Quote:
|
Originally Posted by jorgelito
Ah...my little question was intended for humor but I see it has taken a philosophical bent *chuckle*. There are a host of flaws to my one-liner but I get your point. Still, believe all things being equal, most people take the path of least resistance. looking at the two options, perhaps choosing to rob the birkenstocks would be less work than a potentially armed guy (with itchy trigger finger), assuming your average Joe burglar is unarmed.
Regarding the statistical question, I think it's worth a look. Otherwise this type of debate just sort of goes in circles eh?
For examples, excluding accidents and suicides would be a preliminary step I would think. And differentiating between crimes committed with lawful guns vs unlawful (if they even keep such a statistic) would also be wise. Something like that.... of course looking at stats is only a part of the discussion but a potentially valuable addition.
|
Yeah, I realize it was humor intended...but there's some underlying assumptions that were worth exploring in my opinion.
But directly to your points, yeah birkenstocks may be easier to steal (or presumably the person wearing them would be an easier target) but they aren't worth anything on the street. Regardless, your house will be burglarized when the burglar thinks you aren't home and selection would be based on perceived worth of the job rather than danger (since danger is controlled for by your absence).
The problem with going to the statistical data is that its conflicting and a large number of people don't know how to consume it. It's difficult enough to have discussions over statistical findings with people trained in that area, and its not as if academics see this as a settled matter either. Basically what will most likely happen is members here will go round and round over the numbers instead of their ideas, and injecting them into conversations hasn't been very valuable in the past.
And yes, "they" keep stats on crimes committed with lawful guns versus unlawful ones.
Gun control proponents usually get their arguments maligned by gun possession advocates. More often than not, people agree that lawful possession and responsible wielding are doable--even if they don't personally choose to carry. But then something needs to be done to restrict the avenue through which criminals illegally obtain weapons, and that's the gist of the argument for a lot of reasonable people who recognize that criminals are the ones who pose the greatest danger to the general populace when it comes to firearms.