Possible new rationale for argument?

[armedbutnotdangerous]

Just had what I hope was an original idea.

Has anyone done any research into how many thousands of people were killed in the dark ages (specifically during the Crusades), or are there any scholars out there that know this off the top of their heads?

The reason I ask this is that it may be an interesting argument to the tired old argument by the antis that if we take away all the guns there won't be any more violence. (sorry for the run-on sentence!!)

Has to be obvious even to them that if this was significant numbers, which I think it was, then guns aren't the answer.

Any input as to numbers or if anyone agrees that this could be a persuasive argument would be appreciated.

Steve.

 

[KSFreeman]

Already done. I highly recommend one of the books I had to read for my MA, "The Killing of History."

The socialists in undergrad and grad all cried and whine that history was a utopia before eeevil white men invented guns and destroyed Eden. Total rubbish. Rocks kill, sticks kill, metal kills, muscles kill, et al, ad naseum. Ban everything!

 

[croyance]

A point I have continuously tried to make, that people without guns would still be violent.

I'd also point out that in prison, people make stilletos out of toothbrushes.

Much of the civilian killing in Africa is done with machettes.

White men were not the only people to invent guns. Japan had independently invented guns. The technology was successfully banned. The motive was to keep the feudal system. It is really easy to train a peasant army with muzzle loaders compared to spears. The buke saw the writing on the wall - if there were guns, they would no longer be in power. The next few centuries was filled with bloodshed, as well as oppression of the peasants.

Before guns, in warfare generals occasionally put the population of entire cities to the sword. Sword and not gun. Sometimes they killed just all males, or every tenth one.

Besides, gun control is useless. There is a design for a semi-automatic potato gun, with most parts availible from a hardware store. The potatoes are moving fast enough to break plate glass at 50 yards. It isn't much of an engineering feat to bottleneck that barrel and feed nails or slugs instead of potatoes. It may be slower than a bullet, but with the right selection certainly wider and more massive.

 

[Don Gwinn]

Many people cite the Crusades and other medieval and ancient wars in which entire towns were "put to the sword"--hell, that's where the phrase comes from, soldiers wandering the streets killing everything that moved until they were walking through blood.

 

[Mike Irwin]

The Middle Ages was an UNFREAKING BELIEVABLY violent time.

I'm reading a book on the history of England up to 1666 (text book from college days), and one section dealt with this in regards to the 1300s in England.

Apparently the murder rate in the general peasant population was anywhere from 25 to 75 per 100,000 in a given year.

That's off the top of my head; I'll see if I can find the specific citation tonight.

Contrary to what the antis would have us believe, the Middle Ages was not a time of bucolic, pastoral societies, and Dodge City, Kansas, was not a very violent place at all.

 

[PreserveFreedom]

Let's not forget, without guns, not only would all of the firearm related deaths occur, but they would be more brutal.