Quote of the day–Don B. Kates and Gary Mauser

There is a compound assertion that (a) guns are uniquely available in the United States compared with other modern developed nations, which is why (b) the United States has by far the highest murder rate. Though these assertions have been endlessly repeated, statement (b) is, in fact, false and statement (a) is substantially so.

Don B. Kates and Dr. Gary Mauser
Would Banning Firearms Reduce Murder and Suicide? A Review of International and Some Domestic Evidence
Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Volume 30, Number 2, Spring 2007.
[See also the more recent commetary on it: Harvard University Study Reveals Astonishing Link Between Firearms, Crime and Gun Control (via email from Steve at work.

The paper is over eight years old but it is still relevant.—Joe]

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7 thoughts on “Quote of the day–Don B. Kates and Gary Mauser

  1. friends:

    “facts” have nothing to do with this debate.

    the facts are, that gun deaths, accidental and purposeful, are a relatively minor cause of mortality in the united states. simple as that.

    the chief fact is, however, and the left is very very conscious of this, that guns are the chief way that we who are not leftists can resist and destroy leftist attempts at tyranny. this is the sole reason the left seeks to destroy our access to guns, in order to prevent us from opposing and destroying them.

    the fact is, that even though “lives matter,” our lives don’t mean shit to them, except to the extent that we stand between them and absolute rule.

    because we have guns.

    the above is fact. absolute fact. and, the only fact that matters. that, and our willingness to fight & die, and kill if need be, to protect our heritage and our rights. simply put.

    john jay

  2. Colonel Jeff Cooper understood perfectly;

    “I have thought about this at length, and I am puzzled to discover that the subject of the motivation of those who would confound our liberty is not broadly discussed. Personally I think the motive of those other people is simply envy. Envy, not money, is the root of all evil, and those who cannot cope envy those who can.” — Jeff Cooper, 2004
    http://www.molonlabe.net/Commentaries/jeff12_1.html

    • lyle:

      the left, styled variously as joe stalin, mao, and pol phot, not to mention those worthies in middle africa, have done most of the mass slaughter in the world for the past one and a half centuries.

      our left may very well have done the same thing, except for two things: 1.) they are pussies posing as thugs (except for the clintons, who hire it done), and 2.) we have guns, and are willing to use them.

      there is no reason in the world to be polite and civil to these assholes.

      john jay

      p.s. colonel cooper, who had killed warriors in combat, simply misunderstood and under estimated the american left … he would not be so kind these days. i can only imagine what harlan carter might have said of the clintons and obama.

      • I’m wondering if you read the Cooper quote I posted above.

        Cooper was around during the FDR administration, through Ruby Ridge and Waco, and for some years after. He knew the left well.

  3. “Would banning firearms reduce murder and suicide?”

    That’s an inappropriate question and so it would be inappropriate to entertain it.

    Would rounding up and exterminating all people of color reduce murder and other crimes? Wrong question. No person of good will would ask such a question– You don’t explore something like that as though it were an option, for to do so would be assuming an authority that does not exist among mortals.

    Therefore we need not make defenses, provide statistics, explain ourselves, or otherwise argue as though the question were anything but a frontal attack on humans rights, individual sovereignty, individual responsibility, and dignity.

    We have nothing for which to answer. The Progressive movement on the other hand, which claims the authority to ask such questions, and then answer them with coercive power, has much to answer for.

    • I’ve often pointed out that you can get a good idea of the moral validity of a law, regulation, or organization, by replacing all occurrences of “man” by “woman” and vice versa, or “black” by “white” and vice versa. (For example, imagine a “Congressional White Caucus”.)

      Your comment makes me realize that another useful substitution would be “gun owner” by “black person” (or vice versa).
      I’m not sure the gun ban crowd has enough integrity to be affected by this, though — consider the infamous “Saturday night special” ban.

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