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Gun Violence

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 01/23/2006 - 6:11pm.

Shooting rekindles Canada gun debate
By Sarah Shenker
BBC News website, Toronto

Toronto teenager Jane Creba was gunned down on Boxing Day On a crisp winter Saturday afternoon, shoppers throng Yonge Street in central Toronto, Ontario, as the temperature reaches an unseasonably warm 0C (32F).
...
The makeshift shrine is gone, but they need no sign to tell them that this is where 15-year-old Jane Creba was shot while shopping with her family on Boxing Day.

This information is also included in the story:

GUN-RELATED DEATHS 2002

UK: 81
Canada: 816
US: 30,242

(Figures do not distinguish between crime-related and accidental or self-inflicted deaths)

What's wrong with this picture?

Robert Whitlock's blog
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PopulationUK: 60MCanada: 32MU

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Mon, 01/23/2006 - 6:42pm.

Population

UK: 60M

Canada: 32M

US: 295M

The only thing "wrong" with the picture is that, evidently, more people use a gun to either kill themselves or kill someone else than in other countries, which is natural since we have far more available than they do.

It doesn't change the fact, however, that a gun is simply an object. Someone has to use it in order for it to do something.

That still doesn't account fo

Submitted by Robert Whitlock on Mon, 01/23/2006 - 6:47pm.

That still doesn't account for the vast disparities.

The original BBC article linked above is good.

Good article.This is a classi

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Mon, 01/23/2006 - 6:50pm.

Good article.

This is a classic, though:

"'Nobody needs a gun unless they live in the woods and hunt for a living,' she says."

Right.

TFI- I don't see the problem

Submitted by Rob Richards on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 1:25pm.

TFI-

I don't see the problem with her logic on this. Why do you NEED a gun, unless you hunt? I'm talking needs versus wants here. You feel unsafe, so you WANT a gun in order to feel safe. Now, under the same logic as saying it's just an object untill someone uses it, it's just a feeling that you choose to have based on usually overreactive external stimulus. No one makes you feel unsafe, you choose to feel unsafe. You choose to WANT a gun to protect yourself. You don't NEED a gun unless you shoot your food.

Wouldn't you agree?

I agree, we do choose to feel

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 2:43pm.

I agree, we do choose to feel unsafe. I think that feeling, however, is justified more by past experience rather than an overreaction. For instance, as a black American living in the southern US in the 1950s, you might "choose" to be afraid of the men in whitehoods coming onto your lawn but it's not unjustified. I'd say that is a situation where you need, and should have, a gun.

So I agree with the idea we choose to feel unsafe but I disagree with the idea that "no one makes you feel unsafe." There's a reason people feel unsafe around other people and at times a situation calls for the need of a gun.

n/m

Submitted by Rob Richards on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 5:45pm.

n/m

Submitted by Rob Richards on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 5:46pm.

n/m

I disagree. I have never per

Submitted by Rob Richards on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 5:46pm.

I disagree. I have never personally been in a situation where I wanted a gun. I've lived in rough neighborhoods where not many folks looked like me, yet I didn't want a gun. Never even thought about having a gun, except for recreation.

There's just something wrong if people think guns are going to make them safe. If you're in a situation where someone has a gun, they're pretty desperate, probably desperate enough to shoot you before you can shoot them. The John Wayne mentality that people have is what gets innocent people killed more than anything else, I think. I'm not a pacifist, I believe one should protect oneself from aggressors. I also think one should choose their battles wisely, and not put themselves in compromised positions. Besides, how often have you or people you know had guns pulled on them?

News reports focus on really terrible stuff, but when I go outside, I don't see it. Where is this stuff happening? The eyes of fear tell us to buy guns and lock our doors, but why should we? Why are we afraid? What is there to be afraid of? Whether you talk about Olympia or other places in America, it's the same. These bad things we hear about just aren't happening on the level at which they would have us believe.

Rob:On your second two posts,

Submitted by The Fire Inside on Tue, 01/24/2006 - 6:11pm.

Rob:

On your second two posts, you may want to edit and put "N/M" (No Message).

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