The NRA Proposal

Posted on by

[Revised version: The original version of this post contained an error in the calculation of the budget required by the NRA proposal.]

The National Rifle Association’s proposal to put a policeman in every school is not bad given the circumstances. Refusing to protect children with armed force when necessary in the vain hope to “de-escalate violence“, as an activist puts it, is tragically naïve. Let the madmen and children killers de-escalate violence first!

The NRA’s statement contains words of wisdom about which one wonders why it is apparently so revolting to so many people:

But what if, when Adam Lanza started shooting his way into Sandy Hook Elementary School last Friday, he had been confronted by qualified, armed security?
Will you at least admit it’s possible [emphasis in original] that 26 innocent lives might have been spared? Is that so abhorrent to you that you would rather continue to risk the alternative?

“Members of Congress”, the NRA statement also points out, “work in offices surrounded by Capitol Police officers”.

The NRA’s statement, however, is not above criticism. Continue reading →

The Rise of the Young Mass Killer

Posted on by

The Sandy Hook shooting raises issues that are often forgotten by both the pro-gun and the anti-gun side.

The first issue, ignored by the pro-gun side, is that the availability of guns does, other things being equal, increase the potential damage that madmen can do. A spate of knife attacks on schoolchildren in China has been recently observed, but with fewer deaths than for gun attacks in Scotland, Norway, or America. Continue reading →

Deutsche Bank’s Sense of Justice

Posted on by

As the rule of law declined in parallel with growing government intervention over the past few decades, Leviathan acquired the habit of threatening large companies, especially those who depend most on their reputation capital, with fines and judicial proceedings, counting that they will pay quickly and obediently in order to get the bureaucrats off their back. As Willie Sutton explained when asked why he robbed banks, “that’s where the money is”. Continue reading →

Why Prices Are Not Clearing the Market after Sandy

Posted on by

Numerous press reports (see, for example, the Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times) describe shortages of gasoline in New York City. These are real shortages, that is, waiting lines to obtain insufficient supplies. Economics teaches that prices would rise until quantity demanded decreases (and, with a lag, until quantity supplied increases), thus clearing the market and eliminating the shortage. Only temporary high prices would remain, and at those prices, anybody could get as much gasoline as one wants. Why is this mechanism not working? Continue reading →