Guns And The Race Card

I guess bringing up race is OK when the effect might be to advance a liberal cause.

From "Of Arms And The Law":

"Yesterday the antigun Violence Policy Center (as in Joyce Foundation is its main income, $400,000 a year) issued a press release focusing on black homicide rates. Chuckle--it's a study of how to pick and choose statistics to get the desired result. Example: the states with the lowest black homicide rates are gunnie South Dakota and Montana. DC is omitted, probably because it would have an astronomical rate -- despite its handgun ban. And its lead target is Pennsylvania, with the study proclaiming it has the highest black homicide rate in the country. But since in 2004 (the year chosen) Pennsylvania had a lower overall homicide rate than the national average (5.2 vs. 5.5), for it to have the highest black homicide rate, it must also have had the lowest or one of the lowest white homicide rates in the nation. Of course the study doesn't mention the non-black rates..."

But of course the press reports certain of these numbers as indicating a scourge of violence, perpetrated by the NRA, against black victims:

"Pennsylvania leads the nation in the rate of black homicides, with nearly 30 deaths per 100,000 black residents annually, according to a study released Monday by a nonprofit research group.

Firearms, especially handguns, were used in the overwhelming majority of the nation's 6,644 slayings with black victims, according to the Violence Policy Center, which supports gun-control efforts."

Now I wonder what would have happened if they had conveniently omitted Philadelphia from these statistics; I mean, it would make sense, since Philly already has the "desired" strict municipal gun laws in place. Or, what if they only looked at homicides committed with legally-owned guns (since that is the only variable that newly-proposed legislation could possibly address)? I have the feeling that Pennsylvania would then look pretty darn appealing.

Not that places like State College aren't already...

Comments

[Marty]

The liberals want DC to be a state unless it skews their statistics.

Here in State College, we respect each other because everybody knows everybody is packing. I've seldom had to chamber a round, and I only show my piece when I have to pistol-whip a student who jay-walks in front of me.

[Chris]

An armed society is a polite society...

Yeah, State College is a great place. Jamie and I had a great time at your local "Oktoberfest Beer Blast and Trap Shoot" last time we visited. By the time the sun set, it wasn't just the clay pigeons that were "flying high". Whoo-wee!

PS: Sorry again about the windshield.

[Marty]

Here are some home town plugs:

Lots of stats about the town itself.

Visitor's Info

Scotia Range

State Game Lands 176

Outdoor Sportsman's Club

[Ben]

Ah, the Scotia Range. Nothing like hearing gunfire on my back porch way the heck away from any hunting season.

And that map in the second-to-last link is WAY out of date. The subdivision that was completed two whole subdivisions before they even started development on my subdivision isn't even on there! Much less the road that bisects it!

Which is kinda scary, given that that road actually goes right by the border of the game lands.

[Marty]

Ben, you're a country boy. You should know that it's always hunting season for something. And when you're not hunting, you need to be sighting your gun.

[hank kaczmarek]

435 homicides in 1 year, a 7% increase over last year. It's time for the Senate to make a resolution to order the President to remove all federal offices and employees from....

Philadelphia, PA. A Democratic Dictatorship in the birthplace of American Independence and the Constitution.

[Ben]

Ah, one of the pitfalls of merely being a "fellow-traveller" with the "country culture" instead of an ardent practicioner is that I'm not up to speed on the omnitemporal nature of the hunting season.

I actually didn't know there was a shooting range there until about 8 months after I lived in my house. I just thought there were a lot of frustrated hunters who took great joy in rapidly unloading an entire magazine into either the air or some hapless and soon-to-be-inedible critter.

[Marty]

They do that, too.

[Mc]

Marty,
I had no idea you were so close to Altoona! Talk about quality of life! I do think you should petition PSU to change the name back to Farmers High School of PA, though.
Mc

[Marty]

I've already lived above my station when I went to a "Collegiate Institute" from ages 14-18, so I guess I could live with that.

[Chris]

Go ahead and laugh at gun owners you guys.

But some of us have been preparing for when the world as we know it ends, and Zombies roam the Earth. Don't expect a lot of sympathy from us when you all come crying for help.

[Marty]

LMAO!

BTW, Mazurland is a ZFZ (Zombie Free Zone) since we got rid of Chad, so we can hunker down here while re-loading.

[Ben]

I'll have you know I've been taking vitamin supplements to make my brain particularly un-tasty for zombies. So I'm safe.

Also, I thought Chad's taxonomic classification was that of a "troll" rather than a zombie. Is he a zombie troll? Now that's scary.

[hank kaczmarek]

Marty Said:I've already lived above my station when I went to a "Collegiate Institute" from ages 14-18

Now, your Pops was a Judge of the NYS Supreme Court for Erie County.

My Dad used a torch to cut scrap Steel Bars at Republic, and my mom double dipped the city as a Clerk Typist and a Janitor at PS 65.

If YOU were above your station, what kind of freakin' whelp does that make me?

[Marty]

Hank: Big Al never attained the NYS Supreme Court. He spent his entire career in the City Court of Buffalo. That's a story in itself, on that would take up several blog posts. But, yeah, I was always amazed at the socio-economic diversity of Joe's. You had doctor's, lawyer's (and judge's) sons in the same basket with people whose parents were of much more modest means but wanted something much better for their kids than the crappy public school system of Buffalo, and who worked multiple jobs to get it. Lots of delivery truck drivers, mechanics, blue collar workers, etc. When I started UB, the tuition was less there than Joe's (UB was dirt cheap when I started there). That might still be the case, though I doubt it. Inflation all across the education sector is such that a prep school like Joe's is way more expensive in constant dollars that it was back then.

[Chris]

Joe's is currently between $6-7000/yr. A lot of money, sure, but nothing like the $30,000 we'd have to spend to send a kid to our only local private high school (Kimball Union Academy). Those private schools in Buffalo are a great deal compared to much of the rest of the country.

[Marty]

That still represents roughly an 8 to 10-fold increase over what Joe's cost when I went there (IIRC, it was about $850 my last year). Roughing it, the doubling period at an average inflation rate of, say , 5%, is 14-15 years, so prices have increased by 4 or 5-fold in 30 years, not 10-fold. I know inflation was higher in the 70s, but since then it's been much lower than 5% on average.

[Marty]

BTW, base tuition at St. Joe's is now $8K.

[Marty]

Re-reading and clarifying my comment two above: If tuition at Joe's had risen at the approximate rate of general inflation (5%) over the last 30 years, then it would have gone up only 4-5 times. It has gone up 10-fold. So Joe's is more expensive in real terms than it used to be.

[Chris]

But I still maintain Joe's is a good deal, in relative terms, when compared to private schools across the country. Can you even imagine what a private HS in Manhattan costs?

Hell, I'm paying $3000/year for Anna's Montessori School for 3 half days/week, and the kids there are not wealthy, by any means. Maybe in NH, we're making up for the absence of income/sales tax, I don't know. Just day care alone probably costs working parents $6000/year or more. The only private grammar school nearby is in Hanover, and it's $12,000/year. Anna won't be going there.

[Marty]

Oh, I hear ya. Inflation rates for various goods and services vary wildly across the country. Joe's is cheap compared to NH private schools, and NH is cheap compared to NYC ($50K and up). In Happy Valley, things are cheaper than any of those places. There are many reasons. One is that we have an unbelievably good public school system here. I'm not a fan of public schools in general, and there's a lot about this one I don't like. But compared to many places, SC public schools are heaven on earth.