People like to talk about gun ownership, and how in the hands of the law-abiding, more guns reduce deaths in low-trust areas compared to similar regions where the populace has less ability to defend self and others. What’s not as often discussed is that gun ownership significantly reduces violent crime (a number of current examples of this – e.g. the rate of home invasions in Australia went up an order of magnitude after most guns were collected as a reaction to the Port Arthur massacre – at a net greater cost in innocent lives and peace-of-mind than the massacre itself) – where (sadly) violent crime and intrusions into personal space previously thought to be safe has a much greater cost on society than murder. Because fear can, and often does, enslave, especially the weak, the female, and the old. And this diminishment of the person is reflected in all their relationships and endeavors – because the violence impacts the victim and other they interact with far longer than the mourning and grieving for a lost loved one.
We should have a disciplined measure of civil-society that is hard to game (I’m afraid most law enforcement metrics and self-reporting isn’t appropriate – metrics and measurments need be established and made by independent parties.. hmmm.. should apply to the AGW argument as well – given we have no reluctance to require this of the private sector in areas that impact health and safety – like double-blind testing for drug approval). And that gun ownership (even without ammunition) should be encouraged by public safety organizations at a rate inversely proportional to the measured (rate of change of in) civil society. So that in the worst neighborhoods (esp. neighborhoods in decline going from good to bad) I’d expect to see the police going door-to-door and offering weapons and training (and v.v. – offering to pick them up once things had improved to the point that homes and cars could be left unlocked – or whatever the metric is that people agree is “civil” enough society).
Granted, in today’s guild-ed (unionized) environment I’m afraid this would be seen in the worst areas as a threat to those organizations – Union leadership would like us to think just hiring more officers (and/or guards) is the best approach – vice (what I suspect the majority of the Union’s members would favor) a return to America’s tradition of individual responsibility, with self-policing and largely self-protecting neighborhoods and families.
