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From: prophet@umcp-cs.UUCP (Dennis Gibbs)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Handgun control, again...
Message-ID: <3745@umcp-cs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 1-Mar-85 10:29:31 EST
Article-I.D.: umcp-cs.3745
Posted: Fri Mar  1 10:29:31 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 4-Mar-85 06:03:24 EST
Distribution: net
Organization: U of Maryland, Computer Science Dept., College Park, MD
Lines: 39


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davidl@tekig5.UUCP (David Levadie) writes:
>>...  Why should I submit to the SLIGHTEST inconvenience
>>because some two-bit jerk has a macho complex about guns and therefore
>>abuses them? WHY???  WHY??? Nobody on this braindamaged net will even
>>DISCUSS that question, even though SEVERAL people have asked it.  It
>>must be just too mentally taxing to contemplate - it's easier to just
>>go about blathering statistics, and arguing fruitlessly about whether
>>or not "guns cause crime", etc., etc, etc...

>I can think of at least two reasons why.
>
>First, a considerable number of handguns later used in crimes have been
>stolen from otherwise "responsible" owners.  In fact, Professor Mark
>Moore of Harvard University has estimated that as many as 225,000
>handguns are stolen *each year*.  A 1979 study by the Bureau of
>Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms found that 50% of criminally used
>firearms were stolen.  In fact, the odds that a handgun will be used
>to deter an intruder are *lower* than the odds that the handgun will
>be stolen.

So this means that if we outlaw guns, then 100% of handguns used in crimes
will be stolen, instead of 50%.  Outlawing guns will have the effect of
causing MORE crime, that is, the crimes committed to steal handguns.  There
is simply no way to completely recover all handguns, the criminals will
always have them....

                                               Dennis

>
-- 
Call-Me:   Dennis Gibbs, Univ. of Md. Comp. Sci. Center.
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