Insty Talks Guns in the Times

Glenn Reynolds has an interesting op-ed in the NY Times today noting that communities with higher levels of legal gun ownership face less criminal activity.

Me?

I'm all for it, providing that those who own those firearms use them responsibly, and don't use them to chase down those who may have committed minor property crimes. Do that, and you might just find yourself in front of a grand jury, potentially facing a multitude of charges.

An increase in gun ownership can lead to a safer society, but only if gun owners use those firearms responsibly, as the overwhelming majority of citizens do.

Update:

Via email, a counterargument. It might be worth noting that Darwinism takes care of this counterargument.

Posted by: Confederate Yankee at 10:27 AM

Comments

1 I am 77 years old. I lived in a time when almost everyone had guns (except in New York City and other stupid cities)and none of the irresponsible actions that liberals so like to say will happen took place. My father lived even earlier, when guns were even more available, and none of these irresponsible acts occurred (except for a very few - so few that they can be considered an almost statistical anomoly). Theories are fine, but they need to be proved by experimentation (as Newton, Eintein, and others have said). In this case, the experimentation has ALREADY occurred, and that is past history. Wake up and study history. As a wise man once said, "Those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it."

Posted by: Len at January 16, 2007 10:46 AM (Hm7dh)

2
The occasional crackpot aside, increased gun ownership does lead to a safer society, as Glenn demonstrates in his article. I linked from Gun laws we can live with.

Posted by: Bill Faith at January 16, 2007 01:42 PM (n7SaI)

3 Reynolds gets his facts wrong: crime in Morton Grove went down, while crime in Kennesaw didn't change.

Posted by: Tim Lambert at January 16, 2007 11:05 PM (4iwFx)

4 Lambert's a moonbat with spun data.

Yo Tim - with the recent Canadian and UK gun bans, what's you excuse for their gun crimes skyrocketing?

You got splaining to do Lucy.

Posted by: Purple Avenger at January 17, 2007 03:41 AM (K4lJ9)

5 I love the guy's wearing an ATF hat. LOL.

Posted by: Specter at January 17, 2007 07:52 AM (ybfXM)

6 What Iraq really needs is more guns. Support the NRA of Iraq !

Posted by: John Ryan at January 18, 2007 11:27 AM (TcoRJ)

7 A day that will never come is when people place a sign on their front door that says something like "Intruders! We Hate Guns and Wish That You Would Also!".

Posted by: Tom TB at January 19, 2007 10:25 AM (0Co69)

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