as follows: Criminals are aware that there is a concealed carry law. Criminals therefore know that some citizens are carrying. But since it's a concealed carry, they can't know who is carrying. Therefore, they have to consider the possibility that any potential victim is armed. This deters them.

I don't know if it really works that way, but that is the theory. Since it's at least plausible, I won't tell anyone whether I'm packing. Make my day.

Harl Delos
Tue, 11/27/2012 - 11:03pm

There are a lot of CCWs around, but how many of them are actually being used?  If you checked the people in line right now at WalMart, what percentage of the shoppers would be carrying?

When's the last time an innocent bystander with a CCW stopped a crime in progress?  I'd think it would make the news, since it's so infrequent.  Pulling out a gun while a stickup is in progress is likely to result in the criminal shooting you.  If you stand still and pretend you're wallpaper, it's unlikely that any bullets will be aimed at you.

Littlejohn, there are stories in the news all the time about innocent bystanders getting killed by cops. When's Jeffrey Johnson killed the boss that recently him, he walked away slowly.  Cops, on the other hand, shot ten innocent people, killing one of them, but not landing a single bullet in Johnson.

The people responsible for violent crime are kids.  Kids figure they are immortal.  They quite reasonably figure that it doesn't matter if someone is carrying a gun in their armpit because they can squeeze a trigger three times before a citizen can empty his hands, unbutton his shirt, draw his weapon, and fire back. And they identify with TV and movie characters whose weapons never runs out of ammunition, and never gets hit by a bullet, although their own bullets always hit their target.

People know that there are CCW permits around, but how many people carry at any given time? Jeffrey Holmes killed 12 people in that movie theatre, and wounded 58, but he wasn't wounded by a single bullet. There were at least 4 people carrying guns at the Gabby Giffords shooting, and none of them fired a single round at Jeffrey Laughner.

Guns are heavy and bulky, and the holster straps irritate the skin.  And how many people with CCWs are willing to pull out a weapon during a violent crime and attract the gunfire of the criminal?

It sounds good until you look for evidence that it happens.  Concealed weapons don't seem to deter crime. A weapon carried openly might.  Not much evidence either way on open carry.  But there are a lot of places barring weapons on site except by their own security guards, and if you frequently have to get half-undressed in order to leave your weapon in the glovebox, pretty soon you'll realize that your gun is more of an invitation to break into your car than it is personal protection.

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