Invincible Ignorance (Sowell on gun control)

Creators Syndicate ^ | December 18, 2012 | Thomas Sowell

[Drew68]

Your error, Dr. Sowell, is to rely solely on facts, which are useless.

How do you feel about gun control? That's the key question.

I was listening to NPR on the drive home from work yesterday and they had some liberal college professor talking about gun control. This professor freely admitted that the previous assault weapon ban had no measurable impact on crime whatsoever but that we needed one anyways because assault weapons "scare our national psyche" and "we'd feel better" if they were banned.

[ArGee]

This professor freely admitted that the previous assault weapon ban had no measurable impact on crime whatsoever but that we needed one anyways because assault weapons "scare our national psyche" and "we'd feel better" if they were banned.

I wonder why people think we need a machine-generated Matrix to enslave us and turn us into nothing more than power sources for others.

It seems we want to turn ourselves into that, and we're not too particular about who or what those others are.

In the end, we all seem to be Cyphers. "Why, oh why, didn't I take the blue pill?"

[9YearLurker]

At this point, global murder rates are more than anything racially linked. Look at a global map thereof, and you will see all majority black or Hispanic countries have a high rate, Asian and Northern European countries a low one.

Look more specifically within mixed countries such as the US, and our black and Hispanic figures mirror those of black and Hispanic-majority countries, and Asian and European, the same.

The very same correlation tends to hold for those global tests of academic proficiency.

[Hawthorn]

>> Look more specifically within mixed countries such as the US, and our black and Hispanic figures mirror those of black and Hispanic-majority countries, and Asian and European, the same <<

True enough. Yet the very great mystery remains that not a single one of the recent mass murder incidents in the USA was carried out either by (a) a black person, or by (b) a female of any race.

Figure that one out and you’ll be awarded next year’s Nobel Prize in Psychology!

[9YearLurker]

You did have the DC snipers, but the female answer I would guess is pretty straightforward: lower testosterone, lower levels of relevant drug treatment, plus a lower incidence of the typical forms of mental illness involved.

We are still a majority white country, so I’d think a majority white expectation might be expected. But I think above average intelligence seems to go with the profile for this sort of premeditated thing. We’re dealing with still quite low numbers for statistical averages overall, but just with one such shooter, I doubt that Asians would be or are underrepresented even though Asian men on average have a slightly lower average testosterone level.

[Hawthorn]

>> I doubt that Asians would be or are underrepresented <<

Off the top of my head, I count two Asians: the Korean at Virginia Tech and Maj. Hasan at Ft. Hood. I wonder if there have been others?

In the meantime, with 10% of the USA being black, there ought to be ca. 10% blacks in the population of mass shooters. But I’m not aware of any.

[publius911]

Anyone know which study Sowell references, conducted by a university professor who was subsequenly discredited?

I spend a few minutes, and was unable to find an actual copy of the study, but two things are noteworthy... First, the offending study seems to have been erased from academic memory.
Secondly, The rumor is that the disgraced "Professor," an emergency room MD, subsequently resigned from the university.

The following link might shed some additional light.

Gun Control 'Science' Misfires

Hope that link works; great analysis.

[publius911]

Anyone know which study Sowell references, conducted by a university professor who was subsequenly discredited?

I spend a few minutes, and was unable to find an actual copy of the study, but two things are noteworthy... First, the offending study seems to have been erased from academic memory.
Secondly, The rumor is that the disgraced "Professor," an emergency room MD, subsequently resigned from the university.

The following link might shed some additional light.

Gun Control 'Science' Misfires

Hope that link works; great analysis.

[Homer_J_Simpson]

I can’t find the article. Where are these “navigation buttons” I am supposed to use?

[jazusamo]

Here’s a link to the print article at Creators Syndicate.

I don’t know what the deal has been with CR lately, sometimes the links just stop working.

http://www.creators.com/print/conservative/thomas-sowell/invincible-ignorance-12-12-18.html