WOW SUPER XO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I go away for a minute and I come back to this! I am going to have to do this in stages and I am going to take up the easy part first.
Thanks for the info, it looks like we are about as opposite as two people can be. I grew up all over the country, which includes putting some time in out in Calif. I can tell you that Calif, Hawaii, Mass, NY, and NJ are similar in political views, but those views are not shared by most of the rest of the country. I saw recently that San Francisco is going to allow insurance for city employees to cover their expenses for sex change operations. I remember a couple of years ago when a cougar killed a female jogger. The cougar was tracked and killed, was also found to have a couple of cubs that had to be taken in and raised. In Calif. more money was donated to care for and raise the cougar cubs than was donated to the jogger's memorial fund for her children. I may be going out on a limb here, but I really don't think that you would see that happen in Texas or many other places. The U.S. in general is VERY different from where you have lived. You will be happy to know that I do not hunt, I did 25 years ago, birds mostly, but not anymore. If someone else wants to hunt I won't stop them, but it is not for me and not for me to decide for them. With nearly 100 firearms in my possession about the only thing in danger around me at the range is a paper plate or a sheet of paper with an ink target printed on it. I would rather go to the store to buy my groceries. If you ever went hunting you would be surprised at how difficult it can be. Some of the animals are downright dangerous, as mentioned above. I am a conservationist, in fact my pet 'cause' is ground water having worked as a hydrologist for the National Center for Groundwater Research from 1980-1982, but environmentalism is, IMO, extreme. I believe in moderation in most things, including with gun control laws, and allowing people to make their own choices rather than impose my will or beliefs on others.
Also, have you seen the quote "Protect our rights to arm bears!" YOU BET! In fact there is a t-shirt with that quote on it and picture of a bear with a submachinegun. There is also one about the 2nd Amendment being about our right to where short sleeve shirts, but the 'bare arms' became a typo to 'bear arms'.
Death penalty, don't know, the way we do it is awfully expensive with the appeals so it would be cheaper to do life without parole to reduce the litigation expense.
True, SOME JAMA articles are reviewed, but JAMA has a history of being an anti-gun publication and Kellerman may not have been subject to the same review. In fact, in the last 20 years I don't know of a single article supporting gun ownership and FBI figures showing the lives saved annually due to firearms. If you don't believe that JAMA doesn't review everything, especially when politically motivated, I ask that you remember that this is the magazine who ended up firing editor Dr. George Lundberg who published the piece about oral sex not really being sex in support of then President Bill Clinton's grand jury testimony. JAMA regularly publishes politcal advocacy pieces that are not submitted for review before publication. To see a history of JAMA's anti-gun bias check these links:
Most recently supporting restrictions of a constitutional right for misdemeanor violations. We don't lose the right to vote except for felonies. The Emerson case currently under review by the 5th Circuit Court will determine if a right can be denied for a misdemeanor regardless of what JAMA says.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9812/31/gun.check/
From 1997 in support of safe storage:
http://jama.ama-assn.org/issues/v284.../joc91749.html
That was before an 8 and 9 year old were murdered with a pitchfork in Merced, Ca. and the older sister couldn't get to the parents stored gun. From the Modesto newspaper.
http://www.modbee.com/metro/story/0,1113,190742,00.html
from their dad: He said there was a gun in the house that the older sisters knew how to use, "but I had to put it away in a supposedly safe place. The only thing I forgot to put a lock on was my pitchfork."
When they did a review of the Brady Law and found little effect they decided that the law didn't go far enough. 'the pattern of implementation of the Brady Act does not permit a reliable analysis of a potential effect of reductions in the flow of guns from treatment-state gun dealers into secondary markets.' Duke Review did a good analysis:
http://www.dukereview.org/viewarticle.asp?id=5
Quote:
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After all, you have been researching it almost as long as I have been alive
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OUCH!!!!
One thing that cannot be refuted is that nobody has ever shown a gun to have a causal effect on deaths.
1. If they did how does one explain the low crime rate during a time when guns were being mailed directly to ones home, prior to 1968, and the fact that at age 9 (1966) I would ride my bicycle to the local 7-11 (Oklahoma City) and buy .22 ammo for my rifle? If the ease of access to guns is the cause of deaths due to firearms then we should have seen a much higher rate in the '50's and 60's than what we experienced in the 1980's.
2. If firearms are the cause of the problems we should see a uniform rate of firearm related death across geographical, age, racial, and economic boundries as we would for other things such as an anthrax outbreak? The distribution of 'problems' or 'problem areas' are not unifor, there are obvious anomalies.
3. If the number of guns within the population are a problem, how can we have experienced a steady drop in firearm related deaths for the last 10 years with millions of new guns being added to the supply every year?
OTMG - This was 'bestowed' upon me a few years ago by a police officer in Victoria, Tx. I had been involved in discussions on numerous computer BB's regarding selection of firearms based on various criteria and it seemed that I owned many of the firearms that were discussed. The officer made the comment that I 'owned too many guns' and from that day on I became Jeff the Owner of Too Many Guns, or Jeff OTMG.
More to follow on your first post later, but my research database had a new server installed last Friday and it is currently extremely unstable so getting the info I need is spread all over the web rather than having the links available in a couple of places.