Eric S. Raymond is also the the author of the "Anti-Idiotarian Manifesto" (I'm pretty sure Idiotarian isn't a real word); a vague and somewhat inconclusive diatribe on the current state of world politics, in particular the post September 11th events, from the war in Afghanistan to the possibility of war in Iraq.
For all his achievements and good work in the name of freedom (in all its forms), this zealous, delusional rant is further evidence, backed by his above claims regarding gun control, that not all his dogs are barking.
In the UK, declaring non-ownership of firearms publically is hardly likely to get you shot, robbed or raped, nor would it - I imagine - in most civilised countries without a gung-ho weapon deterrent culture.
This would suggest that the problem itself lies not with having or not having guns, but more with the culture that chooses to use (or not use) them. Figures for 1999/00 show that England and Wales had a rate of 0.12 gun-related murders per 100,000 population, compared to 4.08 per 100,000 population in the US. That's 34 times as many firearm killings per head.
- Anti-Idiotarian Manifesto: http://armedndangerous.blogspot.com/2002_10_13_armedndangerous_archive.html
- Anti-rhetoric non-manifesto: http://distraction.free.fr/antimanifesto/
- Gun Control Network - Statistics: http://www.gun-control-network.org/facts.htm