3/11/2010 6:05:00 AM Letter: You're living in the past
I want to add my 2-cents worth over the latest debate in the county and the way things have been going lately. I am surprised and not altogether shocked at the behavior of the people who live in this county. I grew up here in Kingman and I have seen quite a few changes over the years, and now I am not surprised when the childishness of the so called "Adults" in this county show their true colors.
Why is it such a problem to not carry a weapon into a county building? The law says that weapons are not allowed on school property, hospitals or many other public places. I personally do not have a problem with people carrying firearms around town since I am used to it. Other people who are new to the area are not as used to this, and these new residents of the county need to have the chance to do their public business without feeling threatened. At the same time, if I am not mistaken, the county building is also used as a polling place. I know I voted early there in the last elections. Doesn't the law also say that political material cannot be handed out within a set distance from a registered polling place, or is that during elections only? I am open for correction on that one point.
Come on, people. If you really want to show how patriotic you are, send some care packages to the troops overseas, volunteer some time with the elderly in our community, or volunteer some time at the schools. Remember to leave your sidearms that you really do not need at home or in your vehicle. The last time I checked, the year was 2010, not 1810 or even 1910, and the need to carry a sidearm around town has long since been left in the past. This is the time for us to be coming together and trying to make the county a better place that is more inviting for businesses to come to, not to scare them off by complaining because you are not allowed to try and scare everyone with your gun.
The people who always have to throw in the past rebellions that were a part of the start of this country need to be brought up to the future. You are way too fond of living nearly 300 years in the past.
Richard M. Wagner Kingman
Reader Comments
Posted: Monday, March 29, 2010
Article comment by:
my2centsworth takeitorleaveit
@ anonymous anonymous You have truely let your ignorance show in your statement: "If one could peak behind their anonymous little internet cyber handle one would see some pathetically sad individual with more issues than "carter has liver pills"!" I think because your post name is "anonymous anonymous" then you have undoubtedly included yourself into your own category. of pathetic and sad and with more issues than "carter has liver pills"!"... yes?
Posted: Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Article comment by:
Please Step Up and Help with www.RecallSockwell.com
To help with RecallSockwell go to www.RecallSockwell.com or e-mail MohaveFreedom@Yahoo.com The cause is growing stronger every day, but we still need people to circulate petitions and we need donations. Now is the time for change and we can do it.
Posted: Monday, March 15, 2010
Article comment by:
anonymous anonymous
One can read some of these "posters" find them mildly amusing or one day they are the possible future old angry fellow with a life long of anger charing into a DC museum shooting a hapless security gaurd working a thankless job to feed his family! Or the angry fellow with life long anger issues, burning his house down with is wife/daughter in it, prior to flying his plane into a IRS building, killing a vietnam veteran in the process, thinking he had hurt the IRS or government but he merely killed himself and someone who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time! These "we the people" folks obviously could not muster a bunch to the polls recently, so I figure they are a few looney tunes with delusions of grandeur, who only in their minds eye see themselves as part of any big thing, but hey society has had them ever since we started living in cities, communities, those social misfits who really don't fit anywhere! If one could peak behind their anonymous little internet cyber handle one would see some pathetically sad individual with more issues than "carter has liver pills"!
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
my2centsworth takeitorleaveit
I have always told throughout my life that the only one you can rely on to take care of you and look out for the best interest of you is you, is that not true? Have I been lied to by my grand parents and parents and many others? I don't know about the rest of you but I myself am all about taking care of and looking out for myself. And if this country / state / county / town / neighborhood / street should fall into a state of chaos and disorder and result in depending on "everyone to look out for their own selves" I am already there. I won't depend on everyone else to drag me to a safe place I will do it under my own power and if that means defending myself , my loved ones and / or my property then by-golly I am ready. We have already seen how well our tax dollars and political branches have worked for "We the People" In disasters across the board, tell those in New Orleans that "you people" guided them across troubled waters to dry land of safety and they will laugh or cry about it in your faces. Common sense, we all have it, honest we do however, more than half never seem to find it to use when it is needed the most, why is that? It is because they depend on everyone else to take care of them to tell them what they need or what they have to do. It's the Hurricane parties, the tsunami parties and such ignorance's that lack the use of common sense. If I see on the news that I live in the path of a pending hurricane I will not stand and wait for a mandatory order of evacuation to tell me to get out of Dodge I will pack up what I need and be gone until the threat is over long before I am told. You won't see me hanging out on a beach watching and waiting for a tsunami to arrive and then think what was I thinking when it does arrive I will have headed to higher ground long before the first ripples arrive. I don't need a babysitter to tell me I can be in a potentially dangerous situation I am all grown up now I'm not a child anymore. I have common sense and I know how to use it! Too bad in this day and time people are oblivious to the travesty of events occurring across this country and that they are oblivious to what our wonderful and great government officials (I am being sarcastic by the way) are doing to this country. Too bad so many people are wearing the dumbed down blinders that our government has handed out to everyone (By the way I threw mine away upon arrival at my door).Too bad that too many people have allowed themselves to be deceived into wearing these blinders and that they are now too blinded to actually see what it truly is the government has on their deceitful agenda. Too bad too many people have chosen to rely on idle promises and bogus agendas to really hear the twisted words of political bullies and have allowed themselves to be force fed Bull stink . I wonder if they will be the bodies piled up at the bottom of a cliff-side because Big Government told them to jump off a cliff and they did it. Who are the puppet masters here ? Are you going to stand idly by and let government pull your strings for every move and breath you take? Are you going to sit idly buy and watch the rights your fore-fathers gave to us all to be taken away one by one and do absolutely nothing? They are not looking out for your best interest, they are wolves in sheep's clothing looking to take big juicy bites out of us all (you have been basted for quiet some time now and are tender and juicy)!!! We have valuable and useful documents that are guide lines and rules for our lives "We the People" need to stand up and be counted, we need to tell "You People" that they work for "We the People" instead of cowering in the dark corners of pathetic and non productive lives! It is time to HANG UP YOUR CELL PHONES, TURN OFF YOUR I-PODS, YOUR WII, YOUR GAME BOY, NINTENDO, X-BOXES AND SUCH ... and join life itself! Make your life worth something! Realize that you also have a hidden talent that hasn't been used yet... your common sense! You have a voice let it sound off and show "You People" we will not stand idly by and let the world pass us and we will not go silently into the night and give in and up without a fight! "We the People" will speak out LOUD and STRONG and we will speak up LOUD and STRONG utilizing our right to our freedom of speech until we are heard. "We the People" will Stand and fight for all of our rights! "We the People" will tell our employees "You People" what we want done, how we want it done, and when, and where it is to be done because THEY REALLY DO WORK FOR US "WE THE PEOPLE"! and if they don't do their jobs as "WE THE PEOPLE so decide ( by votes, protests, petitions etc...)together as their employers wish then (they) "You People " WILL be FIRED! Take a stand people! Stand and be counted, utilize your Common Sense take hold and be responsible for yourself and in doing so you will also assist those around you. Rise up from the ashes of deceit and bully-ism and stand as ONE NATION INDIVISIBLE don't allow our government officials to divide us for one more minute! It's time we tell "You People" we're coming and Hell is coming with us!
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
JON MULLINIX
AZ MAC YOU SHOULD GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSE ABOUT CALIFORNIANS, WE LIVE HERE BUT WE ARE FROM CALIFORNIA I DON'T CARRY A GUN BUT I CERTAINLY HAVE ALWAYS HAD ONE AT HOME FOR PROTECTION FOR ME AND MY FAMILY I AM NOT USED TO CARRYING ONE BUT I HAVE NO OBJECTION TO IT EITHER, I THINK IT KEEPS THE CRIMINALS GUESSING
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
A wagon at the co. meeting
I am going to ask Tom and walker to ride in a wagon and resign. any volunteers to pull a wagon? and Bob Taylor, be nice. Recognize reality. Try a title 4 USC Flag on for size in Mohave county.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Henry The Tenth
First of all, nobody has a right to feel safe. Life is a constant contest and danger lurks everywhere. You can be killed at any time just going about your daily business. Never forget that fact because it happens every single day of the year.
This talk of owning a gun being dangerous first was proposed by the idiot Dr. Kellerman and his so-called "study" has long since been discredited.
I, for one, am very tired of the droll, over - used comment by the anti - Americans that we are "compensating" for something. If we are compensating for anything, it is the complete lack of any type of protection from the State. The State has no responsibility to protect anyone, as many courts have repeatedly ruled.
We own firearms because that is what responsible adults do. We do it mostly to protect ourselves and our families from violent criminal attack. Have any of you ever been attacked by criminals willing to kill you for your wallet? I have, and I am glad I had the means to protect myself when the situation arose.
You think an armed populace cannot take on the US government? Tell that to the Vietnamese and the Afghanis. Are you such cowards that there is nothing on this earth you believe strongly enough in that you would fight for? Are all of you antis willing to submit, without fight, to any type of tyranny put forth by government? As long as Congress passes a law, you will blindly obey? Have we really sunk so low that none of you have a backbone? All of you sicken me how dare you call yourselves Americans.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Bambi Myob
You raise a question which you should answer: In saying, "leave your sidearms that you really do not need at home or in your vehicle" are you claiming that you know when and where someone WILL need a firearm? Most citizens don't start their day knowing when or where they will be attacked.
Since that's unknown, doesn't it make sense to be prepared everywhere and all the time?
Perhaps some day. some place, a thug will beat the crap out of you, rob you, and leave you a cripple for the rest of your life. Then you can think back and say to yourself, "I should have been carrying a gun at that time, in that place."
For many of us, it's not an experiment we care to conduct.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
The Law in Kennisaw
" when was the last violent crime (with weapon) committed here and when has anyone here seen or heard if a private citizen with a gun stopped the act or stopped the criminal before or after the crime?"
Good questions. The paper should have some of those stats for you. I do recall in the past months the domestic violence stories that rocked us all and I can recall stories of home invasions in GV and DS that went awry once the assaultants realized their victims were indeed armed and ready to defend themselves.
The city ordinance of Kennisaw, Ga. requiring a gun in every home seems to have detered alot of home invasions, wonder if Phoenix or even Kingman should consider it. It makes sense that if criminals know that every home is armed they would have a harder task of malice.
Some info of consideration: http://www.rense.com/general9/gunlaw.htm
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
It's the Law in Kennisaw
Here is a tail of two cities that should put arguement to rest after 20+ years of crime rate data.
Crime rate drops after town passes law requiring every home to have at least one firearm with ammunition.
http://www.rense.com/general9/gunlaw.htm
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Jarhead1982 USMC
Oh Progessive [deleted] (Here after known as PP), per the JAMAThe Journal of American Medical Association, the 700,000 physicians in the US average 98,000 fatal mistakes per year.
Lets see the quack Dr. Lippman do a cost analysis of the stupidity that doctors cause in the US every year. What is that, around three times the number of people killed by firearms every year, yeah, so that cost for doctors costing society and tax payers in the US every year is what PP?
Concealed carry license holders average somewhere around 40 unjustifiable shootings a year.
That means that 98,000 / 40 = 2,450 times more likely to kill someone than a concealed license holder. So why are you being such a freaking hypocrite and not banning doctors as clearly, they are such a significant public safety problem, they must be banned right?
Still waiting on that ground breaking medical report of yours PP on how the removal of an inanimate object from the proximity of a person will alter their brain waves and thought patterns so significantly, they will change their mind about committing suicide.
Such a belief as yours, is a belief in a Fetish, where an inanimate object possesses supernatural powers enabling it to choose, select a target, load, aim and pull the trigger all by its self. Just for clarification, the ability of said inanimate object to use these supernatural powers to then coerce, communicate, and or force a person is the belief that these inanimate objects can speak and be heard. This is a classic clinical definition of schizophrenia, and any person who believes an inanimate object is capable of such has indeed over history been proven to be a public safety threat to themselves and to the public.
PP must be an advocate for the UOC Union of Criminals as more and more relaxation of the 20,000 gun laws is indeed an occupational safety hazard to their chosen profession as abviously criminals have more rights than the average person.
My, my FBI UCR database 2008, 1.36 million reported violent crimes, USDOJ National Victimization report 2008, 4.8 million unreported violent crimes, somewhere arounf 6-8 million property crimes. There are somewhere around 100 million households in the US so around 12 -13 million incidents. What are the odd's of an "incident" happening to you, pretty darn good [deleted].
Of course, plannig and preparing for a possible event in the hopes that it never occurs is infantile and stupid right PP? Guess that with your ground breaking study showing such activity is unneccessary, guess this will destroy the insurance industry as there is no need for life, health, car, homeowners right because such planning and preparedness is absurdly stupid. Guess that all those fire, tornado and emergency drills are completely unneccessary, yeah we see the hypocrisy of your position PP.
Of course, since police studies (Chicago/NYC) in the 1990's and firearm discharge reports identify 76-80% of criminal acts, and where both involved in the shooting and injured were involved in criminal activity at the time of the incident. The USDOJ Gang Activity Report 2008 identified where up to 80% of all violent crime in the US is attributed to career criminals/gangs.
Guess since PP idea of safety is to depend on Big Brother Government, a usual result of being part of Uncle Sam's entitlement programs, let [PP] answer this! The best response time of police nation wide is four minutes, average 15-20 minutes. The US Supreme Court has ruled 10 separate times that the government is not liable for an individual citizens safety. We then must expect PP and it's few associates into its schizophrenic club to pay for the increased taxes and such required to have enough police to be within range guaranteeing everyones safety.
The study of Kleck and Gertz, 1995 that identified 2.5 million DGU Defensive Gun Uses a year. Then the government funded study by Ludwig & Cooke in 1997 couldnt dispell that DGU's occur every year. That used faulty logic to dispell that which the Clinton Administration agreed occurred 1.5 million times a year, Defensive Gun Uses. Yeah, amazing how even the expert gun control fanatics like Ludwig & Cooke couldnt dispell the fact DGU's occur. So what is the cost that was saved by these defensive gun uses? Set it up the same way the crack pots did to qualify the cost of gun injuries, and you have more $ saved, prove otherwise you pathological liars!
Here is something upsetting for you PP, web sites http://www.keepandbeararms.com/, http://www.thearmedcitizen.com/2009/11/13/who-is-the-armed-citizen/, that show succesful defenive gun uses. start counting and by the way, what is the cost of the lives saved yet again!
How about the cost of those killed in Gun Free zones? We already have multiple examples of people, non professionals defending themselves and others every single day.
We have two students in 2002 Appalachian Law school retrieving their weapons and stopping a rampage at minimal loss of life. We see in 1997 the teacher at Pearl Mississippi stopping a nut job before he can commit more murders, the guard at the Church in Colorado 2008, the list is endless.
Yet there were no armed citizens at VT, Northern Illinois, and oh so many other gun free zones. Where is your empathy for the costs of those disarmed by you and your schizophrenic co-horts in crime. Where is your accountability for those deaths that could have been prevented as indeed, people can and do successfully defend themselves.
All these facts, data, and other factoids that non of the schizphrenic minority of gun control freaks can disprove, yet again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again, and again....... ya get the point, but then again, [people] like PP never do!
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
A.D G
im just wondering and in no way using this question to prop up either side of the gun carry issue here in kingman. ive asked several people and no one seemed to have any reliably true sounding answer all seemed a bit embelished at best. when was the last violent crime (with weapon) committed here and when has anyone here seen or heard if a private citizen with a gun stopped the act or stopped the criminal before or after the crime? im trying to understand and obtain more info on this issue and these questions came to mind. im not looking to discredit or embrace either side of the pro or against gun carry in our community. i know this next comment is going to draw some fire from both side. does anyone beside me feel maybe a shooting course certification might be a good idea before allowing someone the ability to open fire in public even to stop a crime? im sure most of the gun toting people i see here are of the most trained in use of their personal weapon. however human nature being what it is im also sure some of them have no real control training or anything close to knowing how to use deadly force when called for. again i dont think this is the entire group or even close, just one or two misguided untrained people could spell disaster if they chose to react. i have training through a police academy in another state i had rigorous training in firearms and deadly force and i agree firearms can be carried and used safely if the carrier has common sense, judgment, and skills just being allowed by law is not enough to ensure proper use when needed. im not suggesting any further invasion of your gun rights i am suggesting if you feel so strongly to be carrying a firearm in public the least everyone doing so is make sure you have complete control and knowledge of how to do it correctly and responsibly. you must know that the government would use even one instance of misjudgment or accident to take every right they could grab even though the bulk of gun carrying people are completely safe. just a thought
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Jim In Houston
Also, LL, any consideration of the costs of guns must consider the benefits of guns. This is one of the reasons why the Lippmann study is crap on its face. Look into the benefits of crimes averted some time, if you presume to have an open mind or even wish to pretend that you have knowledge of the topic.
Finally, go here to pick up citations to REAL studies (please try to resist your knee-jerk rejection reflex to the name of the site): http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcdguse.html
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
az mac
I can bet most all the people against the guns are from Calif. I would say if you do not like the way things are in Arizona, go back to Calif. I would also say read the constitution and learn the history of our country. We now have well over 40 million people out of work, 500 to 800 thousand losing their jobs every month. How long do you think we can keep this up before they start robbing people to get food. It is not the police job to protect every citizen. In fact we do not have enough police to protect all the citizens. The bad guys will always have guns. Look at the UK and Australia their gun crimes have risen big time since they have outlawed guns. When a robber knows you are not armed, there is nothing to stop him from robbing your home or you when you leave your home.Every bad guy out there wants you unarmed, make their job much easier and less dangerous.The person carrying a gun may save your life one day. All most of you see is the guns or the pitchfork being carried into the building. You can not see the wrong the BOS has done to your rights and freedom. The BOS are the ones who broke the law. A simple apology from the BOS would have stopped the whole thing. The government today ( city,county,state or federal ) look for or make up reasons to take more rights away from the people. The BOS with all their regulations are killing small business and stopping property from being sold or bought.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Alan DiCicco
I am living in a box in the present.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Alan DiCicco
It's better to have a gun and not need it than to need it and not have it. By the way, I met a very nice deputy sheriff in Wikeup. He was friendly and from Chicago. Maybe he should be the Sheriff? I haven't peeled of my bumper sticker. Maybe I'll make a new one, "Support your local Deputy." Hahaha. Do what's right! Recognize the public that would save your butt while you defenseless ones pee in your pants in a crime.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Alan DiCicco
Anonymous Anonymous. Save the diatribes of nonsense and talk to yourself. What's your name? You anti gun people apparently have not lived in the real world. I have lived in Chicago, NY, Southern IL, TX, Utah, Nevada. Unfortunately, there are people that will kill you for fun or $10 and steal your guns. It used to be touching a man's gun would get you dead. But that is not the issue, its our right to protect ourselves from enemies of all kinds. Especially corrupt tyrannical government, which is rampant. Did we shoot anyone? No. I even had a disagreement with a man, and we, men, made up, we did not shoot each other. Waving around guns is dangerous...idiots! It is clear that the Supers are afraid of the public. Why? Because they know they are wrong violating our civil rights. This has nothing to do with race and the bigotry against any race irritates me especially Italians. Sockwell, stop playing the victim and step down and save face and county money. You are mean and violate laws. We are all either immigrants of ancestors rebellious ant-tyrannical peoples. I am an AMERICAN of Italian and Sicilian decent. Tread on me and I will tread on you. Are you Billary Clinton? You have turned this whole situation into a false flag operation. Walker knows what he is doing. This is only the beginning of people standing for freedom and liberty. Get used to it. It's a New World Order...haven't you heard?
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Rick Johnston
I have a couple of questions for those who support gun control/gun bans, and that is...Once the law abiding citizens have surrendered their guns, how do we get the criminals to surrender theirs? Who will protect the disarmed from the armed? Remember, the courts have ruled, in the case of Warren v. District of Columbia, that the government has no legal duty or obligation to protect you from criminals.
Posted: Friday, March 12, 2010
Article comment by:
Mike Vanderboegh
I have a buddy who used to live in Kingman. I visited there a couple of times. Great place, mostly full of liberty-minded folks. I see you've let a lot more Californicators in since I was there. What a shame. Well, be of good cheer. When the economy (and much of society) collapses, they will be eaten by the cannibal zombies and their self-destructive opinions will be eaten along with them. And after the cannibal zombies dispose of them, and you dispose of the cannibal zombies, Kingman will be an altogether safer place and you can divvy up their stuff. Arguing with them in the mean time is a waste of oxygen. Citizen disarmament advocacy is a Darwinian invitation to be culled out, they just don't recognize it yet -- and never will, up to and including when they get dropped in the cannibal's pot.
Mike Vanderboegh Pinson AL http://sipseystreetirregulars.blogspot.com
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Article comment by:
Terry Negus Sr.
We do have the right to bear a firearm, I do not agree that it poses a threat to anyone in my home, that is due to the owner that is not able to take care of the situation, my firearms have only been handled when it is right to do so! the people that have a problem with them need to be educated or not own any! this a free country and we can own them! you have your status and we have ours and we will always disagree, but my guns will only be used if needed to hunt or protect myself or loved ones!!~!
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Article comment by:
Ray H
Those who forget the past are condemned to repeat it.
Lots of people who ended up in boxcars thought they did not need to own guns anymore either. California has those awesome gun laws you seem to love so why not move there ?. Lots of sun , sand , and good looking women too. Of course they have the crime that goes with a society chock full of unarmed victims but you can take one for the team being such a noble citizen and all.
Baggy pants and flatbilled baseball caps annoy me but you dont see Me wanting them banned. You need to man-up and get on with YOUR life rather than make a career out of being offended by people exercising their civil rights.
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Article comment by:
Linda Athens
I'm with you Spartacus. I have More Guns, Less Crime by John Lott and highly recommend it.
As for the letter writer, I remember as a kid growing up here too. In Jr High (which they have just torn down and now they are headed across the street for what used to be the NEW downtown highschool), boys brought guns to school frequently to work on them in shop class.
And you often saw boys walking around town with guns on their shoulders, headed out for target practice or whatever.
If you think it over Mr. Wagner, I believe it is what is in people's hearts that makes them dangerous, not what they are packing. Most gun owners are responsible, salt of the earth type people. I grew up with guns they were a part of my life and it wasn't in the 1860's. Mom took us out in the washes in her old grey Chrysler to shoot the next day's dinner. Usually across from Chloride. Unbelievably, my brother and I rode on and shot from the front fenders and while I don't recommend that, we got a lot of cottontail and quail which helped feed our family.
Small town but I only remember two shooting deaths. One was a husband against his wife. The other was poor Sheriff Tarr, not shot by a Kingmanite. The point is, we have a lot of shootings now because people's hearts are not right. Gun deaths are by gang members and wacko islamic extremists like the nice Army Dr we hear nothing about anymore not good American citizens. This country is disarming the wrong people. Criminals and jihadists and gang members don't give a damn what the laws are.
I am much more afraid of this president and the nuts in office with him who are trying to take everything American away from us which will include gun rights and take over everything else and have it run by an out of control mother government.
And I am appalled at seeing him taking off his shoes in a You Tube video today with other muslims to say prayers on a muslim prayer mat when I know he nixed our national day of prayer, had no Easter services as are usually done at the White House except an Easter egg hunt. It wasn't a colored egg that rose from the cross on the third day to save us from sin BO!!
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Article comment by:
Spartacus
@ Liberal Lion --
Regarding your two posts below:
Not sure if you came up with Lippmann after Googling gun control, but I'm betting you didn't read anything else about him.
Show me two people, other than you, who take Lippmann -- or Hemenway (consumerfed.org) -- seriously when it comes to gun control arguments, and I'll show you three people who don't know what they're talking about.
If you want to educate yourself, which is recommended if your going to get involved, especially if you're going to get into statistics (and when it comes to statistics, consumerfed is a joke, by the way), read More Guns, Less Crime by John Lott. He has no personal stake in the issue, unlike Lippmann and Hemenway. He just lets the numbers do the talking.
His data covers more than 3,000 counties nationwide, over more than 15 years, and is directly correlated with records from city, county, state and federal branches.
Nobody... repeat NOBODY... has done a more exhaustive study of the impact that private gun ownership has on crime.
Please, LL, do yourself a favor. It's not an expensive book. And whether or not you agree with it, when you're through, you can honestly say you know the score.
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Article comment by:
Liberal Lion
Having a gun at home not only increases the risk of harm to one's self and family, but also carries high costs to society, concludes an article in the February Southern Medical Journal, official journal of the Southern Medical Association. The journal is published by Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, a part of Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading provider of information and business intelligence for students, professionals, and institutions in medicine, nursing, allied health, and pharmacy.
"Firearm-related violence vastly increases expenditures for health care, services for the disabled, insurance, and our criminal justice system," writes Dr. Steven Lippmann of University of Louisville School of Medicine, and colleagues. "The bills are paid by taxpayers and those who buy insurance."
Guns at Home Increase Dangers, Not Safety Based on a review of the available scientific data, Dr. Lippmann and co-authors conclude that the dangers of having a gun at home far outweigh the safety benefits. Research shows that access to guns greatly increases the risk of death and firearm-related violence. A gun in the home is twelve times more likely to result in the death of a household member or visitor than an intruder.
The most common cause of deaths occurring at homes where guns are present, by far, is suicide. Many of these self-inflicted gunshot wounds appear to be impulsive acts by people without previous evidence of mental illness. Guns in the home are also associated with a fivefold increase in the rate of intimate partner homicide, as well as an increased risk of injuries and death to children.
Gun-related violence also has psychological and other consequences for survivors—especially children. Dr. Lippmann and colleagues point out that easy access to guns also enables tragic episodes like the mass killings at Virginia Tech University, in which a background check might have prevented the shooter from obtaining a weapon. Such "tragically recurrent" events are in addition to gun deaths related to criminal activities, gang violence, interpersonal disagreements, and other incidents.
Gun Violence Carries High Costs for Society Dr. Lippmann and colleagues cite research showing the massive economic consequences of firearm violence. Medical care for gunshot victims in the United States is up to $4 billion per year. Including indirect costs such as disability and unemployment, the costs may total up to $100 billion. In the authors' city of Louisville, expenses for uninsured gun-injury victims alone exceed the money allotted for indigent medical care costs for the entire community.
"Taxpayers often bear a large percentage of these financial burdens," according to the authors. Other costs show up in the form of increased insurance premiums. Gun violence costs the U.S. criminal justice system approximately $2.4 billion per year—nearly equal to all other crimes put together.
Despite these high costs, "[F]irearms remain so much a part of our culture that gun-related violence and legal expenses are routinely accepted as a normal part of our life," Dr. Lippmann and colleagues write. "Politically, gun control remains unpopular, but raising awareness among doctors about the relationship between firearms, the rates of violence, and expenses involved may have an impact on their thinking."
In publishing the review, the editors of SMJ hope to promote a conversation within the medical profession about the health, economic, and social consequences of guns in the United States. In an editorial in the same issue, Editor-in-Chief Dr. Ronald C. Hamdy writes, "Our goal…is to provide solid, scientific evidence regarding these often controversial topics, in an attempt to avoid the personal and emotional quagmire which is so easily adopted in issues such as these." The SMJ website features a podcast in which Dr. Lippmann discusses his findings
Posted: Thursday, March 11, 2010
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Liberal Lion
