From: Michael Lorrey (retroman@together.net)
Date: Tue Dec 16 1997 - 06:46:07 MST
OK, here's the tally as of 8:30 pm EST, Monday, Dec 15th.
NOTE: To reiterate a previous post, the only reason I compared the
American subscribers to the stats I had on American Gun ownership in
last nights tally was simply to compare apples to apples as much as
possible. I don't have gun ownership figures for the rest of the world,
or for other specific countries. THose that have such stats are welcome
to post them. I did note that there were 3 non-American, non-gun owners,
two of which have since said that they would, if they could live in
America, own a gun, so that kinda makes them ambivalent as far as
ownership rights are concerned, while still being non-gun owners.
The current numbers:
Gun Owners | tot. guns owned | Would if they could | non-owners
15 | 105 | 4 | 8
As to nationality:
Americans: 13 | 95 | 0 | 3
Non-Americans: 2 | 10 | 4 | 5
I won't break down the nationalities further, for fear of inadvertently,
indirectly violating privacy.
I think that it's interesting that there is such a large group of
non-Americans who, willingly or unwillingly, could be considered to be
politically repressed for not being able to exercise their rights of
self defense. I doubt we'll hear anything from Amnesty International on
this anytime soon. ;)
Lee Daniel Crocker is right that as a self appointed sampling, this
survey is hardly "statistically valid" in that it only applies to
subscribers to the list, but only as a representation of those that may
share extropian values but are not subscribers. In that we are hearing
directly from subscribers, I think that it is a decent indication of the
demographics of those currently involved in the list, and as a
comparison of current subscribing extropians to the general population,
it is valid, as much as any readership surveys compiled by any
group/publication, etc. is.
As to those who are "ambivalent" about gun ownership, I would suggest
that if the only reason you want to own a gun is for self defense
against criminals, then you are doing it for, not what I'd say is the
wrong reason, but more for not the best reason.
Homer Simpson said, "Guns are for three things: defending your family,
killing deeelicious animals, and keeping King George out of your face!"
WHich reason is the best one????
-- TANSTAAFL!!! Michael Lorrey ------------------------------------------------------------ mailto:retroman@together.net Inventor of the Lorrey Drive MikeySoft: Graphic Design/Animation/Publishing/Engineering ------------------------------------------------------------ How many fnords did you see before breakfast today?
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