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Friday, April 19, 2013
Google Mail, Drive, Docs and Other Services Are Down For Many (Updated)
Wednesday, April 17, 2013
DISH's bid for Sprint is a good one all around
More money for Sprint, a potential life-saver for DISH
Early Monday morning, satellite TV innovator DISH Network threw a monkeywrench into Softbank’s plans to acquire a 70 percent interest in Sprint. It did so by offering a 13 percent premium over Softbank’s bid, and rather than buy a majority of Sprint, DISH is proposing a full merger.
For those of you who really want to understand the thinking that went into this, watch the AllThingsD video interview with DISH chairman Charlie Ergen. It’s a long video, but damn, you have to admire the straight-up answers Ergen gives to the audience.
My take on the whole thing is pretty simple. DISH Network is part of the old world, just like cable TV, except that it has no easy way to deliver broadband access. Cable companies, at least, have DOCSIS networks. So even if the whole planet starts to cut the cord and adopt an over-the-top Internet TV model, cable companies can still get paid for the plumbing. Satellite? Not so much. Without adapting a new business model, these guys are dying a slow death.
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Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/androidcentral/~3/xah36DgKLC8/story01.htm
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Tuesday, April 16, 2013
Witnesses describe scene of marathon bombing
An injured woman is tended to at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, John Tlumacki) MANDATORY CREDIT; BOSTON OUT
An injured woman is tended to at the finish line of the Boston Marathon, in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/The Boston Globe, John Tlumacki) MANDATORY CREDIT; BOSTON OUT
An injured person is helped on the sidewalk near the Boston Marathon finish line following an explosion in Boston, Monday, April 15, 2013. (AP Photo/MetroWest Daily News, Ken McGagh) MANDATORY CREDIT
Boston Marathon runner Russell Clifford of Marlborough, Mass. walks past SWAT officers near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in Boston Monday, April 15, 2013. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts (AP Photo/Winslow Townson)
BOSTON (AP) ? Bruce Mendelsohn was attending a post-race party in an office building just above the Boston Marathon finish line when an explosion knocked him to the floor.
"There was like a flash, then a giant boom," he said. "The concussion blew me off the couch onto the ground."
The former Army medic rushed outside to find blood, glass and debris everywhere. He began applying pressure to gruesome wounds.
"This stuff is more like Baghdad and Bombay than Boston," said Mendelsohn, who works at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It was pretty terrifying."
Other witnesses who heard the blasts near the finish line described similar scenes of chaos and carnage:
___
Phil Kenkel was approaching the finish line when the two explosions happened just moments apart. The first made him wonder if it was a prank, the second stirred "sheer terror."
The second bomb "went off virtually right beside me. About the only way out of that area was straight ahead," said Kenkel, of Stillwater, Okla.
"The glass was out of the building, and there was obviously a big hole in the crowd. You realize there must have been people there that were knocked down."
Kenkel called his wife to let her know he was all right.
"He wasn't hurt, which is a miracle, I guess," Evelyn Quillen said.
___
Peter Gravelle was in the VIP seating area at the finish line, waiting for his son and granddaughter when the blasts happened. He saw one victim sail through the air ? followed by what he believed was a severed limb.
"I thought I saw an arm," Gravelle said.
His wife, Mary, said she'll never forget the horror of what she saw.
"My heart breaks for all these people," she said. "They actually fell down in the road. The poor souls, yelling for help."
The couple's son and granddaughter were unhurt.
___
A Kansas surgeon had finished the race moments before he ran to help the wounded.
The first blast came about 30 seconds after Dr. Chris Rupe, of Salina, Kan., crossed the finish line. At first, he thought the sound came from a building or grandstand collapsing. He hurried to see if he could help and spent about an hour in the medical tent treating the wounded.
After that, most had been taken to hospitals.
"I'd just run 26 miles. I was starting to get tired," Rupe told The Salina Journal. "There were a lot of great people who were there. There are a lot of good people in the world."
___
Emily Biglin Valentine thanked God she ran a good time.
Only a half-hour before the bombing, the Novi, Mich., woman's husband and friend had been cheering her one from one of the blast sites.
The three were walking to a train when they heard explosions that sounded like cannon fire.
"When I finished I was so elated, and I said, 'I'm doing that again.'"
Now she doesn't think she'll go back.
___
Thomas Fabian II's father had finished the race shortly before the explosions, but his mother was still on the course miles back.
Fabian, of Port Charlotte, Fla., said his mother, Carol, ended up at a cafeteria and chapel on the campus of Boston College with a crowd of other runners. She had a hard time reconnecting with her husband.
Fabian's parents have run nearly 100 marathons in the last five years or so, he said. They were scheduled to fly from Boston quickly to compete in this coming weekend's London Marathon.
"I'm not sure if they're going to go now," he said.
___
Tracy Eaves had just crossed the finish line moments earlier to finish her 39th marathon, collected her medal and called her husband back in Niles, Mich., when she felt and heard "this huge shaking boom."
Eaves told her husband she thought it was a celebratory cannon blast. After the second blast, she started to panic.
Race officials quickly ushered her and other runners from the scene. She eventually made her way back to her hotel.
"You're so happy and excited to finish. You're ecstatic. You get your medal. You get your Gatorade and ? boom."
___
Norwegian Janicke Ekelberg had also finished the race and was walking back to her hotel when she heard the explosions.
"At first I thought it was a salute," Ekelberg told Norwegian broadcaster NRK. "But then I saw the emergency vehicles coming in. Fire trucks, ambulances.
That's when, Ekelberg said, "we realized something wasn't right."
___
Associated Press writers Erika Niedowski in Providence, R.I.; Larry Lage in Detroit; Sean Murphy in Oklahoma City, Okla.; Tim Reynolds in Miami; Karl Ritter in Stockholm; and Michael Rubinkam and Meaghan Barr contributed to this report.
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Obama: Boston culprits to feel 'weight of justice'
President Barack Obama speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, April 15, 2013, following the explosions at the Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
President Barack Obama speaks in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, April 15, 2013, following the explosions at the Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
In this image from video provided by WBZ TV, spectators and runners run from what was described as twin explosions that shook the finish line of the Boston Marathon, Monday, April 15, 2013, in Boston. Two explosions shattered the euphoria of the Boston Marathon finish line on Monday, sending authorities out on the course to carry off the injured while the stragglers were rerouted away from the smoking site of the blasts. (AP Photo/WBZTV) MANDATORY CREDIT
The American flag on the East Front of the U.S. Capitol is lowered to half-staff on Capitol Hill, Monday, April 15, 2013, in Washington, to honor the victims of the explosions at the Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
President Barack Obama pauses as he begins to speak in the James Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House in Washington, Monday, April 15, 2013, following the explosions at the Boston Marathon. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak)
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A stony-faced President Barack Obama declared that those responsible for the explosions at the Boston Marathon "will feel the full weight of justice," but he urged a nervous nation not to jump to conclusions. Top lawmakers declared the deadly incident an act of terrorism, and a White House official said it was being treated that way.
Obama, speaking from the White House late Monday, pointedly avoided using the words "terror" or "terrorism," saying officials "still do not know who did this or why." However, a White House official later said the incident at the famous race was being treated as terrorism.
"We will find out who did this. We'll find out why they did this," Obama said in his brief statement. "Any responsible individuals, any responsible groups, will feel the full weight of justice."
Authorities say at least three people were killed and more than 140 injured during two explosions near the finish of the marathon. A senior U.S. intelligence official said two other explosive devices were found near the end of the 26.2-mile course.
The president said the government would increase security around the United States "as necessary," but he did not say whether his administration thought the incident was part of a larger plot.
Following a briefing with intelligence officials, Maryland Rep. C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger, top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said most urban areas in the country would be under high alert.
"We want to make sure this is not a pattern," Ruppersberger said, adding that people could expect to see greater security at public areas such as train stations, ports and baseball games.
On Capitol Hill, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., told reporters that she had been in contact with U.S. intelligence agencies and it was her understanding "that it's a terrorist incident." Feinstein, who chairs the Senate Intelligence Committee, said the officials reported no advance warning that "there was an attack on the way."
California Republican Rep. Ed Royce, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said it was a "terrorist attack" and "yet another stark reminder that we must remain vigilant in the face of continuing terrorist threats."
The White House said Obama refrained from publicly calling the attacks terrorism because it was early in the investigation and the perpetrators were unknown. But the official said any time there is an event with multiple explosions going off at the same time and aimed at hurting people, the administration considers that terrorism.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was still under way and the official was not authorized to be quoted by name.
The president was briefed on the incident Monday by several senior administration officials, including FBI Director Robert Mueller and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano. He also spoke with Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Tom Menino and pledged to provide whatever federal support was needed.
Additionally, the president spoke with Republican and Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill, saying that "on days like this, there are no Republicans or Democrats, we are Americans united in our concern for our fellow citizens."
The Secret Service quickly expanded its security perimeter at the White House. The agency shut down Pennsylvania Avenue and cordoned off the area with yellow police tape. Several Secret Service patrol cars blocked off the entry points to the road.
The White House was not on lockdown, and tourists and other onlookers were still able to be in the park across the street from the executive mansion.
The Federal Aviation Administration created a no-fly zone over the site of the two explosions and briefly ordered flights bound for Boston's Logan International Airport held on the ground at airports around the country.
Security for outbound international flights has been increased, federal law enforcement officials said. Numerous runners were expected to leave Boston after the race, and the additional security was added as a precaution, the officials said. Those officials requested anonymity because they weren't authorized to speak publicly.
As authorities grappled to fill in the pieces of what happened, Obama said Boston and its "tough and resilient" residents would "pull together, take care of each other and move forward as one proud city."
In Washington Monday night, the American flag over the Capitol was flying at half-staff.
___
Associated Press writers Nedra Pickler, David Espo, Jim Abrams, Joan Lowy and Jim Kuhnhenn contributed to this report.
___
Follow Julie Pace at http://twitter.com/jpaceDC
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Senators to unveil landmark immigration bill
The U.S. immigration system would undergo dramatic changes under a bipartisan Senate bill that puts a new focus on prospective immigrants' merit and employment potential, while seeking to end illegal immigration once and for all by creating legal avenues for workers to come here.
The bill would put the 11 million immigrants in the country illegally on a 13-year path to U.S. citizenship that would cost each $2,000 in fines plus additional fees, and would begin only after steps have been taken to secure the border, according to an outline of the measure.
The sweeping legislation also would remake the nation's inefficient legal immigration system, creating new immigration opportunities for tens of thousands of high- and low-skilled workers, as well as a new "merit visa" aimed at bringing people with talents to the U.S. Senators had planned to formally introduce the bill Tuesday, but after Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon a planned press event was delayed until later in the week.
Employers would face tough new requirements to check the legal status of all workers. Billions of dollars would be poured into border security, and millions of people who've been waiting overseas for years, sometimes decades, in legal immigration backlogs would see their cases speeded up.
Overall, the changes represent the most dramatic overhaul to U.S. immigration law in more than a quarter-century.
"There's a realization among most Republicans and Democrats that this issue needs to be addressed," said Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., a leader of the effort. "You can't have 11 million people living in the shadows forever."
McCain and another leader of the group, Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., were to meet with President Barack Obama on Tuesday to brief him on the legislation. It's a top second-term priority for the president.
The bill is the result of months of secretive negotiations among eight lawmakers. In addition to Schumer and McCain, they are Democrats Dick Durbin of Illinois, Robert Menendez of New Jersey and Michael Bennet of Colorado, working with Republicans Marco Rubio of Florida, Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona.
The legislation is a painstaking attempt to balance a focus on border security and legal enforcement sought by Republicans in the group with Democratic priorities like making citizenship widely accessible. Crafting the bill was a time-consuming process of seeking compromise and bringing together traditionally opposed groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the AFL-CIO, the United Farm Workers and the American Farm Bureau Federation.
But even harder work lies ahead now that legislative language will become public for other lawmakers and groups on all sides to examine and react to. The Senate Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the bill beginning Friday and likely move to amend and vote on it in May, with action on the Senate floor expected later in the summer. The Republican-controlled House also must act, and opposition from some conservatives there is likely to be fierce.
"The Senate proposal issues an open invitation to enter the country illegally," Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said on the House floor Monday. "Millions more will do so before the border is secure. The Senate proposal will dramatically increase illegal immigration."
Under the bill, immigrants here illegally could gain a provisional legal status six months after enactment as long as they meet certain criteria, and if the Homeland Security Department has moved forward on plans to secure the border. They would remain in that provisional status for 10 years, able to work legally but barred from federal benefits like welfare or health care. After 10 years they could seek green cards conferring permanent legal status, and three years after that they could petition for citizenship.
They would have to pay a total of $2,000 in fines along the way, and at least hundreds more in fees, though that number has not been determined.
People brought here illegally as youths would have a faster path: They could get green cards in five years and would become eligible for citizenship immediately thereafter.
U.S. citizens no longer would be able to sponsor their siblings for eventual U.S. citizenship, a change activist groups have opposed. That's among several changes aimed at rebalancing an immigration system that now awards around 15 percent of green cards to people with employment ties, and the majority to people with family ties, to a system that awards 45 percent to 50 percent of green cards based on employment ties.
There would be no limit in the number of green cards awarded to people of extraordinary ability in science, arts, education, business or athletics, or to outstanding professors, doctors and others. A new startup visa would be created for foreign entrepreneurs trying to come here to start their own companies.
Visas for highly skilled workers greatly in demand by technology companies would nearly double. Low-skilled workers would be able to come in for jobs in construction, long-term care and other industries, ultimately up to 200,000 a year. A new agriculture visa program would bring farm workers to the U.S.; farm workers already here illegally would get a faster path to citizenship than others here illegally, able to seek a green card in five years, an effort to create a stable agricultural workforce.
The bill is titled the "Border Security, Economic Opportunity and Immigration Modernization Act of 2013."
Also ReadSource: http://news.yahoo.com/boston-tragedy-could-delay-immigration-233207496.html
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Monday, April 15, 2013
WSJ: Microsoft gathering parts for a watch-like device
The modern smartwatch market hardly even exists, and yet it's already starting to feel very crowded. Hot on the heels of plans (official and otherwise) from Apple and Samsung, the Wall Street Journal reports that Microsoft has also been shopping around for parts to build a "watch-style device." While details are scarce as to what that would entail, unnamed supplier executives tell the newspaper that Microsoft has been asking for 1.5-inch touchscreens. We wouldn't count on seeing an ultra-small Surface anytime soon, however -- these executives say they've visited Microsoft's campus, but they don't know whether the Windows developer is fully committed to its wrist-worn endeavor or just experimenting. If the project exists at all, of course. Still, there's finally a glimmer of hope for anyone who's still mourning the loss of their beloved SPOT watches.
Filed under: Wearables, Microsoft
Source: Wall Street Journal
Source: http://www.engadget.com/2013/04/14/wsj-microsoft-exploring-a-watch-like-device/
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Gun debate revives questions about self-defense
The beam from the intruder's flashlight pierced the blackness of the bedroom at 4:45 a.m., sweeping across the down comforter and into Eric Martin's eyes. Outside, the streets of his Utah subdivision lay still and silent.
But as Martin rolled to the floor, reached into the nightstand drawer and drew out his 9 mm pistol, the 46-year-old executive's mind raced with calculation: Would this man harm Martin's fiancee or her son? Was an accomplice outside waiting? What if he pulled the trigger and hit the sleeping 8-year-old across the hall?
In the weeks since the Connecticut school massacre, some of the most intense debate has swirled around how to keep guns from criminals without infringing on the ability of lawful gun owners, like Martin, to protect themselves and their families.
Indeed, self-defense is now the top reason gun owners cite for having a firearm, a new survey shows, a figure that has nearly doubled since 1999.
But even after years of study, there is little clarity on how, exactly, Americans use guns to protect themselves in moments of jeopardy ? or how often. Researchers known for sharp disagreement on the self-defense riddle say the answers may be shifting dramatically because of a steep drop in crime, an increase in guns and state laws giving owners more leeway to wield them.
Determining the absolute value of guns for self-defense is clouded by that complex dynamic of policy, judgment and circumstance. Still, both advocates of gun rights and of gun control understand the issue's importance in shaping the debate.
"When there's a threat outside your door, the police aren't going to be there ... the guys trained to save lives aren't going to be there," said Dom Raso, a commentator for the National Rifle Association's online news channel, in a video posted recently by the gun rights group.
And even while calling for new gun laws, President Barack Obama, too, acknowledged the legitimacy of self-defense in an April 8 speech in Hartford, Conn., when he recounted a conversation with his wife, Michelle, after campaigning in rural Iowa.
"Sometimes it would be miles between farms, let alone towns," Obama said. "And she said, 'You know, coming back, I can understand why somebody would want a gun for protection. If somebody drove up into the driveway and, Barack, you weren't home, the sheriff lived miles away, I might want that security.'"
With Americans split over whether guns more often save lives or jeopardize them, researchers have long parsed surveys of crime victims done in the 1990s, arguing over what the numbers mean.
But since then, crime has plummeted in the U.S. The rate of violent crimes including murder and assault fell by nearly half from 1992 to 2011, while the rate of reported property crime dropped 41 percent, data compiled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation show.
That drop has researchers considering the possibility, even the likelihood, that many fewer Americans are drawing firearms to protect themselves.
"I'm pretty confident that whatever the number is, it did go down ... because overall crime went down," said Gary Kleck, a Florida State University criminologist whose 1990s research, widely cited by gun rights activists, concluded that Americans drew their firearms in self-defense up to 2.5 million times a year. That translates to about 3 percent of all gun owners during the course of a single year.
But the drop in crime means there are far fewer occasions now for Americans to use guns for self-protection, Kleck said, making it likely that the number of annual self-defense usages of guns "should be about half as big now as they were back then, 20 years ago."
Even if such a drop were documented, it would still leave a scenario of relatively widespread use of guns for self-defense suggested by Kleck far at odds with research done by his critics.
The most outspoken has long been David Hemenway, director of the Harvard University Injury Control Research Center. He contends Kleck's survey vastly overinflates the number of times people use guns to defend themselves ? for example, by estimating thousands during the course of break-ins, though many of those homeowners either didn't own guns or remained asleep during the crime. Kleck, in turn, says Hemenway and others depend on surveys that significantly undercount self-defense gun use.
Hemenway, also relying on 1990s surveys, concluded Americans were then wielding guns for self-defense about 200,000 times annually.
Others researchers, analyzing the federal government's National Crime Victimization Survey, say the number of times guns were drawn for self-defense was even lower, about 80,000 times a year.
But Hemenway, too, is rethinking his estimate. If declining crime was the only change, he said, it would be reasonable to expect a parallel decrease in the number of times Americans use guns to defend themselves.
"You certainly have less opportunities to use a gun in self-defense appropriately," he said. "The problem is, over long periods of time, so many other things may be changing."
Since the 1990s, 18 states have passed stand-your-ground laws. At the same time, many more states eased the ability of gun owners to legally carry concealed weapons. The number of guns Americans own has also jumped to about 300 million, although researchers say the percentage of households with guns has declined.
Today, more gun owners than ever ? 48 percent according to a March poll by the Pew Research Center ? cite self-protection as their primary reason for having a firearm. That has nearly doubled since 1999, and now far surpasses the declining number of gun owners who say they own a firearm primarily for hunting.
The figure confirms personal security as a major concern for most Americans, reflected in attitudes about guns, said Michael Dimock, director of Pew's political polling unit.
"On both sides of this, the safety issue is front and center," he said. "For most people, this is not a casual choice. There's a sense of safety that gun owners associate with having that gun and there's a clear sense of risk that non-gun owners associate with guns."
Demands for gun control have led many gun owners to point to the value firearms play in allowing Americans to protect themselves, a position Martin, the Utah homeowner, agrees with based on firsthand experience.
When a robber broke into his home in St. George before dawn in late March, he and fiancee Rachel Cieslewicz were in bed. Her son, Canyon, was asleep in a room across from their doorway.
Martin says he trained to use a gun when he was in his early 20s and has long kept one for protection. Before the break-in, he had thought carefully many times about how, precisely, he would react in such a situation.
But in the dark, gun in hand, judgment and action were instantaneous. Even with the intruder directly in front of him, Martin says he realized he could not fire because of the chance the bullet might pierce the wall and hit the sleeping 8-year-old.
"I knew I needed to protect Rachel. I knew I needed to protect Canyon," he says.
When Martin pulled back on the gun's slide to load a bullet into the chamber, the man in the doorway bolted and Martin gave chase. Seconds later they were outside, but as the robber tried to escape, he tripped and fell. Martin, taking position behind a wall, trained his gun on him and ordered him to stay down, threatening to shoot when the man moved. That's where they were when police cruisers arrived.
In the days since, scores of people, including police, have commended Martin for his cool-headed reaction. Martin and Cieslewicz say they have no doubt about the gun's self-defense value. But he acknowledges the complexity of the calculus.
"What would have happened if the guy hadn't fallen, tripped over the stuff he was stealing, and I hadn't gotten him pinned down?" he said. "Or if he'd run down the street 50 feet in front of me," and Martin had opened fire?
"Is that self-defense or is that me just trying to let off a little bit of steam at that point? That changes the whole dynamic of everything."
Multiplying that uncertainty by the many confrontations involving a gun where the roles of the players are less clear helps explain researchers' disagreement about the use of gun play in self-defense.
Kleck, of Florida State, said that when people are surveyed correctly, the vast majority only disclose clear-cut incidents where they were in the right and guns were used correctly to protect their own and their families' lives.
But Hemenway, the Harvard researcher, says many of the incidents people characterize as self-defense are dubious.
"We expected pretty brave and wonderful things," he says, about a 1990s survey of gun owners. "But most of the things that were presented (as self-defense) were little more than escalating arguments. It wasn't like this is a good guy and this is a bad guy. It's two people who got into an argument and somebody drew a gun."
One much-debated self-defense claim is in the February 2012 death of Trayvon Martin, an unarmed 17-year-old killed in a Florida subdivision by a neighborhood watch captain.
But many other incidents, highlighting the role of a gun and quick thinking in protecting lives, don't get the attention they deserve, said Daniel Terrill, an editor of Guns.com. The Winnetka, Ill.-based website regularly publishes accounts of self-defense.
Then there are reports of gun usage in which people seem either to have used questionable judgment or sought out a dispute ? cases that elicit fierce discussion among gun owners on the site.
"It's a debate piece for them and ... they will go over that ad nauseum, saying it was justified or it wasn't justified. So you find a lot of these stories, actually, are kind of morally gray," Terrill said. The uncertainty reflects both the complexity of decision-making involved in gun use, as well the many unknown circumstances that led to a confrontation in the first place, he said.
The increased focus by gun owners on self-defense while the threat of crime decreases reflects a long-standing disconnect in public perceptions of violent crime, said Mark Warr, a University of Texas criminologist.
"Americans don't know that the crime rate has been going down," said Warr, noting that public perception is shaped by television crime dramas and news reports focusing on the most violent offenses. "What happens is that people watch this dangerous image of the world and they buy into the idea that the world is a really, really dangerous place."
Public fears spiked in the 1960s in response to a substantial increase in crime, reflected in increased purchases of guns, homes in gated subdivisions and security systems, he said, and concern about crime has never eased to pre-1960s levels, even though crime has steadily declined.
But trying to figure out how those safety concerns, attitudes regarding gun ownership, changes in law and other factors are affecting the use of guns for self-defense remains difficult.
David McDowall, a professor in the school of criminal justice at the University at Albany, State University of New York, said that given all the changes in law and gun ownership, it is quite possible that a greater proportion of people now draw firearms in self-defense.
"I think that's really the interesting question," he said.
And gun owners point out that the decision to draw a weapon in self-defense when confronted by an intruder makes the abstracts studied by researchers and policymakers all too real. To Cieslewicz, it comes down to recalling her fears for her son's life as a stranger loomed in her bedroom doorway.
"It was," she said, "an absolute moment of terror."
___
Adam Geller can be reached at features(at)ap.org. Follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/AdGeller
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/gun-debate-revives-questions-self-defense-161900833.html
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