HappySqurriel said:
http://www.sfu.ca/~mauser/papers/saf/GCAW290702.doc.pdf "If gun control is supposed to reduce violent crime, then eventually this must bedemonstrated to be true, or gun control is no more than a hollow promise. However, mostcriminologists admit (albeit reluctantly) that there is very little empirical support for theclaim that laws designed to reduce general access to firearms reduce criminal violence(eg, Kleck 1997). Frequently, assertions that gun laws work turn out to be bogus. In Canada, the government uses the falling homicide rate as support for their claim that guncontrol laws are working. Unfortunately for this argument, the homicide rate has beenfalling even faster in the United States." "The drop in the criminal violence is much more dramatic in the US than it is in Canada(Gannon 2001). Over the past decade, the Canadian homicide rate has declined about25%, but the violent crime rate has not changed. In the US during the same time period,both the homicide and the violent crime rates have plummeted by more than 40%. Wecan’t credit gun laws entirely with this success. In both countries, the aging populationhas helped bring down crime rates, and, in the US, long jail sentences for violentcriminals has also been effective." "..." "Nevertheless, gun laws have played an important role in reducing crime rates in the US.Since 1986, more than 25 states have passed new laws encouraging responsible citizensto carry concealed handguns. As a result, the numbers of armed Americans in malls andin their cars has grown to almost 3 million men and women. As surprising as it is to themedia, these new laws have caused violent crime rates to drop, including homicide rates.In his scholarly book, More Guns, Less Crime, Professor John Lott shows how violentcrime has fallen faster in those states that have introduced concealed carry laws than inthe rest of the US (Lott 2000). His study is the most comprehensive analysis of Americancrime data ever completed. He shows that criminals are rational enough to fear being shotby armed civilians" "..." "The destruction of the confiscated firearms cost Australian taxpayers an estimated $A500 million, and there has been no visible impact on violent crime. Robbery and armedrobbery rates continue to escalate. Armed robbery has increased 166% nationwide --jumping from 30 per 100,000 in 1996 to 50 per 100,000 in 1999 (AIC, 2001). Thehomicide rate has not declined, and the share of firearm homicide involving handguns hasdoubled in the past five years (Mouzos 2001). As in Great Britain and Canada, fewfirearms used in homicide are legally held; in 99/00 only 12 out of 65 (18%) wereidentified as being misused by their legal owner (Mouzos 2001)." |
Wow, where to start on that.
First section:
The "falling" crime rates in America vs. Canada: America has 2.5 times the murder rate of Canda even today. While it's great to say America's fall faster, it's hardly fair, as Canada already has one of the lowest crime rates for a developed nation in the world. There is no way to have no crime in a country, so obviously there is a limit to how "fast" it can "fall." Japan's hasn't fallen at all in the last decade. Apparently crime is awful there! (Japan has the lowest homicide rate per capita of any major developed nation)
To put this in terms game nerds can understand: The PS3 had the largest sales increase in 2008 vs. 2007 of any system by a wide margin, but the Wii barely increased at all, as it's still sold out. The Wii is limited by stock issues, but the PS3 had nowhere to go but up.
Second section: http://www.asahi-net.or.jp/~zj5j-gttl/guns.htm#Self-defense
Third section:
This is the best case against gun control, but it's still ignoring all the countries that do have signifficantly less crime than the United States that have gun control. That article points out that most crimes were commited with illegal weapons, but it still reduces the overall rate of crime. Making the acquisition of such weapons more difficult makes it harder for people to acquire them illegally as well. Focusing on one specific aspect of the law instead of the entirity of it is a well-known phrase on this website: Cherry Picking.
