From: Matthew Gaylor (freematt@coil.com)
Date: Mon May 31 1999 - 07:40:03 MDT
[Note from Matthew Gaylor: Ed Kent is a Professor of philosophy at
Brooklyn College. Ed and I agree on many issues, but the Second Amendment
isn't one of them. Ed has made a gratuitous assertion that Professor
Lotts stats can't be trusted. Ed's quote reproduced below states "Lott's
stats are not to be trusted. Those of the police chiefs nationially ARE!"]
From: Edward Kent <ekent@brooklyn.cuny.edu>
To: Matthew Gaylor <freematt@coil.com>
Subject: Re: Gun Policy in the Aftermath of Littleton
Some comments here, Matt:
Matthew Gaylor wrote:
>
> http://www.cato.org/dailys/05-26-99.html
>
> May 26, 1999
>
> Gun Policy in the Aftermath of Littleton
>
> by Doug Bandow
>
> Doug Bandow is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute.
>
> We live in an age of paradox. Media saturation following events like the
> murders at Columbine High School in Littleton, Colo., makes it appear that
> violence surrounds us. Yet the crime rate has been falling and school
> shootings remain extremely rare. In contrast, the serious violence that
> pervades some inner-city schools never makes the news.
=================
Correct up to this point.>
> Moreover, tragedies like Columbine almost always launch a spate of
> counterproductive policy initiatives. Such as gun control. Although
> inadequate morals rather than laws led to the Columbine murders, activists,
====================
Inadequate morals? Non-sense. One of the kids was nuts and the other
was a follower. Had guns not been readily available, they wouldn't have
dared.
====================
> interest groups and politicians immediately dusted off their old proposals
> to launch anew.
>
> The temptation to ban Þrearms is understandable. Anything seems reasonable
> in an attempt to save even a few people who die by bullets every year.
>
> Yet private possession of weapons does not automatically lead to their
> misuse: heavily armed societies like Israel and Switzerland have only a
> fraction of our violent crime. Anyway, it is too late to try to disarm a
> society where 240 million guns are in private hands.
===============
Correct.
> Nor is disarmament a reasonable goal. It is easy to belittle the use of
> Þrearms for hunting or target shooting, yet the right to engage in such
> activities is the bedrock of a free society. Sportsmen rarely misuse their
> weapons; those who don't should not be punished for the sins of the few who
> do.
=============
No problem with hunting weapons -- except for kids.
> Using guns for self-defense is even more important. There is no more
> fundamental right, especially in a world in which the police offer only
> imperfect protection, at best. John Lott of the University of Chicago
> Þgures that guns are used Þve times as often to prevent as to commit crimes.
=========
This is BS. Most of those self-defense firearms end up killing hubby or
his wife or one of his kids.
==========
> Nor should one desire a world in which only state ofÞcials possess weapons.
> Although a standing Army has replaced the militia as America's main defense
> against foreign foes, the nation's Founders rightly distrusted giving
> government a monopoly on deadly force. Tyranny may seem exceedingly
> unlikely, but disarming average citizens makes it more rather than less
> likely to occur.
=================
Come on! We didn't have standing armies then, but we are not still
fighting off the British or anyone else -- but the NRA!
=================
> Nevertheless, as predictable as the tides, Columbine led to a new campaign
> to regulate Þrearms. Proposals include background checks at gun shows,
> trigger locks, limits on the number of guns that can be purchased, a ban on
> concealable Þrearms and increasing the legal age to buy Þrearms. Even some
> past critics of gun controls have þipped in the face of the public
> relations onslaught.
>
> None of these proposals would have stopped the Columbine massacre, however.
> As Lott points out, the killers ''violated at least 17 state and federal
> weapons-control laws.'' A couple more on the books would have made no
> difference.
==============
But they sure would have ended many other deaths as cited above.
==============
> But new rules could make crime more likely by disarming potential victims
> and citizen cops. Research by Lott suggests that allowing people to carry
> concealed weapons lowers the violent crime rate. Those who get a permit
> from the local sheriff or police chief aren't likely to knock over the
> local convenience store. However, they might prevent someone else from
> knocking it over, and the bad guys know it.
===============
Lott's stats are not to be trusted. Those of the police chiefs
nationially ARE!
=====================
Indeed, private individuals with guns - one a vice principal, the other
a
> banquet hall owner - ended two recent school shootings.
================
For every one of these we have 100 murders and accidental deaths at
least. The CATO boys are smart enough to know that anecdotes are mere
rhetoric -- not evidence.
================
> Massad Ayoob, head of the Lethal Force Institute, which trains police and
> military personnel, observes: "Previously unthinkable dangers can sometimes
> only be neutralized by previously unthinkable defenses.''
>
> There is no evidence that waiting periods lower crime rates. Such
> restrictions do, however, prevent people from buying a gun to protect
> themselves from imminent danger. Nor should adults between 18 and 21 be
> denied Þrearms, as if they were uniquely dangerous.
===============
False! And known to be false!. These guys are always lying through their
teeth.
===============
Trigger locks would save few lives a minuscule number of children die
in gun accidents, less than in many mundane household tragedies but
would
> hinder people from defending themselves. Individual owners can best balance
> the one risk against the other.
================
A kid a day is not miniscule in my books.
==========================
> Licensed dealers already must conduct background checks, including at gun
> shows. Private individuals need not, but there is no evidence that
> potential criminals þock to these very public gatherings to consummate
> illegal deals.
============
I guess they havae a sense of humor, too.
==============
There already are 20,000 different laws covering the purchase and use
of
> Þrearms. Criminals routinely violate one or more of these restrictions to
> acquire a weapon. They aren't likely to hesitate breaking another one or
> two. New controls and regulations would most burden the law-abiding.
>
> The most potent response to gun crimes is to punish the criminal. Use of a
> Þrearm should automatically increase one's sentence. Those who sell guns to
> criminals or juveniles should be likewise punished. Existing laws should be
> rigorously enforced.
==================
No legitimate excuse for passing out concealable weapons. Handguns
should go the way of sawed off shootguns. They kill, too.
======================
> Legislators should, however, pause before passing any new measures.
> Tragedies like Columbine too often trigger policy-making by emotion. In
> this case seeking to ''just do something'' is worse than doing nothing. It
> is likely to make us all less safe.
===========
Speak for youself, buddy. I live in NYC. Had a lady shot on her way to
work in the 'hood' just last month. Guy on a bike trying to snatch her
purse. No gun, no dead stock broker.
===========
> This article appeared in Copley News Service, May 24, 1999.
>
> | Index of Daily Commentaries | Cato Institute Home |
>
> © 1999 The Cato Institute
==================
Finally it is the violence which guns spread in the cities (as well as
the family affairs elsewhere) that I am concerned about.
Your gun robbery victim friend from NYC.
Bet you won't send this out to the list. Ed
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