Posted on 09/27/2016 7:00:12 AM PDT by marktwain
The choice of those publications is highly instructive of the motives of the researchers. The publications are The Trace, funded by Michael Bloomberg to promote citizen disarmament in the United States, and The Guardian, the British publication that is highly antagonistic to widespread gun ownership and the Second Amendment. From theguardian.com:
The unpublished Harvard/Northeastern survey result summary, obtained exclusively by the Guardian and the Trace, estimates that America’s gun stock has increased by 70m guns since 1994. At the same time, the percentage of Americans who own guns decreased slightly from 25% to 22%.
The lead author of the survey is Dr. Deborah Azrael. In a Salon interview in 2015, she revealed a number of preconceptions that could contribute to selection bias in the survey, the questions asked, or interpretation of the results. From salon.com:
“What we know is that if a woman is going to be killed by a firearm, she’s most likely to be killed by a current or former intimate partner. What we know is where there are more guns, more women die,” Azrael explained. “That’s just incontrovertibly true.”
That contention is hotly contested. It is easy to find counter examples. For example, gun ownership in Chicago is quite low, but the death rate for women and children from being shot, is high. Gun ownership in Vermont is high, but the death rate for women and children from being shot, is low. Gun ownership in Brazil, Venezuela, and Jamaica is low. Homicides, including homicides with guns, are very high. It is a complicated question that does not lend itself to simple analysis, and it clearly is not “incontrovertibly true”.
(Excerpt) Read more at ammoland.com ...
Strawman argument and illogical. Cannot draw the conclusions made from the claims made. It fails to take into account the crimes prevented, reduced in impact and deterred by guns used by good guys. Fail.
I’ve had a CWL for more than 20 years. In my state, that suffices for a NICS check and I walk right out of the store with the gun right after the Form 4473 is filled out and the gun paid for. I can’t remember how many times I’ve done this but truthfully, I can only remember ONE time they had to call in for a NICS...... That was a LOT of guns ago.
Do they really expect a survey to be truthful about how many people actually own guns? I know I had a horrible boating accident....
If 63% is the percentage of Americans who believe that having a fire extinguisher in the home makes it a safer place to be, I'd think that somewhere around 63% own fire extinguishers. The exact number might be 55% or it might be 70%, but it sure isn't going to be 22%.
Any time anyone asks me how many guns I own, I respond with “I don’t own a single gun.”
The first false premise always employed in these studies is that the only incidents where guns are used in self defense involve actual shooting of criminal aggressors. They deliberately ignore any possibility of the presence of a firearm deterring a crime where no one gets shot. John Lott has done a good job of exposing this false premise.
Indeed. The “medical” research on guns is full of false premises, and has been from the start.
That is why the CDC was denied funds to produce political propaganda.
Another Leftist anti-gun screed. Reminds of “Arming America” by Michael Bellesiles. That knothead lost his professor job and had the Bancroft Prize for History taken away when discovered he made up most of the “data.”
Nunya.
Nunya Bizness.
Round my part of town, we call that Nacho Bidness....:0)
Are you guyth making fun of my lithp?
Seriously though, I’ve owned one or more guns for more than 40 years and I’ve never shot anyone.
The gun grabber control freaks should accept the second amendment as a done deal and leave law abiding citizens like me alone so we can keep it that way.
Easy enough to assume that the nominal function of something is its actual function. In this case, if you were not thinking of shooting someone, why would you buy a pistol? But given the statistics on how many pistols do not kill anyone, manifestly that is not the primary function for which people legally buy a gun.That being the case, it becomes reasonable to believe the people who do have pistols. And they say that they have the gun to prevent other people from assuming that they are an easy mark for violence. Not to shoot anyone, but to convince people that “needing shooting” is a poor career choice.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.