Posted on 09/27/2022 5:16:13 AM PDT by marktwain
Samuel Stebbins writes for 24/7 Wall St and several other left-leaning organizations such as the NYTs, HuffPost, and MSN.
Mr. Stebbins has written a number of articles involving guns, crime, and statistics. The numbers he cites are usually correct. They are from sources such as the FBI Uniform Crime Reports.
Unfortunately, it is easy to make errors if you do not understand how the numbers are generated. It appears to be the reason for the laughable numbers in Samuel’s most recent article claiming “Gun Sales are Collapsing in Illinois.”
In Illinois, gun sales are falling even faster than they are nationwide. There were a total of 2,064,400 FBI firearm background checks in the state in the first half of 2022 compared to 6,050,704 in the first six months of 2021 — a 65.9% reduction and the largest decline among states.
The problem with the above statement is background checks in Illinois are only partially connected to gun sales.
I tried to contact Samuel so I could explain the error to him and offer my services if he needs some professional firearms expertise in the future. Unfortunately, a few searches did not turn up an email or a phone number to contact him.
Samuel sights the National Instant background Check System check number, in the article, as a proxy for gun sales trends. There are problems with this.
The FBI carefully notes, when publishing the NIC figures:
“These statistics represent the background checks initiated through the NICS. They do not represent the number of firearms sold.”
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Maybe he does understand, and is using that information to push the anti-gun agenda.
Any way people like him can twist the facts, they will.
It’s not like the antigun side has a particular allegiance to the truth or to facts. They have narratives, including many absolutely false narratives, to push (such as the “myth of the good guy with a gun”) and they will happily lie to do so.
“Samuel sights…”
No. Samuel cites.
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Gun people tend to use sights LOL
Well, that’s true.
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With the passage of the SAFE-T bill by Jelly Belly Pritzker, I believe you will see a large increase in the number of new gun owners in Illinois, especially in the Chicago suburbs.
Thanks for finding the error. With several automated systems used, multiple ways it may have happened.
Does Pritzker remind anybody else as kind of a fat Shemp (the fourth stooge)?
He reminds me of Monty Python’s Mr. Creosote.
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Happy to help. Spell check is a blessing and a curse sometimes.
Enjoy your day!
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LOL
Hey, it’s Shemp-tember on MeTV.
I live in that God forsaken state. I can belive there has been a drop off because many people bought a gun for the first time or maybe a couple of extra firearms..motivated by the left wing rioting in the theater past 2 years. I am going to guess there are loads of people that feel one pistol, one rifle, and one shotgun are enough for the rest of their life. They are not “gun collectors”.
It was not 65.9%.
Aden=Adam
Johns Adams.
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