Looking at this article makes my brain hurt. I fail to see real logic in this article. For example: In addition, Americans generally overestimate the risk of violent crime from strangers and from people of different races. In 2007, only 5% of assaults, 1% of rapes and 25% of robberies were committed by a person carrying a firearm. In 2010, strangers accounted for 39% of violent crime, and less than 10% of violent crime was committed with a firearm. What does the percentage of crimes committed with someone with a firearm have anything to do with the risk of crime? If I a robbed or assulted on the street with a knife, bat or fists, is that not a violent crime? I could just as easily say 100% of robberies are committed by a threat of violence. Another perception problem has to do with our risk of violence. Many Americans are unaware that violent crime has declined to levels not since the 1960s. In major cities, the decline has been the most dramatic, with homicide rates dipping from 35.5 per 100,000 in 1991 to 11.9 per 100,000 in 2008. Could this drop be from more law abiding citizen carrying guns and criminals fear them and don't attack? Psychologists have known for more than 40 years that possession of a weapon can increase aggression. The link has been observed — in all kinds of lab-based and real-life settings — with different weapons and behavioral outcomes. If someone regularly exercise their right to carry a gun, it becomes a tool like any other. My guess is their studies are on people who do not regularly carry a concealed weapon. This article is a bunch of bunk.
Looking at this article makes my brain hurt. I fail to see real logic in this article. For example:
In addition, Americans generally overestimate the risk of violent crime from strangers and from people of different races. In 2007, only 5% of assaults, 1% of rapes and 25% of robberies were committed by a person carrying a firearm. In 2010, strangers accounted for 39% of violent crime, and less than 10% of violent crime was committed with a firearm.
What does the percentage of crimes committed with someone with a firearm have anything to do with the risk of crime? If I a robbed or assulted on the street with a knife, bat or fists, is that not a violent crime? I could just as easily say 100% of robberies are committed by a threat of violence.
Another perception problem has to do with our risk of violence. Many Americans are unaware that violent crime has declined to levels not since the 1960s. In major cities, the decline has been the most dramatic, with homicide rates dipping from 35.5 per 100,000 in 1991 to 11.9 per 100,000 in 2008.
Could this drop be from more law abiding citizen carrying guns and criminals fear them and don't attack?
Psychologists have known for more than 40 years that possession of a weapon can increase aggression. The link has been observed — in all kinds of lab-based and real-life settings — with different weapons and behavioral outcomes.
If someone regularly exercise their right to carry a gun, it becomes a tool like any other. My guess is their studies are on people who do not regularly carry a concealed weapon.
This article is a bunch of bunk.