Old Man vs Burglar

[Belwarrior]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/5698062/Burglar-left-bruised-and-bleeding-by-retired-boxer-72.html

Probably the burglar thought what could an old man do? :-P

[UtwigMU]

A street robber in Germany didn't know what had hit him when he tried to mug a blind man. He had made the mistake of choosing a world judo champion as his victim.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/zeitgeist/the-wrong-victim-mugger-targets-blind-judo-champion-a-504854.html

[Dr Mordrid]

And in the US they'd probably have run into a geezer or geezerette packing a .40 / .45 SIG

[Brian Ellis]

And in the US they'd probably have run into a geezer or geezerette packing a .40 / .45 SIG

Which is precisely why Europe has only a fraction of per capita gun-related deaths!

[Umfriend]

Aww, who wouldn't like to get shot by a blind judo champion!

[UtwigMU]

Which is precisely why Europe has only a fraction of per capita gun-related deaths!

This is a myth.

Look at Switzerland, they are 4th most armed country on the planet, they have low crime rate, low homicide rate.
In USA statistics have shown that gun related death rate is high in places where guns are outlawed (Washington DC).

[Dr Mordrid]

Raw number comparisons mean zip, it's the rate/100,000 of population that matters.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) 2012 report puts Europe's homicide rate as a region at 3.5/100,000 and the US at 4.8/100,000, but the latest FBI/DOJ year to date numbers for 2013 show reductions, heading for a 4.5/100,000 to 4.1/100,000 rate.

By comparison, 1957 was 4.0/100,000 and 1980 was 10.2/100,000 - representing a bell curve peaking during the young adulthood of the baby boomers and the 1980's drug (mostly cocaine) gang wars.

These numbers, both US and UNODC, exclude things like suicides, which represent 60% to 70% of US firearms deaths.

Where you still see very high homicide rates it's still gang wars, with cities like Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore and Newark having rates of 35-50/100,000 - as high or higher than some parts of sub-Saharan Africa. Why can be exemplified by Detroit's previous dysfunctional "leadership" stupidly disbanded its anti-gang and tactical response police units out of political correctness (the Al Sharpton types saw them as "racist oppressors"), which didn't help, but the new police chief is restarting it. Whew.

Other afflicted cities tried disarming its honest citizens, painting their backs with the "easy mark " bullseye for society's predatory elements to target. See Chicago, Washington DC etc.

[Jammrock]

Don't remember this one coming up at MURC before. Could be wrong, I don't frequent political much.

http://www.motherjones.com/environment/2013/01/lead-crime-link-gasoline#13763261005231&action=collapse_widget&id=7565844

Basic summary, some scientists are claiming that the dramatic spike and decrease in violent crimes in the past 50-60 years are directly related to lead levels. Specifically lead from gasoline.

The studies showed this correlation at both macro (national) and micro (urban) levels in the US. Results were then replicated with non-US sources - Canada, Great Britain, Finland, France, Italy, New Zealand and [West] Germany - where the necessary data was available.

Urban areas, where petrol pollution, and this lead poisoning, were highest had the highest levels of crime. As lead toxicity reduced in urban areas the crime levels dropped with it. In all cases.

A very interesting read, imo. And perhaps a better explanation of crime rate reductions than concealed carry laws.

[Brian Ellis]

I've only skimmed the article, but I'm sceptical.

Even IF violent crime followed a similar curve, it would be applicable to undeveloped countries with large conurbations, where Pb pollution was negligible but crime was rife (e.g. some Latin American countries). It does not explain why violent crime is on the increase in some countries. I take as an example this one. Pb-free petrol has been available here only since 2000 and Pb-containing was widely used as late as 2003. Prior to 2005, violent crime was almost negligible, since which date it has sky-rocketed (comparatively).

However, the big fault in the argument is that Pb is a cumulative toxin in the brain and it takes 20-40 years of exposure for its effects to be noted. If the hypothesis were valid. there would be a 20-40 year delay in the crime curve with respect to the Pb curve.

I could apply the Pb curves to kids playing hopscotch in the streets. In the early days of Pb, they were too busy doing grocery deliveries or paper rounds to have time for games. The economics were such they had more time to play when Pb was at its peak. After the Pb peak, they spent more time with TV and Nintendo, not to mention that parents became apprehensive of pederasts (who committed violent crimes!).