Talk:Gun politics
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The subject of this article is controversial and content may be in dispute. When updating the article, be bold, but not reckless. Feel free to try to improve the article, but don't take it personally if your changes are reversed; instead, come here to the talk page to discuss them. Please supply full citations when adding information, and consider tagging or removing unciteable information. |
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[edit] Merge
It looks like Firearms licence and Gun law cover the same topic - I think they should be merged here. AliveFreeHappy (talk) 16:44, 14 October 2010 (UTC)
Agreed. Bigyaks (talk) 16:28, 17 November 2011 (UTC)
[edit] Gary Kleck study poorly executed
Gary Kleck conducted a survey which concluded that 2.5 million people in the US each year use guns to defend themselves. One percent of the US population is between 2 and 3 million. So if only one percent of the survey respondents had answered the survey dishonestly that would make the results of the survey inaccurate by millions. According to the NCVS (National Crime Victim Survey) guns are used defensively less than 100,000 times each year (source). The NCVS surveyed over 90,000 people. In contrast, Kleck only surveyed about 5,000 people. Thus it would be reasonable to conclude that the NCVS provides a more reliable estimate of the number of defensive gun uses in the US. An article published in the Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology (Northwestern)87 (1997): 1430 revealed that using methods similiar to Kleck's, it could be concluded that nearly 20 million Americans have seen aircraft from another planet and that one million Americans have had contact with aliens.
"Since a small percentage of people may report virtually anything on a telephone survey, there are serious risks of overestimation in using such surveys to measure rare events. The problem becomes particularly severe when the issue has even a remote possibility of positive social desirability response bias. Consider the responses to a national random-digit-dial telephone survey of over 1500 adults conducted in May 1994 by ABC News and the Washington Post. [34] One question asked: 'Have you yourself ever seen anything that you believe was a spacecraft from another planet?' [Page 1438] Ten percent of respondents answered in the affirmative. These 150 individuals were then asked, 'Have you personally ever been in contact with aliens from another planet or not?' and 6% answered 'Yes.'By extrapolating to the national population, we might conclude that almost 20 million Americans have seen spacecraft from another planet, and over a million have been in personal contact with aliens from other planets. That more than a million Americans had contact with aliens would be incredible news--but not the kind actively publicized by reputable scientists."(source)
In fact, if the same survey methodology that Gary Kleck used to measure defensive gun use is used to measure criminal gun use, many more people will report that they have been a victim of a gun crime according to a report by the Harvard Injury Control Research Center: "After controlling for other aspects of the surveys, these surveys indicate that criminal gun use is far more common that self-defense gun use. For example, in May 2000, a Washington Post national random-digit dial survey asked 'Not counting military service, have you ever been threatened with a gun or shot at?' Twenty-three percent (23%) said yes. In that same month (May 2000), a Gallup national random-digit dial survey asked 'Not including military combat, have you ever used a gun to defend yourself either by firing it or threatening to fire it?' Seven percent (7%) of respondents said yes."(source) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.227.136.145 (talk) 17:14, 1 February 2011 (UTC)
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- The number of defensive gun uses versus the number of gun crimes is rather pointless in face of the NIJ Felon Survey showing that most armed felons obtain guns illegally and most respond they could obtain a gun regardless of any gun laws. Even if the ratio was 400,000 DGU versus 2,400,000 gun crimes, it would not validate gun control, since gun control would be more likely to prevent the DGUs. (NIJ Felon Furvey in James D. Wright and Peter Rossi, "Armed and Considered Dangerous", (Aldine 1986, 2nd ed 2008, ISBN-13: 978-0202362427)).
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- Everyone in the Kleck & Gertz 1994 NSDS survey was asked if they had used a gun defensively. Table 1 in the Kleck & Gertz 1995 article listed ten national surveys (some commissioned by pro-gun control groups) that gave a range of defensive gun uses of 764,000 to 3,600,000 per year, which places the K&G 95 NSDS figure of 2,400,000 in the mid-range. (Gary Kleck and Marc Gertz, "Armed Resistance to Crime: The Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun", Northwestern University School of Law, Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, vol. 86, issue 1, 1995.)
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- "Most NCVS respondents never have a chance to answer the DGU question, falsely or otherwise."--Philip Cook and Jens Ludwig, "Guns in America: National Survey on Private Ownership and Use of Firearms.", NIJ Research in Brief, May 1997.
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- Apparently none of these DGU surveys measure the same thing due to the way the questions are asked.
- NSDS and NSPOF: "Have you used a gun defensively?" gets huge numbers.
- NCVS: "Have you been a victim of a crime? If yes, did you resist?" gets tiny numbers.
- Lott: "Have you been in a threatening situation? If yes, how did you respond?" gets figures in between.
- Other survey protocols get different results for different reasons.
- "Do you own a gun? If yes, have you used it defensively?" filters out people. esp. women, who may not own a gun but live in a household with a gun owner.
- "Do you own a handgun? If yes, have you used it defensively?" filters out DGU with rifles or shotguns.
- All DGU surveys are open to question. But the NSDS, NSPOF and the ten national surveys listed in the Kleck & Gertz article on the NSDS survey list 764,000 to 4,700,000 per year, making the NCVS results the anomaly.
- Apparently none of these DGU surveys measure the same thing due to the way the questions are asked.
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- The NSDS and NSPOF question protocol may have a false positive bias, the NCVS question protocol may have a false negative bias. Under the NCVS protocol, one must identify as a crime victim before being asked if one has used a gun defensively, but in the NSPOF survey 6 of 19 defensive gun users did not consider themselves victims (apparently because they successfully defended themselves).
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- -- Naaman Brown (talk) 18:38, 6 January 2012 (UTC)
[edit] Material on Japan from article
The following was added to the article in this edit. I've removed it from the article because it's not written in encyclopedic style. -GTBacchus(talk) 05:26, 8 July 2011 (UTC)
| The material is rather long, so I've put it in a fancy collapsing box... |
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| The following discussion has been closed. Please do not modify it. |
How to Own Guns in Japan [edit] ==============In Japan there are many people who believe that Japanese shooters at Olympics are policemen or soldiers of Self-Defense Force. Some other people believe that Japanese citizen cannot own guns and people who enjoy shooting have to rent guns at shooting range, and some other people believes that legal gun owners must keep guns in lockers assigned for them at shooting ranges. So, I decided to write short introductory article about gun ownership in Japan. In Japan, the kind of guns owned by civilian are as follows. Air Rifle Hand Rifle Rifle Air Pistol (limited to 500 people for sports shooting only) Pistol (limited to 50 people for sport shooting only) Shot gun The purpose to own guns is limited to two, i.e., hunting or sports shooting. It means we cannot own guns for defense purpose. The procedure to own the gun is as follows. Of course, people who use guns in their work (policemen, soldiers, etc.) don't have to follow the following step for guns used in the job. The terminology about 'air gun', 'air rifle' follow Japanese custom. Participation in a lecture at nearby police station ------------------------------------------------------ This is a requisite condition for anyone who tries to own gun. You go to the police station which is responsible for your address area, and apply for the lecture on gun regulation for beginners. In case of Tokyo, entire districts are divided into four blocks, and the actual place to have the lecture is one police station in the block. The lecture for beginner is held once in a month, I think. The lecture starts at 9:00 in Saturday morning, and written examination follows after lunch. To 20 questions, you have to give at least 14 correct answers. When I had this lecture, two or three people did not pass among 32 or 33 attendance. This performance was high because usually 80 % of attendants pass the examination. After passing the examination, a certificate is given and its copy must be submitted whenever you do some application afterwards. The certificate is valid three years. It means, after the valid date of the certification, you have to attend a lecture for gun owners to get the new certificate. This time, no examination is done. Air rifle, hand rifle, and shot gun ------------------------------------- Once you get the certificate of the gun regulation lecture, there are two different paths depending on what you want to own. Note that you cannot apply for usual rifles nor pistols at this stage. To own them, you need further qualification. A. Air rifle or hand rifle.
People who are not familiar with gun confuses air rifle from
'air soft gun' (or simply 'air gun') which uses plastic bullet and
whose barrel does not have rifling.
In fact, recently it was reported on TV that some members of AUM camped
near by Mt. Fuji and did some military training using 'air rifle' of
AK 47. This report was not correct. What they used must be air soft
gun shaped like AK 47 or model gun of AK 47.
Hand rifle is unique to Japan. It is actually air pistol, but long
sleeve covers the barrel, and long stock is attached to the grip.
In Japan, ownership of pistol (air or not) is restricted because of
their small size which enables covered transportation. Therefore,
hand rifle was introduced for people who plan to own air hand gun
eventually.
If you want to own air rifle or hand rifle, you can go to a gun shop
with certificate to show to clerks, determine which gun to buy, ask
clerks to write a paper which describe the detail of the gun, and name of
the shop. When you buy a gun not from a shop but from a current owner,
the same paper is needed.
You must be at least 18 years old, or, you need to be over 14
years old and have recommendatory letter from an organization which
governs all official sports organizations.
B. Shot gun.
Prior to go to gun shop, you have to take practical shooting course,
followed by examination. To apply for it, you have to submit a lot
of papers to the police, and it takes a few months until you get the
approval because you and your family who live together are examined.
After the approval, you have the course at a shooting range and pass
it (it is quite easy). Then, you go to a gun shop, determine the gun
to buy, and ask clerks to write the paper.
You need to be at least 20 years old.
After applying for any gun, usually it takes about one month until you get permission. When you get notification from the police about permission, you go to the police station to receive license booklet, take it to the gun shop and receive the gun. Then within two weeks, you have to go to the police station again with the gun to have it inspected and stumped on the license. SB - Small Bore rifle (0.22 caliber, rim-fire) ------------------------------------------------ Since using of 0.22 caliber rifle (both rim-fire and center-fire) for hunting is prohibited in Japan (probably small animals suitable as targets of 0.22 caliber live not far from where people live), the only permitted purpose to own it is for rifle shooting sports. The step to own Small Bore (rim-fire) rifle is as follows.
A. Become a member of a branch of National Rifle Association of
Japan, then become a member of N.R.A.J. itself.
I my case, I became a member of Setagaya (one district in Tokyo) area
at first, which means automatic membership of Tokyo branch of N.R.A.J,
then had to wait one year until I was allowed become a member of N.R.A.J
it self. But this term differs with branches.
If you want to just enjoy air rifle, and have no interest in participating
in national wide shooting meet, to stay just as Tokyo branch's member
saves membership fee.
B. Participate in a few hour's lecture by N.R.A.J., and get certification.
C. Participate in at least two shooting meet per year before you apply for
SB.
D. Get certification of skill of shooting.
In case of shooting in Standing position, the score of criteria is
300 for S60, and 200 for S40. It is quite easy.
E. By satisfying above A,B,C,D, then you can apply for SB to N.R.A.J.
What you get if you pass the examination is recommendatory letter that
you are suitable for shooter of N.R.A.J., and have potential to become
a shooter for higher level competitions like Olympic.
F. Submit above letter as well as many other papers to the police station.
Like the case of shot gun, it takes a new months until the police
issues a permission to take shooting course in practice.
G. Take a practical shooting course at a shooting range, and get a
certification.
H. Apply for a gun to buy. LB - Large Bore rifles (center-fire) -------------------------------------- There are two purposes you can use LB, one is sports shooting under control of N.R.A.J., and the other is hunting.
A. For rifle shooting as sports, the requisite to apply for it are
as follows.
a. It is over one year since you have owned a SB.
b. You have already participated in 2 shooting meet per year with SB.
You apply for recommendatory letter to N.R.A.J., and follow the similar
steps (without practice course in a shooting range) as SB.
It looks only bolt action rifles can be allowed.
B. For hunting purpose, you must have continuous 10 years' history to
have own shot gun or SB. You simply apply for a gun to the police
station.
Air pistol ------------ The requisite condition to apply for air pistol is almost the same as SB except that certification of more skill in shooting is required (in case of AR S60, score of over 510). Since the number of owners of air pistol is limited up to 500, you usually wait one year or more (it means you wait someone fails to update the license) until you get recommendatory letter. After getting recommendatory letter from N.R.A.J, follow the same procedure as other kinds of guns to apply for the license. Pistol -------- To apply for pistol, you need quite excellent skill of air pistol (in case of AP60, score of over 555) to apply for pistol. This time, the number of people is limited to 50, but because of so hard criteria, I heard two years ago that only 30 people owned it. Permission for ammunition --------------------------- Anybody can buy bullets for air rifle, hand rifle, and air pistol without restraint. For ammunition which contains powder, you have to get another paper from the police. On the permission paper, based on which kind of guns you have, the kind of ammunition gun shops can sell to the owner of guns are listed as well as total maximum amount. This paper is valid for one year, and, if my memory is correct, the maximum number of ammunition the police allow to a paper is 4,000. Because of the law, the maximum number of ammunition you can keep at home is limited to 800, and you must keep them in a specially designed locker which is different from gun locker. Updating the license ---------------------- The license of gun is a booklet like passport. Your name, photograph, address, birth date, license booklet No. and its issue date, etc. are in the first page. Then pages for up to 12 guns follow (so, if you own more than 12 guns, you have several license booklets). In the last page, there is a holder to insert the permission paper to buy ammunition. The license for each gun is valid three years (more correctly, until the third birthday after you get the license). It means, if you have three guns which you owned in three continuous years, you have to update the license of different gun every year. If you have three guns owned in the same year or owned in interval of multiple of three years, you can update them in the same year. Here, 'year' means not calendar year, but a interval between two birthdays of the owner, i.e., if you buy two guns, one a day before the birthday and the other one day after the birth day, their licenses are updated in the different years. To keep the license, following things must be cleared. A. Requisite to update license.
There's no condition to update the license of air rifle, hand rifle,
and shot gun. But if you have not used them in the past three years,
license can not be updated.
To update the license of SB and LB, you have to show stump you got
at rifle shooting meets. Though one of conditions that N.R.A.J.
issues recommendatory letter for SB and LB is that owner should
participates at least two formal shooting meets per year for EACH gun,
in realty, it is not checked by the police strictly.
To update license of air-pistol or pistol, it is strictly examined
whether you participated in enough number of shooting meets, and score
at them were enough to qualify the ownership.
B. Annual gun inspection.
Usually in spring, there's a day of annual gun inspection (the date
differs with police stations). You bring not only all guns but also
a paper to report the number of times you used gun (for practice,
shooting meet, hunting) as well as the number of bullets you consumed.
C. Certification of a lecture which is valid at the time of update.
To update of the license, valid certificate of gun regulation lecture is
necessary. It means you have to attend the lecture every three years.
Others --------
A. There are many kinds of papers which you submit to the police at
various opportunities. The following is a list of them (not all of
them are needed every time).
o Application for ownership
o Application for license update
o Application to buy ammunition
o Paper to return expired paper to buy ammunition
o Signed paper that gun shop or ex-owner agrees to sell a gun to you,
which contains detailed description of the gun
o List of your family who live with you
o Abstract of your family register
o Past 10 years' record of your address, job, crime, and guns
you ever own
o Doctor's certification that you are not a user of drugs, and
satisfies some other physical conditions.
o Certification of gun lecture (for beginners, or for owners)
o Certification of practice course at a shooting range
B. If you have some crime history, using knife or guns, you cannot
apply for gun ownership for some amount of years.
Also, if you live with dangerous people, like member of Yakuza,
it may happen application is rejected.
C. In Japan, most policemen are transferred every several years to avoid
their adhesion with residents. In case of a policeman who is
in charge of handling gun ownership, he is transferred every two years.
D. Because only one policeman works for gun ownership in each police
station, I experienced several times that he was absent for criminal
investigation. What I do when I have some business about gun ownership
is to call him in the morning to check his convenient time, then
go to the police station. So, it is often necessary to take
annual leave of a day or half just to submit papers.
I hope some reformation about this inconvenience.
E. The most popular accident caused by legal gun owner is to shoot the
colleague mistakenly at hunting.
In total, 10 to 20 accidents on legally owned guns happen every year.
N.R.A.J is proud of its record of no accident at shooting meets.
F. The number of owners of shot gun and air rifle are, if my memory is
correct, around 35,000 respectively, whereas owners of rifles are 1/10
of them.
G. Guns must be kept in your house in a specially designed locker.
One exception is pistol (not air pistol) which must be kept in a locker
of the nearby police station.
You must keep key of the locker in a secret place (your family should not
know it), and even if policemen comes to your home for inspection,
only owner should show guns.
He can reject to show guns if policemen come without prior notification.
It is to avoid an incident that guns are stolen by 'false police'.
H. To do hunting, you need another license for it.
Issuing of hunting license is under control of Governor of each
prefecture.
The first course for beginners is followed by written examination
follows like that for gun ownership. License is valid for 3 years.
I. When you apply for a gun, you specify its purpose (target shooting, or
hunting). You cannot use a gun for hunting if its purpose in the
gun's license is "target shooting".
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[edit] "Military gauges" in France: .50 AE?
I'm quite certain that the .50 AE cartridge has never been used by the French military, or by any other military for that matter. So why is it listed as being under "Category 1"? 24.214.230.66 (talk) 03:57, 8 November 2011 (UTC)
[edit] Improve section "Armed forces' reserves and reservist training"
In regard to the passage "Some authors argue that Switzerland's militia tradition [snip]. However, this claim has been disputed by historians . . ."
Use of "historians" and "disputed" seems problematic due to the following:
1) The "dispute" is not verified/sourced. Both groups of authors are making claims which may in fact reside alongside each other in harmony:
The Nazis considered, but did not execute, an invasion of Switzerland. While they considered overall Swiss defense capacity to be low, Swiss policy on individual gun ownership made it enough of a harder target relative to other regions, that the Nazis left Switzerland alone and went after easier conquests. Switzerland's gun policies, thus, contributed to its preservation.
This is just one of many possible integrations of the two groups of authors points together in compatibility with each other. So, without verification/sourcing that one group of authors is disputing another, implying or stating there exists a "dispute" should be removed.
2) Source authors referred to as "historians": their status (and implied authority) as "historians" is not verified/sourced. I would suggest just calling them "authors" (see point 3 below)
3) The authors these "historians" are "disputing" are referred to as simply "some authors". This is POV, with the disparity in implied authority from using the two different descriptors. Can't everyone who writes serious research about the past either all be called "historians" or all be called "authors"? Suggest referring to both groups as either "historians" or "authors". I recommend "author", as "historian" implies a level of authority and professional work that ought to be verified/sourced.
