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Bruce Schneier in 2011 about pickpocketting becoming less and less a problem in the U.S.: (one the guy in TFA is mentioned in Schneier's entry too) http://www

Bruce Schneier in 2011 about pickpocketting becoming less and less a problem in the U.S.: (one the guy in TFA is mentioned in Schneier's entry too) http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/03/pickpockets_are.html http://www.schneier.com/blog/archives/2011/03/pickpockets_ar... An interesting comment explain that pickpockets typically do not have their certification to hold weapons and prefer not to: when they get caught or pointed at (which happens all the time), they don't want to police to find out they have a gun. I take it it makes sense: they are there for pickpocketting, like rats. Not to enter in duels with men with balls big enough to actually pull out a gun (not that I think it's a good or bad thing, it's just a fact that there are places where people do carry guns). Long story short: pickpockets are more likely to steal in places where they're less likely to get shot or beaten should they get caught in the act.

anigbrowl 14y ago
This doesn't seem especially plausible, or supported by the data on that page (eg a CCW permit holder observing that he considers his firearm virtually useless in that situation). A more realistic explanation for not holding weapons is that there are significant additional penalties for any criminal arrested while carrying a firearm. Instead of a few months or a year in prison for simple theft, a person could be facing 5, 10, or even life.
lsc 14y ago
>Long story short: pickpockets are more likely to steal in places where they're less likely to get shot or beaten should they get caught in the act. If you really think it's guns, you could look by state; I mean, here in California, you get in pretty deep shit for shooting someone unless there is a very clear and immediate threat. Most places it's pretty important that you keep your gun completely concealed. You'd probably get in trouble for simply drawing your gun after you noticed you'd been pickpocketed. But in Texas? the definition of threat is, well, a whole lot broader. But I doubt that's it. The way pick-pocketing works, from what I understand, the victim would pretty much have to shoot you in the back in a public place, and that's going to be trouble pretty much everywhere. And hell, even so, I'd rather run away from an untrained civilian with a gun than from an American cop; especially if the cop was going to put me in jail for any period of time if I was caught. I'd argue that it probably has more to do with the socioeconomic situation. Europeans have racism codified into laws in ways that only the most fringe right-wing Americans would suggest. Many countries in Europe (I'm looking at you, France.) don't have 'by right of the soil' citizenship; to become French, you pretty much have to have French ancestry. (I mean, just like America, there are processes whereby lucky or well-off people can gain citizenship... but here in America? if you were born here, you are American. that's not true in France, or in much of Europe.) It could also be enforcement, as Schneier suggested.

anigbrowl 14y ago

This doesn't seem especially plausible, or supported by the data on that page (eg a CCW permit holder observing that he considers his firearm virtually useless in that situation). A more realistic explanation for not holding weapons is that there are significant additional penalties for any criminal arrested while carrying a firearm. Instead of a few months or a year in prison for simple theft, a person could be facing 5, 10, or even life.

lsc 14y ago

>Long story short: pickpockets are more likely to steal in places where they're less likely to get shot or beaten should they get caught in the act. If you really think it's guns, you could look by state; I mean, here in California, you get in pretty deep shit for shooting someone unless there is a very clear and immediate threat. Most places it's pretty important that you keep your gun completely concealed. You'd probably get in trouble for simply drawing your gun after you noticed you'd been pickpocketed. But in Texas? the definition of threat is, well, a whole lot broader. But I doubt that's it. The way pick-pocketing works, from what I understand, the victim would pretty much have to shoot you in the back in a public place, and that's going to be trouble pretty much everywhere. And hell, even so, I'd rather run away from an untrained civilian with a gun than from an American cop; especially if the cop was going to put me in jail for any period of time if I was caught. I'd argue that it probably has more to do with the socioeconomic situation. Europeans have racism codified into laws in ways that only the most fringe right-wing Americans would suggest. Many countries in Europe (I'm looking at you, France.) don't have 'by right of the soil' citizenship; to become French, you pretty much have to have French ancestry. (I mean, just like America, there are processes whereby lucky or well-off people can gain citizenship... but here in America? if you were born here, you are American. that's not true in France, or in much of Europe.) It could also be enforcement, as Schneier suggested.