Once again music gets the blame

[Paul Mather]

On Wed, Jan 08, 2003 at 12:59:50PM +0000, M Holmes wrote:

=> We don't get the chance in the uK. We're constantly lied to concerning
=> guns in the uS and since the average citizen here's "ecperience" of US
=> gun crime is Hollywood movies, mythmaking is passed off as not only
=> fact, but analysis.

I have to admit that this was my experience.  Because of reporting, et
al., my perception of the USA was of a place more far violent than I
have found it to be.  (In fact, the only gun I've ever seen in public
[other than on police officers] in all the years I've been here was at
a Waffle House, where a seedy looking guy in the booth behind me was
twirling a Saturday Night Special around his finger to impress his
girlfriend.  That did not make me feel safer, for some reason.:)  But
then again, I live in a place that consistently makes it into national
top ten lists of places to retire, so perhaps I'm living in a
statistical outlier? ;-)

=> that the areas of the US with most guns have lower crime rates;

Remember the golden rule: correlation doesn't always imply causality.

The area I live in is quite rural, and has a large gun ownership due
to the immense popularity of hunting.  (The local schools often empty
due to mass truancy at the first days of hunting season as the boys go
out to bag their game.)  There's also a very strong sense of community
and neighbourliness (despite the sparser population density).  Crime
rates are low.

So, is the crime rate low because of the high gun ownership, or
because of the strong community spirit?  If you want to advocate for
guns, you'll pick the former and conveniently ignore the latter.

Cheers,

Paul.

e-mail: paul at gromit.dlib.vt.edu

"Without music to decorate it, time is just a bunch of boring production
 deadlines or dates by which bills must be paid."
        --- Frank Vincent Zappa