On Thu, 10 Mar 2005, Doug Kanter wrote:

>
> "aem" > wrote in message
> ups.com...
>>
>> Doug Kanter wrote:
>> [snip]
>>> Think about it: Using my city (Rochester NY)
>>> as an example, it's estimated that 1/3 of homes have a properly
>> working gun
>>> of some kind. In NY, it's ***LEGAL*** (as in NOT ILLEGAL, for the
>> benefit
>>> of slow learners) to shoot an intruder, no questions asked, as long
>> as they
>>> are IN YOUR DWELLING. Not your garage, not your yard, not your car,
>> but
>>> actually in the house.
>>>
>>> Translation: A burglar has a 1 in 3 chance of being shot dead. I
>> don't know
>>> about you, but I think anyone who accepts such lousy odds in return
>> for a
>>> VCR and some jewelry is (as psychiatrists say) "out of their friggin'
>>
>>> minds", and is asking to be shot. [snip]
>>>
>>> I'm writing this after having only one cup of coffee, so my logic
>> might be
>>> slightly rusty, but even so....it's pretty good logic. :-)
>>
>> It's your assumptions, not your logic, that are more than rusty. For
>> your "1 in 3 chance of being shot dead" to be right, you have to assume
>> that 100% of all intrusions into houses with guns result in a fatal
>> shooting. No cases of the gun owner not getting the gun, or not
>> choosing to fire it, or not hitting the target fatally or, etc., etc.
>
> I know, but since it's impossible to make any accurate assumption, I chose
> the best possible outcome.

Thus making yourself sound like an idiot. Talk to your sheriff about the
number of robberies and attempted robberies... then estimate the
likelihood of a gun being present in each one.

Lena