-Caveat Lector-
>more guns = more deaths
This is not only faulty logic, but it flies in the face of the empirical
data. More guns, at most, equal more death by gunfire. More guns do not
equal more deaths period. Where�d you learn math, anyway? Go back there
and complain. Your math teacher was grossly misfeasant. Your equation is
incomplete. You failed to factor in the deaths prevented by guns. Every
year, at the barest minimum, Americans use guns to prevent crimes two
million times. And that�s just the ones that were reported. It is not at
all unsafe to assume that the majority go unreported. The majority of
all human activities go unreported. I, myself, have used a gun to
prevent a crime. I sure didn�t report it.
Guns prevent crimes. Often that crime is murder. Then there�s rape and
robbery, but let�s keep this simple and factor only for deaths. To
accurately determine the death to gun ratio you have to subtract form
the total number of deaths the murders that were prevented by guns in
the hands of the intended victims of murders that didn�t happen.
Calculating the gun to death ratio is not the most revealing study,
anyway. What you really want to be calculating is the ratio between the
number of times a gun is used to prevent a death and the number times a
gun is used to cause a death. Keep in mind that a certain number will
cancel each other out because one way to prevent a death is to cause
one.
In the vast majority of cases where a gun is used to prevent a crime,
however, it is not fired. It is, at most brandished. In my case, I
didn�t even brandish it. I just let them know it was there. I popped the
lid of the car trunk and, while standing behind it, looked the nearest
one in eye and said. �Do you WANT trouble?� He didn�t, and neither did
his friends. They backed off at once, and I don�t blame them one bit. It
was the smartest move they could have possibly made.
I am one hundred percent convinced that having what I had in the trunk
that day prevented at least three, and maybe five murders. And I didn�t
even have to show it off. For all they knew for certain, all I had in
there was a stack of cream pies. But if I hadn�t had what I did have in
there, I wouldn�t have been able to pull it off. My fear would have
shown and they�d have been on us in a hot second.
Never bluff. NEVER, not even once. Especially don�t try to bluff a bunch
of guys with lumpy pockets when one of them is coming straight at you
across a parking lot with his hand in his pocket and race slurs coming
out of his mouth aimed at the guy next to you. Don�t bluff guys like
this. It�s way too risky. If shooting back is not at least one of your
options, run. Run as fast as you can and hope they don�t shoot you the
back. If they shoot you anyway, as you�re lying there dying, you�re
going to have some last thoughts. One of them, I guarantee, will be, �I
should have listened to nessie about this.� Is that REALLY what you want
to have for a last thought? Think about it.
<A HREF!ttp://www.ctrl.org/">www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
���CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
������������������������rchives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF!ttp://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html">Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF!ttp:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/">ctrl</A>
������������������������o subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send
email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
