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Guns, Privacy, and Crime

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11–20 of 149 posts

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#11

> We find that burglaries ... decreased in those with more gun permits Interesting find. Although this doesn't mean guns prevent burglaries just by mere presence. And if anything it ends in bloodshed because thieves get shot at upon a breach and it's not necessarily a safer scenario.

not sure most people are put off by their community being unsafe for burglars

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#12
I lived out in Berlin where basically nobody except the police and the (really) bad guys are armed. Sure, there's burglary, but much more likely was bicycle theft... I had three stolen in one calendar year.

To be honest, I was more comfortable that none of my a-hole neighbors were armed, because they would have pulled a gun on you for leaving out the rubbish an hour too early or talking to loudly after 8pm.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#13

> We find that burglaries ... decreased in those with more gun permits Interesting find. Although this doesn't mean guns prevent burglaries just by mere presence. And if anything it ends in bloodshed because thieves get shot at upon a breach and it's not necessarily a safer scenario.

This reminds me of one of my favorite (due to its uniqueness) local laws in the US: > In Kennesaw, Georgia, local law says that “every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm.” “If you're going to commit a crime in Kennesaw and you're the criminal – are you going to take a chance that that homeowner is a law-abiding citizen?” asked Kennesaw Mayor Derek Easterling https://www.cn…

Almost every time I've heard this mentioned it's framed as "I live in such a backward place, they have a law that requires everyone to own guns."

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#14

> We find that burglaries ... decreased in those with more gun permits Interesting find. Although this doesn't mean guns prevent burglaries just by mere presence. And if anything it ends in bloodshed because thieves get shot at upon a breach and it's not necessarily a safer scenario.

If it reduces the amount of violence, it reduces the amount of violence. You don't get to take a measured reduction and conclude that it increased.

You can still claim a lot of things, but not that.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#15

> We find that burglaries ... decreased in those with more gun permits Interesting find. Although this doesn't mean guns prevent burglaries just by mere presence. And if anything it ends in bloodshed because thieves get shot at upon a breach and it's not necessarily a safer scenario.

Considering that about 266,000[1] people are injured by burglars per year, deaths included, I'm not seeing how the resident being able to shoot back is making anything "less safe" for anyone except for the burglar, which I'm pretty sure anyone getting burgled is usually ok with.

Though as to why burglaries went down, I wonder if people got more alarm systems or took other deterrent countermeasures after the database was published?

[1] A DOJ special report PDF https://www.bjs.gov/content/pub/pdf/vdhb.pdf

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#16
post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This reminds me of one of my favorite (due to its uniqueness) local laws in the US: > In Kennesaw, Georgia, local law says that “every head of household residing in the city limits is required to maintain a firearm.” “If you're going to commit a crime in Kennesaw and you're the criminal – are you going to take a chance that that homeowner is a law-abiding citizen?” asked Kennesaw Mayor Derek Easterling https://www.cn…

Gun question not withstanding, am I the head of my household or is my wife?

Why does that matter? If one of you buys something, doesn't the other one of you own it too?

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#17

I lived out in Berlin where basically nobody except the police and the (really) bad guys are armed. Sure, there's burglary, but much more likely was bicycle theft... I had three stolen in one calendar year. To be honest, I was more comfortable that none of my a-hole neighbors were armed, because they would have pulled a gun on you for leaving out the rubbish an hour too early or talking to loudly after 8pm.

If you were armed too they probably would think twice.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#18

I'm a bit surprised, I would have guessed publishing permit holder locations would have lead to organized and targeted attempts to monitor and steal guns from the households listed. (In the same sort of way I'd expect people to smash and grab a truck with an NRA sticker to maybe find a gun in the glove box.) Edit: Would it be different if the publication didn't bin by zip code?

Aren’t you assuming that the risk/reward of breaking into a house to steal a firearm is lower that trying to acquire one by other means? (Illegal arms dealers, using false or stolen credentials, etc.)

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#19

I lived out in Berlin where basically nobody except the police and the (really) bad guys are armed. Sure, there's burglary, but much more likely was bicycle theft... I had three stolen in one calendar year. To be honest, I was more comfortable that none of my a-hole neighbors were armed, because they would have pulled a gun on you for leaving out the rubbish an hour too early or talking to loudly after 8pm.

If you were armed too they probably would think twice.

I really doubt the narrative that someone who would pull out a gun over trash would spare the time to think twice.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#20
Home burglaries in general have been trending down regardless of gun ownership. Burglary just isn't as profitable anymore. Common target items like consumer electronics and small appliances have gotten so cheap that they're not worth the hassle. It seems like the burglars have moved on to stealing catalytic converters from parked cars.

https://ucr.fbi.gov/crime-in-the-u.s/2019/crime-in-the-u.s.-...

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