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Comment by neilsimp1 | Hacker News Reader

Am I happy guns are off the streets? Hell yes. Would I be happier with sane drug laws so as to not necessitate a black market? Double hell yes.

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Ok. Guns are off the street. It’s not like it’s not easy for criminals to get more guns.

In the UK specifically, it's definitely possible to get guns with the right connections, but it's not completely easy.

In the UK I can pick from 26k guns available here: https://www.guntrader.uk/

That wouldn't change anything regarding the guns or the amount of crime - career criminals don't do it because they believe in selling drugs, they sell drugs because it's an easy way to make money.

In that regard: keeping a black market for drugs may even be a good thing. Otherwise they'd move on to other ventures that might be more harmful, kidnapping, murder for hire etc.

That's a bold claim. Any empirical evidence on your side?

That career criminals are career criminals, not ideological "prohibition is bad, therefore I sell drugs" hippies? Are you serious?

"career criminal" is begging the question. You claim these people exist, and by definition they are going to continue crime rather than find legitimate ways of making money.

Furthermore, you're suggesting that when their way of making money through crime disappears they will migrate towards worse crime. That's a bold claim.

People don't get physically addicted and spend their every last cent on murder for hire after murder for hire. Think of how stupidly lucrative a substance like crack is, it is water to an addict.

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