[lbo-talk] NRA: We need more guns in our schools

Jordan Hayes jmhayes at j-o-r-d-a-n.com
Sun Apr 3 19:17:09 PDT 2005


Mike Ballard writes, mouthing Bowling's script:


> Why is it that Canadians feel safer?

Why is it that you think that that's relevant to the question of why a few children have shot up their schools and a few other people have shot up their churches? Do you think that gun violence in the US is related, somehow, to whether or not people "feel safer" ...? Well, I suppose you do. But: you're way off the mark. Gun violence is, even from a cursory glance at the UCR (but moreso if you take the time to read it carefully!), largely a "violent crime" issue. Most gun violence happens in the middle of the comission of a felony. I think it would be interesting for you to further speculate about whether active felons feel, uh, "less safe than Canadians" ...

Do you actually know anything about gun violence in the US, other than what you saw in this movie?


> Why is it that Canadians are shooting each other
> like they are in Murder City right across the water?

I presume you mean "aren't" ... but regardless: the physical proximity, I'm guessing, seems significant to you. In a cultural way. In a, let's say, significant way.

Let me ask you this: why is the murder rate in Tijuana 20x higher than it is just a few miles away in San Diego? Could it be because, well, San Diegans feel, um, safer?


> Why is it that a racially divergent Canada doesn't have
> the same violent divide as the racially mixed America?

An excellent question, which I'm sure we could all do a little research about. And yet: completely unrelated to the thread you started here.


> I'd say it's the same reason that I feel safer in Australia
> than I did in America. You don't see cops all over the place,
> stopping people on the streets, ready to shoot at the drop of
> a hat.

Yes, I see how carefully you've looked at this issue.

/jordan



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