Epsilon, you are demonstrating your ignorance and complete lack of understanding of society here. We'd all like to live in a utopia where criminals are actually sensible, rational people, because then they wouldn't be criminals, they'd get jobs and get lives.
There is almost NEVER a cop around when you need one. It's a cliche because it's TRUE. In order to have a patrol officer within response time of every violent crime that occurs we would need thirty to forty times as many as we currently have. It has NEVER been practical to provide the kind of coverage that you suggest is appropriate, and never will be.
Let me postulate a couple of scenarios for you:
1) Joe Blow decides he wants some cash, so he grabs a stick and tells me to hand over my wallet or he'll beat my brains in. I give him my wallet, and he decides to beat me up anyway just for fun.
2) Joe Blow decides he wants some cash, so he grabs a stick and tells me to hand over my wallet or he'll beat my brains in. I pull out a gun and shoot him. He falls over, I call the cops, they clean up the body and a judge and jury finds my actions were valid self-defense.
3) Joe Blow decides he wants some cash, so he grabs a stick and tells me to hand over my wallet or he'll beat my brains in. I stand there terrified. Bill the Cop, walking down the street, notices what's going on and tells Joe to drop the stick. Joe turns around, waves the stick at Bill, and Bill shoots Joe.
Ninety percent of these scenarios, around the world, follow #1. About 75% of those end with me dead.
#3 is so unlikely as to approach 0%.
Note, too, that in both 2 and 3, Joe ends up dead, either at my hand, or the cop's.
As Logan said, "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6".
A gun is quite simply a tool for implementing the use of force. It is not a magic wand. It is not The One Ring, compelling its wielder to go forth and commit murder. People who are going to commit violent crimes will commit violent crimes with whatever weapon they can get, because a weapon is more effective than your bare hands. If they can get guns, they'll get guns. If they can't, they'll get something else, be it knives, or sticks, or slingshots. But because guns are more effective than knives and sticks and slingshots, they'll want guns, and there will be criminals who make a career out of providing them. It's not as if the formula for gunpowder is some magic deep dark secret only possessed by government-licensed alchemists.
A few years ago England, well known for its ridiculously harsh gun laws, noted that despite the considerable decrease in gun violence, they were seeing what seemed to be a massive upswing in knife violence. What was actually happening was that the overall crime rate hadn't changed all that much, criminals were just using different weapons. The solution they proposed? Ban knives. The laughter that ensued when I first heard that resulted in three noise complaints from my neighbors.
'
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Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.
There is almost NEVER a cop around when you need one. It's a cliche because it's TRUE. In order to have a patrol officer within response time of every violent crime that occurs we would need thirty to forty times as many as we currently have. It has NEVER been practical to provide the kind of coverage that you suggest is appropriate, and never will be.
Let me postulate a couple of scenarios for you:
1) Joe Blow decides he wants some cash, so he grabs a stick and tells me to hand over my wallet or he'll beat my brains in. I give him my wallet, and he decides to beat me up anyway just for fun.
2) Joe Blow decides he wants some cash, so he grabs a stick and tells me to hand over my wallet or he'll beat my brains in. I pull out a gun and shoot him. He falls over, I call the cops, they clean up the body and a judge and jury finds my actions were valid self-defense.
3) Joe Blow decides he wants some cash, so he grabs a stick and tells me to hand over my wallet or he'll beat my brains in. I stand there terrified. Bill the Cop, walking down the street, notices what's going on and tells Joe to drop the stick. Joe turns around, waves the stick at Bill, and Bill shoots Joe.
Ninety percent of these scenarios, around the world, follow #1. About 75% of those end with me dead.
#3 is so unlikely as to approach 0%.
Note, too, that in both 2 and 3, Joe ends up dead, either at my hand, or the cop's.
As Logan said, "Better to be judged by 12 than carried by 6".
A gun is quite simply a tool for implementing the use of force. It is not a magic wand. It is not The One Ring, compelling its wielder to go forth and commit murder. People who are going to commit violent crimes will commit violent crimes with whatever weapon they can get, because a weapon is more effective than your bare hands. If they can get guns, they'll get guns. If they can't, they'll get something else, be it knives, or sticks, or slingshots. But because guns are more effective than knives and sticks and slingshots, they'll want guns, and there will be criminals who make a career out of providing them. It's not as if the formula for gunpowder is some magic deep dark secret only possessed by government-licensed alchemists.
A few years ago England, well known for its ridiculously harsh gun laws, noted that despite the considerable decrease in gun violence, they were seeing what seemed to be a massive upswing in knife violence. What was actually happening was that the overall crime rate hadn't changed all that much, criminals were just using different weapons. The solution they proposed? Ban knives. The laughter that ensued when I first heard that resulted in three noise complaints from my neighbors.
'
--
Sucrose Octanitrate.
Proof positive that with sufficient motivation, you can make anything explode.