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From: cramer@kontron.UUCP (Clayton Cramer)
Newsgroups: soc.women,soc.singles
Subject: Re: My problems with rape (or why my views are so different from
Message-ID: <1086@kontron.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 26-Sep-86 17:58:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: kontron.1086
Posted: Fri Sep 26 17:58:06 1986
Date-Received: Mon, 29-Sep-86 02:52:42 EDT
References: <1904@mtgzy.UUCP> <8608050927.AA09486@cory.Berkeley.EDU> <3116@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU> <121@sri-unix.ARPA> <169@omssw1.UUCP> <3316@wa26 Sep 86 21:58:06 GMT
Organization: Kontron Electronics, Mt. View, CA
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> In article <169@omssw1.UUCP> hays@omssw1.UUCP (Kirk Hays) writes:
> >
> >Yes.  Here's a dogmatic idea:
> >
> >	Societies that require individuals to be responsible for their
> >	own defense have less violence and less crime than societies
> >	(like ours) that strip the individual of these abilities.
> >
> 
> This suggestion would be more plausible if the United States had
> much lower rates of crime and violence than the other western countries,
> all of which expect the authorities,  rather than the individual,
> to be responsible for defence and control.  In fact, its rates are
> by far higher than those in (to take the example where I happen to
> live) Canada, where it would be virtually unthinkable for a homeowner
> to have a handgun.

Groan!  For the hundredth time, "You are comparing apples & oranges
when you compare the U.S. and Canada, or the U.S. and any European
country."  There are substantial differences in ethnic makeup, legal
systems (Canada actually sends violent criminals to jail, for example),
weather, and population densities.

And the last set of murder comparisions I saw for Canada and the U.S.
make the difference smaller than you think.  9.1 murders/100,000 in the
U.S., 6.1 in Canada.

Clayton E. Cramer