10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down

10 Pro-Gun Myths, Shot Down

Myth #3: An armed society is a polite society.
Fact-check: Drivers who carry guns are 44% more likely than unarmed drivers to make obscene gestures at other motorists, and 77% more likely to follow them aggressively.

  • Among Texans convicted of serious crimes, those with concealed-handgun licenses were sentenced for threatening someone with a firearm 4.8 times more than those without.

  • In states with Stand Your Ground and other laws making it easier to shoot in self-defense, those policies have been linked to a 7 to 10% increase in homicides.

Initial police investigation

I love Cyprus Mail dearly, and I do feel for the man in this report:

A CAR belonging to a 35-year-old man in Limassol was torched early yesterday morning, police said. The fire began at 2.30am while the car was parked outside the man’s house. Initial police investigations indicate it is a case of arson. The car was extensively damaged.

But you have to admit it that it’s not the best writing ever.  Once I read it out loud in the office, my co-workers helped out with a few other reports along the same lines.  For example:

A pedestrian was ran over by a car yesterday night in Nicosia.  The driver took off and is being looked for.  The early police report suggests it was a case of hit-and-run.

Or, this one:

A few masked man entered the branch of Hellenic Bank in Aradipou village yesterday.  They were armed with a rifle and a pistol and demanded to give them money.  A few minutes later they took off in what appeared to be a stolen vehicle, carrying over 50,000 EUR with them.  An early police report suggests it was a case of bank robbery.

Crime is not a laughing matter, but the reporting of one can sometimes bring a smile.

Beware of religious scammers

Cyprus Mail reports:

POLICE YESTERDAY warned members of the public to be wary of scam artists posing as religious or charitable groups.

According to police, a group of people are going around pretending to members of a church committee or charity selling pictures of negligible value for €50 or more.

Their target market is elderly people who often get duped into buying the pictures, said police.

The public is asked to be particularly careful and to report any suspicious incident to their nearest police station or the Citizen’s Hotline on 1460.

This assumes that religious and charitable groups aren’t scamming people out of money.  And I, personally, find that debatable.