Miami advice for Brits (Antigun zealots spreading disinformation and fear to visitors from overseas)

The Sun (U.K.) ^ | September 30, 2005 | EMILY SMITH

[Michael81Dus]

In the state of California I saw signs reading "click it - or ticket 250 $", and 460 $ is an example of what can happen to you if you drive too fast. You aren´t denying it, ARE YOU??

[george wythe]

before I turn 35 I´ll drive through the US by car (visiting the rural areas, National Parks - of course the Colorade river, etc).

I haven't done it myself, but I also intend to do it. Since I'm approaching 35 quickly, I'll amend my goal. I'll probably do it before I turn 40.

Btw, the US is huge, massive, continent-size. It will take a few months to actually do a decent job a driving through the main landlocked states

[David Hunter]

My hope is that our British Friends will be smart enough to see through this as the desperation from a bunch of losers that it truly is.

Don't worry guys, the good tourists won't be deterred from visiting by this, whereas the lager louts will watch their step or stay away.

[absalom01]

"...in the UK. ... Gun crime is very rare"

While this statement is true, it's not the whole point. What really puts all of this into perspective is looking at all crime, not just those committed with a particular weapon or modality. What's been happening over the past decade is that total crime victimisation has been increasing in the EU, including the UK, while it has been decreasing throughout the US, though more rapidly in those states that have a legal mechanism to allow law-abiding citizens who wish to to legally arm themselves. But don't take my word for it: the International Crime Victimisation Study is available on line here: http://ruljis.leidenuniv.nl/group/jfcr/www/icvs/data/i_VIC.HTM

In the US, it has long been estimate that roughly 650,000 crimes are committed every year using some sort of firearm. The other side of this equation, though, is that at least 2 million crimes are stopped by private citizens using firearms -- most often simply by advising the criminal that his would-be victim is armed. (see Kleck and Cates "Armed", November 2001 for further discussion)

Bottom line is that as counter-intuitive as it may seem to some, the way the real world works is summed up in Lott's book title: "More guns, less crime."

[Clemenza]

Funny I lived in Miami for three years, often walked around at 2AM and NEVER once was I shot.

[Billthedrill]

A bit over the top, actually. The chance of getting shot by a deef octogenarian who mistook your cheery "which way to Disneyworld?" for "stick up your hands and give me your wallet" is well under 75%.

[xJones]

You know, Michael, one of the funniest stories of foreign visitors to Dallas, Texas was back in the 1970s. A young Kenyan was unfortunate enough to check into his hotel room in the Adolphus Hotel in downtown Dallas on Texas-OU weekend. That means the University of Texas Longhorns football team versus the University of Oklahoma Sooners football team in a rivalry which has lasted every October for almost 100 years.

The police have tightened up things now, but on the Friday ights before the big Texas-OU game anything could happen. People would throw mattresses out of tall hotel buildings, go swim naked in the very shallow Dealy Plaza pond, leave their cars parked in the middle of streets, and everybody would have a great time because we knew what to expect.

The poor Kenyan, though, heard screaming, yelling, and saw what he thought was rioting in the streets. He locked himself in his bedroom because he thought a revolution was going on, and the hotel manager had to beg him to unlock his door the next day and come out. The poor guy was scared stiff, but it was only the annual Texas-OU weekend!:)

We're not anything near as bad as Europeans think, we just have our own customs.:)

[adx]

I think most native Floridians would agree with my tagline. :-)

(Florida born and raised, moved to AL a couple of years ago.)

[Stoat]

It seems that every time something about Texas is posted here on FR, it's about something GOOD or otherwise appealing happening there. :-)

It really makes me want to visit....and perhaps live there. It seems to be far more of a sane place than the People's Republic of Seattle where I (unfortunately) currently have to be.

Lubbock being recently named one of the top Conservative cities in the USA is another feather in Texas' 10 gallon hat.

My impression is that the Texas ladies typically don't walk around all day with a militant-feminist scowling chip on their shoulders either. "sigh".

Oh well, maybe someday :-)

[Michael81Dus]

Oh well. The poor Kenyan .... but when I think of the L.A.-riots I saw in TV, I understand him. :-)

[xJones]

Oh well, maybe someday :-)

You only live once, so it's up to you.:)

Texas is a state of mind, it was the state that General Sherman said of: "If I owned Texas and hell, I'd rent out Texas and live in hell." He was our first Reconstruction Rule governor and nobody loved him. :)

Texas has 9 different 'province' areas, and that goes from the piney woods of east Texas, to the Gulf Coast, to Big Bend country, to Hill country, etc. Lubbock is on some the flattest, plainest land this side of Iraq.

Choose wisely young Jedi, and come on down to visit.:)