Gun law notes

• Lott, J. R. (1998). More guns, less crime: Understanding crime and gun-control laws. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
• 75 to 86 million people own 200 to 240 million guns 
• about 30 people are killed accidentally by private citizens who think they are an intruder
• police kill 330 innocent people annually 
• a CBS affiliate reported that while riding in a car with his brother while stopped at a red light a man wielding a butcher knife and opened the passenger door and as he was lunging towards his brother was holding a handgun and ran off 
• In Canada and Britain where they have tough gun laws about half of all burglaries are "hot burglaries" ( burglaries in which the victim is in the house) In America its 13% 
•    In Israel there used to be mass shootings in 1997 but late terrorists substituted to bombings because citizens were carrying guns and started firing back 
• In 1995 there was 1400 reported accidental firearm deaths reported 30 were children 4 and under while 170 were between the ages of 5 to 14 in comparison to the 2900 children who die from motor vehicle accidents 950 who die from drowning, 1000 who die from fire and burns  

Victim less crimes notes

• McWilliams, P. (1993). Ain't nobody's business if you do: The absurdity of consensual crimes in a free society. Los Angeles, CA: Prelude Press.
• " you should be able to do whatever you want with your own person and property, as long as you don't physically harm the person or property of another" ( Mcwilliams 1) 
• half of arrests and court cases in the United States are consensual crimes 
• consensual crimes are actions that are against the law, but directly horm no one's person or property except, possibly, the criminals." 
• 350,000 people are in jail because of these crimes 
• 1,500,000 people are are on parole or probation 
• 4,000,000 are arrested 
• Consensual crimes include: gambling, recreational drug use, religious drug use: should be aloud because of the freedom of religion, prostitution, pornography and obscenity, Violations of Marrige: adultery, forcination, oral sex, anal sex, bigamy, polygamy, cohabition : shouldn't be aloud because of separation of church and state these acts are prohibited by the christian religion, unconventional religious practices ( cults) -  should be aloud because of freedom of religion, not using safety devices ( such as motorcycle helmets and seatbelts) public drunkenness, jaywalking, loitering 
• Reasons having laws against consensual activities is not a good idea 
• it un-american ; america is based on freedom no unnecessary limitation and slavish conformity. Should live life the way we want as long as we don't harm anyone 
• Its unconstitutional: violate the separation of church and state ( religion is good and teaches good values but it shouldn't decide who should and shouldn't go to jail 
• laws against consensual crimes are opposed to the principle of private property, free enterprise, capitalism, and the open market
• Spending 50 billion dollars on consensual criminals and 150 billion dollars on potential tax revenue and 6,000,000 tax paying jobs could be created if thes crimes were legal and regulated. 
• The 200 billion dollars saved each year from making consensual crimes legal would wipe out the national debt in 20 years 
• Lives would be destroyed : yes the drugs are ruining the lives of people through addiction but the emotional, financial and physical trauma from trials is more damaging to the individuals, on top of that the arrest on their record stop them from being a participating citizen in society. It stops them from getting a job, buying housing, establishing credit, or receiving education or insurance 
• because of fines and legal fees those who participate in consensual crimes lead to real crimes such as muggings, robbery, burglary forgery , embezzlement and fraud 
• cops catch 20 % of violent criminals because of them focusing on consensual criminals 
• jail cells are full, to free cells for consensual criminals, violent criminals are put on the street every day 
• consensual crimes promote organized crime: prohibition
• organized criminal organizations fund lets get tough on consensual crimes campaigns because they will be out of business when it is no longer a crime and a legitimate business 
• laws against consensual activities teach irresponsibility government teaches that illegal anything will do citizens harm so in turn that teaches legal anything does no harm which is untrue, cigarettes kill more people than all illegal drugs combined 
• one in 10 million people who commit a consensual crime are caught it is seen as a martyr to get caught and is a victim of society that refuses to face the fact that personal morality cannot be legislated 
• poor and minorities are convicted of victim less crimes the most even though rich whites participate in the crimes as well 
•  there are more important crimes to worry about. 1 in 4 people are sexually assaulted more than 400,000 abducted children per year, 100 billion dollars in insurance fraud per year 1 in 7 adults are illiterate, 14.2% of the population are in poverty, trillions of dollars in U.S. national debt
•   Each year 300,000 people die from smoking 
• creates an oppressive society :  the prosecution of consensual crimes "trickles down" into ostracizing, humiliating, and scorning people who do things that are not quite against the law but probably "should" be: The motto for society is that " they are different therefore they are bad" 
• protection against double jeopardy : In 1985 a fifty-year-old Florida man was caught growing marijuana he was convicted in state court an served a year in state prison, In 1991 federal authorities came in and tried him for a federal drug law, using exactly the same evidence. He is currently serving a life sentence with no chance at parole 
• In Georgia a man committing sodomy ( in this case, oral intercourse) in the privacy of his own bedroom was arrested and sentenced to life imprisonment 

 Martin, A., & Rashidian, N. (n.d.). A new leaf: The end of cannabis prohibition.

• The 700 dispensaries in Washington and Colorodo made $186 Million in sales and paid the state in taxes $5.4 Million in sales taxes from mid 2011 to mid 2012 
• 10,000 less arrests in Colorado

 Martinot, S. (2015, December 14). On Victimless Crime Laws: And a Call to Release All Who Have Been Victimzed by Them. On Victimless Crime Laws: And a Call to Release All Who Have Been Victimzed by Them. Retrieved February 23, 2016, from http://www.counterpunch.org/2015/12/14/on-victimless-crime-laws-and-a-call-to-release-all-who-have-been-victimzed-by-them/ 

• 70 % of all criminals are criminals who committed victim less crimes 
• victimless crimes allow police to stop people on the basis of suspicion instead of fact or proof this causes police to generalize and create stereotypes on individuals 
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