Slashdot Mirror

What protects freedom of speech (and all the other rights)?

In Mao's words, power comes from the barrel of a gun. The Second Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees an INDIVIDUAL right to "keep and bear arms" basically to prevent the government from having too much power over individuals.

Oh, as for gun control lowering crime? One is a helluva lot more likely to be robbed or assaulted in London than one is even in the worst parts of DC or Detroit. And never mind the number of home break-ins documented to happen in the UK. That doesn't happen in the US that often - because the crooks know there's a really good chance they'll get their ass shot. And last I looked, the murder rate in Ireland (no guns) was higher than the murder rate in the US.

Oops. Sorry to deflate your vision with facts.

There's no cross-societial evidence that correlates levels of gun ownership with crime rates, or even shootings. Guns are quite prevalent in Switzerland, for example. How about Finland?

Here's some real numbers for you to chew on:

http://www.uncjin.org/Statistics/firearms/index.ht m

One does wonder what ever happened the that "final study" that commission was supposed to produce, oh, about 8 years ago.

Do you think maybe it got swept under the rug because it didn't support the "guns cause crime" knee-jerk reactionaries?

Generally, an extradition treaty requires that a country seeking extradition be able to show that:
- The relevant crime is sufficiently serious.
- There exists a prima facie case against the individual sought.
- The event in question qualifies as a crime in both countries.
- The extradited person can reasonably expect a fair trial in the recipient country.
- The likely penalty will be proportionate to the crime.

This site seems to disagree with the differences in crime rates you stated. I followed some of the supportijng links and it also apears to be acurate. Well i guess interpool only wants you to know about the stats if you are a police angency. This site hereandhere seem to back it up. It is amazing that switzerland apears to have a larger crime rate then the US. This site http://www.gunowners.org/sk0703.htm apears to say that gun ownership has the oposite effect in crime then what is popularly taunted too.

I've heard this misinterpretation about the crime rates in Europe compaired to america before. I'm not sure it is something like the chicken and egg concpet were some one thinks it should be logical to have that outcome so they just spout it or if the EU news agencies under report the crimes unlike in america were it is a guarentied ratings.

Apparently, that CEO guy is still stupid.

First, many countries will not extradite their own citizens.

Second, according to this UN extradition page and the linked PDF morocc.pdf, there is only a treaty for narcotics crimes, terrorism, and "organized crime".

I think he's pretty safe.

Apparently, that CEO guy is still stupid.

First, many countries will not extradite their own citizens.

Second, according to this UN extradition page and the linked PDF morocc.pdf, there is only a treaty for narcotics crimes, terrorism, and "organized crime".

I think he's pretty safe.

Rates of crimes other than murder are significantly higher in much of Europe than in the US. In addition, crime rates in the US have been dropping dramatically while those in Europe have been increasing.

Prepared to refute you with data from the United Nations Crime and Justice Information Network's statistics page, I found that a lot of what you said to be true -- except maybe the "significantly much higher" bit. The USA has hovered at about 5-6K crimes per 100K people with a slight decreasing trend, while all EU member nations have seen between 10%-50% increase in crime from 1980 to 1997.

However, in terms of violent crime, the USA is still king. Our murder, rape, and robbery rates are from 4-10 times larger than in EU states, and our incarceration rates are 7 times that of European nations outside of the former Warsaw Pact states. Apparently, while crime is more prolific in Europe (in spite of our much harsher drug laws), they are overwhelmingly not serious crimes.

Now, Japan is another story entirely. Crime rates in Japan went from about 11 in 1000 to 15 in 1000 over the same period of time. Violent crimes are nearly nonexistant (though on the rise). Having been to Japan, I can say that you really could leave a wallet on the bar without much worry in most places in Tokyo (and Sendai too). This is becoming less and less true now as a younger, less traditional generation is supplanting the values of the old, but Japan is much, much safer than America.

• United Nations International Study on Firearm Regulation
• International Homicide and Suicide Rates

1. are not proportional to the percentage of households that legally own handguns.
2. are proportional to the overall crime rate

• He was referring to all violent crime in general. It drops when the society is armed. This is a fact, regarless of the FUD spread about gun-control nuts.

Fact? can I see that statistics?
I myself just took the data of the UNITED NATIONS CRIME AND JUSTICE INFORMATION NETWORK which offers international crime statistics in a database (Access 97)

I took the Following numbers:
Numbers of thefts/Robberies (Field 66a + 66b)
Numbers of Homocides ( Field 62e)

That's about what you wanted to compare, or?
Well I compared the numbers for USA and Germany (that's where I live, and I know that Gun's are regulated quite strict here) as of 1995 (The newest numbers available).

The raw numbers are:
USA Thefts/Roberies: 618.817
USA Homocides : 23.692

Ger Thefts/Roberies: 63.576
Ger Homocides : 1.680

Now considering the different population:
USA : 272,639,608
GER : 82,087,361
(From CIA-Faktbook,all numbers from 1999)
Sorry for the discrepancy between ne numbers from 1995 and 1999 but that's the only numbers I got.

Now lets calculate the above numbers per 100,000 inhabitants:
(rounded to the tenth)
USA Thefts/Roberies: 226.97
USA Homocides : 8.69

Ger Thefts/Roberies: 77.45
Ger Homocides : 2.05

Do you still hold up you oppinion? (Or can you give me facts supporting your oppinion?)

• He was referring to all violent crime in general. It drops when the society is armed. This is a fact, regarless of the FUD spread about gun-control nuts.

Fact? can I see that statistics?
I myself just took the data of the UNITED NATIONS CRIME AND JUSTICE INFORMATION NETWORK which offers international crime statistics in a database (Access 97)

I took the Following numbers:
Numbers of thefts/Robberies (Field 66a + 66b)
Numbers of Homocides ( Field 62e)

That's about what you wanted to compare, or?
Well I compared the numbers for USA and Germany (that's where I live, and I know that Gun's are regulated quite strict here) as of 1995 (The newest numbers available).

The raw numbers are:
USA Thefts/Roberies: 618.817
USA Homocides : 23.692

Ger Thefts/Roberies: 63.576
Ger Homocides : 1.680

Now considering the different population:
USA : 272,639,608
GER : 82,087,361
(From CIA-Faktbook,all numbers from 1999)
Sorry for the discrepancy between ne numbers from 1995 and 1999 but that's the only numbers I got.

Now lets calculate the above numbers per 100,000 inhabitants:
(rounded to the tenth)
USA Thefts/Roberies: 226.97
USA Homocides : 8.69

Ger Thefts/Roberies: 77.45
Ger Homocides : 2.05

Do you still hold up you oppinion? (Or can you give me facts supporting your oppinion?)