Comments on: Dick Cheney opposes USDOJ, signs amicus on DC gun ban case

By: DLS

DLS — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 21:30:27 +0000

Paul[ ]Silver uses misleading language again. Gun control is not “progress” [sic].

What matters here are the legal issues, not whether or not guns are a good idea.

By: Hotjets

Hotjets — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:11:50 +0000

Estimates on the number of defensive uses of firearms in the US range from 800,000 to 2.5 million per year. The Department of Justice's 1994 survey estimated 1.5 million defensive uses per year, for example. (http://www.ncjrs.org/txtfiles/165476.txt).

Do you have any statistics that support the claim that guns allow "stunningly few acts of self defense"?

By: Jillmz

Jillmz — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 20:10:20 +0000

Paul – which societies are you thinking of – I do not know a lot about that. Any one or two that you think use models that could work in our society?

By: PaulSilver

PaulSilver — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 15:34:30 +0000

This is one of those issues in which ideology conflicts with pragmatism.
The argument is that people have a right to defend themselves.
Yet the access to guns allows a tens of thousands of deaths, many as acts of passion, with stunningly few acts of self defense.
The rest of the world's developed societies are so far ahead of us on this.