Peer reviewed work shows the correlation between gun ownership rates and homicide rates by state:
Russia and South Africa are hardly highly developed, wealthy countries. We have 6 times the per-capita GDP of Russia and over 12 times that of South Africa.
I can't answer for @ataraxia, but I do want our soldiers (government agents) armed to the teeth, because they are putting their lives on the line for our collective safety. Police, not so much. One of the many harmful consequences of the Bush's interminable wars was police departments around the country getting a slew of surplus military weaponry. De-militarizing the police, in both their equipment and their training, was one of the goals of BLM, and a key aspect of the stupidly named "defund the police" movement.
I see that I perhaps should have defined the term "collective" more clearly. Having lots of neighbors doesn't necessarily make you safer. Having neighbors whom you know and have established strong, cooperative relationships with, does make you safer. Collective action requires a certain level of organization, planning and cohesion. It doesn't just spring up organically, with no effort. But our entire society is organized into groups of various sorts - your church, your neighborhood, your poker group, your favorite team, your workplace, your gun club, your whatever.
Because throughout history man has conquered, abused, enslaved, and killed other men. The right to keep and bear arms insures that while you may be killed you will not be helpless to resist. Be that danger from another evil man or government.
You can win freedom or deny freedom with the barrel of a gun. Maintaining a free, democratically self-governing society does not require guns. It requires a commitment to the ideal of the rule of law, of being willing to lose elections, to be willing to work together and compromise and be ok with not getting everything you want, treating all your fellow citizens as equals and respecting their right to their points of view even as you disagree with them.
It absolutely is easier. No argument there. My point was that it's nowhere near as effective, but yes definitely easier.
Agreed.
I wasn't referring to criminals and I think you know that.
If law enforcement is not better armed and the rest of the population, how is it going to enforce any laws? It’s just going to be one more armed group among a large group of armed gangs, all trying to exercise their freedom on each other. Do you really not see any problem with that?
So did you just say car deaths are acceptable? Even when children are involved?
Protection from criminals is one of the reasons why people have guns.
And while I'm sure invaders or raiders or the single bad guy would be willing to wait around for the "Collective responses"of the neighborhood watch or whatever to get off of their collective asses in the middle of the night, I rather doubt it would play out that way and mom would be pretty much on her own. I mean all that "dependence and interdependence. Collective responses and other BS sounds real warm and fuzzy and all but when it comes down to it for a while you just might be on your own.
You are misreading what they say. They are connecting gun ownership to firearm homicide rates, not to homicide rates.Peer reviewed work shows the correlation between gun ownership rates and homicide rates by state:
Objectives. We examined the relationship between levels of household firearm ownership, as measured directly and by a proxy—the percentage of suicides committed with a firearm—and age-adjusted firearm homicide rates at the state level.
Methods. We conducted a negative binomial regression analysis of panel data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Web-Based Injury Statistics Query and Reporting Systems database on gun ownership and firearm homicide rates across all 50 states during 1981 to 2010. We determined fixed effects for year, accounted for clustering within states with generalized estimating equations, and controlled for potential state-level confounders.
Results. Gun ownership was a significant predictor of firearm homicide rates (incidence rate ratio = 1.009; 95% confidence interval = 1.004, 1.014). This model indicated that for each percentage point increase in gun ownership, the firearm homicide rate increased by 0.9%.
Conclusions. We observed a robust correlation between higher levels of gun ownership and higher firearm homicide rates. Although we could not determine causation, we found that states with higher rates of gun ownership had disproportionately large numbers of deaths from firearm-related homicides.
The American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA) publications
American Journal of Public Health (AJPH) from the American Public Health Association (APHA)ajph.aphapublications.org
I'm not missing it. That was the point I was trying to make.
Statistics do not agree that gun availability is a factor in overall homicide rates.
Our poverty is not like their poverty. They have much stronger social safety nets. They tax their rich much more than we do. And they do not spend nearly as much of their national budgets on their military. All that extra money goes to supporting their poor.
US poverty is an entirely different beast than poverty in France and Spain due to our lack of an adequate social safety net.The average for High Income countries: 2 per 100,000 (and the fact it is 2 is almost entirely driven by the United States which is an outlier)
We don't have a different species of human in the United States. We don't have more poverty in the United States than most other rich countries.
Law certainly supports that the right to keep and bear arms is one of our fundamental principles.
Either way the right to have guns for private self defense is protected by the Constitution.
I already know what they considered a well regulated militia to be.
OK.
That is incorrect. The Supreme Court has always ruled that the right to keep and bear arms is an individual right. And so have courts from before the founding of the US.
Some were and some weren't.
Not really.
You are always free to ask for a cite.
Let's go with self defense.
Rifles are much more effective.
No. But I do want her to have a rifle that can fire rapidly enough for effective self defense. An SKS would be a pretty good weapon for grandma to fend off burglars with.
Not really. Rifles are not terribly dangerous as far as weapons go.
Why do you have such a low opinion of Americans?