Guns don't create crime; black
markets create crime
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/90/126/04_3_m.html
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any
government has is the power to crack down on criminals.
Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them
. One declares so many things to be a crime that it
becomes impossible for men to live without breaking
laws." -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
One of the biggest excuses used by government to tread
on an individual's right to bear arms is criminal abuse of
firearms. The more criminals and the more horrific the
abuses, the more inconvenient and expensive firearm
ownership becomes for the rest of us.
Even if punishing all citizens for the wrongdoings of
society's predators was ethically sound, which it is not, it
doesn't work anyway. Crime rates have, in the last few
decades, grown at a staggering rate, causing statists to call
for more laws. The para dox is that it is these laws that
seem to be at the root of the growing crime statistics, on
two fronts.
One is a statistical fallacy. What do politicians use to
garner support for expensive and questionable policies?
Fear. How does Sally Politician incite fear in audiences
during her campaign? The desperate support you can stir
by feeding a crowd enough fri ghtening statistics is
amazing. But what comes to the mind of the average
audience member when they find out that the numbers of
felons, arrests, incarcerations, homicides, and thefts are
skyrocketing?
Does Joe Average raise his hand and ask how many of
these statistics are manufactured? When government
outlaws a widespread victimless activity, "criminals" are
created. Before the racist, anti-drug campaign of 1914,
cocaine, opium, heroin, and cannabis w ere legal and
drug-related crime was low. The use, purchase, sale, and
cultivation of these drugs took place remarkably
peacefully. The day the legal status of these commodities
changed, the number of criminals increased by one for
every person involved i n any of these peaceful economic
exchanges. Today there are about 40 million users of
illegal drugs listed in the public records as criminals.
This statistical phenomenon is not peculiar to the drug
war. In 1989, a California assault weapons ban and gun
registration push created possibly as many as 300,000
new criminals (the numerical uncertainty is the result of
the poor wording of the law, whi ch failed to clearly
identify what an "assault weapon" is). After New Jersey's
1990 assault rifle ban, another 300,000 owners of "assault
weapons" faced up to five years in prison for this
ownership. Furthermore, Jerold Levine, counsel to the
New York Rif le Association noted: "Tens of thousands of
New York veterans who kept their rifles from World War
II or the Korean War have been turned into felons as the
result of this law."
So the government creates a "crime wave" verifiable by
"statistics" every time it outlaws a victimless activity such
as possession, creation, modification, sale, purchase, or
cultivation. What is the other front on which government
bloats crime statistics ? You can create a criminal by
changing a definition or you can create incentive to kill,
injure, and steal. Alcohol Prohibition doubled the
homicide rate. The repeal of Prohibition returned it to its
previous rate. This year, the federal incarceration ra te set
two records: It saw its largest increase since
record-keeping began in 1923, and the United States locks
up more people than any other country.
Economics tells us that the higher the price of a black
market commodity, the more a criminal seller is willing to
do for it. At the same time, the stiffer the laws, the higher
the prices will be, since the seller must go through more to
deliver the goods . So while the naãve think that when a
drug ring is busted up, the drug banners win a battle,
economic theory tell us that high penalties and increases in
drug war spending are increasing the crime problem. This
is the theory. Since the war on drugs began , drugs which
used to be traded on a peaceful open market took on
artificial black market prices that made these commodities
worth killing for, stealing for, pushing on children, and
corrupting officials over.
Now we know that our government is creating criminals in
two ways. If we know why fear and crime are so high,
what do guns have to do with the price of beans, outside of
the fact that bans on ownership, creation, and modification
create criminal statistic s? One word: scapegoat. It is easier
for a politician to sell the idea of gun control than it is to
face the fact that, in the words of Abraham Lincoln,
"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it
attempts to control a man's appetite by legis lation and
makes crimes out of things that are not crimes. A
prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon
which our government was founded."
Jackie Casey is a non-degree-seeking graduate student
studying statistics. This is the first of her series of
three anti-gun control columns.
By Jackie Casey (columnist)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 3, 1997
more by Jackie:
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/90/134/04_3_m.html
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/90/144/05_1_m.html
markets create crime
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/90/126/04_3_m.html
There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power any
government has is the power to crack down on criminals.
Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them
. One declares so many things to be a crime that it
becomes impossible for men to live without breaking
laws." -Ayn Rand, Atlas Shrugged
One of the biggest excuses used by government to tread
on an individual's right to bear arms is criminal abuse of
firearms. The more criminals and the more horrific the
abuses, the more inconvenient and expensive firearm
ownership becomes for the rest of us.
Even if punishing all citizens for the wrongdoings of
society's predators was ethically sound, which it is not, it
doesn't work anyway. Crime rates have, in the last few
decades, grown at a staggering rate, causing statists to call
for more laws. The para dox is that it is these laws that
seem to be at the root of the growing crime statistics, on
two fronts.
One is a statistical fallacy. What do politicians use to
garner support for expensive and questionable policies?
Fear. How does Sally Politician incite fear in audiences
during her campaign? The desperate support you can stir
by feeding a crowd enough fri ghtening statistics is
amazing. But what comes to the mind of the average
audience member when they find out that the numbers of
felons, arrests, incarcerations, homicides, and thefts are
skyrocketing?
Does Joe Average raise his hand and ask how many of
these statistics are manufactured? When government
outlaws a widespread victimless activity, "criminals" are
created. Before the racist, anti-drug campaign of 1914,
cocaine, opium, heroin, and cannabis w ere legal and
drug-related crime was low. The use, purchase, sale, and
cultivation of these drugs took place remarkably
peacefully. The day the legal status of these commodities
changed, the number of criminals increased by one for
every person involved i n any of these peaceful economic
exchanges. Today there are about 40 million users of
illegal drugs listed in the public records as criminals.
This statistical phenomenon is not peculiar to the drug
war. In 1989, a California assault weapons ban and gun
registration push created possibly as many as 300,000
new criminals (the numerical uncertainty is the result of
the poor wording of the law, whi ch failed to clearly
identify what an "assault weapon" is). After New Jersey's
1990 assault rifle ban, another 300,000 owners of "assault
weapons" faced up to five years in prison for this
ownership. Furthermore, Jerold Levine, counsel to the
New York Rif le Association noted: "Tens of thousands of
New York veterans who kept their rifles from World War
II or the Korean War have been turned into felons as the
result of this law."
So the government creates a "crime wave" verifiable by
"statistics" every time it outlaws a victimless activity such
as possession, creation, modification, sale, purchase, or
cultivation. What is the other front on which government
bloats crime statistics ? You can create a criminal by
changing a definition or you can create incentive to kill,
injure, and steal. Alcohol Prohibition doubled the
homicide rate. The repeal of Prohibition returned it to its
previous rate. This year, the federal incarceration ra te set
two records: It saw its largest increase since
record-keeping began in 1923, and the United States locks
up more people than any other country.
Economics tells us that the higher the price of a black
market commodity, the more a criminal seller is willing to
do for it. At the same time, the stiffer the laws, the higher
the prices will be, since the seller must go through more to
deliver the goods . So while the naãve think that when a
drug ring is busted up, the drug banners win a battle,
economic theory tell us that high penalties and increases in
drug war spending are increasing the crime problem. This
is the theory. Since the war on drugs began , drugs which
used to be traded on a peaceful open market took on
artificial black market prices that made these commodities
worth killing for, stealing for, pushing on children, and
corrupting officials over.
Now we know that our government is creating criminals in
two ways. If we know why fear and crime are so high,
what do guns have to do with the price of beans, outside of
the fact that bans on ownership, creation, and modification
create criminal statistic s? One word: scapegoat. It is easier
for a politician to sell the idea of gun control than it is to
face the fact that, in the words of Abraham Lincoln,
"Prohibition goes beyond the bounds of reason in that it
attempts to control a man's appetite by legis lation and
makes crimes out of things that are not crimes. A
prohibition law strikes a blow at the very principles upon
which our government was founded."
Jackie Casey is a non-degree-seeking graduate student
studying statistics. This is the first of her series of
three anti-gun control columns.
By Jackie Casey (columnist)
Arizona Daily Wildcat
April 3, 1997
more by Jackie:
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/90/134/04_3_m.html
http://wildcat.arizona.edu/papers/90/144/05_1_m.html