You are “fighting the hypothetical,” as judges likes to say at oral argument. In Douglas’s thought experiment, the criminals lose the guns too. Only the military has guns (in his imaginary world).
You are “fighting the hypothetical,” as judges likes to say at oral argument. In Douglas’s thought experiment, the criminals lose the guns too. Only the military has guns (in his imaginary world).
In Douglas's thought experiment, he explicitly said the criminals would have all the guns, and the law abiding citizens would be defenseless. Which I think is the only possible outcome if we were to try to disarm the civilian population.
Reread his post. The thought experiment is the first part involving the magic wand, which takes guns away from the entire civilian population. The part you reference is when he leaves the thought experiment and tries to imagine actually implementing this, and during a transitional period, the criminals would have more guns. But the thought experiment or hypo disarms everyone.
Consider the inverse to the magic wand described in thought experiment above. Instead, consider a magic wand that arms the entire population (Akin to a constitutional amendment that obligates all citizens to bear arms). Wouldn't that eliminate the existence of so-called soft targets (i.e., places known by bad guys to have no guns defending them)? Would knowing that everyone is armed give pause to bad guys that seem to enjoy the benefits of exploiting that kind of vulnerability, and which stacks the deck in favor of the bad guys in obtaining their desired outcome?
You are “fighting the hypothetical,” as judges likes to say at oral argument. In Douglas’s thought experiment, the criminals lose the guns too. Only the military has guns (in his imaginary world).
In Douglas's thought experiment, he explicitly said the criminals would have all the guns, and the law abiding citizens would be defenseless. Which I think is the only possible outcome if we were to try to disarm the civilian population.
Reread his post. The thought experiment is the first part involving the magic wand, which takes guns away from the entire civilian population. The part you reference is when he leaves the thought experiment and tries to imagine actually implementing this, and during a transitional period, the criminals would have more guns. But the thought experiment or hypo disarms everyone.
Consider the inverse to the magic wand described in thought experiment above. Instead, consider a magic wand that arms the entire population (Akin to a constitutional amendment that obligates all citizens to bear arms). Wouldn't that eliminate the existence of so-called soft targets (i.e., places known by bad guys to have no guns defending them)? Would knowing that everyone is armed give pause to bad guys that seem to enjoy the benefits of exploiting that kind of vulnerability, and which stacks the deck in favor of the bad guys in obtaining their desired outcome?