Posted on 01/26/2011 4:53:38 AM PST by Pharmboy
In the wake of the shootings in Tucson, the familiar questions inevitably resurfaced: Are communities where more people carry guns safer or less safe? Does the availability of high-capacity magazines increase deaths? Do more rigorous background checks make a difference?
The reality is that even these and other basic questions cannot be fully answered, because not enough research has been done. And there is a reason for that. Scientists in the field and former officials with the government agency that used to finance the great bulk of this research say the influence of the National Rife Association has all but choked off money for such work.
“We’ve been stopped from answering the basic questions,” said Mark Rosenberg, former director of the National Center for Injury Control and Prevention, ... Chris Cox, the N.R.A.’s chief lobbyist, said his group had not tried to squelch genuine scientific inquiries, just politically slanted ones.
“Our concern is not with legitimate medical science,” Mr. Cox said. “Our concern is they were promoting the idea that gun ownership was a disease that needed to be eradicated.”
(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...
The "science" is settled.
Unfortunately this article failed to mention that the “studies” are mostly funded by anti-gun organizations such as the Joyce Foundation, and are performed by “scientists” that have no experience or expertise in the area of criminology. It is always encouraging to see how much the left-leaning media loves to down the NRA, however. To me, that shows that the NRA is having a definite good effect. If leftists and freedom haters can’t win with facts, they attack the opponent personally.
-dan z-
Yes, They have been done and ignored! Thanks
...except that it has, many times. And it always shows an increase in firearms ownership means a decrease in crime. But that doesn't ever have any effect on the statists. They want unarmed serfs, facts be damned.
These gun-grabbers have been pounding the table for 100 years.
The work has been done, but not by public health weenies. Criminologists and economists have done the lion’s share of the work on gun control efficacy. Now the public health weenies want a piece of the pie. It’s about personal economics, pure and simple.
These supposed "scientists" would be the same kind who "studied" the effects of venereal disease on American Citizens in the south teo generations ago, and "studied" the effects of open-air atomic bomb tests on U.S. Soldiers a generation back. Now they want to play with human lives again.
Let them start with the N.Y. Times. Let's see how they react to having their armed guards removed from the paper's NY offices.
I just noticed something which will need some expert to answer: It the horizontal grill on the NYT building spaced properly to stop RPG attacks?
Could that be why it is there? Or is an “architectural statement”?
Could that be why it is there? Or is an “architectural statement”?
I do not know. But I know how to find out.
* The Wall Street Journal
* LATIN AMERICA NEWS
* JANUARY 26, 2011
Alleged Gun Ring Busted
Authorities Say Smugglers Planned to Ship 700 Weapons to Mexican Cartels
By TAMARA AUDI
PHOENIX—Federal officials said Tuesday they busted a network of gun buyers and smugglers planning to ship 700 guns to Mexican drug cartels embroiled in deadly turf wars.
Law-enforcement officials arrested 17 people named in a 53-count indictment unsealed Tuesday. Police were still searching for three other people named in the indictment.
“The drug cartels go shopping for their war weapons in Arizona,” said Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona. “One of Arizona’s top exports is weapons for drug cartels.”
Dennis Burke, U.S. attorney for the District of Arizona, detailed the bust at a Phoenix news conference where some of the weapons were displayed.
The arrests come on the heels of Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s visit Monday to Mexico City for talks with Mexican President Felipe Calderón that addressed the battle against drug violence in Mexico.
Excerpt
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