Wyes said:
ravenshrike said:
]Did you even read the NRA source? What, do you think they asked Hemingway for his data sets and exact methodology, he gave it to them, and then they lied about him not giving it to them?
As for gun control being effective, that's a real laugh. The only place it's 'effective' is Japan, and that's because the criminal culture itself frowns on gun use. Not because of any laws.
You misunderstand me - my point was not that the Hemingway source was valid, but that the NRA are no more likely to be unbiased. They clearly have a vested interest. This is not me saying that the NRA are lying about Hemingway, it's me saying that they have no reason to promote any valid research against guns for self-defence anyway. The point is - the effectiveness of guns for self-defence is not cut and dry. If you would like, I can find a video of a knife wielding lunatic stabbing three or four police officers of a dozen or so (in I believe South Africa?), all of whom already had their pistols drawn, before they finally inflict a wound that drops him. That's a situation that should heavily favour the police officers. Now, this obviously isn't going to happen all the time, but it's certainly not as simple as 'have gun - can defend self'.
As for gun control - I live in a country where gun control has been extremely effective - Australia. There are of course other examples, but we're not debating gun control here. It doesn't matter whether or not its effective (for the purposes of this thread), it matters whether or not you live in a country where you can get a concealed carry permit anyway.
*blinks* And if I had linked to studies by them you might have a point. None of the studies I was referring to saying that guns are useful in defense, even when not fired, were funded by the NRA. I merely was pointing out your *source* was too chickenshit to release his methodology and data sets. As there is NO monetary interest implicit in his keeping those data sets and his methodology private, the only remaining possible conclusion is that they would not stand up under scrutiny.
As for your video of the police officers getting their asses handed to them, the average gun owner in the US is both a better shot and better trained than the average police officer in the US. Anyone that could be considered a 'gun nut' is better trained by several orders of magnitude. I somehow doubt those SA officers even shoot more than once a year.
As for your vaunted 'successful australian gun control', between the fact that your biker gangs are manufacturing their own closed bolt submachine guns that are professional quality and the fact that the murder rate in Australia did not decline any faster at all than the US murder rate over the 10 years post the Port Arthur shootings, it seems pretty damned clear that said gun control did jack shit at keeping weapons out of the hands of criminals.