Quote:
Countervailing violence -- resisting evil -- is a tool of the strong of soul.
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Evil. That’s an odd word to associate with violence in all cases. I don't see how countervailing something is a tool either....but I digress.
Israel I do not think is an example of a peaceful state. Switzerland on the other hand does have a very low murder rate. I'd attribute that to socioeconomic factors rather than a blanket presence of firearms. I'd be interested to see a breakdown of their murders by weapon.
Pretentious, didactic prattle (aplenty) aside I will admit this is an issue I’m not familiar with, its not something I have much experience arguing with either and thus my knowledge base is not that big. I don't intend to purchase books about it either, it simply is not that much of an interest.
That said I don't think the Khmer Rouge are a good example of the dangers of gun control. Obviously I’m no scholar of pre-revolutionary Cambodian/Indochina law and since you've declined to actually quote anything out of the holy bible of gun control you espouse so highly ill have to guess exactly what your point is.
Apart from the Guatemalan genocide of the Miskitos which I’m not even slightly familiar with and so in no position to comment on your examples are brutal totalitarian regimes. These are not known for their freedoms and oddly enough aren't to keen about leaving firearms in the hands of a populace who would just love to rebel.
So your conclusion appears to be that since massacres have and do occur under despotic regimes that have gun control, gun control is the key factor, not the existence of the despotic regime in genocides occurring. I assume the counterargument is that the despotic regime in question could not have come to power without weapons.
Your more obscure (at least to me) example aside your genocidal states seem to be examples of poverty, or at least less economic successes (lets not get into the nitty-gritty of Stalin's Russia) than your less violent countries, Switzerland and Israel (at least inter-Israeli wise). Maybe socioeconomics have a far larger role to play in your examples than gun control? Just a thought. Or sorry I forgot. I’m an irrational raving loony for opposing you.