Comment Re: Thanks, assholes (Score 1) 573
I would suggest that the states with higher murder rates implemented tougher gun laws as a response to high murder rates.
And yet they still have higher murder rates. Those laws must not be very effective.
Let me put it this way. The areas that tend to have more crime also have higher population densities and lower incomes (more poverty). That is MUCH more indicative of the crime rate than simple gun ownership. Some place, like Wyoming, have a VERY HIGH gun ownership rate, but rather low crime. They also do not have any real big cities to speak of. If it were actually true that more guns = more homicide, then Wyoming would have a murder rate through the roof. As it is, Wyoming is infinitely safer than Chicago, which has done all that it can to ban guns.
I am not saying that gun ownership can't affect the murder rate. I am just saying that there are MANY other factors (mostly economic) that are FAR more important. As you have already seen, getting lead out of the environment has stopped way more murders than even banning all guns would have.
I'm quite happy for you to live your life as you wish, providing you don't go about gratuitously harming others.
Just checked my "to do" list. Oil change. Pick up groceries. Take my daughter to get her hair done. Wait.... Nope. Sorry, but "kill some random people" seems to be missing from my list. I am far too busy to fit anything else into my schedule, so everybody else is safe from me for now.