intresting discussion

[gejohnston]

I have always been perplexed why youth gangs transitioned from knives and tire chains to guns only after stricter gun laws were passed. I always thought it had to do with media (movie bad ass went from a switchblade to a gun) and the WoD pushing drug prices up enough to make guns affordable. Kopel has another take. The whole thing is worth a watch.

[Eleanors38]

1. Well, it's clear who had his ducks in a row. The lady,

for all the protestation about no dialogue on social matters (esp. how boys are inculturated) seemed unwilling to take up Koppel's argument that "positive" gun inculturation should be (re)instituted so boys -- and girls -- could see and experience positive examples of gun culture; in fact she seemed repelled by this idea. And for all the talk about white male mass murderers, there was no "dialogue" concerning the routinely disproportional murder rates among the inner city black population.

Koppel's citation of the huge drop in childhood accidental death- rate- by-gun takes some of the shine off the male violence inculturation model. The mental health argument, esp. the history of the law & treatment, is plausible, but I reserve judgment since the number of mass murders in this country (hideous as they are) still is in the low 60s over the last 30 years, a small number from which to draw grand theories.