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Not if criminals use the data to avoid these houses. Then people might register in greater numbers. They might buy a gun just to get on the public list.
by genwin 14y ago
Not if criminals use the data to avoid these houses. Then people might register in greater numbers. They might buy a gun just to get on the public list.
- gojomo 14y agoThis may be an effect, but while some criminals want to avoid a confrontation with a gun-wielding resident... others want to steal guns. By helping criminals self-sort to the right targets for the risks they prefer, the net effect on crime/safety could be negative, by shifting break-ins to where they are most likely to succeed.
- rhizome 14y agoIs gun theft ever really that much of a specific goal? Seems guns are easy enough to get on the street that breaking into a house just to steal guns has a much higher risk than is normally necessary. EDIT: Well that didn't take long to acquire a silent Reddit-style "independent-thought downvote."
- Anechoic 14y agoYou'd be suprised: http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/thieves_break_into_springfield.html http://www.masslive.com/news/index.ssf/2012/11/thieves_break...
- rhizome 14y agoThat's one instance with a very large (no?) safe. I was asking about the prevalence of that kind of crime, not whether it had ever happened before in the history of weapons, or theft itself.
- hughlomas 14y agoYes, especially if you simply observe a house known to have guns and take them when the owners are not home.
- rhizome 14y agoI realize how the concept of theft works.
- DrJokepu 14y agoFrom what I've gathered from various friends and acquaintances working in law enforcement and criminal justice, the vast majority of criminals are really not the kind of intelligent folks who would do such research. That's why they're criminals. The sophisticated type you see in television is very rare.
- hughlomas 14y agoTwo variables of risk that factor into a criminal's decision: 1) Is the house occupied? 2) Are the occupants armed? Providing an answer to the second question only helps the criminal by letting them know that they can perform an armed robbery with no resistance.