Durian,
The right to bear arms to protect liberty, life, and property is a cornerstone of democracy in the U.S.A. It is not the presence of guns that causes violence, but the absence of nurture. For example, in Hong Kong, the murder rate is 0.6 per 100,000 population. There is severe gun control in Hong Kong. Many policemen (& women) do not carry guns. In the US, there is a lot less gun control but Asians in the US have almost the exact same murder rate: 0.5 per 100,000 population. More than any other group, Asians nurture there children. However, the murder rate in major US cities is very high. For example, Dallas had 20 murders per 100,000 population. That's 40 times more dangerous than Hong Kong! Many states in the US have a "three strikes" law. If you commit 3 felonies, then you get life imprisonment. Rather than leaving witnesses and getting caught, felons who are committing their third felony would kill you so as to leave no witnesses. This law was meant to protect us, but in reality has made the streets more dangerous. I worked in South Dallas and I always carried a gun in a paper sack with my finger on the trigger when I walk to my car. Once, a man with a gun jumped out from behind a car and I shot him three times. The police arrested ME (not the criminal who jumped me!) and I spent the night in jail. The next day, my wife found a lawyer, bail bondsman, and bailed me out of jail. I then had to appear in court and hire expensive attorneys to defend me. This costed me thousands of dollars and many hours of lost work time. I got into trouble because I didn't wait for him to speak before I shot him. If I waited, then I would not have been able to get off the first shot. I would be dead. I'm sick and tired of these liberal polititians. Two lives ended that day. If you measure quality of life and how advanced/civilized a society is by the lifespan, look no further. Hong Kong has the highest life expectancy of any city in the world. You are living in Atlantis.
Stats are from;
http://christianparty.net/washingtondc.htm
The guy who made this webpage is a racist jerk, but considering that he is racist, if he says something good about a minority, it must be true. So, I trust his statistics about Asians being very non-violent both in the US and H.K.
http://www.dallascrime.com/2004crimestats.html
Yes, this stat is four years out of date, but I couldn't find anything newer.
http://www.criminal-law-lawyer-s ... ee-strikes-law.html
I'm not sure that Texas has a 3 strikes law, but there is a Federal 3 strikes law for federal crimes.
http://longevity.about.com/od/researchandmedicine/tp/highle.htm
life expectancy
http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0923110.html
school ranking
http://www.economist.com/finance ... fm?story_id=9448015
currency values
Hong Kong has the highest education rate and the highest life expectancy of any city in the world. It also has one of the lowest violent crime rates. The currency is 50% undervalued, so your dollar or euro will go a lot further here. This is as close to Utopia as you are going to get.
Have fun,
drjoker.