6/15/2006

I thought that gun bans would stop this

Oops. Apparently people have figured out how to make weapons themselves. In any case, the problem that I have with this article is one of causation. Guns fuel crime, but may be there is some desire to commit crime that creates the desire to get the weapons and that there are a lot of different weapons to pick from.


BEIJING (Reuters) - The illegal manufacture and sale of weapons is fuelling a crime wave in poorer parts of China, police said on Tuesday.

Knife attacks have become a particular problem in a country where crime has boomed along with the economy for the past two-and-a-half decades, threatening government control and stability.

"Some evil forces and crooks always carry around illegal blades, using them for fights and resisting the law, whipping them out at the drop of a hat," Xu Hu, deputy director of the police's public order division, told a news conference.

The number of incidents using explosives has fallen every year for the last four in the country that invented gunpowder.

But police spokesman Wu Heping voiced concern at the news conference about their continued availability thanks to a huge market for fertilisers and a thriving mining industry.

"At present, the security management situation of explosives, guns and ammunition is still not optimistic," Wu said. "...In some parts of the country incidents continue to happen, seriously threatening people's lives and property." . . . . .


I thank RGriff for sending me this.

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1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

Can't say that I blame the guys for indulging in a little home building.

although China's economy is booming, the plebs are still held in what is effectively serfdom, with virtually zero rights and certainly no protection for property rights.

The local soviet wants to add two more lanes to a highway, simple, they just bulldoze out another couple of rows of houses, no appeal, no compensation (all for the greater good eh?).

In such an environment, having a "tool" or two to assist in rehousing my family or getting a replacement farm sounds like quite a good idea.

where a demand exists, the market will (sooner or later) supply, and it seems to have done so in China.

For any antigunners reading this, it may come as a surprise to find out how easily an effective muzzle loader can be thrown together and "powder" made.

It only takes a little more inginuity to make pretty good submachine guns and half reliable ammo(the prod paramilitaries in Northern Ireland for example were good at this, even if they were not known for being particularly clever in other fields).

Perhaps the appearence of home built gear is one guage of the effectiveness of restrictions limiting the availability of factory made items.

The market again appears to be very effective in this area, as those areas with discerning customers appear to rapidly develop very competant home smithing industries, turning out very effective guns.

As the chinese economy grows, I would not be surprised to hear of very elaborate home produced goods. The bit in the article about one guy stocking 30 tonnes of home cooked explosive in his house (if true) shows the size of the markets being fed.

6/16/2006 8:42 AM  

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