US gun culture is 'corrupting the world,' Australia ex-deputy PM says after Okla. slaying

[Eleanors38]

92. The poster dealt with rifles, hence the reminder of the comparative data...

Excerpted from, Kates, Don B., et. al, Guns and Public Health: Epidemic of Violence or Pandemic of Propaganda? Originally published as 61 Tenn. L. Rev. 513-596 (1994):

"Looking only to official criminal records, data over the past thirty years consistently show that the mythology of murderers as ordinary citizens does not hold true. Studies have found that approximately 75% of murderers have adult criminal records, and that murderers average a prior adult criminal career of six years, including four major adult felony arrests. These studies also found that when the murder occurred "[a]bout 11% of murder arrestees [were] actually on pre-trial release"--that is, they were awaiting trial for another offense."

"The fact that only 75% of murderers have adult crime records should not be misunderstood as implying that the remaining 25% of murderers are non-criminals. The reason over half of those 25% of murderers don't have adult records is that they are juveniles. Thus, by definition they cannot have an adult criminal record."

http://www.guncite.com/gun_control_gcgvmurd.html
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To paraphrase, by now most DUers I'm sure are familiar with the strident, extremist gun-control politics you repeat verbatim from your own stale hash.

You want a "point?" Sure. This is the locus of most "gun-violence" in this nation, and is the place to begin with getting dangerous killers and illegal gun-users out of law-abiding society, and it is the place to start to bring to bear social policies that can reduce the rate of homicides -- a rate FAR better now than a generation ago.

Another of your hash "points:" Other countries have "solved the problem" by not having the kind of violent culture in the first place before legislation was passed; we are not them, they are not us. The old saying attributed to Harvard University applies: "They graduate the best because they accept the best."

The "culture war line?" Hey, you guys started on this -- it's YOUR creation. So any "belief" system comes from the source. Own it. As for academia, think: Bancroft Prize and the CDC summary of effectiveness of gun-control measures. Now, you look it up.