Anti-gunner and distorter-of-statistics Paul Helmke will be speaking in Indianapolis tonight. It seems Indiana gun laws fret him, since our gun stores will sell to any adult who can pass a (Brady-Bill!) Federal background check.
....Hey, waidaminnit, isn't that the bill his little group wanted, as a way to keep bad guys from gettin' guns? Odd, now they appear to believe it isn't enough.
Of course, any measure short of an outright prohibition isn't enough for the antis, and the firearms murder rates in Chicago and Washington, D.C. show just how well a ban works. You're safer in gun-friendly Indianapolis than either of those cities! My gosh, it would appear Brady-approved gun laws leave only criminals armed and make honest citizens defenseless, who'd've thunkit?
As for "weak Indiana gun laws," let me remind Mr. Helmke's fans that Indiana makes darned little provision for carrying handguns, even unloaded, without having a License To Carry Handgun, which is issued only after a background check run by the State Police and requiring several weeks. And you think our gun laws are lax?
Anyway, Panicky Paul, 6:00 p.m., Lecture Hall down at IUPUI. Might be fun to go down and put a few questions to him. Interested? Remember, IUPUI regs disallow the bearing of arms on their campus...and they do have their own cops.
A nod to Joe Huffman for the tip!
The last year we can get for murder totals is 2007. That's the national figures comparing apples-to-apples in a statistically valid way.
ReplyDeleteWhen the Washington Post wanted to make the figures not quite look so bad compared to Virginia, they wildly overestimate DC's population, and count almost one quarter of the state of Virginia as Northern Virginia.
2007 DC has 181 murders. Even with a vastly expanded Northern Virginia - south to the Rappahannok river, and west to the West Virginia border, and MANY times DC's area and population - Northern Virginia had 43 murders.
Right across the Potomac river from DC, all of 1000 yards maximum distance, All of Alexandria City and Arlington County had 3 murders each. All of Fairfax County - larger in area and population than DC - had a grand total of 12.
In DC you couldn't have guns to defend yourself, the court system is broken, and there's still no death penalty. In Virginia we have and carry guns; the court system is described as "The Rocket Docket," for the speediness of trials.
The Washington Post article is referenced below.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/31/AR2007123102215.html
Hmmm. you could liveblog it.
ReplyDeleteor typeblog it. hehe
I really wish I had a "PAUL HELMKE WANTS ME DEAD" T-shirt to wear.
ReplyDeleteTruth to tell, my mood has been so bad and my distaste for my fellow humans so great, I am unlikely to attend, lest I start a screaming argument and get myself arrested.
Would not mind so much, in fact I would appreciate the chance for some engagement with others on the nose-to-nose yelling level, except last weekend I slept through some important work and it's GOT to get done this weekend. All jail and no work puts Jill in very hot water.
I wish I could be there. I would like to roll in a couple of filing cabinets of gun control results and dare him to name even one that had failed to increase violent crime. And then say what I think of him.
ReplyDeleteStranger