Job Discussion Forums

like2answer · Joined: 21 Sep 2006 Posts: 154

To 007 - Well, you do have a license to kill.

:P

globalnomad2 · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 562

I never felt unsafe in the U.S. In the suburbs where I've usually lived, my wife can jog alone at night. I do that too, and often see one or two other women jogging alone. In my college town, nobody locked their front doors. Also, many, many students from South America told me how happy they were to get to Houston where the crime was so low. I guess it's not well known, but the crime rates are far, far higher in many parts of Central and South America. Actually, the only time I've seen a violent crime was in Luxembourg City, in the Grand Duchy (the owner of the disco-bar I used to hang in was knifed). The only place I've ever had a gun pointed at me was by a Saudi in Saudi Arabia. I know these two anecdotes don't support the national statistics, but really, unless you live in a bad neighborhood, you don't feel unsafe in the U.S.

Does anybody have a license to kill 007's posts?? Killing stupidity is not a crime. By the way, 007, since you're always denigrating Americans as a people, let me remind you that the Nobel Prizes in medicine, physics, mathematics and economics all went to Americans this year. Not to "triumphantalize" -- just to present something for 007 to ponder, though pondering may be beyond your capabilities. And since you like to insult whole nations of people, pray tell me, what has the Middle East contributed in the world in the past 500 years?I mean, to improve the world, or life?
Can you think of something?

adorabilly...I thought those Miami airport carjackings were 10 years ago. Also, nobody mentioned that the US crime rate went way, way down in the 1990s until recently. It falls and rises in line with the economy.

stoth1972 · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 5:10 pm Post subject:

Fair point, GN.

adorabilly · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 430 Location: Ras Al Khaimah

globalnomad.

No it is still a problem. The new york times just ran an article about it like a month ago.and here is an older one from 2005 (http://travel.nytimes.com/2005/10/04/national/nationalspecial/04shoot.html?ex=1179460800&en=498b1ed4a9ce72b0&ei=5070

The rash of shootings and killings in the mid 1990s happened a the same time that the Florida concealed weapons licenses were being introduced... wonder if there is a connection.

adorabilly · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 430 Location: Ras Al Khaimah

here is the link to the recent times article
May 11

http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5DE1F3AF935A2575AC0A965958260

again, why go after tourists? Because they can't carry guns through airports...

007 · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 6:36 pm Post subject:

WD40 · Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 104

http://www.usa.safekids.org/tier3_cd.cfm?folder_id=540&content_item_id=1131

Unintentional shootings account for nearly 20 percent of all firearm-related fatalities among children ages 14 and under, compared with 3 percent for the entire U.S. population.

The UK seems to be going down the same path
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2001/08/07/guns-usat.htm

Imagine a country where guns are not owned or carried or used. Does anyone know of this place? Are there any esl jobs there? If you have had first hand knowledge (as I have) about the use and abuse of firearms and how they destroy neighborhoods, families and create a climate of fear and mistrust, there is little argument about having these guns in the first place.

By the way, Switzerland has the highest number of guns due a government issue which dates back to civil defense and nuclear attack.

007 · Posted: Wed May 16, 2007 7:49 pm Post subject:

Stephen Jones · Joined: 21 Feb 2003 Posts: 4124

Amongst the countries were guns are rife are Yemen and Somalia. NRA fanboys who quote Switzerland would do better to do some research on homicides in these countries.

To compare US crime figures for gun free states with those where guns are legal is meaningless. As there are no vigorous controls at state lines those states that ban guns are pissing into the wind. If there were nationwide gun control, or better NAFTA gun control, then there might be some basis for a comparison.

If you actually look at homicide figures internationally they are all over the place. Few would believe that Thailand has the third highest recorded homicide rate in the world (and note I say recorded because it seems unusually difficult to get figures for the whole world, as opposed to a selected sub-section).

Incidentally the number of young children killed in gun-related accidents in the States is nothing compared to the number drowned in swimming pools. Which goes back to GM2's original point, which is that you should not just take one statistic before coming to a conclusion.

Sheikh Inal Ovar · Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Posts: 1208 Location: Melo Drama School

redcliff · Joined: 23 Nov 2006 Posts: 46

If you take the author of Freakanomics (Steve Levitt?) at his word then the drop in Gun Violence in the past few decades in the US is a result of access to abortion (to open up another can of worms).

The author sites the swimming pool example too that Steve Jones mentions.

dmb · Joined: 12 Feb 2003 Posts: 8397

adorabilly · Joined: 20 May 2006 Posts: 430 Location: Ras Al Khaimah

wd40 it is nice that you quote statistics, but then leave out the most important one. Less than 75 children under 15 were killed by firearms that went off accientally. That is less than 2 per state in America. Lets keep the actual NUMBER in mind, not the %. The % makes it sound very scary, and like it is happening all the time. It isn't.

Comparing between states is viable, because if you live in New York City, and have purchased a gun in New Mexico, it is still AGAINST the law to have that gun in New York City. So a honest law abiding citizen won't have that gun there. Now will they? But again, criminals don't follow the laws.

also comparing between states is viable because in states with less regulation on their gun ownership you have LOWER crime rates within that state. What does that tell you? OH, if criminals are afraid the person they are attacking will have a gun, they are less likely to attack them.

Also, so what if the reason the Swiss have the highest number of guns per capitia is from a law from the cold war. It still HAS the most guns per person. And yet I don't hear about school shootings, rampages, or people shooting each other on the freeways there.

As for Stephen Jones. 1. I am not an NRA fanboy. I disagree with a great deal of their political activities and stances on issues that are important. So please before you label someone, find out if you have an accurate picture. 2. Tell me about switzerland (which has the highest per capitia gun ownership in the world). Do they have rampant crime with guns? How about school shootings? 3. I know there are plenty of places where guns are very easy to get that have horrible death tolls from guns, you mentioned yemen and somalia truthfully. There is one thing you leave out, the lack of ANY sort of central government with any kind of power. In industrialized nations, if you have a strong central government, an armed citizenry is a GOOD thing. In developing nations where the idea of the RULE of LAW is a foreign concept, and it is acceptable to pick up your ak47 and get a group of friends to go and wipe out the people you disagree with, then no amount of GUN LAWS will help their either.

globalnomad2 · Joined: 23 Jul 2005 Posts: 562

007--for someone who follows my posts so closely, you don't read very well: I haven't been in Saudi since 1996, and being of sound mind, I'll never return. And yes, my mistake, the fourth American Nobel Prize this year was in chemistry, not math.

WD40 · Joined: 14 Jan 2007 Posts: 104

In industrialized nations, if you have a strong central government, an armed citizenry is a GOOD thing.

If there is a strong central Government citizens do not need guns, nor do the police either. Guns kill, guns intimidate and they do not provide the answer. In many countries where the gun used to be the rule of law, citizens have decided that the gun is the problem e.g Northern Ireland (which still has guns but at least the citizens drove them off the agenda.) John Lennon had a dream as did Martin Luther King and Ghandi. The USA obsession with the gun is a sickness that is sadly spreading. The UK has more bobbies carrying guns than ever before. The bobby used to never carry a gun. Teaching kids how to use a gun means teaching murder. I wish we could live without them.