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Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!mhuxi!houxm!ihnp4!inuxc!pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece
From: preece@uicsl.UUCP
Newsgroups: net.flame
Subject: Re: why wouldn't criminals use their gun - (nf)
Message-ID: <3067@uiucdcs.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 30-Sep-83 23:48:43 EDT
Article-I.D.: uiucdcs.3067
Posted: Fri Sep 30 23:48:43 1983
Date-Received: Mon, 3-Oct-83 06:08:07 EDT
Lines: 32

#R:ccieng5:-15700:uicsl:4300085:000:1708
uicsl!preece    Sep 30 10:16:00 1983

	What's that?  Say again?  What brand of logic do you use here?
	"If only criminals had guns, they wouldn't use them?"  Equally likely
	is, "If only criminals had guns, they would use them every chance they
	got, because no one else has one with which to defend himself, making
	victims easy targets for any kind of crime."

	Actually, I think both arguments are garbage.  First, fear for one's
	safety is not the only reason criminals use guns.  That kills Scott
	Preece's argument.  Second, most criminals are not interested in any-
	thing more than one's possessions.  That kills the second possibility.
----------
Mr. Kleinpaste has put his finger on the core of my argument in his response
to his alternative position. Most criminals are not out to kill or injure
people, they're out to make a living in their own peculiar way. Most
criminals who carry guns do so simply to use them as a threat, to coerce
cooperation from the victim. An armed robber who thinks you may have a gun
is much more likely to over-react when you reach for your wallet than one
who is sure you don't have a gun. The mugger who simply likes to hurt his
victims will do so one way or the other. If you create a situation where
the intended victim is perceived by the criminal as more likely to be
armed, you increase the criminal's likely response to resistance or
surprise and you increase the likelihood that he will attack from
ambush with immediate use of force. That's counterproductive. And a gun
carried under one's clothing or in one's purse is not really a very
useful tool when the criminal confronts you unexpectedly, although it
does make a nice present for the criminal...

scott preece
pur-ee!uiucdcs!uicsl!preece