Posted on 12/04/2013 6:58:03 AM PST by kobald
Is it possible to predict who is most likely to die at the hands of a gun? Not shootings like those at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut, the movie theater in Aurora, Colo., or the Washington Navy Yard, but the all-too-common shootings that occur in neighborhoods across the country.
The idea is not far-fetched if one drills down into the nature of gun violence, which, in the way it is transmitted, bears striking similarities to public health epidemics such as cholera in Haiti or HIV/AIDS in the United States.
Epidemics of any kind are not random...
More than 40 percent of all gun homicides in the study occurred within a network of 3,100 people, roughly 4 percent of the communitys population. Simply being among the 4 percent increased a persons odds of being killed by a gun by 900 percent.
These numbers tell us that gun violence spreads like HIV infection: Youre more likely to catch the disease if you engage in risky behaviors with someone who might be infected. And its not just peoples friends who affect their likelihood of getting shot, but also their friends friends. This is similar to the transmission of HIV: Your current partners past sexual partners affect your exposure, even if you dont know them...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...
Figures that WaPo wants to dance around the truth — civilization has collapsed in our urban areas.
I just love the way the article dances around the mentioning the common demographic characteristic of the communities where these "outbreaks" occur.
Social networks can help predict gun violence
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Already in California; school districts are spying and snooping on students Facebook pages, Twitter accounts and other social media. They are contracting out to different companies who can monitor and report back any suspicious activity that might lead to violence at school.
It begs the difficult question; freedom or safety?
Bwhahaha. We already know which "individuals and communities are more susceptible" and we have identified which "specific people and specific places" are at issue here. And there no way is going to target this populatlion and impose the "efforts" necessary to deal with the problem.
Duh WP, its called profiling. I can walk down any street and easily point out who is most likely to use a gun illegally or be shot.
The idea is not far-fetched if one drills down into the nature of gun violence, which, in the way it is transmitted, bears striking similarities to public health epidemics such as cholera in Haiti or HIV/AIDS in the United States.
See, commoners? Only professional public health scientists can make informed decisions on your civil rights. If it looks like an epidemic, it is an epidemic; if it's an epidemic, only experts' opinions count,
Obviously it is time to cease criminalizing the victims of this gun violence pathogen. Sort of “hate the shooting, but love the shooter”. Shooters are badly in need increased social services such as counseling, financial support from the community, etc. etc.
In the meantime, the rest of us need to learn how to duck ...
Given the fact that over half of all Twitter and Facebook accounts are fake, the authorities are going to get played in a really big way IMO.
The tone of this article is to get the public to acquiesce to the NSA (or other Government snoop agency) constantly monitoring our private messages. 'All for the greater good'...
Big Government always becomes evil -- it can't help itself. It wants to become God, and people want to worship it rather than the True God.
News flash! People killed in shootings are more likely to have long arrest records. I want 10 million dollars from the government for a study to help understand the cause and significance of that discovery.
Isn’t this just a fancy, ten-dollar-word version of the more succint phrase, “Urban Thugs Shoot People”?
Yeah, but kids are stupid when it comes to social media and the internet. They really believe they can post threats on their FB page and get away with it.
I’m thinking now of a boy near me who was role playing on the web. He made threats against children. He was role playing. On some internet game. Did he mean it?
Doens’t matter. He was arrested and went to jail.
They will bastardize this study and use it to target FReepers as a danger to society.
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