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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Dale Baker who wrote (108624)	4/13/2009 2:58:44 PM
From: Travis_Bickle	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 542786

I'm not saying the 2.5m number is good, if anything I am saying that ANY number is pulled out of someone's ***. No records are kept of crime deterrence. By the same token saying there is no solid evidence that guns deter crime is beside the point given that crime deterrence is generally not reported to the police ("Hello 911, I'm calling to report that I didn't get mugged!").

To: Dale Baker who wrote (108624)	4/13/2009 3:05:56 PM
From: cosmicforce	Respond to of 542786

Dale, Brandishing does stop crime - people out for an easy victim will think twice when the victim is armed which is why, when I'm camping in remote areas by myself, I'm always armed. I tell people it is for animal protection, but the animals I have seen that are dangerous walk amongst us. I know two people that have been accosted and harassed for nothing more than being from the city. I'm not getting drunk and waiving it around. I hardly ever fire it - a couple of times a year just to check my aim. The rest of the time the guns are locked in cabinets. The risk with teens in the house is overwhelming but that doesn't mean that some guy off by himself in unwelcoming territory is not better off if armed. Or is a threat to others when armed. I know a number of people involved in situations where they didn't want to involve police for a variety of reasons, none-the-least is just staying away from the criminal justice system. No report was filed. All individuals are alive and unharmed. If I were to brandish, I'd leave the area and be unlikely to go back. I probably wouldn't report anything on the record, though I might give an anonymous report as I'm leaving town a nearby town. Edit: I think we also recognize that things on a continuum can end up being different kinds of things and comparisons between one thing on the continuum and another can be specious. Abortion and murder. House cats and African lions. Pistols and nuclear weapons. -cf