From mpollak at panix.com Sun Apr 25 22:12:16 1999
> Of course, NYC has much stricter gun laws than Glasgow.
Jordan, you have no idea what you're talking about.
And you, the who postulates that gunfights at the local "basketball game" don't even make the news, do? Hah!
Handguns have been completely banned in Britain.
Not true, of course, but then I suppose you know more about all this than I do -- maybe you get your info from your gang friends at basketball games? But maybe you'll read (the law) sometime about how "small calibre pistols" (.22 or smaller) are not covered under the act. Done of course because otherwise the UK would be effectively out of most of the worldwide sports shooting events, including the Olympics. And of course you can only have them at a pistol club. But "completely banned" is, yes, another exaggeration on your part.
Or, since I'm now in your kill file, perhaps you'll never know.
And let's not even get started about "Scot Law" ...
Anyway, the same is effectively true in NYC. You must have a permit to have a handgun in NYC (including, alas, those of "small calibre" -- funny how the .22LR was the choice of GRU assassins; no such exemption for pistol clubs in NYC -- makes the law a whole lot shorter, I'll tell you what). Permit, schmermit: know anyone who isn't a law enforcement officer who has one? They simply aren't given out. Washington DC is even stricter: you can't even drive through town with a locked, unloaded gun in your trunk.
And look at all the good it does there.
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You're an upstanding citizen; you probably even qualify (rather, aren't immediately disqualified for being a convicted felon and whatnot) for such a "permit" -- I'd invite you to go to your local precinct and fill out the paperwork to get a permit.
C'mon, give it a shot. I bet you didn't even try.
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As for numbers ...
Whichever numbers you use, my point is that they are small. This whole conversation about Littleton is silly because it's such an incredibly rare event. The outrage about guns is completely suspect from the upper rungs of power, because they *know* how rare these things are.
in 1996, 9,390 people were murdered by handguns in the US.
Oh great, let's trade numbers!
2/3 of the handgun murder "victims" were previously convicted violent criminals, with an average of 4 convictions each. Half of those were convicted of *weapons offenses* ferchrisakes ... are you sure you don't want to take back your hypothesis that this is because there are nearly 100M (yes, MILLION) guns in the US? What is happening with the remaining 99,990,000 guns that don't get used to murder people?
This is fear mongering at it's best: pull out some (tiny!) number, make it seem like it's a *public nuissance* and then use it to justify "guns = crime" in some exaggerated way. Woo-whee, don't give up your day job.
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I think it's because we have more and better guns.
Feh, Switzerland has *way* more guns per-capita than we do; they are even allowed ("trusted" is more like it) *automatic* weapons (maybe you were thinking of the Swiss when you talked about "automatic weapon armed gangs" -- man, are you *scared* or what?). This "more and better" theory of yours looks downright made up.
And did I mention exaggerated?
Harumph.
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Oh, and about Chuck Grimes' question about 'who to kill?' ... when I moved to NYC the first time (lived there twice, might again someday; maybe I can join a gang, maybe shoot some hoops), I was told that all newcomers are issued a bullet. When you figure out who the bullet belongs to (after being ejected from the casing by a small explosion), when you put a face to your rage: that was the time to leave NYC.
Seems like a good rule.
:)
/jordan