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Guns, Privacy, and Crime

nber.org

101–110 of 149 posts

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#101

It is so weird to see Americans talking about guns... When you live in a society without guns everywhere, the notion that law-abiding citizens don't need and don't want guns is just plain obvious, like "water is wet and the wind blows". Civilized life is life with low crime so you don't need guns. They're far more trouble than solution. But talk an American talk about gun control and they go full crazy on "socialist…

It’s so weird to see non-Americans with no concept of American history criticize American gun rights or comprehend the foundational principles of an armed citizenry. Cliff’s notes: gun rights are not as much about personal self defense as they are national self defense. They allow the people to protect the country and protect themselves from the country (ie government).

> […] protect themselves from the country (ie government).

Non-violent civil resistance has greater odds of working than violent resistance.

Over the last century movements that used violence only succeeded about 25% of the time, and generally resulted in autocratic regimes when they did. Non-violent movements succeeded about twice as often, and generally resulted in non-autocratic systems afterwards (main exception probably being Iran).

See the book Why civil resistance works by Chenoweth which does a review of the literature.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#102

It is so weird to see Americans talking about guns... When you live in a society without guns everywhere, the notion that law-abiding citizens don't need and don't want guns is just plain obvious, like "water is wet and the wind blows". Civilized life is life with low crime so you don't need guns. They're far more trouble than solution. But talk an American talk about gun control and they go full crazy on "socialist…

It’s so weird to see non-Americans with no concept of American history criticize American gun rights or comprehend the foundational principles of an armed citizenry. Cliff’s notes: gun rights are not as much about personal self defense as they are national self defense. They allow the people to protect the country and protect themselves from the country (ie government).

[deleted]

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#103
post #62

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> How can a blind person shoot a gun in a responsible way? Don’t be simple-minded. Blind people can shoot a gun responsibly the same as anyone else: be sure of your target and what’s behind it. Yes, that’s more difficult for persons that have impaired or even no usable vision, but knowing many legally blind persons I can assure you that they are responsible firearms owners.

...be sure of your target and what’s behind it. How?

By knowing the layout of your house? And what direction you can safely shoot in? Brick homes or strategically set up bookshelves go a long way.

People who aren’t blind have the same exact considerations, except they orient themselves with vision, whereas the blind use their other senses.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#104
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I think the question is which one of us needs to clean the damned thing.

You’re married, decide amongst yourselves. Who owns the weapon wouldn’t matter who has a responsibility to clean. Since you’re married, in Georgia, it’s community property and you both own it and both have the responsibility to clean. Who would you like to help you decide this issue of who cleans the weapon?

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#105

> 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.

Have these zip codes been normalised for socioeconomic factors, otherwise this could very well be correlation and not causality.

It could still be correlation and jot causality if normalized.

I think you may mean that a socioeconomic factor could be responsible for the correlation.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 neighb…

I grew up in a place where gun ownership was the norm, and I have had a gun pulled on me in anger following a mutual fault car accident. People fuck up and get mad, confrontation happens. It is better for everyone if having firearms at hand is not the norm. Aside from that I also caught a stray bullet in the hand when I was 15. I was in the woods, it was hunting season, I should have known better, etc etc. Hundreds o…

>I grew up in a place where gun ownership was the norm

Same here, rural America Deep South: Most people I know are armed and concealed carry almost all the time. In over 4 decades here, I have never seen a person even brandish a weapon.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

I don't know about homes, but I suspect there is a reason that Nashville is #1 in thefts of guns from cars.

I’m not tracking - what is the implication?

Anecdotally, was in Nashville for a work training event at a Fairfield near the new Grand Ol’ Opry.

Of the 2 dozen attendees, all with anything remotely “gun” suggestive had their trucks burglarized at the hotel. Several lost weapons during the burglaries.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#108
post #44

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.

Also, state reciprocity for travel.

Re: Guns, Privacy, and Crime

#110
post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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

Guns are one of the most common things burglars are looking for when they’re robbing a home. Contrary to some popular rhetoric, people with guns effectively never stop crimes in progress.

Even the lowest estimates by pro gun control groups and researches put defensive gun uses in the US at 55k+ a year. Most estimates range from 500k to several million a year.
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