{"id":34462,"date":"2013-02-22T12:00:35","date_gmt":"2013-02-22T18:00:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=34462"},"modified":"2013-02-22T06:44:09","modified_gmt":"2013-02-22T12:44:09","slug":"a-pack-not-a-herd-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/?p=34462","title":{"rendered":"A Pack, Not A Herd"},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I published a slightly-tongue-in-cheek Urban Renewal plan<\/a>, based around selling houses in blighted neighborhoods to people with stakes in the community and the means – firearms – to defend them.<\/p>\n

Not a few times in my life I’ve shaken my head at the onrush of events and thought “My fiction is the tortoise; fact is the hare”.<\/p>\n

A non-profit in Houston is giving shotguns to law-abiding citizens in crime-ridden areas<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Nothing special, mind you:<\/p>\n

A University of Houston graduate student says he\u2019s conducting a study to hopefully answer the question being asked across the country, \u201cDo more guns reduce crime or not?\u201d<\/p>\n

Kyle Coplen, who founded the Armed Citizens Project, is giving away 20-gauge single-shot shotguns to residents in mid- and high-crime neighborhoods to test whether or not the weapon will help reduce crime in the area, according to the group\u2019s website. Coplen says the weapons are not of much value to criminals, but are especially useful for citizens looking to protect themselves from criminals.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I might disagree on the logistics – one shot is all a criminal needs to terrify an unarmed victim.<\/p>\n

But the idea? \u00a0I’m with ’em all the way.<\/p>\n

And this next bit?<\/p>\n

\u201cGun-control advocates often argue that an increase in guns in an area will lead to an increase in crime, while gun-rights advocates often believe that fewer guns result in more crime. While both sides often argue that their opponents policies will result in more crime, gun-control proponents have largely been the victors when it comes to policy implementation,\u201d the website explains. \u201cPro-gun activists have largely been content to simply fend off new potential gun control laws. It is my opinion that gun-rights activists must take the offensive, and actively encourage the increased presence of defensive weapons in society. Both sides believe that their policies will result in less crime, and it is about time that our side begins to act with the conviction and courage that it will take to win the debate.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I could hardly agree more.<\/p>\n

The orcs will no doubt charge Cohen is “Handing out guns to poor people”. \u00a0it’s a little more involved than that:<\/p>\n

However, the unique experiment has specific criteria for determining who can receive the weapons from the Armed Citizens Project.<\/span><\/p>\n

All recipients must first pass a background check and have lived in their current home for longer than one year. They must also pass a safety and tactical course offered by the group.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not just tossing a bunch of shotguns into a community and walking away,\u201d Coplen told Fox 26. \u201cWhat we\u2019re doing is finding residents who are interested in protecting themselves. we\u2019re not forcing guns on anyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

The group\u2019s website states that the study\u2019s goal is, \u201cto find if there exists a causal link between an increase in the presence of firearms and the level of crime.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Two reactions<\/p>\n

First: \u00a0I’m sure it’ll result in a drop in crime.<\/p>\n

Second: \u00a0I hope the group has a good lawyer. \u00a0Not because they or their subjects will do anything wrong, but because some pants-wetting lefty advocacy group or another will gin up some kind of case or another against\u00a0the idea<\/em>, and find a sympathetic liberal judge to rubber stamp it.<\/p>\n

In addition to arming citizens, the group hopes to counter local gun buyback programs and instead educate those who want to give up their weapons with training sessions, or have those weapons traded in for 20-gauge shotguns. \u201cWe want to reverse the flow of guns, to where they are flowing into a community, along with the necessary safety training and skills,\u201d the site states.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Now that’s a non-profit I’d like to volunteer for.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A few days ago, I published a slightly-tongue-in-cheek Urban Renewal plan, based around selling houses in blighted neighborhoods to people with stakes in the community and the means – firearms – to defend them. Not a few times in my life I’ve shaken my head at the onrush of events and thought “My fiction is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,22],"tags":[251],"class_list":["post-34462","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-crime-and-punishment","category-victim-disarmament","tag-a-pack-not-a-herd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34462","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=34462"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34462\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34474,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34462\/revisions\/34474"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=34462"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=34462"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.shotinthedark.info\/wp\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=34462"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}