If you want a debate about the court case Jason, this isn’t the forum and I”m not the person to debate with. I’ll accept you have your opinion, but it’s the 12 jurors who’s opninions will matter at the end of the day. As for me, I have no opinion either way, if he gets life imprisonment or the death sentence, it’s because the system you live in allows that to happen, if he walks away from the court an innocent man it’s because the jury felt the same way you do. Either way, I have no complaint — what happens is what will happen.
The very fact that you feel so strongly about it, is the reason I wrote the article — you are one side of the debate, there’s another — you believe you’re right, and you have good reasons for doing so, the other side also believe they’re right. Not up to me to decide — you have to decide what will you do if Kyle is convicted? Will you accept the results as being fair and transparent, or will you protest them, and, if you do, will you do so with guns? I think we both know there are people who will and that, just that, is what the article is about, nothing to do with Kyle’s guilt or innocence.
As for crime in China, China’s statistics are produced regularly, I quote from them and cite them in some of my articles. I live in China, have done for 18 years, I walk around at night, it’s completely safe, I have no fear of my wife walking around at night in my city, or even our provincial capital Guangzhou, where she spends a lot fo time. I’ve travelled to all but 4 of the provinces of China and cycled more than 30,000 kilometres through the country, it’s completely safe, if China tells me the crime numbers are low, I believe it because I live in a very low crime area; these are simple observable facts.
Your final point is absolutely correct, I don’t think USA wants to turn into China or Sweden and, for certain there would be civil war if they tried — but surely, even the most pro-gun people must agree, there are some people in the country who shouldn’t have guns and some who need their guns taken away from them — until that can be simply and easily done, you’re going to get gun deaths that you shouldn’t get. If I was sending my kids to school with bullet proof backpacks and they were getting lessons on how to handle trauma and school attacks, I know I’d be lobbying for change. Fortunately, I live in a place where this isn’t necessary.
