How to lie with statistics
[QUOTE=Esten; 430919]A gun analogy with cars seems ridiculous. Cars have a clear and practical utility for most people and in some cases are a necessity. Whereas, the vast majority of people do not need a gun in their daily lives.[/quote]Esten's points are well taken however they have nothing to do with an individual and you can't say that an individual with a gun at his house is 5 times more likely etc. You can't apply a population statistic to an individual. I'll give you an example:
A researcher studied Brad Pitt and his crew at a bar and found they were 95% likely to pick up the chick of their choice. My fat butt went to the same bar expecting to have 95% likelihood as well but struck out again and again. The point is you have to know the population studied. You have to know that the population studied is statistically similar to the population you are talking about before you can even claim to know the population's risk but even then you can't predict an individuals risk with certainty at all.
Frankly the vast majority of gun murders in the US are committed by prior felons who are already breaking the law in many ways including by possessing a weapon. Many of the others are committed by insane people with history of mental health issues meaning they also are breaking the law if they possess a weapon.
If you want to stop gun violence keep all violent criminals in jail after their first offense and take dangerous mentally unstable people off the streets. Consider all gang members as enemies of the state and remove them and you will drop the murder rate by 75. Over 500 murders a year in Chicago with the strictist gun laws in the country and people pretend all we need is a few more restrictions on law abiding citizens and no one will ever be killed.
By the way the Constitution guarantees personal / individual freedoms and no one should try to take away an individual's personal freedom based upon a population statistical argument that just doesn't hold any water at all. If you want to start this the slippery slope will take away your other freedoms as well. For example, freedom of speech would be gone long before the second amendment is touched as most GSWs occur after someone opens their mouth and free speech regularly puts individuals and groups at risk. Although US leaders all swear to uphold the Constitution, many openly hate the fact it "gets in their way."
Pete
Exactly what new gun laws do you wish to see enacted?
[QUOTE=Esten;430919]Cars have a clear and practical utility for most people and in some cases are a necessity.[/QUOTE]Lots of people feel exactly that way about guns.
Anyway, let's get it out on the table: Exactly what new gun laws do you wish to see enacted?
Personally, I think we have enough gun laws. What we need to do is enforce the laws we have now.
What say you?
Thanks,
Jackson
Just because you don't like it doesn't mean it's broken.
[QUOTE=WorldTravel69; 430929]Here is what a person wrote in the S. F. Chronicle. I tend to agree.
"Fix the 2nd Amendment.
Since our Supreme Court failed in upholding the true meaning of the Militia Amendment (the Second) , the time has come for states to vote to repeal this grossly misinterpreted and antiquated provision and replace it with an updated and better-defined constitutional provision that anticipates the killing technologies of the future and one that the majority of citizens and responsible licensed gun owners agree upon: Individuals who are not enlisted in a public or government protection agency may not possess arms or any type of weapon designed for mass killing and destruction."[/QUOTE]The second amendment is [b]Not Broken[/b], it protects the [b][u]Individual Right[/b][/u] to keep and bear arms just as the framers intended, the Supreme court got it right.
Your S. F. Chronicle quote is just more Left-Wing BS, leave the Constitution alone!
Fix the society that creates these nutjobs.
More Alcohol and Drugs = More Deaths.
[i]'Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 48 minutes. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion. '
'In 2010, 10, 228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.
Of the 1, 210 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2010, 211 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
Of the 211 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2010, over half (131) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver.
In 2010, over 1. 4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That's one percent of the 112 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among USA adults each year.
Drugs other than alcohol (e. G, marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are often used in combination with alcohol. '[/i]
Should we make alcohol illegal and have stronger punishment for drug use?
More of the same doesn't work!
[QUOTE=Punter 127; 430939][i]'Every day, almost 30 people in the United States die in motor vehicle crashes that involve an alcohol-impaired driver. This amounts to one death every 48 minutes. The annual cost of alcohol-related crashes totals more than $51 billion. '
'In 2010, 10, 228 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes, accounting for nearly one-third (31%) of all traffic-related deaths in the United States.
Of the 1, 210 traffic deaths among children ages 0 to 14 years in 2010, 211 (17%) involved an alcohol-impaired driver.
Of the 211 child passengers ages 14 and younger who died in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2010, over half (131) were riding in the vehicle with the alcohol-impaired driver.
In 2010, over 1. 4 million drivers were arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol or narcotics. That's one percent of the 112 million self-reported episodes of alcohol-impaired driving among USA adults each year.
Drugs other than alcohol (e. G, marijuana and cocaine) are involved in about 18% of motor vehicle driver deaths. These other drugs are often used in combination with alcohol. '[/i]
Should we make alcohol illegal and have stronger punishment for drug use?[/QUOTE]Just wonder why all these people get drunk, drugged, crazy, etc.
If we believed that guns, cars, or others things don't kill people, maybe either education or 'extremely strong laws' may do the job.
If we ask one of the parents who had a kid that had been killed by these criminals, may give us a clue of what to do. It depends on who you ask and when. One thing is for sure something has to be done.
