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But here is this complete disconnect in how Americans think about this. As a European you point out that cops are trigger happy and shoot people 100x more frequ

But here is this complete disconnect in how Americans think about this. As a European you point out that cops are trigger happy and shoot people 100x more frequently than say in London. Then Americans respond "well we have way more guns so cops are on the edge and shoot more easily." Well how about introducing some gun control then and reduce the number of guns in society? But no, Americans don't want that. So many American problems are self inflicted wounds due to a dogmatic adherence to particular principles and ideas which simply are unworkable. No society has managed to maintain the kind of inequality and high gun ownership that the US has without leading to violence. Inequality combined with high gun ownership and lax regulation, just doesn't work. There is no way to make it work.

tathougies 6y ago
Gangs aren't affected by gun control though -- most gang guns are gotten illegally (when they're not being supplied by the government of course). Moreover, states with strict gun control, like California, have more gangs than others. Chicago used to ban guns entirely but its murder rate was higher than today, when guns are allowed (by the Supreme Court). And inequality is not what leads to gang violence. We have less gang violence now than in the 90s, despite more wealth inequality. These are all distractions. So no.... there's no disconnect, Americans just realize what's going on. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-gangsters-homemade-guns-20180706-story.html https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-gangsters-homem... http://www.ecineq.org/ecineq_paris19/papers_EcineqPSE/paper_122.pdf http://www.ecineq.org/ecineq_paris19/papers_EcineqPSE/paper_...
- dmode 6y ago
  Why are American gangs not affected by gun control but European gangs are ? Is this some sort of American exceptionalism ?
  - renewiltord 6y ago
    I've noticed over time that things that can be done elsewhere on the world are impossible in America according to most Americans. I even particularly like America because it has more of the sort of liberty I like but it also has some of the most unbelievable defensiveness. For years, fibre was impossible in America. Turns out it wasn't. For years, bicycling was impossible in America. Turns out it isn't. Nothing is really possible in America. It's too diverse here, or too big, or too sparse, or has too many people, or has too few people, or too many cultures. Even electric cars weren't possible because America is too big for you to charge on your ride. But it's not. I think that's still the thing I like about the Bay Area in real life compared to the online America. In the online America, the current state is fully optimal under the constraints. It cannot improve. It is actually hyper-optimized to these constraints. In the Bay Area, there are no boundaries. Some fool will decide that freely available electric scooters are the future of urban transportation and some other fool will decide that laying fibre is a winning prospect and some other fool will decide that high-end bus services have value. Then it'll turn out that despite the assumptions of online America that the country is hyper-optimized to the constraints, the constraints don't actually exist, and of these three fools, none are fools, and one is very very right.
    - twic 6y ago
      Profitable home delivery of groceries really does seem to be impossible in America, for some reason!
      - renewiltord 6y ago
        You know, that market appears so attractive but no one seems to be able to really succeed. I idly sometimes dream of an alternative model where you make money providing a white boxed delivery solution to the supply side using a general fleet. Not convinced yet that it’ll work but maybe it’s worth a shot sometime.
    - tathougies 6y ago
      Okay great. Then why does California a state with severe gun restrictions have such a problem with gang violence? Can you please explain?
  - tathougies 6y ago
    Because america is next to Mexico which is actually quite literally run by warlords. Did you read the article I sent you? Central and South America have the highest murder rates in the world. Of course that spills over into the US. Turkey, Russia dont come close and those are the land borders of europe.
    - dmode 6y ago
      Europe is a boat ride away from extremely poor African countries that are run over by gun toting rebel groups
z9e 6y ago
Criminals will still get weapons without restriction if you ramp up gun control. They don’t follow the law, why would they follow gun controls? All gun controls do is make it harder for lawful citizens to protect themselves.

tathougies 6y ago

Gangs aren't affected by gun control though -- most gang guns are gotten illegally (when they're not being supplied by the government of course). Moreover, states with strict gun control, like California, have more gangs than others. Chicago used to ban guns entirely but its murder rate was higher than today, when guns are allowed (by the Supreme Court). And inequality is not what leads to gang violence. We have less gang violence now than in the 90s, despite more wealth inequality. These are all distractions. So no.... there's no disconnect, Americans just realize what's going on. https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-gangsters-homemade-guns-20180706-story.html https://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-la-gangsters-homem... http://www.ecineq.org/ecineq_paris19/papers_EcineqPSE/paper_122.pdf http://www.ecineq.org/ecineq_paris19/papers_EcineqPSE/paper_...

dmode 6y ago
Why are American gangs not affected by gun control but European gangs are ? Is this some sort of American exceptionalism ?
- renewiltord 6y ago
  I've noticed over time that things that can be done elsewhere on the world are impossible in America according to most Americans. I even particularly like America because it has more of the sort of liberty I like but it also has some of the most unbelievable defensiveness. For years, fibre was impossible in America. Turns out it wasn't. For years, bicycling was impossible in America. Turns out it isn't. Nothing is really possible in America. It's too diverse here, or too big, or too sparse, or has too many people, or has too few people, or too many cultures. Even electric cars weren't possible because America is too big for you to charge on your ride. But it's not. I think that's still the thing I like about the Bay Area in real life compared to the online America. In the online America, the current state is fully optimal under the constraints. It cannot improve. It is actually hyper-optimized to these constraints. In the Bay Area, there are no boundaries. Some fool will decide that freely available electric scooters are the future of urban transportation and some other fool will decide that laying fibre is a winning prospect and some other fool will decide that high-end bus services have value. Then it'll turn out that despite the assumptions of online America that the country is hyper-optimized to the constraints, the constraints don't actually exist, and of these three fools, none are fools, and one is very very right.
  - twic 6y ago
    Profitable home delivery of groceries really does seem to be impossible in America, for some reason!
    - renewiltord 6y ago
      You know, that market appears so attractive but no one seems to be able to really succeed. I idly sometimes dream of an alternative model where you make money providing a white boxed delivery solution to the supply side using a general fleet. Not convinced yet that it’ll work but maybe it’s worth a shot sometime.
  - tathougies 6y ago
    Okay great. Then why does California a state with severe gun restrictions have such a problem with gang violence? Can you please explain?
- tathougies 6y ago
  Because america is next to Mexico which is actually quite literally run by warlords. Did you read the article I sent you? Central and South America have the highest murder rates in the world. Of course that spills over into the US. Turkey, Russia dont come close and those are the land borders of europe.
  - dmode 6y ago
    Europe is a boat ride away from extremely poor African countries that are run over by gun toting rebel groups

z9e 6y ago

Criminals will still get weapons without restriction if you ramp up gun control. They don’t follow the law, why would they follow gun controls? All gun controls do is make it harder for lawful citizens to protect themselves.