Good story Bobby, and like you, I'm not anti-hunting either, I'm just "anti" the notion that people in first world countries need to own guns to somehow protect ther freedom, and if so, why are there four times as many jail birds in the US as there are in Britain, (per head of population) or five times as many as there are in Oz? Having guns certainly didn't protect their freedom, ha ha! 
I'll sign off (for now) with an interesting thought for you to ponder. If private gun ownership is such a deterrent to would be criminals, (as yours, and TT's "shoot-em-up.com" links would suggest) why is it then, that the country with the probably the most liberal gun laws and highest private gun ownership in the world, has by far the most criminals? Cheers, Terry.
Terry, you got me curious on the crime stats. I never thought I could debunk your flawed statistics with the first google search. But lo and behold, I did. It seems that your inability to read past any three sentences not written by yourself has, indeed, done you a disservice.
The prison population is indeed high in the US.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_prison_population
"In 2005, the number of prisoners under the jurisdiction of the Federal or State adult correctional authorities was 1,418,406 and overall, the United States imprisoned 2,193,798 persons. [1] The U.S. has experienced a surge in its prison population, quadrupling since 1980, partially as a result of mandated sentences that came about during the "war on drugs" and despite the decline in violent crime and property crime since the early 1990s.
In terms of federal prison, 57 % of those incarcerated were sentenced for drug offenses. Currently, considering local jails as well, almost a million of those incarcerated are in prison for non-violent crime."The war on drugs I personally disagree with. The populace usually suffers when the government declares war on anything and this is no exception. There are drawbacks to a capitalistic society. And, I believe this is one of them. The Prison-industrial complex is big business.
Because of the drug related incarcerations, I’m most concerned with violent crime.
The relevant conclusion you overlooked is that U.S. Violent crime statistics continue to follow a downward trend despite the increasing availability of personally owned firearms. I don’t believe this is mere coincidence. And, even if you assert that guns haven’t helped, I don’t see a statistical case where they have hurt either.
Care to redo your stats using violent crime as a basis?
Here, I’ll make it easy for you.
http://www.geoffmetcalf.com/guncontrol_20010302.htmlOh my….
"Twenty-six percent of English citizens -- roughly one-quarter of the population -- have been victimized by violent crime. Australia led the list with more than 30 percent of its population victimized."
"After Australia and England and Wales, the highest prevalence of crime was in Holland (25 percent), Sweden (25 percent) and Canada (24 percent). The United States, despite its high murder rate, was among the middle ranking countries with a 21 percent victimization rate," the London Telegraph said."
"The study found that Australia led in burglary rates, with nearly 4 percent of the population having been victimized by a burglary. Denmark was second with 3.1 percent; the U.S. was listed eighth at about 1.8 percent."
"Analysts in the U.S. were quick to point out that all of the other industrialized nations included in the survey had stringent gun-control laws, but were overall much more violent than the U.S."
"WND reported that, although lawmakers (in Australia) responsible for passing the ban promised a safer country, the nation's crime statistics tell a different story:
* Countrywide, homicides are up 3.2 percent.
* Assaults are up 8.6 percent.
* Amazingly, armed robberies have climbed nearly 45 percent.
* In the Australian state of Victoria, gun homicides have climbed 300 percent.
* In the 25 years before the gun bans, crime in Australia had been dropping steadily.
* There has been a reported "dramatic increase" in home burglaries and assaults on the elderly."Maybe retirement relocation to OZ isn’t such a good idea?
From your own "Australian Bureau of Statistics" This:
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/Lookup/ECFAF68AB75AE9E3CA256DEA00053A5A
The assault victimisation rate in 2002 was 809.7 victims per 100,000 persons, up from 784.5 in 2001 and 672.2 per 100,000 persons in 1997. In fact, the 2002 recorded assault victimisation rate is the highest it has been since national assault statistics were first collected in 1995.And now for the U.S…. Google search "violent crime statistics us"
http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/cvict.htm
* Since 1994, violent crime rates have declined, reaching the lowest level ever recorded in 2005.I didn’t set out to bash Australia. But, if you want to wage a statistical war you might want to pick one where you’ve done enough research that the stats actually support your presupposed position.
Given I avoid drug trafficing, I’m far safer in the US than Australia, England, or any of the US cities with strict gun control laws.
So, not only is your assertion about the U.S. wrong, you actually reside in the victimization capital of the industrialized world! If you haven’t noticed a problem there, what the Holy H*ll are you concerned about the U.S. for, anyway!
Cheers, Ha! Ha!
