Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International Evidence

[TXP]

http://law.bepress.com/cgi/viewcontent.cgi...ontext=expresso

Die Autoren:

Don B. Kates (Ll.B., Yale, 1966) is an American criminologist and constitutional lawyer

associated with the Pacific Research Institute, San Francisco. He may be contacted at

dbkates@aol.com; 360-666-2688; 22608 N.E. 269th Ave., Battle Ground WS 98604

** Gary Mauser (Ph.D., U. California, Irvine, 1970) is a Canadian criminologist and

university professor at Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, BC Canada. He may be

contacted at www.garymauser.net, mauser@sfu.ca, and 604-291-3652.

Interessante Untersuchung zum Zusammenhang zwischen Verfügbarkeit legaler Schusswaffen und der Anzahl an Morden und Suiziden. Interessante Tabellen, die zeigen das MEHR legaler Waffenbesitz eben NICHT zu MEHR Gewalttaten führt, es aber Länder mit wenig oder keinem legalen Waffenbesitz gibt die massiv erhöhte Raten an derartigen Vergehen haben.

Das Fazit:

This article has reviewed a goodly amount of evidence from a wide variety of international sources. Each individual portion of evidence is subject to cavil, at the very least the general objection that the persuasiveness of social scientific evidence cannot remotely approach the persuasiveness of conclusions in the physical sciences. Nevertheless the burden of proof rests on the proponents of the "more guns = more death/fewer guns = less death mantra, especially

since they propose public policy ought to be based on that mantra. To bear that burden would at the very least require showing that a large number of nations with more guns have more death and that nations which imposed stringent gun controls achieved substantial reductions in criminal violence (or suicide). But those things are precisely what is not demonstrated when a large number of nations are compared across the world.

Over a decade ago University of Washington public health professor Brandon Centerwall undertook an extensive, statistically sophisticated study comparing areas in the U.S. and Canada to determine whether Canada's much more restrictive policies had better contained criminal

violence. When he published his results it was with the admonition: If you are surprised by my findings, so are we. We did not begin this research with any intent to "exonerate" handguns, but there it is -- a negative finding, to be sure, but a negative

finding is nevertheless a positive contribution. It directs us where NOT to aim public health

resources.