Politics: Want to ban guns? Here’s your sign
Laugh if you must. But criminals are such law-abiding types, it just might work.
And if it doesn’t, just make people carry an excessive amount of insurance.
Hat tip: Second City Cop.
Peoria Pundit
News and Media from River City
February 22nd, 2009 at 7:43 am
It took me a while to figure it out, but I finally got the point. And it’s a good one.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:16 am
I have been thinking about this issue a lot lately. It is a tough one for people like me, wishing for less violence in the world. I can’t bring myself to say that fear (that people may have guns) is the beast route to safety. I can see why, logically, the right to carry concealed weapons may lower crime, but my heart keeps hoping for a better solution.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:27 am
Say what you will about insurance companies but generally they collect and have access to enormous amounts of data to assess risk and the dangers that certain behaviors or situations present. If the risk of bearing a gun is low, then competition of the market is going to drive those insurance rates down to really cheap rates. If it isn’t, they are going to charge you for it. If it is real bad they just might not do gun insurance at all.
My point… is that the insurance companies will show what has been long known by those in law enforcement and risk management, that the presence of a gun increases the likelihood of a the victim being injured or killed. You compare date between crimes where the perp has a gun and the victim doesn’t versus both having a gun (or any weapon for that matter), you will clearly see more victims get hurt (so do more perps). Maybe this is a motivation behind the bill. By putting an insurance bill in your mailbox, you can begin to put a dollar cost as a representation of risk to gun ownership. It is seemingly near impossible to get through to a segment of the pro-gun people that this is the case. Emotion trumps reality for these people. Well if a dollar cost is placed on it… then maybe they can be reached and recognize that those risks can be tangible.
Driving a car is dangerous too but no one is suggesting we eliminate cars. By pointing out this angle of the insurance debate, I am not suggesting guns should be eliminated. If as a society we feel gun ownership trumps real risk, then fine, but lets be honest that there is indeed a real risk.
February 22nd, 2009 at 9:46 am
Don’t think the NRA may be so squeaky clean on this either. They have their mits in the insurance biz too. With declining memberships, being able to offer an affordable but required insurance to members could be used as a pitch to boost support for the NRA.
February 22nd, 2009 at 10:32 am
Perhaps Mahkno should read the studies cited inthis article which found exactly the opposite of his contentions as to the effects of “victims” carrying guns.
February 22nd, 2009 at 12:12 pm
Ah yes… Mr. Lott (not the Senator). Mr. Lott and his research has been thoroughly debunked. Indeed Mr. Lott has been in the news recently, having lost a lawsuit against renown economist Steven Levitt. Dr. Levitt and others have shown Lott’s research to be flawed at best. Some even alleging that Lott made stuff up. Dr. Levitt wrote about it and Mr. Lott sued claiming defamation. The courts agreed with Levitt.
Levitt’s take is that conceal carry doesn’t make any difference statistically.
February 22nd, 2009 at 8:39 pm
Is this the same Dr Leavitt of Abortionrates foretell of reduced crime fame?
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB113314261192407815-HLjarwtM95Erz45QPP0pDWul8rc_20061127.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top
http://www.claremont.org/publications/crb/id.1008/article_detail.asp
http://www.isteve.com/abortion.htm
http://chronicle.com/news/article/2759/unusual-agreement-means-settlement-may-be-near-in-lott-v-levitt
http://johnrlott.tripod.com/RevisedLevittComplaint.pdf
These links tell of a some what different outcome in the controversy with Dr Lott and the debate they have been embroiled in over the lat 10 years.
March 7th, 2009 at 6:39 pm
Wanna go to Springfield this upcoming Wednesday to lobby for gun rights?