[thechat] Snowball fight turns... umm... I don't even know howto express it...

[John Handelaar]

On Tue, 2003-02-25 at 13:49, Chris Marsh wrote:
> The previous post implied that gun-control would solve gun crime. I was
> merely stating facts.
> Fact number 1) The UK implemented "gun control" some time ago.
> Fact number 2) The UK has an escalating firearms problem.

Still no causal link.  You're implying that the gun ban
isn't helping, as compared to the theoretical universe
in which the ban didn't happen.  And that cannot be supported
with the data you're using.

> Ergo, "gun control" does not prevent gun crime.

You have no data to support this.

"Does not prevent gun crime" != "Does not prevent all gun crime"

> I would state for the record that I don't consider myself a "gun nut".

Not being suggested.

> I
> would also like to know what differentiates *important* gun crime from
> unimportant.

In this context, possession offences by people who just happen
to oppose the law and have failed to comply.

> What is MeFi, btw?

Metafilter, where your data-less assertion is repeated
fortnightly, almost always by an American gun nut. Again,
they are the nuts being referred to, and you're not :-)

> The math? Er, perhaps you missed this bit: "Firearms were used in 12 per
> cent of homicides, an increase of 32 per cent (23 cases) on 2000/01".

Perhaps *you* missed it.

~80 gun-related homicides.  In the entire UK (pop: 54
million) in a year.  In a territory which, and sorry for
pointing it out, according to your cited document in fact
INCLUDES NORTHERN IRELAND. Compare that to any random
place without such a serious gun ban, either in real
numbers or as a proportion of population.  Yes, including
Switzerland.
.

jh

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John Handelaar

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