KCRW, Mother Jones, and RKBA defender mix it up, sort of.

[Chuck Dye]

Driving in the Los Angeles area, I caught most of a public radio segment on the supposed cost of "gun" violence.  Some of the usual suspects took their usual stances, but it was worth hearing.  There are links to the Mother Jones article on the On Point page at

http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/to-the-point/whats-the-real-cost-of-gun-violence-in-america

The anti argument is, to me, a new and inventive approach.

[brimic]

I wonder how much the pesky 4th and 5th amendment cost our society every year?
Ah heck, the whole constitution thing is expensive, checks and balances are expensive, we should just go with an all powerful dictatorship.

[Boomhauer]

You know I think the 1st Amendment is way too damn costly. How about we take it away from the liberals and their ilk? Save some money by reducing printing costs, utility costs, TV costs...and money blood pressure meds because they say *expletive deleted*ing idiotic *expletive deleted*it like this.

[makattak]

Driving in the Los Angeles area, I caught most of a public radio segment on the supposed cost of "gun" violence.  Some of the usual suspects took their usual stances, but it was worth hearing.  There are links to the Mother Jones article on the On Point page at

http://www.kcrw.com/news-culture/shows/to-the-point/whats-the-real-cost-of-gun-violence-in-america

The anti argument is, to me, a new and inventive approach.

Because I'm not going to waste my time listening to something from NPR, and they didn't provide a transcript which I can read far faster than a "discussion," I'll just go out on a limb here and make these predictions.

1) They included the cost of law enforcement of "gun violence," but ignored the fact that the violence would exist without the guns, just with different weapons.
2) They included the cost of medical bills for "gun violence", and, as above, decided that violence wouldn't have occurred at all without the guns and so did not compare those cost to, say, a brutal stabbing or beating with tire irons.
3) Aren't these people believers in the broken window fallacy? Hey, at least that money isn't just sitting around doing nothing: we are giving those poor doctors and policemen work!

[MechAg94]

Makes me wonder if they included the revenue for gun and ammunition sales across the country?

[SADShooter]

Makes me wonder if they included the revenue for gun and ammunition sales across the country?

Of course not. That all goes into the pockets of corporate robber barons nd offers no societal benefit, so it doesn't count.

One the broader point, one more effort to apply a utilitarian public good approach to restricting behavior we find objectionable, while championing individual freedom to engage in activities the chowderheads on the other side don't like.