Re: [Leica] Gun control

[frank theriault <knarf.theriault@sympatico.ca>]

Hi, Larry,

I'm not sure what the point of your article is.  If it's that gun controls actually
increase murder rates, property crimes, and the crime rate in general, then you're
wrong.

If it's that levels of gun ownership, and gun control laws are only two of very many
factors that explain crime, then you're right.

Because, while England, with it's gun controls may have a higher murder rate, property
crime rate, and crime rate in general than the US, the flip side of the coin is Canada.
We have more stringent gun controls that almost any other country.  It's almost
impossible to get a handgun permit here;  only a very few people here own them.  And, we
have a far lower murder rate, property crime rate, and crime rate in general, than the
US.

Our largest city is Toronto, a city of over 3 million, and I think we average 50 or 60
murders a year.

Is it because we have gun controls?  That's likely a factor, but obviously there are
cultural and social things at work as well.

I guess my point is that the NRA position of "gun controls = higher crime rates" is just
as facile as the contrary view.

cheers,
frank

LRZeitlin@aol.com wrote:

> Several years ago I wrote this newspaper column as part of as series called
> "The Grass is Always Grayer Next to the Slate Mine: Forty Five letters from
> Wales." I think it supports your point nicely.
>
> "   If you read the glossy travel brochures you might think that Britain is
> an island overflowing with peace and tranquility. How untrue. The newspapers
> and TV newscasts are fond of derogating the USA but they seem to be stuck in a
> vision of Prohibition era Chicago with junior league Al Capones shooting up the
> neighborhood and the Mafia running the corner pizza parlor. The Columbine
> school shooting is a case in point. Rather than treating the problem as a case of
> uncontrolled high school angst that needed a lot of parental attention and
> some hands on school supervision, it was all blamed on the US Constitution and
> the National Rifle Association. Britain has the moral high ground here. They
> banned hand guns after a similar shooting a few years ago. What the papers
> didn't mention was that the murder rate in Britain is almost as high as that in the
> US except that the weapons of choice are cricket bats, broken Guinness
> bottles and assorted blunt objects.
>
>     There were also three bombings in London's minority districts last week.
> A neo-Nazi group claimed credit for the nail bombs which exploded in Black,
> Bangladeshi, and gay neighborhoods, killing three members of a wedding party and
> wounding dozens. While the papers couldn't blame this on the lack of US gun
> control laws, they pointed the accusing finger at the Internet. It seems that
> survival fanatics living in Montana have posted plans for bomb making. To prove
> their point, the papers reprinted detailed instructions on how to make the
> terrorist bombs. All it takes is the powder from a box of shotgun shells poured
> into a pipe, a cheap alarm clock as a timer, and a bag of hardware store
> nails. Easy. Any child can do it. And given the detailed information in the papers,
> one probably will. Even without the Internet.
>
>     The British don’t need guns or bombs to kill people. Syringes will do
> just fine. Dr. Harold Shipman, a general practitioner, was just indicted for
> killing three hundred of his patients. Not through malpractice but through
> cupidity. Dr. Shipman had his elderly patients sign over their property to him for
> safekeeping. Soon after, the patients took a turn for the worse and died in
> their beds with Dr. Shipman in attendance at the final moments. A journalist took
> the time to calculate that Dr. Shipman was singlehandedly responsible for more
> deaths than all of Britain’s serial killers combined.
>
> England (not Wales) has twice the rate of property crime as the US and four
> times the rate of auto theft. In central London the probability of finding your
> car radio still in the car after a night parked on the street is roughly the
> same as winning the lottery. That is if you are lucky enough to find the car.
> Most cars are sold with "immobilizers", little devices which enable you to
> disable a vital portion of the ignition circuitry when you park. Armored steering
> wheel covers are a big seller. These are jimmy proof steel pie plates that
> cover the entire wheel and prevent it from being turned. We don't have either an
> immobilizer or a steering wheel since our car wouldn't tempt the hungriest
> crook. Actually we have taken to leaving it in the seedier parts of town with
> the windows open and the ignition keys in the lock.
>
>     The only statement not blaming the US for Britain's wave of violent crime
> was an editorial in the London Times which suggested that if tough gun laws
> were the only answer, then Washington D.C. would be the safest place in the US.
> In fact, they pointed out, the safest places are Vermont and New Hampshire,
> both states with the highest percentage of gun ownership in the country.
> Perhaps, the editorial suggested, the stratospheric crime rate in Britain is because
> there are too few guns. If home owners felt that they had a moral obligation
> to shoot housebreakers and thieves it might convince a few bad guys to think
> twice. Then Britons too could leave doors and cars unlocked - just like in
> Vermont. The NRA would have rejoiced."
>
> And I SHOT all the pictures during my stay with a Leica.
>
> Regards,
>
> Larry Z
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