Definition of Insanity

Insanity has been defined as making the same mistake over and over, and expecting a different result each time.

San Francisco is insane.

The city that bucked state law and sanctioned gay marriage (search) is now taking aim at the constitutional right to bear arms (search) by proposing a ban in San Francisco on private ownership of all handguns.

"When you get guns out of people's homes and off the streets, it means that that gun is not going to be used in a shooting that kills someone, whether a murder or an accidental shooting," said Chris Daly, supervisor of San Francisco.

Or, Mr (?) Daly fails to note, self-defense.

Where have we heard this before?

(Via Jo)

In Washington, DC:

Washington, D.C., banned handguns in response to its skyrocketing homicide rate in 1976. But nearly three decades later, it had more murders per capita than any other city its size.

And in Chicago, New York and Detroit:

20 percent of U.S. homicides occur in four cities with just 6 percent of the population - New York, Chicago, Detroit and Washington, D.C. - and each has a virtual prohibition on private handguns.

And in the United Kingdom...:

In the period of 1997 through 2001 [the four years after the UK banned firearms], homicide rose 19% in the UK while it fell 12% in the USA. (6) Violent crime incidents rose 26% in the UK while falling 12% in the USA. (7) Robbery rates rose 92% in the UK and fell 15% in the USA. (8)

...and Oz:

OBSERVABLE FACT, AFTER 12 MONTHS OF DATA:

* Australia-wide, homicides are up 3.2%
* Australia-wide, assaults are up 8.6%
* Australia-wide, armed-robberies are up 44% (yes, FORTY-FOUR PERCENT)
* In the state of Victoria, homicides-with-firearms are up 300%
* Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in homicides-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)
* Figures over the previous 25 years show a steady decrease in armed-robbery-with-firearms (changed dramatically in the past 12 months)
* There has been a dramatic increase in breakins-and-assaults-of- the-elderly
* At the time of the ban, the Prime Minister said "self-defense is not a reason for owning a firearm"
* From 1910 to present, homicides in Australia had averaged about 1.8-per-100,000 or lower, a safe society by any standard.
* The ban has destroyed Australia's standings in some international sport shooting competitions
* The membership of the Australian Sports Shooting Association has risen to 112,000, a 200% increase, in response to the ban and as an attempt to organize against further controls, which are expected.
* Australian politicians are on the spot and at a loss to explain how no improvement in "safety" has been observed after such monumental effort and expense was successfully expended in "ridding society of guns". Their response has been to "wait longer".

Nothing succeeds like success, I guess. Back to San Francisco:

Opponents are already planning lawsuits, but argue that even if it does pass, this ban won't stop crime as law-abiding citizens give up their guns while the criminals flock to a city that ensures they won't be shot at by the people they're robbing.

"And what's going to happen if this passes is people in San Francisco are going to be deprived of their ability to defend themselves," Michel said.

Well, not quite. Robbery, rape, assault and murder will be redefined as "Hate Crimes". That'll show 'em.

In all seriousness:

"I don't feel like I need to own a gun to protect myself. Certainly, I am a high-profile elected official and now a lot of gun owners don't like me individually, but if I'm in a situation where I feel threatened, I'll call the police," Daly said.

Ah. So perhaps Mr (?) Daly can enjoy the same response that DC residents (similarly disarmed) currently do

According to the Metropolitan Police Department's fiscal 2005 budget performance report, the average response time for the highest-priority calls [murder, armed robbery and shooting in progress calls] was 8 minutes, 25 seconds in fiscal 2003. It was 7 minutes, 19 seconds in fiscal 2002, and 7 minutes, 47 seconds in fiscal 2001.

But certainly things aren't that bad in San Francisco, right?

Wrong!

San Francisco, which also measures response times like Boston, took 10 minutes to respond to priority calls last year despite a population of 776,733 and 2,449 police officers

That's about a minute and a half worse than DC's already wretched time, and more than enough time for a victim to bleed out while lying in the gutter clutching his or her cell phone.

Keep up the good work, San Francisco.

Posted by Mitch at January 3, 2005 06:52 AM | TrackBack