How many of you carry a gun as part of your cycling equipment?

stevebaby

So why is the murder rate in the US so high compared to Australia,Britain,most countries in Europe and Japan.
Funny thing, Japan has perhaps the most controls over firearms in the world...and one of the world's lowest murder rates.
Go figure...

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Joe West

Can you say "Culture" boys and girls?

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cbjesseeNH

The US and Japan couldn't be more different in most ways, including murder rate. Japan has the highest per captia police ratio of any Democracy, and a criminal suspect has very few rights compared to the US. A suspect can be held 23 days in jail without charge, bail or proper legal representation. Confession rates are 95%, conviction rates 99.5% and incarceration rates 98%. The prosecutor is considered infallable and the judge provides more a formality in the process of locking a suspect away than in assuring justice. We just wouldn't go for this police/justice system here in the US - even if if would reduce crime. And so, the simple solution of banning guns and revoking most other civil rights just won't work in the US. Constitutional rights and all that, you know.

Discounting the firearms homicide rate in the US, the remaining non-firearms homicide rate in the US is still 2 to 4-fold higher in the US than in Japan, UK, etc. It might be we just have more bad people here. As some would say, more people that need killing. I don't advocate vigilantism, but the police and justice systems don't seem to be adequate protection. A study conducted in Chicago indicated that, in one place and point in time, more than 3/4 of murders were perpetrated by less that 1/2% of the population - those who were members of gangs. But we give them their rights and suffer the consequences. If tollerable to us in the US, why is it intollerable to you?

Iraq , elections and our economy distract us from many other issues - drugs, gangs and crime being of note.

artemidorus

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CAMPYBOB

Japan has perhaps the most controls over firearms in the world...and one of the world's lowest murder rates.

Yeah. So a lowlife a Jap moron took ot seven innocents with...a knife. Yesterday.

http://feeds.latimes.com/~r/latimes...0,5331631.story

How tragic. Maybe the Jappos need to ban knives. Oh wait...they already did. No fears, mate. Sharp sticks and blunt instruments will still suffice.

Go figure...

Indeed. Those peace-loving, Rape-Of-Nanking bastages would never lift a finger to harm anyone.

Or would they? Thank God he didn't have a dastardly pistol!



Ah, 1960. Different knife. Same result. Dead.

As dead as 800,000 murdered in Rwanda with...knives.

Some day they'll learn. Nah! Probably not. Liberal pukes are far too brain dead to ever understand how life works. But thanks for playing! Johnny...tell him what his consolation prize is!

CAMPYBOB

Bicycling - In 1998, more than 320,000 children and adolescents ages five to 14 were treated in hospital emergency rooms for bicycle-related injuries. In addition, 225 children and adolescents ages 14 and under died in bicycle-related crashes in 1997.

Ban da bad bicycles! Do it for da chilluns!!!!

It's time we stop the slaughter of innocent lambs!!!!

How many more chilluns have to die before we destroy every last eeeevil baby-killin' bicycle?!?!

Nothing good can come from kids getting their hands on a bicycle!

artemidorus

Just like poking a stick in a bull ant nest...

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kdelong

If any if his victims would have had a dastardly gun, there probably would have been only one dead, the one holding the knife.

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cbjesseeNH

We tried to ban stupidity here but it didn't work. So now we tax stupidity - they call it the Lottery for marketing purposes.

A tragedy most certainly but firearms accidents, especially with young children, are low and continue to decline. The stats with older "children" are confounded with gang violence, so those numbers are less useful.

Relative to car accidents, poisonings, falls, etc., the rate is only a few percent. Preferably zero, but if you want to address the bulk of accidental death/injury - look elsewhere than firearms.

stevebaby

And if the offender was the one with the gun....?

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geardad

guess I may as well throw my 2 cents onto the pile...

I can fully understand riders who think that they need weaponry out there to "even things up" in case of conflict with motorized vehicle drivers.

I've been cycling for over 35 years and there have been *many* times when I know that motorists have TRIED to hurt me; not simply been stupid, but who've consciously and deliberately used their vehicle as a weapon against me.

I've heard stories from police officers about motorists who were actually HAPPY that they hit cyclists. One clown actually expressed regret that he hadn't "killed the bitch."

I had a job interview during which cycling and cyclists came up; the interviewer expressed a shocking desire to be able to "run over and kill" bike riders who were in his way. (I didn't pursue that job!)

I've heard drivers say "I'm gonna KILL you!" for little more than my just being there...not even in their way; just for BEING there.

It's clear that there are drivers who want us dead.

However, our carrying guns, and therefore making the entire environment more violent isn't the answer.

This is a car-based culture. Look around! Everything is set up and laid out for cars! The average store or mall has FAR more acreage for parking than the store itself occupies! Oceans of dough are spent on building more roads, parking, infrastructure which is oriented around car culture. Lots of people feel that cars and car usage is the #1 way of life, or the only way possible.

Until we can educate or train people that bicycles are serious vehicles which not only deserve road space, but actually help us all as a nation by removing motorized vehicles from the road, we will have drivers who want to kill cyclists.

It's an ongoing, generations-long thing we need to do, this education, and it'd be nice if there'd be support and help from the government, but it seems to be all about cars and oil, too.

Finally, and I've discussed this with my wife, I feel that the hostility toward cyclists from drivers is going to escalate as gasoline prices rise.

People are getting pretty stressed out, and looking for SOMEbody to blame. Since they can't punch out the Exxon CEO, anyone'll do, and who better to harsh out on than cyclists, who are prbly viewed by many as THE anti-car, anti-driving symbol who's somehow involved in harming the beloved car, jacking up gas prices and generally getting in the hair of the one True American: the automobile driver.

We both agree that staying alert and laying low is the best, and really only defensive strategy.

geardad

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Biker Joe

This discussion has definitely outlived it usefulness.

cbjesseeNH

Oh, we might have a flurry of posts later this month when the US Supreme Court rules the 2nd amendment to be an individual right and repeals DC's gun ban. No doubt there will be predictions of more cyclists shot or shooting others in a fit of rage.

kdelong

Yeah, we American cyclists are a blood thirsty lot. That guy just turned in front of me without signalling! I'll just pull out my Uzi and teach him a thing or two.

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