Text 15516, 60 rader
Skriven 2008-05-18 11:31:16 av Jeff Smith (1:14/5)
  Kommentar till text 15496 av Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Ärende: Guns
============
Hello Michiel.

18 May 08 10:03, you wrote to me:

 MV> Hello Jeff,

 MV> On Saturday May 17 2008 21:22, you wrote to me:

 MV>>> If weapons are just things, why the fuss about North Korea and
 MV>>> Iran? By itself a nuclear bomb is harmles....

 JS>>     Absolutely true. A bomb by itself is harmless (Assuming it is
 JS>> well made enough not to self detonate).

 MV> So why does the US make threats against Iran?

 JS>> It is the mindset of the person controlling the bomb that can
 JS>> cause people concern. That and the fact bombs (Eespecially
 JS>> nuclear) don't just kill one or a few people but thousands or
 JS>> millions depending on the yield.

 MV> The last time atomic bombs were used for their intended purpose about
 MV> 300.000 people died. Some may have died in accidents related to
 MV> nuclear bombs after that, but I think we can put an upper limit of
 MV> half a million people to the number of people that died in all of
 MV> human history because of nuclear weapons. I do not think you will
 MV> dispute that *many* more have died because of guns.

     On a per use basis? Which is what we were refering to. If you now
choose to mean total deaths. Then one must consider the number of items
involved. How many guns versus how many nuclear weapons. If you wish to
play games with the numbers I imagine you can get them to suggest
anything you choose.


 JS>> When was that last time someone used a nuclear bomb to go rob a
 JS>> local store or do a gang thing?

 MV> TTBOMK that has never happened. OTOH, hundreds of thousands of people
 MV> have died because of guns going off in such actions.  Seems to me guns
 MV> are much more dangerous than nuclear weapons. And you say weapons by
 MV> themselves are just harmlesse things. So I ask you again: why the fuss
 MV> about North Korea and Iran?

    The same answer applies Michiel. You are trying to compare apples and
oranges again. Guns and nuclear weapons are both dangerous if used carelessly
or indiscriminately. The factor that make their comparison improbable is
the kill ratio per unit and the overall quantity of units. But do not let
that stop you from using them as an example.


 MV> Cheers, Michiel

 MV> --- GoldED+/W32-MINGW 1.1.5-b20070503
 MV>  * Origin: http://www.vlist.org (2:280/5555)

Jeff

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