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Sam Harnett
San Francisco, CA
Recent Activity
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Sam signed the petition | -
Sam commented on the article |I couldn't help busting you on the hard facts! Thanks for bringing up Heller v. DC, Ted. It is an interesting moment for modern gun rights. Steven's dissent, as usual, is a great read and has some interesting points. Regardless, open carry hasn't been specifically addressed by the Supreme Court and so is still up for debate. It will be interesting how the open carry legislation pans out in California, and subsequently how the court rules on the case of McDonald v. Chicago which may render state and local gun laws unconstitutional. I'll be following both stories and posting as they unfold.
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Sam commented on the article |
I am not sure who this nefarious Steve character, what he has written or what he deserves an apology for. In my post I was arguing that open carry is an overstatement of the rights guaranteed by the second amendment. Although Ted so expertly quotes the exact words to be found in our revered text, the sticky problem he glosses over is the subtlety of interpretation possible for those words. Even the word "bear," as my meek attempt at a joke hinted at, is open to a vast possibility of meanings (take a peek at the OED). Those meanings need to be sifted through and contextualized to deal with modern situations, like, say machine guns and atomic weapons. Does the right to bear arms include the right of every American to have a nuclear arm? (Sorry there's that sarcasm again). So yes, the words need to be interpreted. That's what those 9 figures in funny robes spend all of their years doing and that is what democracy is all about.
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Sam recruited Benjamin to sign the petition | -
Sam signed the petition |
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Sam started the petition |
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Sam signed the petition | -
Sam commented on the article |The use of guns by Japanese police is more nuanced than the above article states. The cops in the picture do not have firearms. They are riot police and in Japan these cops do not bring weapons on duty. Other branches of the police do carry handguns, but only when they are in the field and on certain assignments. Desk-bound administrators, traffic police, and plainclothes detectives do not carry guns.
Overall firearms play a much less significant role in law enforcement. This website reports of a poster in a police station which has this order about guns: "Don't take it out of the holster, don't put your finger on the trigger, don't point it at people." It is unlawful to fire at a fleeing felon. As Phillip points out cops often rely on martial arts as recourse.
Guns generally play a smaller role in law enforcement, crime and Japanese society. For more information check out this website on Japanese gun control:
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Sam commented on the article |Here is the quote in full context:
"No research has yet been conducted to measure the efficacy of existing residence laws, but one study investigated the potential for sex offender residence restrictions to prevent repeat sex crimes (Minnesota Department of Corrections, 2007). Though no statewide residence law exists in Minnesota, researchers analyzed the patterns of 224 sex offenders released from Minnesota correctional facilities who sexually recidivated between 1990 and 2005. The results showed that not one of the 224 cases likely would have been deterred by residence restrictions. A minority of the 224 offenders initiated contact with their victims in public places. Instead, nearly two-thirds victimized family members or gained access to their victims through another adult, such as a spouse, girlfriend, co-worker, friend, or acquaintance."
This article asserts victims are not found through locations but through personal connections, which undermines the logic of residency restrictions. Further on the periodical cites scholars who say a sex offenders living situation is not based on their victims but on their economy:
"Scholars have argued that sex offenders' housing arrangements are most strongly determined by economic conditions, not because they seek to live near potential victims (Tewksbury & Mustaine, 2006)."
I agree that more studies must be done and I think the residency restrictions are the exact jump to conclusions you are talking about. It is understandably an emotional subject, but hasty policies will only cause further harm. Residency laws have not been proven to work, but they have been proven to cause instability and to make surveillance a harder task.
http://www.uscourts.gov/fedprob/December_2007/sexOffendResRestrictions.html
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Sam commented on the article |
Instability is one of the first conditions for re-offence and homelessness is the most definite sign of instability:
"Housing instability and criminal recidivism are clearly linked, and numerous studies have documented the relationship. Residential instability was found to be a robust predictor of re-offending among Georgia criminals; the likelihood of re-arrest increased by 25 percent each time a parolee moved (Meredith, Speir, Johnson, & Hull, 2003)."
http://www.uscourts.gov/fedprob/December_2007/sexOffendResRestrictions.html
But that isn't the only problem when a sex offender has no fixed residence. Police have a much harder time keeping tabs on them: http://www.wsmv.com/news/23105947/detail.html
It's doubly bad. Better if that dangerous stranger has a place to call home.
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