🚀 go-pugleaf

In <NEWTNews.9333.782545086.woolfson@woolfson.unicom.net> Eric Woolfson <woolf@unicom.net> writes:

>      And explain to us why with all those NRA instructors and all 
>    those guns that Kleck says prevent crime, the US is the world
>    leader in both civilian gun ownership and civilian gun DEATHS. 
>    Where is the "safety" that all these guns are supposed to be 
>    giving us? 

Without rehashing the whole cause vs. correlation argument, would you
agree that cultural factors make direct comparions difficult?  If we
could construct a giant sociological experiment with the appropriate
controls, we MIGHT be able to come up with some sort of a conclusion.
Otherwise, we are just guessing.

Having said that, I'll offer one more correlation that you might find
interesting: the annual US murder rate was more or less level at 5 per
100,000 just before Prohibition.  After the 18th Amendment was
ratified, it climbed to about 9 per 100,000, and dropped back to 5 per
100,000 again almost immediately after the 21st Amendment (repealing
Prohibition) was ratified.

As the War on Some Drugs escalated (despite the recent appearance of
the name, the 'war' actually dates back to the 1940's), the murder
rate began climbing again, and has leveled off in the vicinity of 10
per 100,000.

I tried to dig up the actual article, but it escapes me at the moment.
If I can find it, I'll followup with corrected numbers if necessary.

-- 
Paul Barnett        Convex Computer Corp.
MPP OS Development  Richardson, TX