On Wed, Oct 29, 2003 at 04:29:11PM -0600, Jon Roland wrote: > It should be no surprise that firearm-related injuries and deaths are > closely correlated with illegal substance trafficking, which mainly occurs > in urban ghettos, especially those that are predominantly black or hispanic. > The main participants are gangsters battling over turf, money, inventory, or > or other gang issues, with an occasional bystander getting hurt. Reports > indicate there is a similar pattern in the UK, with the main participants > being Jamaican and other third-world immigrants or first-generation > descendants of immigrants. There was a similar pattern involving alcohol > during Prohibition from 1919 through 1933, but in those days more of the > alcohol trafficking occurred in rural areas.
Jon, can you point to some data in support of the last sentence? I'd like to read up on it. In support of your overall point, The Economist has pointed to the connection between illegal drugs and violence; see especially their survey "High Time: A survey of illegal drugs", 28 July 2001, under the heading "The harm done". They cite a number of British and Dutch sudies. Perhaps legalizing drugs would have a more salutary effect on violence rates (and quite a few other things) than further gun control laws. -- Charles Curley /"\ ASCII Ribbon Campaign Looking for fine software \ / Respect for open standards and/or writing? X No HTML/RTF in email http://www.charlescurley.com / \ No M$ Word docs in email Key fingerprint = CE5C 6645 A45A 64E4 94C0 809C FFF6 4C48 4ECD DFDB
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