Jimmy's Got A Gun

M2RB:  Aerosmith

Jimmy got a gun
His whole world had come undone
From lookin' straight at the sun

Jimmy got a gun
His dog days had begun
Now, everybody is on the run
Because Jimmy got a gun

What could anyone do?
It was Jimmy's last I.O.U.

"All the other countries have strict gun laws while the United States does not. If guns aren’t responsible for the increase homicide rate, then what is?"

- Ric, 20 July 2012

Germany has very strict gun laws. In fact, the German laws are far stricter than existing gun control in the US, or the restrictions that are routinely discussed here. Germany has strict licencing and registration requirements.  Valid licences expire after 3 years. To even get a licence, people must past background cheques that include a demonstration of characteristics such as the subjective "trustworthiness" and convince the authorities that they have an urgent necessity for a gun. Of course, Germany also has requirements against licencing alcohol or drug addicts, those with mental disorders, people with violent or aggressive tendencies, and felony convictions.   With all of this, Germany still holds the honour of being the host country to 3 of the 5 worst school massacres in the recorded history of civilisation (Germany: Erfurt, 2002, 18 were killed; Winnenden, 2009, 15 murdered; and Emsdetten, 2006, 11 murdered).  The other two were: Dunblane, Scotland, 1996, 16 kindergarteners and their teacher were killed, and Columbine, Colorado, 12 students and 1 teacher were murdered.

In Britain, we have some of the most stringent guns laws in the world, but they haven't prevented the country from being at or in the top 5 of almost every crime category in the EU.  Even with our very strict gun laws, we still have gun crimes. Primarily, they are spree killings like that occurred in Cumbria.

Following the Port Arthur massacre in Australia in 1996 where 35 people were murdered, media hysteria and bipartisan political support for punishing gun owners increased. As a consequence, gun laws were tightened and, fewer law-abiding citizens had guns, but the illegal arms market and gun-hungry gangs multiplied exponentially. Against the assurances and predictions of the politicians, mainstream media, and gun control advocates, turf wars and tribal fights exploded after the Port Arthur massacre-inspired gun laws.  Take Melbourne, Australia’s second most populous city. Between 16 January 1998 and 19 April 2010, 38 crime figures were murdered during the Melbourne Gangland Killings.

We all know the old saying that "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" and I'm sure that there are many proponents of gun control that have good intentions, but intentions, alone, must not be the manner in which we judge the success of a law or programme.

After the aforementioned Port Arthur Massacre, the government passed laws prohibiting civilians from owning or possessing semi-automatic long guns and/or pump action/self-loading shotguns.  Another law restricted magazine capacity to 5 rounds for rifles.  To purchase a firearm, both the weapon and the owner had to be licenced by the government.  Finally, a prospective purchaser had to state an "acceptable reason" as to why s/he wanted to purchase the weapon and "cool off" for a period of 28 days while the government decided whether the reason stated was "acceptable."  Only after the prospective purchaser kissed the government's ring and ass, along with receiving its blessing, was s/he issued a licence.

If you listened to gun control freaks, you'd think "That'll show those Jared Loughners and James Holmes!!!"  If you bowed to the demands of Nanny Doomberg and the Brady Bunch, you'd think "LBJ may have said, 'I'll have those n*ggers voting Democratic for the next 200 years,' but we are going to keep 'em both alive AND voting for the next 200 years by taking away their Second Amendment rights!"  If you had listened to Doctor Rebecca Peters, New Zealand, which doesn't have gun control laws like Australia, would have a higher gun crime rate.  Instead, it has a much lower rate.

Australia: 

Homicides > % homicides with firearms:  16.3435
Homicides > Overall homicide rate > per 100,000 pop.:  1.8802
  

Homicides > Non-firearm homicide rate > per 100,000 pop.:   1.5729

  

Homicides > Overall homicide rate > per 100,000 pop.:  1.8802

  

New Zealand:

Homicides > % homicides with firearms:  13.4615

Homicides > Overall homicide rate > per 100,000 pop.:  0.1827

Homicides > Non-firearm homicide rate > per 100,000 pop.:   1.1747

Homicides > Overall homicide rate > per 100,000 pop.:  1.3574

Mexico has very strict gun control laws...even more stringent than those in the UK.  How's that working out for the innocent people being terrorised by the drug cartels and, in some cases, murdered with guns made available by the Obama administration?

On the other hand, SWITZERLAND HAS THE SECOND HIGHEST GUN OWNERSHIP RATE OF ALL INDUSTRIALISED COUNTRIES BEHIND THE US. 22% OF ALL HOUSEHOLDS HAVE FULLY AUTOMATIC WEAPONS; YET, THE GUN CRIME RATE IS SO LOW THAT STATISTICS ARE NOT EVEN KEPT. The country has a population of 6 million, but there are estimated to be at least 2 million firearms, including about 600,000 automatic rifles and 500,000 pistols.

In the US, 60 million (or less than 20%) of the population own 200 million guns. In Switzerland, there are less guns per capita, but VIRTUALLY EVERY HOME HAS AT LEAST ONE WEAPON.

The army sells a variety of machine guns, submachine guns, anti-tank weapons, anti-aircraft guns, howitzers and cannons. Purchasers of these weapons require an easily obtained cantonal licence, and the weapons are registered.  Besides subsidised military surplus, the Swiss can buy other firearms easily too. While long guns require no special purchase procedures, handguns are sold only to those with a Waffenerwerbsschien (purchase certificate) issued by a cantonal authority. A certificate is issued to every applicant over 18, who is not a criminal or mentally infirm.

There are no restrictions on the carrying of long guns. About half the cantons have strict permit procedures for carrying handguns, and the other half have no rules at all There is no discernible difference in the crime rate between the cantons as a result of the different policies.

Thanks to a lawsuit brought by the Swiss gun lobby, semi-automatic rifles require no purchase permit and are not registered by the government. Thus, the only long guns registered by the government are full automatics. Three cantons do require collectors of more than 10 guns to register.

While there are around 200 million guns in the United States, only about 20% of Americans own guns. There may only be 2 million guns in Switzerland, a country of 6 million people, but nearly EVERY household is armed.

Again, Switzerland — a tiny country — lags only behind the United States in gun ownership; yet, gun crime is so negligible that statistics aren’t even kept.

Switzerland's murder rate is about 40% lower than that of Germany.  New Zealand's rate is than Australia’s. Finland and Sweden have very different gun ownership rates, but very similar murder rates.  Kennesaw, Georgia requires every head of household to own a weapon.  After this law went into effect, the crime rate dropped 89%.  Washington, DC, and Chicago have extremely strict gun laws, but much, much higher crime rates than Kennesaw, Georgia.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

MORE GUNS DO NOT TRANSLATE INTO MORE CRIME AND MORE GUN CONTROL LAWS DO NOT RESULT IN LESS CRIME.

"Even when you take out the admittedly high murder rate of Blacks, the murder rate for whites is still more than double that of other European countries."

- Ric, 21 July 2012

We weren't discussing the murder rate.  We were discussing the gun crime rate.

Of course, since guns aren't the only means of killing and meaning, our nannies have entertained all sorts of ideas and imposed some real doozies.  Some of their greatest hits include redesigning the pint glass. Why?  Because pint glasses lead to 5,500 stabbings in pubs every year. Have pint glass, will slash and stab!  Considering mandates that pubs and low-end restaurants only be allowed to use plastic eating utensils because silverware can kill!!  I'm a Mayfair girl, but give me a metal spoon and I bet that even I could create a shiv.  Want a  Swiss Army knife?  Don't look on eBay-UK.  Sales have been banned...somebody might get hurt.  

After the London riots last year, sales on Louisville Sluggers on eBay-UK zoomed up 6,000% in a 24-hour  period -- law-abiding citizens, lacking a right to bear arms -- armed themselves with a Ted Williams' "Bonefish Special."  Aluminum baseball bat sales soared by 52,211% and the sales of a particular type of aluminum billy club skyrocketed by 50,000% in one day!  The government wasn't going to have any of that!  The citizenry defending themselves against marauding miscreants, ne'er-do-wells, and feral children? Balderdash!  And, before you could say "Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!," the Holy Bat Ban! went into effect. 

"Even if they are being bought by respectable home and business owners, they should be banned from sale temporarily.  Vigilantism is not the answer. Get these items off the shelves, we are all scared and angry in London and need to know that measures are being taken to help us to feel safe in our cities again.  There is nothing wrong with being vigilant, with being present on the streets and helping the police.  But this crosses the line when it involves weapons. That just encourages the sense of fear – we want to reduce tension and fear in the area. People with baseball bats roaming the streets is not helpful: don't go on Amazon buying them.  Hundreds of people in Walthamstow are helping run a respite centre for police. That's helpful."

- Stella Creasy, Labour MP for Walthamstow, a constituency in Northern London hit hard by looters

If you think that I'm kidding about the stance the British government has taken on the idea of an innocent subject defending himself/herself against malevolent actors, look no further than the case of Tony Martin.

 

 Allegedly, a picture is supposed to say a thousands words; yet, this picture taken during the London riots last summer always leaves me speechless.

Keep in mind, too, that these are the nanny staters/police staters that are part-and-parcel of the mindset that brought you, albeit temporarily, the "fact" that "water does not hydrate," will send the WRAP police into your home to inspect your cupboards, look at your leftovers, and teach you how to recycle food; has used drones to determine if government employees, who ring up to report in ill, are running the streets; places "Smile!  You're trash is on bin cam!" recorders that photograph every item that you place in your wheelie bin to make sure that you are complying with recycling laws; require your best friend to obtain a licence, pay around $150, and attend annual training sessions before she can babysit your child while you run to Tesco to pick up some eggs and milk, and disallow parents from entering many playgrounds without government background cheques.  Further, this is the same Apparatchia that brought us what could easily be one of the finest examples for future historians to include in their tomes titled along the lines of "The Rise and Fall of the British Welfare, Nanny, & Police State Or How To Go From Being The Most Powerful And Deadly Military Force On Earth To Committing Suicide By Wheelie Bins And Hysteria In 300 Years":  

 

In May of 2006, the unemployed, single mum of 3, Donna Challice, persecuted and dragged into court by the Exeter Council. Her crime?  Allegedly – and by accident -- putting non-recyclable rubbish in her green wheelie bin.  If convicted, she faced a £1,000 ($1,851) fine.  She was to be the first person in the United Kingdom to be prosecuted under the Environmental Protection Act of 1990, which permits local authorities to prosecute individuals, businesses, and organisations, if environmental, emission, and recycling rules are not followed.

At the conclusion of the trial, Ms Challice was acquitted of all charges.  The government had spent more than £6,000 ($11,106) on the folly not taking into account the opportunity cost lost by shifting governmental resources from the investigation and prosecution of “real” crimes to an agenda-driven political farce.

One might think that the verdict would have given the government cause to take a deep breath and reconsider the rationality and reasonableness of this inane law, but one would be wrong.   Mike Trim, the Recycling Officer of Exeter Council said:

'The cost of this case to the council is £6,000, but it has been worth it because the cost of contamination to us each year is £100,000 ($185,100).  In addition, the cost in terms of climate change is incalculable.  We shall continue to enforce them and prosecute.”

**eyeroll** 

What gun control advocates ignore is the number of lives saved due to civilian use of firearms.  Florida State University criminologist, Gary Kleck, analyzed data from the Department of Justice's National Crime Victimization Survey (1992-1998).  Describing his findings on defencive gun use, in Armed: New Perspectives on Gun Control,  Kleck wrote: 

 

"In general, self-protection measures of all types are effective, in the sense of reducing the risk of property loss in robberies and confrontational burglaries, compared to doing nothing or cooperating with the offender. The most effective form of self-protection is use of a gun. For robbery the self-protection measures with the lowest loss rates were among victims attacking the offender with a gun, and victims threatening the offender with a gun. For confrontational burglary, attacking with a gun had the second lowest loss rate of sixteen self-protection measures, bested only by another mode of armed self-protection, threatening the offender with a non-gun weapon." (p. 291)

In Chapter 7, he quantified the benefit of gun ownership.  According to his research of reported data, firearms are used in self-defence about 2.5 million times per year in the United States.  If you doubt his findings, then even the 100,000 lives saved as a result of defencive gun usage according to the National Crime Victimisation Survey  are worth the freedom of choice to own a firearm.
 
These shootings are a symptom of cultural and mental rot.  According to ABC News, "a San Diego woman identifying herself as James Holmes's mother spoke briefly with ABC News this morning.  She had awoken unaware of the news of the shooting and had not been contacted by authorities. She immediately expressed concern that her son may have been involved. 'You have the right person,' she said. 'I need to call the police,' she added. 'I need to fly out to Colorado.'"

The guy was obviously a mental case and had exhibited disturbing behaviour of such a severe nature that his own mum KNEW he was responsible before being contacted by law enforcement.   Society, i.e., his family, his physician, his school, local government, etc., failed.  If his mum knew that he was the killer after the fact, but before being contacted, then a reasonable man can conclude that his actions were foreseeable.  Thus, they might have been prevented if people had pursued legal means of commitment. 

James Holmes was going to kill.  He didn't need guns to do it either.  Obviously, he was intelligent enough to build bombs.  He could have used incendiary devices rather than bullets.  OJ Simpson didn't need a gun.  The 9/11 hijackers didn't need guns.  Timothy McVeigh didn't need a gun.  The Unabomber didn't need a gun.  The Japanese Aum Supreme Truth cult didn't need guns.  The 7/7 bombers didn't need guns.

As I have long said, when people say that they want to kill you, believe them.  No one took Hitler seriously.  Not many took OJ Simpson seriously.

Moreover, when people want to kill, they will find a way.  Do you think most gun crimes are committed with legally purchased guns?  Do you think that the Federal government could seize all of the weapons in this country when it can't prevent illegals immigrants and massive amounts of drugs from being smuggled into the country?  Really?  How's that going to work?  We don't want to see your papers to determine your immigration status, but we are going to have to conduct a strip/cavity search to see if you are smuggling in any contraband, including weapons parts?  After we stick our fingers up your rectum and vayjay, if you are a woman, -- provided they are clean -- we'll let you go have your anchor baby in a border hospital?

It's nuts.  It's impractical.  It punishes the law-abiding and will do nothing to prevent the law-breakers from obtaining guns on the street or the net.  It infringes upon my rights and I am unwilling to give them up.

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

- Benjamin Franklin

"This year will go down in history. For the first time, a civilised nation has full gun registration! Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future!"

- Adolf Hitler, 1935 

"Those who hammer their guns into plows will plow for those who do not."

- Thomas Jefferson

Some interesting data...

AUSTRALIA: MORE VIOLENT CRIME DESPITE GUN BAN

It is a common fantasy that gun bans make society safer.  In 2002 -- five years after enacting its gun ban -- the Australian Bureau of Criminology acknowledged there is no correlation between gun control and the use of firearms in violent crime.  In fact, the percent of murders committed with a firearm was the highest it had ever been in 2006 (16.3 percent), says the D.C. Examiner.

Even Australia's Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research acknowledges that the gun ban had no significant impact on the amount of gun-involved crime:

•  In 2006, assault rose 49.2 percent and robbery 6.2 percent.

• Sexual assault -- Australia's equivalent term for rape -- increased 29.9 percent.

• Overall, Australia's violent crime rate rose 42.2 percent.

Moreover, Australia and the United States -- where no gun-ban exists -- both experienced similar decreases in murder rates:

• Between 1995 and 2007, Australia saw a 31.9 percent decrease; without a gun ban, America's rate dropped 31.7 percent.

• During the same time period, all other violent crime indices increased in Australia: assault rose 49.2 percent and robbery 6.2 percent.

• Sexual assault -- Australia's equivalent term for rape -- increased 29.9 percent.

• Overall, Australia's violent crime rate rose 42.2 percent.

• At the same time, U.S. violent crime decreased 31.8 percent: rape dropped 19.2 percent; robbery decreased 33.2 percent; aggravated assault dropped 32.2 percent.

• Australian women are now raped over three times as often as American women.

While this doesn't prove that more guns would impact crime rates, it does prove that gun control is a flawed policy.  Furthermore, this highlights the most important point: gun banners promote failed policy regardless of the consequences to the people who must live with them, says the Examiner.

Source: Howard Nemerov, "Australia experiencing more violent crime despite gun ban," D.C. Examiner, 8 April 2009.

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"Janie's Got A Gun" - Aerosmith

Dum, dum, dum, honey what have you done?
Dum, dum, dum it's the sound of my gun.
Dum, dum, dum, honey what have you done?
Dum, dum, dum it's the sound

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her whole world's come undone
From lookin' straight at the sun
What did her daddy do?
What did he put you through?
They said when Janie was arrested
they found him underneath a train
But man, he had it comin' Now that Janie's got a gun
she ain't never gonna be the same.

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Tell me now it's untrue.
What did her daddy do?
He jacked a little bitty baby
The man has got to be insane
They say the spell that he was under the lightning and the
thunder knew that someone had to stop the rain

Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
What did her daddy do?
It's Janie's last I.O.U.
She had to take him down easy and put a bullet in his brain
She said 'cause nobody believes me. The man was such a sleeze.
He ain't never gonna be the same.

Run away, run away from the pain yeah, yeah
yeah yeah yeah
Run away run away from the pain yeah yeah
yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
Run away, run away, run, run away

Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Everybody is on the run

Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Because Janie's got a gun
Janie's got a gun
Her dog day's just begun
Now everybody is on the run
Janie's got a gun