ray@uunet.uu.net (05/30/91)
alpert@tramp.Colorado.EDU (ALPERT ETHAN BENJAMIN) writes:
# I recently decided to purchased a gun and am receiving some flack from some of
# my friends and I would realy appreciate some help finding references to use
# I support of my decision. I am not interested in NRA literature mainly because
# they are a little too right wing to succesfully influence my group of pacifist
# friends. I am interested in references to accident rates and fatalities of
# gun owners. Particularly, Is a gun owner more likely to be injured by a
# gun than a non gun owner? Secondly, I am interested in studies of violence
# in societies which do not allow their citizenry to own guns. I am also
# interested in finding out about gun free societies (other than England).
# Although, these issues will not sway my decision I feel that I need to
# go in to my next discussion/argument about guns with both guns blazing :)
I have just what you're looking for:
Guns, Murders, and the Constitution
A Realistic Assessment of Gun Control
by Don B. Kates, Jr.
This was published February, 1990 by the Pacific Research Institute for
Public Policy, 177 Post St., San Francisco, CA 94108 (415) 989-0833.
I called them up and gave them a credit card number over the phone. The
cost is $5.00. It is 64 pages, and full of references to other studies.
Kates is an attorney specializing in civil rights law. He is a former
associate of William Kunstler. The material in this briefing are from
his Stanford course "American Violence: The Gun Connection" and various
papers he has authored.
Here is a summary of the Table of Contents:
Overview
Sagecraft -- using data to validate preordained conclusions
Respectable Bigotry
Realistic Control vs. Symbolic Gun Prohibition
Pejorative Characterizations of Gun Ownership
Penis Theory
Guns as Cause of Aggression
Paranoia, Sexism, Racism
Defensive Gun Ownership as a Response to Crime
Police Protection
Defensive Efficiency of Handguns
Anti-Gun Obliviousness to Women's Defensive Needs
Incidence of Injury to Handgun-Armed Victims Who Resist Criminal Attack
The "Submission Position" Advocated by White, Male Academia
Comparisons Among Nations and Over Time
International Homicide Rates vs. Gun Availability
Historical Ignorance and the Anti-Gun Crusade
American Murder Rates
Concealment of the Declining American Murder Trend
Massacres
Anti-Gun Deceptions
Law-Abiding Gun Owner as Domestic and Acquaintance Murderer
Prior Felony Record of Murderers
Violent History of Wife Murderers
Lies on Labeling Murderers as Ordinary Citizens
Gun Accidents
Child Fatalities
Aberrance of Gun Accident Perpetrators
Control All Guns, Not Just Handguns
Handguns vs. Long Guns as
Accident Vectors
Homicide Vectors
Basic Principles of Gun Control
Seven Rational Gun Control Proposals
Futility of Gun Controls in an Overloaded System
END of SUMMARY
Kates summarizes a large volume of research and bursts almost all of the
bubbles blown by the anti-gun crowd. This is one of the most valuable
publications I have come across. It is particularly useful in getting
facts past the biases of liberal/pacifist/leftist/libber types.
Perhaps we should continue this in talk.politics.guns -- this posting,
while factual, is on the outermost fringes of this group's charter, IMHO.
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Ray Ward Email: uunet!ctbilbo!ray
Voice: (214) 991-8338x226, (800) 331-7032 Fax : (214) 991-8968
=-=-=-=- There _are_ simple answers, just no _easy_ ones. -- R.R. -=-=-=-=petert@uunet.UU.NET (Peter Toth) (05/31/91)
In article <35034@mimsy.umd.edu> ctbilbo!ray@uunet.uu.net writes:
#[...]
#
#Perhaps we should continue this in talk.politics.guns -- this posting,
#while factual, is on the outermost fringes of this group's charter, IMHO.
#
#=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
#Ray Ward Email: uunet!ctbilbo!ray
#Voice: (214) 991-8338x226, (800) 331-7032 Fax : (214) 991-8968
#=-=-=-=- There _are_ simple answers, just no _easy_ ones. -- R.R. -=-=-=-=
I respectfully disagree. I too am forever in search of such literature,
and am a very infrequent visitor of t.p.g lately. One gets weary.
What you are posting are not arguments, but references to published arguments.
I agree that actual debate, including publication of arguments, should take
place on t.p.g.
Thanx
Peter Toth