The Curious Case of the Fall in Crime.

[Blind groper]

On the killing of 1 to 3 million Iraqis.

If you remove the brakes of a bus, and the result is 100 dead, then you are a murderer, who killed 100 people.

America removed the brakes that were preventing massive sectarian violence, and America is responsible for the 1 to 3 million deaths that followed.

Seth, you are rationalising your way out of a massive burden of guilt that the whole of the USA should be feeling.

[Seth]

On the killing of 1 to 3 million Iraqis.

If you remove the brakes of a bus, and the result is 100 dead, then you are a murderer, who killed 100 people.

The driver, who is supposed to check the brakes before driving off. Duh.

The US is not responsible for checking the brakes on every culture before we take required military action provoked and fomented by the leadership of that nation. We can just go ahead and blow the bus up if it's full of our enemies. If Iraqis didn't want to be caught in a theater of war all they had to do was send us Saddam's head in a bag. They didn't. So we went and got him. What they did to each other is not our problem or our responsibility.

America removed the brakes that were preventing massive sectarian violence, and America is responsible for the 1 to 3 million deaths that followed.

Horseshit blame shifting. They killed each other. They've been killing each other for hundreds of years. We went after Saddam and we eventually got him. What happens to them after that is their business. They can put down their arms and stop killing each other any time they like, and should. Nothing to do with America.

Seth, you are rationalising your way out of a massive burden of guilt that the whole of the USA should be feeling.

GFY

[Collector1337]

On the killing of 1 to 3 million Iraqis.

If you remove the brakes of a bus, and the result is 100 dead, then you are a murderer, who killed 100 people.

America removed the brakes that were preventing massive sectarian violence, and America is responsible for the 1 to 3 million deaths that followed.

Seth, you are rationalising your way out of a massive burden of guilt that the whole of the USA should be feeling.

If that is true, then you are also a "murderer" for all of your anti-gun rhetoric and vitriol, which disarms those who could have otherwise defended themselves and saved their own lives.

Anyone who has been murdered because the victim could not legally arm and defend themselves, has you, and every anti-gun bigot like you who has passed so many anti-gun laws, to thank for being so easily murdered, even though we have the technology for weaker and disadvantaged persons to defend themselves against stronger and more advantaged persons.

How do you bear all that weight knowing you're responsible for all those helpless, unarmed, innocent victims who are now dead, when many could have saved themselves if it wasn't for your draconian anti-gun laws?

See how two can play that game?

[Seth]

On the killing of 1 to 3 million Iraqis.

If you remove the brakes of a bus, and the result is 100 dead, then you are a murderer, who killed 100 people.

America removed the brakes that were preventing massive sectarian violence, and America is responsible for the 1 to 3 million deaths that followed.

Seth, you are rationalising your way out of a massive burden of guilt that the whole of the USA should be feeling.

If that is true, then you are also a "murderer" for all of your anti-gun rhetoric and vitriol, which disarms those who could have otherwise defended themselves and saved their own lives.

Anyone who has been murdered because the victim could not legally arm and defend themselves, has you, and every anti-gun bigot like you who has passed so many anti-gun laws, to thank for being so easily murdered, even though we have the technology for weaker and disadvantaged persons to defend themselves against stronger and more advantaged persons.

How do you bear all that weight knowing you're responsible for all those helpless, unarmed, innocent victims who are now dead, when many could have saved themselves if it wasn't for your draconian anti-gun laws?

See how two can play that game?

Well done!

[Tyrannical]

I heard two additional interesting theories.......

That advances in trauma medicine since the 70's has drastically increased the survival rate of gun shot victims, and it is their increased survival that causes murder rates to go down.

The baby boomer generation, which was the largest concentrated age group, moved past the high crime age group into their mid 30's.

[Woodbutcher]

On the killing of 1 to 3 million Iraqis.

If you remove the brakes of a bus, and the result is 100 dead, then you are a murderer, who killed 100 people.

America removed the brakes that were preventing massive sectarian violence, and America is responsible for the 1 to 3 million deaths that followed.

Seth, you are rationalising your way out of a massive burden of guilt that the whole of the USA should be feeling.

If that is true, then you are also a "murderer" for all of your anti-gun rhetoric and vitriol, which disarms those who could have otherwise defended themselves and saved their own lives.

Anyone who has been murdered because the victim could not legally arm and defend themselves, has you, and every anti-gun bigot like you who has passed so many anti-gun laws, to thank for being so easily murdered, even though we have the technology for weaker and disadvantaged persons to defend themselves against stronger and more advantaged persons.

How do you bear all that weight knowing you're responsible for all those helpless, unarmed, innocent victims who are now dead, when many could have saved themselves if it wasn't for your draconian anti-gun laws?

See how two can play that game?

Well done!

I think you two are guilty of murder as well, of all those people who would still be alive if guns were not so freely available to fucking nutcases. NRA is the new Murder, Inc. The only bright light seems to be that all the kids who shoot themselves and their parents and siblings seem to belong to gun advocates....

[Warren Dew]

I heard two additional interesting theories.......

That advances in trauma medicine since the 70's has drastically increased the survival rate of gun shot victims, and it is their increased survival that causes murder rates to go down.

I agree that's an interesting theory, but it doesn't explain the general decrease in crime rates.

The baby boomer generation, which was the largest concentrated age group, moved past the high crime age group into their mid 30's.

The baby boom generation is only a few percent larger than the succeeding generation, so the size of the generation isn't sufficient to explain the much larger decrease in crime rates. You'd have to argue that boomers are qualitatively different from other generations as well.

[Blind groper]

I have been thinking about the fall in crime, and the only thing dramatic enough to fully explain it would be the growth in technology. The links are not always obvious, but one or two are clear.

Car theft was once a major, major problem. Now it is a minor problem, The reason is clear. It is now much, much more difficult to steal a car, making casual car theft a thing of the past, and that is due entirely to technology - things like electronic car immobilisers.

Stolen cars are the favorite means of getting away from other crime scenes, like liquor store robberies. The difficulty in stealing a car will reduce the number of liquor store robberies, and similar crimes.

Bank robberies are way down. Easy to see why. When the teller is safe behind bullet proof glass, and has an alarm button at his/her fingertips, then robbing banks becomes a lot less rewarding.

Burglaries are not down so much, but I predict they will also fall quite dramatically. The reason is the increasing use of high tech security systems. Cheaper security video cameras. Better locks. Computer alarms. It is now possible to have a detector send video pictures to your smart phone showing who it is inside your home, even when you are away. Those can be sent on to the police.

Murders are coming down more slowly, probably due to better surveillance and security. However, in any place where hand guns are readily available, the number of murders will remain far too high. Perhaps, with wider surveillance, the murder rate might fall further, but nowhere near enough.