It always makes me feel slightly erratic when saying this, but here is a good read from (English version of) Russian Pravda.
On a related note, I’m halfway through a Christmas present that has been quite interesting, namely “The Better Angels of Our Nature” by Stephen Pinker. He is tracing the decline in violence in the West during the last 5 centuries, but what I am so far missing is any statistics over how much of the violence during the last century or so has been committed by the “monopoly provider of law and violence”. There will be a post on that eventually, for all you more anarchistic readers.
Let’s just say, for now, that law and order is a necessity for a functioning society. We are not nor will we ever be a society made of angels, and everyone should be aware of the need to defend themselves against criminals. With this said, however, if most criminals come to be found in the State, then clearly the only reasonable thing to suggest is that focus should be on making the State less dangerous, and not the people.
Take away the guns and ban them and it will be a way for an oppressive government to take over and enslave the people further. We need an armed populace and banning guns will only create a bigger black market. The criminals will ALWAYS find ways to obtaining weapons. I can’t believe that even the Russians are laughing at how idiotic the United States has become. RT (Russia Today) has also done a really good job in ridiculing the US and how it is becoming increasingly influenced by socialism. They also tend to have the more outspoken heterodox economists on their programs to talk about economic issues. Far more reliable than pathetic, bullshit mainstream media news networks.