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

Wojtek Sokolowski sokol at jhu.edu
Mon Apr 4 15:13:33 PDT 2005


Carl quoted:
> >
> >Shootings fuel push to ease gun laws
> >
> >Kate Zernike
> >New York Times
> >Apr. 3, 2005 12:00 AM
> >
> >Paul Bucher, the district attorney for the Wisconsin county where a man
> >opened fire in a church service last month, killing seven people and
> >himself, has one answer to the deadly mass shootings around the country
in
> >recent weeks: more guns.
> >
> >"The problems aren't the guns, it's the guns in the wrong hands," said
> >Bucher, a Republican who recently announced his candidacy for Wisconsin
> >attorney general. "We need to put more guns in the hands of law-abiding
> >citizens. Whether having that would have changed what happened is all
> >speculation, but it would level the playing field. ..."

This is a standard NRA mantra that zero support in reliable data (save those cooked by NRA cooks). The National Crime Victimization Surveys collects information from a representative sample of US population, asking whether Rs were victims of a by crime 9whther reported to the police or not), and if so, about various circumstances of that victimization, including protective measures used by the victim.

The results are quite instructive. The most frequent form of response was "resistance or capturing the offender" (24.5%) followed by "running away" (14%) "getting help" (12%) or "persuading offender" (11%). By contrast less than 1(one) percent (0.8% to be exact) attacked the offender with a weapon (not necessarily a gun) - see http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/cvus/weapons.htm Table 70.

By contrast, the same source reports that firearms were used by perpetrators in 7.2% of all violent crimes and 8.6% of all completed violent crimes.

It clear that guns are more of an offensive than a defensive weapon in crime commission. In fact, the use of weapons in self-defense is negligible. It makes perfect sense, when one considers the dynamics of a criminal incident - the victim has little chance to reach, unlock, and use a fire arms when threatened by an armed perpetrator.

It further follows that Bucher is either a bumbling idiot who does not know what US DoJ is publishing, or a liar that ignores US DoJ findings to score a few electoral points with gun nuts. In either case he is unqualified to be a district attorney - in a civilized country, at least. What's next, mafia boss for district justice?

Wojtek



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