A popular political tactic is to make a leap across the gap between “might happen” and “has happened.” This is often not so much a leap of faith as a leap of fraud.
An advertising campaign is set to start to day in Great Britain, paid for by the Brady Campaign to Control Gun Violence. The ads are quoted in today’s Independent as cautioning tourists:
"In Florida, avoid disputes. Use special caution in arguing with motorists on Florida roads. Police and prosecutors are concerned about the potential for unnecessary violence."
Any Floridian over 21, of sound mind, without a police record or record of alcohol abuse and who submits to fingerprinting, can be licensed to carry a concealed weapon. It has been that way since 1987 and since 1987 gun violence has been on the decline in Florida. What has recently changed in Florida law that takes effect today is the requirement to let the attacker shoot first or to first attempt to run away. If an armed bandit breaks through your front door, you were required to climb out the window rather than to use deadly force. These requirements make it fairly easy for anyone to kill you before you are allowed to respond. Someone like me, who has on more than one occasion been confronted by hostile groups of trespassers in the chaos after a hurricane, might take some comfort in not being required to abandon home and family and to run away.
But the bottom line is that Gun related Crime is not on the increase and is decreasing and police and prosecutors are not united in opposition. The legislation that the Brady Campaign has pushed can’t be shown to have had any effect and the incidence of gun crimes in places where the laws are highly restrictive seems as high as or higher than in areas where they are no so. If Gun crimes are declining for reasons other than the Brady Campaign cares to admit, I can only conclude that their mission is to approach a problem in their way rather than to solve it. To me this seems as bone headed and dogmatic as the Republicans’ insistence on solving all problems with tax cuts.
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6 comments:
When I have more time I'll show you how you are wrong.
What about main street at high noon?
Could it be that the US has a tendency to lock criminals up and throw away the key? Especially third time offenders?
Well we certainly do - perhaps you read the Times article, but violent crime is declining in places with and without carry permits, with and without the Death penalty and within and without the Bible belt. The dire predictions of slaughter in the streets has not come true - the opposit has and it's hard for many prophets and crusaders to face.
All I'm trying to say is that if my home is not my castle is it the government's castle? If I can not protect myself, then who will? Depriving a man of the right to self defense is not a liberal idea, but an authoritarian idea that somehow got taken up by Liberals.
And the right to defend your home with lethal force if confronted with an evildoer in your space has always been the law of the land. Maybe restricting the right of apartment dwellers to own AK-47s who while maybe plugging the evildoer with a burst of fire might also shoot through the floor, ceilings and walls of the neighbors is not such a stupid idea.
The law in florida is has been changed to whereas before you had the duty to retreat from danger when the danger had past now once the danger has past and your attacker has retreated you can chase your wounded attacker down the street catch him, tackle him and put acouple in his noggin. Can't wait for the ring and run prank by some 15 year old who ends up dead by some brave homeowner protecting his castle.
Conjecture - and I think you misread the law here. Even a cop can't do what you imagine will be done and nobody is talking about automatic weapons, which despite the nonsense about "assault rifles" are not available.
The bloodbath predicted by the Brady Crusaders never occured when carry permits became more common. I don't think it will happen here. The warning to tourists to be careful in Florida is a joke when there's enormously more chance of being killed by an SUV than by someone legally carrying a weapon. There has not been a significantrate of crime resulting from legally carried weapons.
It's hard to get around the fact that states with carry permits do not have a higher risk of gun violence than states without - unless you want to imaginne what might happen and then treat it as though it did happen. . . ..
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