Why do Americans like guns so much?

[video=youtube;zExc6SK4kpA]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zExc6SK4kpA[/video]

 

That's nice, but majority of burglaries happen at night. Not withstanding residences.

I don't need one, but if you'd like to limit your standards to only homes, that's fine with me.

I also said this:

And your point?

 

You are wrong, common sense goalpost mover.

http://home.howstuffworks.com/home-improvement/household-safety/security/discourage-break-ins.htm

 

That hardly answered the question. If anything it's a speculative fallacy.

 

Everything you post is a fallacy.

 

Pot calling kettle. If that's your unsuccessful fallback of saying, "I've got nothing," then you may be on your way.

 

That's either ignorance or a lie. Check the FBI statistics then come back and move your goalposts.

 

That does provide anecdotal evidence in support of simply paying surplus labor to stay home and be couch potatoes; potentially, at the rock bottom cost of a form of minimum wage that is completely compatible with an existing federal doctrine regarding employment at will and State at-will employment laws.

 

That's what they do in third world countries. Having a dog and a maid keeps the house occupied all day long. I've had people who grew up in third world countries marvel at how I would leave my domicile unattended all day when I was at work. They say in their country you would be robbed blind. But these are things I learned from first hand experience unlike some internet trolls. Having a gun under you pillow at night or in your holster while at work isn't going to do you a lot of good for the vast majority of home burglaries.

 

What does this have to do with the minimum wage?

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I already did. I know you want my attention so much, but just refer to my post you already ignored.

 

It is more about the the rock bottom cost of a form of minimum wage.

 

Which is?

 

This is clearly a lie which I told her many posts ago. She asked for FBI statistics and I gave them to her. And yet the argumentative one is still here yapping away. No wonder we can't get anything done in this country. With people like this I would expect no less than gridlock and wasting time.

 

Much less than an efficiency wage or a maximum wage.

 

Did you make up your own economic terms again?

 

No.

A maximum wage would be the opposite of a minimum wage.

 

It shows what I've already said in relative terms. I don't really see where the lie is.

If that's what you want to believe...

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That's really hypothetical. There really is no maximum when it comes to wages. Only what the market can bear.

 

Or if they didn't hate minorities, people with different political ideas, and that governments handymen knew better than to oppress its own citizens.

 

No it isn't. What it is is a history of covert racial discrimination which goes back a fair while and in my personal experience to the 1950s (I'm white, I do remember reading newspaper investigations at the time that put to the sword the idea that Britain was without racial discrimination). Whereas the US had institutionalised racial discrimination in Britain it was hidden under a blanket of hypocrisy.

By the way where are your getting your history of Britain from? You might want to dump it.

 

Well it surprised the hell out of me!

No, it was spontaneous. I was pretty inexperienced but I was the senior bloke in the crew of two and stupidly allowed the bloke I was going to arrest to go into the kitchen to bid bye bye to granny. There was a huge blue and granny went for the knife while my mate and I were trying to get grandson out of there. No, it wasn't collusion, she did her block and went for the knife. I can tell you, lesson learned. I never allowed anyone to go into a kitchen again, well not while I was hanging around anyway - of course people are free to go into their kitchens......don't want to deprive them of the right to deep fry their tucker!

 

Breakers like to do it during the day, well where I am anyway. These days a lot of couples are working and the house is going to be empty. All a breaker has to do is bang on the front door and if there's no answer in they go (usually round the back). When I was in the job and working as a regional detective we used to dread the Easter holidays, the four day break meant that as people came back on the holiday Monday or even the Tuesday if they had an extended time away, they'd start finding their houses broken into and we'd be rushing from break to break all bloody day. Had to repair to the pub after work to recuperate.

The other thing is that historically at English law burglary (housebreaking with intent to commit a felony committed at night - i.e. between 9pm and 6 am) was punishable by death (when the Brits still swung people that is) whereas a daylight housebreaker would only get prison. That is still reflected in the statutes which award a higher penalty for breaking at night.

 

Touche'...I think that's the best argument FOR guns.

 

fear and paranoia, quite obviously...

 

Part of the reason many of us like having guns is because we have always had them. We don't have the same irrational fear of those pieces of steel that some of the anti-gun crowd seems to have. Many of us grew up around guns and never had anyone we know encounter any issues because of the guns, and many of us do have stories of times we or our families were better off because we had the gun.

Not only that, but many of us have legitimate reasons for having guns. Many of use kept meat on the table by hunting various kinds of game throughout the year. There is just about always something worth eating in season, so many of us ate elk, deer, moose, duck, goose, bear, mountain lion, grouse, dove, quail or various other things in order to stretch our food budget. Often we started hunting by the time we were teens, and even accompanied our parents hunting for years before we carried our own guns. Thus we learned proper firearm safety and were able to learn to avoid "accidents".

Another legitimate reason many of us carry firearms (and the reason I always carry when near my hometown) is safety. People often talk about safety from intruders and aggressors, and while that is a legitimate concern (and I can name several times that family members were saved from potentially unsafe situations because they were armed) there are other potential threats that guns can protect you from. Where I come from (and throughout a large portion of the US) we have bears, mountain lions and wolves, all of which are legitimate threats and, contrary to popular misinformation, all of which will actually attack people without provocation in the right circumstances. We also have quite a few elk and deer, both of which attack people during mating season. There are smaller threats, such as wolverines, badgers and several types of poisonous snakes all of which can be pretty dangerous, if less life threatening. You also could add dogs to the list of dangerous animals. Occasionally a person will encounter either a rabid dog or just an overly-aggressive guard dog. Having a pistol on your hip provides a measure of protection for you and the people you are with from these dangerous animals.

I do have to mention self-protection in this. In the US many people live more than a half-hour away from the nearest town and the closest police officer could be even farther. It isn't like what I've seen of Europe where the next town is usually five minutes away. There are parts of the US where you can drive for an hour and never see another person. Being that far out means you have to be responsible for your own security. You can't trust the cops to help, it will take them more than a half-hour just to get there. By the time they arrive everything will be over.

Compared to much of the US, Europe is crowded and tamed. There are few wild animals and most are harmless varieties - the dangerous ones have been nearly eliminated. There isn't enough wildlife for everyone to freely hunt, so it just isn't an option. The nearest town is usually less than five minutes away and there are almost always people around. The reasons that many of us in the US have guns just don't apply in most of Europe. Perhaps that is why Europeans don't understand why so many Americans have and keep guns. The environment is just more different than they realize.

 

Well, I don't think Miss Jonelyn is keeping us from 'getting things done'. I don't think the statistic has that much bearing on the subject, or is an argument for or against an armed citizenry. I don't know what time 'most' burglaries world wide are committed, & don't really care.