Regarding hate crimes, and their prevention

The other day I casually commented on a post by Paladiea over at Stormy Days of March, and got a response I really didn't expect.

Her post was this. which I reproduce here for easy reading.

Take a Stand Against Hate Crimes!

In support of the two women who got assaulted in front of their children for being homosexual;

There is going to be a rally in front of Oshawa City Hall this Friday at 7:30pm to 8:15 pm. The rally will be on the north side of City Hall (King at Centre). Speakers will include: Community Development Council, PFLAG Canada, Egale, AIDS Committee of Durham Region. Other potential speakers include: Dr. Brent Hawkes (MCC Toronto) and the Mayor of Oshawa. The City of Oshawa is working to help set up the rally.

Please attend if you can make it!

Well, a rally isn't going to do much is it?  My comment was that I've been teaching martial arts and shooting to anybody who will sit still for it since the 1980's, and women are going to keep getting attacked until they get back their right to defend themselves with a weapon.

Pal's response kind of made my hair stand on end..

Anyhow, that's a fair trade Phantom, more shooting deaths for the "safety" of minorities. Or is it only women who would get to shoot people on sight? What about a gay woman? Does being a person of colour afford you a free shoot to kill card too?

What idiocy…

Over the next couple of days I'm going to have a go at this comment, because it shows a very common, mainstream Toronto belief.  A belief which is quite frankly getting people killed.  I shall produce the evidence which disproves the idea, then I will have a look at who is pushing the idea and why.

But first I must move about 2 tons of flooring into the basement.  The snow has stopped here at Chez Phantom, so I better get to it.

I'll leave you with this thought.  Heinlein said in one of his books, "If you can't measure it, it ain't science."  If Paladiea is correct and allowing "the masses" to have firearms results in more shooting deaths, you should be able to measure that.  How would one go about making such a measurement?  Has it been done, and how did it turn out?

The Measuring Phantom