Kentucky News Review: 'Castle doctrine' laws may increase gun violence

[jpak]

http://www.kentucky.com/2011/06/01/1759676/kentucky-news-review-castle-doctrine.html

Florida lawmakers discovered after the state passed a "castle doctrine" law in 2005, gun violence rose. In two years, the incidence of murders, armed robberies and assaults had increased statewide by 42 percent, according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement website. Kentucky is one of 15 states with a "castle doctrine" law -- laws that do away with a citizen's "duty to retreat" in the face of violent assault. Pennsylvania is considering a similar law, reports the Allentown Morning Call. Scott Burns, executive director of the National District Attorneys Association in Alexandria, Va., said, "there is not a whole lot of indication either way about how successful those laws are at reducing crime, or whether expanding the doctrine makes a community safer or has an impact on particular criminal actions," Burns said. "There is a real lack of empirical evidence."

<more at link>

Castle Law = more gun misery and death

yup

[ileus]

1. Castle law = you don't get sued or go to jail when protecting your home, family, and property.

[DonP]

2. You're a Florida resident, start working to repeal it

Get out your checkbook and put your money where your mouth is. The Brady's can use every cent they can get from you and other well meaning, albeit misinformed gun control fans.

Go get some petitions printed and start going door to door. Or is it easier to talk about how horrible things are?

No wonder the NRA has nothing to worry about from gun control people.

[bluerum]

3. Wow. Incriminating data. And eerie silence.

[gejohnston]

6. Looks like a clear case of Post Hoc Ergo Propter Hoc

or just plain bullshit because there is no logical reason the castle law would cause armed robberies etc to rise.

[eqfan592]

10. I took a crap and the house next to me exploded!

Therefore, my crap made the house explode!

Yes, that is identical reasoning to what is being used in the article above.

Edit: Though in fairness, the people who wrote the article did not claim it was a definite, just a correlation at this point. Folks like yourself made the leap to causation with no evidence to support it.

[rl6214]

4. "MAY" based on the fact that they haven't anywhere else

but the 'may' just the same.

Makes sense to me


:crazy:

[krispos42]

5. What does Castle Doctrine have to do with armed robberies?

Nothing that I'm aware of.


Sure, you can hypothesize that armed robberies ending in gunfire would go up after the passage of such a law. But the law CAUSING more armed robberies?

:wtf:

[Skip Intro]

7. Don't want to get shot while breaking into people's homes? Don't break into people's homes.

I suppose some would rather have the victim serve the armed robber cookies and milk while begging the thug not to kill him and his family?

:crazy:

[ileus]

8. Folks shouldn't be allowed to own homes and guns...it's unfair to criminals then along comes the CD

and it spoils all their fun of getting even with successful people.

[eqfan592]

9. Wow, what a bull shit....

....conclusion to come to. Did they even attempt to review other factors at play? Clearly not.

Castle Law =/= more gun misery and death, no matter how much you and your friends want to pretend it does.

[WatsonT]

11. I can't wait to have someone break in to my home so I can shoot 'em!

That's the whole reason I live in a house rather than on the street.

Sneaky me.


/this is what antis really believe.

[PavePusher]

12. If by "more gun violence", they mean more cases of legit self-defense using firearms...

I'm all for it.

[Euromutt]

13. By what mechanism is there supposed to be a causal link?

Other posters have already mentioned that it's hard to see how a Castle Doctrine law would prompt more armed robberies, but really, the same goes for murders and assaults. After all, isn't the whole objection to Castle Doctrine laws that they will allow people to get away with assaults and murders by falsely claiming they were defending their homes? If that were so, what you'd expect to see is a drop in the number of recorded assaults and murders, despite the number of gunshot victims remaining constant.

[petronius]

14. Castle Laws may also cure cancer, as far as this article says anything

The title sure doesn't go with the last few sentences. Also, that assumption that they're even supposed to reduce crime seems unwarranted - that's not really the way I understand them...