Professor Mauser responds to Stephen Hume’s column, Vancouver Sun, Nov 10, 2006
Date: Nov 16, 2006 4:54 PM
From: Gary Mauser [[email protected]]
Sent: November 13, 2006 9:00 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: Gary Mauser; KuroiNeko
Subject: Stephen Hume’s column, Vancouver Sun, Nov 10, 2006.

Dear Editor:

Please consider the letter below for publication in the Vancouver Sun.

If you wish to edit it down to fit into a small space, I give
permission for you to try.

You may enjoy my quote from the inimitable Don Cherry.

cordially,

Professor Gary Mauser
Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies
Faculty of Business Administration
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby BC CANADA V5A 1S6
604-291-3652 office
604-936-9141 home
www.garymauser.net/

Thought for the day:

“Here’s how you have to figure it in Canada. The NDP are communists,
the Liberals are socialists, and the Conservatives are liberals. And
the media is totally left-wing.”

Don Cherry, Saturday Night, March 2005

………………………………………………………

Dear Editor:

Re: Stephen Hume, ?Imagine what we could do with the money spent on
guns.? Vancouver Sun, Nov 10, 2006.

The Sun must love Stephen Hume because he generates so many letters
to the editor. Almost all negative, but I guess that?s the media biz:
it?s all about attracting attention, any kind will do.

It?s sad that Mr. Hume is so eager to forget that Remembrance Day is
a time for asking Canadians to express their appreciation for the men
and women who have risked (some are still risking) their lives to
defend our freedoms. Instead, he prefers to blame ?those we sent off
to war? for causing extensive death and misery. According to Mr.
Hume, ?military violence is most dangerous not to soldiers but to the
vulnerable populations we ostensibly maintain our armies to protect.?

I for one am thankful for the sacrifices made by Canadian soldiers to
protect my freedoms. Perhaps Mr. Hume should speak to the survivors
of the Nazi Holocaust about the value of the sacrifices made by
Canadians to defeat Hitler. Or, in the Pacific, where many people,
e.g., the Chinese, Koreans, still remember the occupation by the
Imperial Japanese Army. Many Asians appreciate the sacrifices made by
British, Australian, American, and yes even Canadian soldiers in the
effort to defeat Japanese militarism.

But Mr. Hume is simply pathetic when he relies upon blatantly
incorrect claims to bolster his blather. A few examples will
illustrate my point:

First, he claims that, ?Never in human history has the world been a
more dangerous place for individuals.? This claim would be quite
shocking if it were true. Perhaps Mr. Hume played hooky when his
teachers discussed history? If he?d attended classes more often he
might have heard about World War I, or possibly World War II. Both of
these wars occurred relatively recently, historically speaking, and
made life quite ?dangerous? for many individuals. ?Never in human
history? would also mean that our current era is more dangerous than
life during the Black Death of 1347 or the Dark Ages or the period of
Warring States in China. Admittedly, we are going quite a ways back
here with these comparisons — but Mr. Hume did claim this was the
most dangerous era in human history.

I guess Mr. Hume missed the report that people live longer today than
they have at any time before in history.[i] How could life these days
be so ?dangerous? and yet people live longer?

Mr. Hume?s ignorance is truly astounding. Oh well, maybe he is
writing to the younger generation who are as unfamiliar with history
as he appears to be. But then they may not read newspapers either.

Second, Mr. Hume recycles the phony factoid of 500,000 deaths caused
by ?small arms? per year. He really should do more research. Mr.
Hume?s claims are highly exaggerated. No solid statistics can be
found to back up such a ridiculous claim.

It?s difficult to know where Mr. Hume gets this factoid, because all
we get is, ?It?s estimated?? Perhaps Mr. Hume is embarrassed about
this source? Usually, if a journalist thinks a source would impress
the readers, he?ll mention it.

The best estimate I can find comes from the World Health
Organization. WHO estimates that approximately 230,000 – 300,000
people have been killed in armed conflict annually since 1990,[ii]
with approximately 100,000 of these killed with small arms.[iii]

It?s not clear to me why Mr. Hume prefers to focus on the dangers of
small arms. I would think it?d be analytically more useful to ask why
some governments around the world desire to kill so many people.
Because it is governments who wage wars and governments who decide to
commit genocide.[iv] Somehow this aspect is overlooked in Mr. Hume?s
rush to blame the US for the world?s ills.

The key question, which Mr. Hume conveniently ignores, is whether
disarming the world?s civilians would increase or decrease the number
of people killed by governments with genocidal inclinations.

Sincerely,

Gary Mauser, Ph D
Professor
Institute for Canadian Urban Research Studies
Faculty of Business Administration
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby BC CANADA V5A 1S6
604-291-3652 office
604-936-9141 home
www.garymauser.net/

[i] This may be seen in the following references, Life Expectancy,
The World Bank – http://www.worldbank.org/depweb/english/modules/
social/life/index.html
and Leonid A. Gavrilov & Natalia S. Gavrilova (1991), The Biology of
Life Span: A Quantitative Approach. New York: Harwood Academic
Publisher.
[ii] World Report on Violence and Health, World Heath Organization,
Etienne Krug et al. 2002, p 282
[iii] The Small Arms Survey, 2002, cites Beat Sellier and Karl
Kneubehl, Wundballistik und Ihre Ballistschen, Grundlagen: Springer-
Verlag, 2001, p 157. See also: ?Global deaths from firearms:
searching for plausible estimates,? David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant and
Joanne D. Eisen, Texas Review of Law and Politics, Vol 8, 2004, 123.
[iv] For more information about deaths inflicted by governments see
Professor Emeritus R.J. Rummel?s website, http://www.hawaii.edu/
powerkills/

The Second Amendment IS Homeland Security !