Wednesday, March 19, 2008

Speedy gun licenses for men who agree to shoot blanks

The most interesting news item of the day might be the story out of India’s Shivpuri district.

India, whose population is 1.1 billion, has been encouraging its citizens to have smaller families. Along these lines, officials in Shivpuri have decided to offer an interesting incentive for men who undergo vasectomies: quicker processing of their gun licenses.

Apparently the marketing ploy is working. Last year, a grand total of 8 men underwent sterilization. But since the gun license preference policy went into effect last month there have been 150 vasectomies, with another 100 expected by the end of this month.

According to alternative news source The Raw Story, Shivpuri is a “bandit-infested region,” where gun licenses have been historically hard to come by. “The district of 1.4 million people has just 11,000 licensed arms, but locals say they want guns because bandits have large numbers of unlicensed weapons.”

No mention of the more direct benefit more guns might have on the overpopulation problem.

Thanks to Brian for the article.

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