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Originally Posted by roachboy
the argument, then, is basically that easily available guns effectively militarize class conflict--which is continual, everywhere---or, another way, make its violence more explicit. so that areas in which class divisions are more severe and in which the geography of class conflict is such that the groups are closer together would expect to see a different pattern of gun-related violence than would areas which are more segregated spatially.
if you add to this the fact that income levels are not a particularly informative indicator of the nature of class conflict---poverty being in a sense worse in the states than in many other places which are poorer in terms of income across the board (amartya sen correlates income levels with morality rates to generate this argument..it's a pretty compelling one, if you see the data)---adding guns to the routinized violence of class divisions is a real problem.
the "principled"--or platonic--approach to questions of gun control make no sense. it has to be approached on a local basis.
it's not obvious that the decision of last week upsets anything about this--it seems to me that it makes absolute bans more difficult, that's all.
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roachboy, I am posting data/stats that indicate
gun violence is largely rooted in the opposite of what you posted....it isn't related to "class" conflict. It has become part of the culture of African Americans, if the statistics are an indicator, and it doesn't seem to be related to poverty or to below average education level, either.... By and large, they use guns to prey on and to kill each other.
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...013001802.html
Too Many Killings, Too Many Crime Scenes
By Courtland Milloy
Wednesday, January 31, 2007; Page B01
...."I'm reading a case right now about a rivalry between the 1300 block of Clifton Street and the 1400 block of Clifton Street. How ridiculous is that?" said Thomas A. "Tad" DiBiase, deputy chief of homicide for the U.S. attorney's office in the District. "People are 'beefing' not because they are different but because they are the same: 'Why does so-and-so have new shoes but I don't? Does he think he's better than me?' Why does his neighborhood get called out first at the go-go club? It's absurd, but when you add in the easy access to guns, it becomes deadly."
All told, six people were slain in the District and Prince George's within five hours Saturday night and early Sunday. This is far from a record. There have been 10 killings in less time. But this recent spate does add to the feeling that we are all living in one big crime scene, with no one unscathed.
During a recent visit to Carver Terrace, a housing complex in Northeast Washington, I saw children playing not far from where a contractor was shot nine times after asking some youths to stop sitting on his car. He was one of eight people in the neighborhood who had been shot and wounded -- two others were shot and killed -- since October.
I asked Amin Muslim, a community activist in Carver Terrace, how the children managed to seem so happy.
"They learn from an early age how to live with violence," he said. "They are taught what to do when gunshots ring out: 'Drop, crawl and roll. Never run across the street.' They know the drill."
Prince George's County State's Attorney Glenn Ivey recalled another incident involving children that was just as disturbing: "I was at a gas station, and this guy was playing music with a graphic description of killing a snitch. He was blasting it, and in the car with him were some kids who appeared to be about 7 and 8 years old. And I'm thinking, 'Wow, what's the message that these kids are going to take from this?' The guy looked to be in his 40s, old enough to know better. You don't play a soundtrack for self-destruction to your elementary school kids."
One of the most striking features about many homicide scenes in the District and Prince George's is their relative affluence. Yuma Street, for instance, where D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty and law enforcement officials held an anti-crime news conference Monday, is a tree-lined stretch of brick duplexes. This is not some ghetto. Even the smallest children can be seen dressed to the nines.
"The problem for many kids is not a lack of things but a lack of attention," said Brittany Etheridge, 19, a Carver Terrace resident. "Most children in this city live with single mothers, and if the mother gets a boyfriend, then most of her efforts go into keeping him. All the children have to do is give the appearance of doing good in school and the mother will give them anything they want -- except quality time and attention."
So what happens when those children grow up and take to the streets, handgun in waistband, assault rifle in the backseat of a stolen car, the way they do on gangsta rap videos? You know they were not born that way. But that's how they live and kill and die on the streets.
And I, for one, am just sick and tired of it.
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http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2007prelim/table4il_mo.htm
Boston 2007 Population 591,855
Violent crimes 6,838 Murder 66 Forcible Rape 263
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston#Demographics
According to the 2000 census, the racial makeup of the city was 49% Non-Hispanic White, 25% African American or Black, 8% Asian American, 1% Native American, 4% from other races, and 3% from two or more races. 14% of the population was Hispanic or Latino who can be of any race.
19.5% of the population and 15.3% of families are below the poverty line. ...
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http://www.fbi.gov/ucr/2007prelim/table4il_mo.htm
Detroit 2007 Population 860,971
Violent crimes 19,683 Murder 383 Forcible Rape 344
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Detroit...n#Demographics
....As of 2006, the city of Detroit was 81.2% Black American, 14.3% White American, 2.4% Asian American, 0.6% Native American, 0.03% Pacific Islander American, 2.54% from other races American, and 1.5% from two or more races. 3.9 percent of the population was Hispanic or Latino of any race. Non-Hispanic whites accounted for 10.5% of Detroit's population. The city's foreign-born population is at 5.3%.
26.1% of the population and 21.7% of families were below the poverty line...
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Detroit has 1-1/2 times the population of Boston, triple the numbers of annual violent crimes, and 383 murders, vs. just 66, in Boston. It seems that the volume of violent crime is much more related to who lives in a place, than it does to how much money and opportunities they have.
Boston actually had slightly more per capita reported forcible rapes in 2007, than Detroit had.... Is it possible that rape is just less reported in Detroit, due to fear by victims and witnesses, of being murdered if they cooperate with police and the courts?
If poverty or class friction was the problem it is assumed to be, affluent Prince George's county should have a much lower per capita murder rate than the city of Boston, and so should Dekalb County, Ga., but they don't.
The stats show outsized African American populations, regardless of household income and poverty rates, experience outsized rates of violent crime, despite heavy per capita incarceration rates of most likely repeat violent criminals.
There is an argument for strict local gun bans, and stepped up nationwide control of interstate gun traffic, even if it means restricting hand gun purchases to the extent they are restricted in NY City. Not to do so, will apparently continue the loss of economic activity and livability of areas with outsized African American populations, regardless of social spending and reforms.