[plug] The right to keep and bear source

[Greg Mildenhall]

On Wed, 5 May 1999, Leon Brooks wrote:
> Greg Mildenhall wrote:
> > In fact, far more than half of violent crime in the US today is
> > drug-related - a direct result of the government's crackdown on personal
> > freedom (ie the right to use such drugs) leading to criminal elements
> > attaining vast influence over the most vulnerable youths - the more
> > heavily the drug trade is policed, the more expensive the drugs become,
> > and the thus more likely people are to commit violent crime.
> OTOH, the less regulated the drugs are, the cheaper they become, the
> more addicts there are,
Not sure that it nec. works that way. Perhaps it is easier to start taking
the drug, but there would be far less external pressure from those who
stand to gain financially. In the end, I think the difference is that if
the govt. provided cheap, quality-regulated drugs, then they could at
least keep track of and offer far better assistance to people wanting to
break their addiction.

> thus more people are likely to commit violent crime.
I really don't think taking illegal drugs makes one more likely to commit
violent crime. Exorbitant prices forcing people to steal, and dependence
on and mixing with criminal types definitely does produce violent crime,
and this is why I'd like to see the government stop supporting unregulated
narcotic distribution.

> Any activity which supports stable, safe nuclear families results in
> less crime, less drugs, etc. 
Yep - another reason to accept the drug use so that the victims will not
be unable to talk to their families about it. Not good for communication
when one has to hide one's activities for fear of arrest or just stigma
from one's family.


> Case in point, find any bunch of stats on home-schooled chilluns versus
> state-schooled chilluns, and the HS are always more honest, peaceful,
> drug-free on average.
I doubt that's because they are homeschooled. I'd say it's because they
have parents who obviously care a lot about them. I imagine spending more
time with one's family is also a plus, but when everything is going OK, a
kid with an outsourced education should get more then enough time at home.

-Greg