ShotSpotter - A Sign of The Times

[DeepFrz]

How strange, didn't Parliament swear that banning guns would decrease gun crime?

HS, you should get your facts straight before shooting.

Actually Parliament never did ban nor did it try to ban guns. It still is legal (under certain restrictions) to own handguns, and most long guns are legal (other than a few restricted rifles, such as assault rifles) Guns must be registered in order to be legal.

The guns that are being used in crime are overwhelmingly being smuggled in illegally from a certain small country south of us.

[hellosailor]

Thanks, I've apparently been misinformed. The BAN that was proposed did not go into effect, but more regulations did.

I don't know about "crimes" up there, but according to your own government:
Gun Control in Canada
"More than 1,000 Canadians die every year from gunshot wounds, most of them by their own hand. " you've got a suicide problem, and gun crimes overall have been DEcreasing. No flood of guns from the US to be found.

How do you define "assault rifle" though? Our own DOD and DOJ have no definition for that. Neither does NATO. I guess this is why a canoe with two dozen big Samoans in it is a War Canoe, huh?

[john540]

Wow, a mud flinging contest with nationalistic and culturalistic overtones and another firearms "discussion"! Who would have thunk it? I'll throw something out there that is true yet irrelevant, similar to this

"the guns that are being used in crime are overwhelmingly being smuggled in illegally from a certain small country south of us."

The people that are engaged in crime are overwhelmingly being smuggled from a certain small country south of us!

I find it amusing how people differentiate gun violence from other violence, as if it's somehow worse to be shot then hacked, beaten, stabbed, poisoned, run over, drowned, burned, etc. I'm opposed to all types of violence, especially when it's directed at me!

I think the original post was making the point that the use of this technology was a sign of the times, that this technology is needed now because society has degenerated. I agree that society is degenerating, but that this technology really indicates technological advancements and increase in government power. It would be like saying, "I don't want to live in London because crime is so bad there, that they have cameras all over the place" Have you ever read "Oliver Twist"?

[hellosailor]

""I don't want to live in London because crime is so bad there, that they have cameras all over the place" "
Good analogy! Of course, London has changed radically in the last 40 years, the fruits of empire have come home to roost and arguably, it just isn't England anymore. (Karma's a bitch, isn't it?)

"I'm opposed to all types of violence, especially when it's directed at me! " Yessir. Hacked, shot, or keelhauled, I'd still prefer "none of the above". And if I won a free month vacation to Rwanda or any of a dozen other places, I'd go sailing instead.

[DeepFrz]

HS, here are just a few of the hits I got from a search of "canada gun smuggling". It seems you didn't try very hard.

Gun smuggling ring broken up

Gun smuggling into Alberta on the rise, U.S. officials say

http://homepage.usask.ca/~sta575/cdn-firearms/Misc/ott1.html

U.S. postal worker part of gun-smuggling scheme, court told

And a report in today's Vancouver Sun

Vancouver tops in gun violence, study finds

[Dave the Canuck]

Of course, London has changed radically in the last 40 years, the fruits of empire have come home to roost and arguably, it just isn't England anymore. (Karma's a bitch, isn't it?)

Racism.

BTW, my sons have played video games since they were quite young. The oldest is doing his Masters degree and the youngest will finish his Bachelors degree with a 3.5GPA this April.

Yup. Gaming creates deviants.

Racism sucks.

[hellosailor]

Dave, read Outliers. Every different culture has its differences. And when they are mixed, sometimes disaster results--literally and repeatedly--because of the differences.

Racism would be saying there's something wrong or inferior or superior about some "race". Saying that they are different and that they've changed or destroyed the culture they've overwhelmed, is just acknowledging reality.

The Brits tried to rule the world, now they've lost their capitol city to it. I find that ironic and in that sense hilarious. But not at all racist.

Now, various European colonizers, who intentionally distributed blankets from dead smallpox victims to native US Indian tribes in order to wage genocide (quite effective, 90% kill rates are documented), they were racist. That the descendants of the survivors now reap profits by selling back death (tobacco) and gambling, that's ironic, perhaps hilarious, but not racist either.

Karma's a bitch. And it doesn't care what accent your village speaks with.

[DeepFrz]

Yup. Gaming creates deviants.

I'm glad you agree...

Of course gaming isn't 100% effective, but then what is?

[john540]

Dave the Canuck,

"Of course, London has changed radically in the last 40 years, the fruits of empire have come home to roost and arguably, it just isn't England anymore. (Karma's a bitch, isn't it?)

Racism.

Racism sucks"

How can you possibly call that racism? Haven't you heard it's not nice to call names? Casting aspersions on others motives sucks a hell of a lot more than making statements that are argueably accurate.

I'm going cruising to explore the world, not because my country is falling apart. (even though it is falling apart, in my opinion) I have found things to like and dislike about every country, and every ethnicity I've visited.

[Celestialsailor]

I think I was the one that mentioned the video games...I'm happy for the way your Sons turned out Dave but I think that can also be attributed to you possibly being a good parent as well. I wasn't trying to paint with a broad brush with that comment. I worked as an adolescent councilor in a chemical dependency unit for a few years. I found without exception they were quite addicted to the TV, video games and usually came from a broken home. Sad really. A few of them did end up becoming productive members of society.
...And as far as racism??? That's a stretch. Perhaps very opinionated would have been a better choice. I know I have my views of the world but I am trying to stay as open minded as possible.

[Exocet]

Just because Shotspotter is installed in any city does not neccesarily mean said city has crime running wild. To see if these places are becoming more violent, one must look at statistics, not the tools used to locate any crime. It's just a tool to locate crime, and in no way can linked to an increase in crime, however a more economical and expediant tool for fighting crime. As for the guns themselves, why has there been a war on drugs, but no war on guns, seems guns are killing a hell of a lot more people and inflicting far greater pain than the drug problem, but then again there is the NRA.

[keelbolts]

If you tell somebody that your neighbor's kid was attacked by his father's Pit Bull everybody shakes their head in knowing agreement. "Why would they have a Pit Bull anyway? Don't they know they're dangerous?" Irish Setters are not the smartest dogs - that would be Border Collies. Chihuahuas are high strung. People, mostly Pit owners, will argue that Pits really aren't aggressive, but I've never heard anybody try to argue that all dogs are the same. or cats... or birds... or fish... Then why is it that people are horrified if you suggest that humans might behave in predictably different ways? Dumb question. Of course you know why: Political Correctness - aka mind control. Human Beings think in words and if I can control your words I can control your thoughts.

Let me leave you with something to think about. If diversity is good, why are we discouraged from talking/thinking about what makes people different? Do you think it might be because, if we're different, we might not be equal in all respects?



As for the relationship between video games and violence read the book On Killing. Written by an Army psychologist, it tells how the Army employed off-the-shelf video games to up its soldier's kill rates. It worked. There's nothing to argue about there.

[hellosailor]

You know, once upon a time travelers were in fact allowed and encouraged to carry firearms because of things like loose pit bulls. Pit bull latches onto your calf, and you're in big trouble if you DON'T have a pit bull exctractor. Machete would work, and of course that's what many folks carry where they are too poor to own guns. Pit bull, pit viper, rabid hyena, Gangaweed patrol...These are not "gun" problems, this is called "How do you defend yourself in a dangerous world, given that the 911-fairy is sometimes elsewhere occupied?"

Exocet-
Didn't you ever stop to think, guns per se cannot and do not kill anyone? The folks who say 'guns kill' sound like the same fools (nothing personal) who say "the blizzard killed". Blizzards don't kill, fools get killed when they get caught out in bizzards. And line squalls and other normal weather.
Guns don't kill--the folks using them kill. If the folks who waste their time demnizing guns stopped to think, and tried to look into the root causes of violence and psychosis and STOP THOSE ROOT PROBLEMS instead, they'd get a lot further a lot faster. And, they wouldn't have to fight other folks on the issue of guns. Funny thing, most gun owners are also against irrational violence! There's a common ground there, but some fools refuse to take advantage of that. (Well, I suspect that's why there are fools--and their masters.)

I suspect that sailors, in general, are less prone to wanton violence simply by the fact that sailing teaches patience. The wind does what it wants to, the water does what it wants to, and if someone can't learn a little Bhuddism from that, the odds are they're going back to some other hobby. Perhaps one where they spend the afternoon assaulting little white balls with clubs. What do they call that? Golf?

Never had a sailor pull a gun on me. Never had anyone at a gun range pull a gun on me. Golfers, I'm less sure of. I try not to hang around them.

Oh, the NRA? Just to put it in historical perspective, they lost many members when they got political. The NRA was founded by a pair of Union Army officers, who were shocked at the total lack of marksmanship skills in Civil War draftees from the cities. They felt it was imperative, as a matter of national defense, to start a program that trained civilians in marksmanship. (Later on the FCC would encourage amateur radio licenses to encourage a pool of trained radio operators for the same military reasons.) And those same folks who go out and shoot ducks and geese every fall? Are the main reason that there has been a strong waterfowl conservation movement in the last 50 years.

The problem with violence is violence, period. Guns, like fire extinguishers, are damned inconvenient and expensive. And awfully handy to have around when you need one.

I know some folks who'd like to ban all recreational boating, because boaters dump feces in the water and use biocides in their bottom paint that kill and maim all the shellfish and aquatic critters. I can't think of any redeeming value for allowing pleasure boating, unless perhaps it is to provide that military pool of trained operators for the next Dunkirk evacuation? Which, again, we'll never need if we attend to violence, rather than inanimate artifacts.

[MarkJ]

Originally Posted by hellosailor

. Guns, like fire extinguishers, are damned inconvenient and expensive. And awfully handy to have around when you need one.

.

There is just one country in the modern country in the world with a gun love complex.

Just get on your boat and go SEE the world and you will see you are totally and utterly out of touch.

I spent 7 years as an officer in the army (infantry) and I KNOW what guns do.

Guns in boaters hands turn nice people into potential murderers.

better for Cruisers to just change their attitude and rachet down their agression level.
Even the wife of that Thailand murder said he wouldnt have been killed except for his adversarial response.

And you would have just shot the lot, bugger them if they were just starving kids.

[David_Old_Jersey]

Always good to read varied opinions