Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Guns, Privacy, and Crime

nber.org

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

41–50 of 149 posts

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#41

Post by nadavwr »

burner556 wrote: post #17
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #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.

If you were armed too they probably would think twice.

What makes you think they'd think even once?

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#42

Post by User23 »

staticautomatic wrote: post #37
3-cheese-sundae wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That’s called brandishing and it’s still illegal

Also could be civil assault

There’s a wide misconception that assault is an act if violence but legally it’s merely the unlawful threat of violence, which is of course implied by actual unlawful violence.

Unholstering or otherwise displaying a firearm is assault by definition unless there’s a justifiable reason to do so.

Edit: re: assault: https://www.findlaw.com/criminal/criminal-charges/assault-an... “In most states, an assault or battery is committed when one person physically strikes or attempts to physically strike another, or when they act in a threatening manner to put another in fear of immediate harm.”

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#43

Post by Arubis »

therealjumbo wrote: post #35
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sort of thinking directly brought about WW1 as well as the Cuban missile crisis. If everyone was armed then society's short-fused lunatics are the ones most likely to misjudge a situation and start shooting first over something trivial. Goes a long way to explaining most shootings by the police too.

CCW is very common in the US now, CCW holders are less likely to commit crimes than police officers. In general CCW or constitutional carry states don't see big wild west shoutouts at grocery stores so no. People are generally good and honest. Criminals are the exception to that, except they don't really care about whether or not carrying a weapon is illegal.

> CCW holders are less likely to commit crimes than police officers.

What’s “commit” here? Accusation, conviction, something else?

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#44

Post by User23 »

ourmandave wrote: post #40

Getting a gun permit in TN is actually rather restrictive compared to say, Iowa, where they approve them for blind people. https://www.tn.gov/safety/tnhp/handgun/eligibilityrequiremen...

TN is a constitutional carry state now.

Even so I recommend getting a permit because carrying a lethal weapon is an awesome responsibility and needs to be treated with respect. The classes teach much useful knowledge.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#45

Post by jka »

therealjumbo wrote: post #35
Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sort of thinking directly brought about WW1 as well as the Cuban missile crisis. If everyone was armed then society's short-fused lunatics are the ones most likely to misjudge a situation and start shooting first over something trivial. Goes a long way to explaining most shootings by the police too.

CCW is very common in the US now, CCW holders are less likely to commit crimes than police officers. In general CCW or constitutional carry states don't see big wild west shoutouts at grocery stores so no. People are generally good and honest. Criminals are the exception to that, except they don't really care about whether or not carrying a weapon is illegal.

That may be true, although it doesn't really address the parent commentor's line of argument: in environments where few (if any) people are allowed to have guns, concealed carry isn't necessary, and gun crime is rare.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#46

Post by denton-scratch »

ourmandave wrote: post #38

We use detailed crime and handgun carry permit data for the city of Memphis to estimate the impact of publicity about the database on burglaries. We find that burglaries increased in zip codes with fewer gun permits, and decreased in those with more gun permits, after the database was publicized. So to reduce my chances of house robbery just get a gun permit. You don't even need to own a gun and all the hazards that…

Yeah, you can read that statistic more than one way. For example, my reaction was that you should move to an area with lots of permits, because the robbers are clearly working over the low-permit neighbourhoods.

I mean, if you're going to rob someone, it's often better if they're not armed.

[Edit] I forgot about the "good and bad neighbourhood" thing that is present in some US cities. I mean, all cities everywhere have rough neighbourhoods or estates; but I was shocked when I first arrived as a guest, to be advised: "Don't cross the road at the end of the block, that's a bad neighbourhood".

I wonder how permit levels correlate with the "good/bad" ranking of a neigbourhood.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#48

Post by AnIdiotOnTheNet »

Simon_O_Rourke wrote: post #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.

Eh. I live in a state where a lot of people own firearms, myself included, and have open carry laws as well as concealed carry permits. It really isn't a big deal. Unfortunately humans are humans and, worse, Americans are Americans, and crazy people go crazy and do crazy person shit with a lot more regularity than we'd like, which is only compounded by easy access to firearms. But I'm willing to bet most of my neighbors own guns, including the right-wing troll[0] living up the street. I have no real fear that any of them are going to pull a gun on me.

[0] No seriously, this guy puts up intentionally inflammatory yard signs.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#49

Post by JKCalhoun »

nostromo wrote: post #33
Glyptodon wrote: post #10

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?

Targeting and burglarizing homes of known gun-owners seems like a great way to have a very short criminal career.

Pretty sure they break in when no one is home. Guns are second to cash in terms of desirability for robbers.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#50

Post by jasonwatkinspdx »

nostromo wrote: post #33
Glyptodon wrote: post #10

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?

Targeting and burglarizing homes of known gun-owners seems like a great way to have a very short criminal career.

Happens all the time. Guns are almost as easy as drugs to sell/fence. Also, folks doing cat burglar stuff obviously don't have good risk estimation going on in the first place. But on top of that, most home robberies happen during daylight work hours, when the person breaking in has already identified the house is empty. The movie/tv scenario of a dude in all black breaking in at night with a flashlight is more exceptional.
Post reply on HN