Ed Huntress wrote:

"Tom" wrote in message
...
Gunner wrote:

On Mon, 29 Dec 2003 10:05:46 +1300, Tom wrote:

Gunner wrote:

On Sun, 28 Dec 2003 11:06:23 -0500, Kirk Gordon
wrote:

Clearly, Gunner, I was wrong. You're not all that smart. I'm
not
going to comment further, though. I'm afraid that if I make you
angry,
you might do something drastic and dangerous, like putting a
swimming
pool in my back yard.

KG

This is the kind of world Kirk wants. From one of my English mates,
a
retired British trooper of some rank......

The usual irrelevant copy & paste followed........

Sigh...makes one wonder if Kirk might not be happier in the UK.

With a population of about 5th the US, and firearms deaths at
80 for last year, Kirk may not be happier, but he certainly
would be safer...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/3195908.stm

Tom

Perhaps safer from firearms..but rape, robbery, assault and burglary
are higher in the UK than in the US.

Odd how that happens when one takes away the means to defend ones
self, no?

Gunner

I thought safer from firearms was the question?

Of course throwing in an unsubstantiated statement,
could be construed as a failure to defend an earlier
unsustainable post...

Certainly, as usual it's BS:

US violent crime: 2002, 23 victims per 1000 persons
http://www.jointogether.org/gv/news/...566383,00.html

UK violent crime: 2000-1, 13.92 victims per 1000 persons
http://www.sustainable-development.g...l/2001/03a.htm

Still what's new?

Tom

Tom, it isn't that simple, and there's always some argument over crime-rate
comparisons. It's very difficult to compare them across countries.

For example, the US violent crime rate you quote above, 23/1000, breaks down
into 7.6/1000 "completed" violence and 15.6/1000 "attempted or threatened
violence." That's in the actual "Bureau of Justice Statistics National Crime
Victimization Survey August 2003, NCJ 199994, Criminal Victimization, 2002,"
which is the source from which that 23/1000 rate is extracted.

Do you know how the UK records attempted/threatened violence in each
category? It appears to be a complicated thing to extract from the data,
because attempts are classed as individual types of crimes in some cases and
not in others. Whether that means that attempts are lumped together with
completions in those other cases, I don't know. You also want to take a
careful look at which data are reporting crimes actually reported to the
police, and which are estimates of total crime, reported and unreported.

Anyway, be cautious in making those claims.

Oh, BTW, among all crimes of violence in the US, only about 7% of the
victims faced an assailant armed with a gun. No guns were involved in 93% of
violent crimes committed in the US, in other words.

Ed Huntress

It's never that simple, it's bad enough putting up with
Gunner posting crap without some pedant posting some
mealy-mouthed quibble.

Guns? Who was talking about guns? Gunner quoted "rape, robbery, assault and
burglary are higher in the UK than in the US."
Apart from burglary they constitute violent crime.

If you really want to bring guns into it compare the firearm
deaths in the UK with the US and remember dead is dead!

Tom