Say Anything Blog

Rob you state: “Either these panel members are exceptionally poor at their jobs or too blinded by their own narrow-minded beliefs to see when they’re wrong” to this conclusion by the authors of the study: “In short, the panel could find no link between restrictions on gun ownership and lower rates of crime, firearms violence or even accidents with guns”.

I don’t follow your logic.  It sounds to me like they made a conclusion contrary to their beliefs, based solely upon what the data actually suggest.  They are to be commended on this, not rebuked, or so it seems to me.

I’m basing my comment on this from the article:

However, the National Research Council decided even more thorough research on the topic is needed.

Despite the fact that their studies have found no evidence proving that gun control lessens gun crime (which echoes the results of other studies) they’re pusing forward with more tests and studies.  It seems to me as though they’re not going to stop working this issue over until they get some results that suit their political agendas.

The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

These finding should be clarified before they are taken out of context.  If you read the NAS report it actually says they could not find any studies that had good enough data or research methods to find a relationship between gun-control and gun-related crime, suicide, and accidents.  Therefore, more research is needed if anyone wants to make any valid claims one way or the other.

The biggest limitation these kinds of studies is finding data that actually represents the population being studied.  For example, the report relays the argument that people who use guns illegally are less likely to provide ownership information.

For example, the report relays the argument that people who use guns illegally are less likely to provide ownership information.

That statement lays at the heart of my arguments against gun control: Gun control only effects responsible, law-abiding citizens.  Criminals (who, obviously, are the ones comitting the majority of the crimes with the guns) will continue to obtain their guns illegally.

The war against illegal plunder has been fought since the beginning of the world. But how is… legal plunder to be identified? Quite simply. See if the law takes from some persons what belongs to them, and gives it to other persons to whom it does not belong. See if the law benefits one citizen at the expense of another by doing what the citizen himself cannot do without committing a crime. Then abolish this law without delay … If such a law is not abolished immediately it will spread, multiply and develop into a system.

Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Rob’s recently listened-to songs:

Yeah, which only adds to the irony of these findings being reported by a panel of mostly gun control advocates.

Gun Control Doesn’t Reduce Crime Or Violence

Gun control does reduce crime and violence.  If one doesn’t have both hands on the gun and in a proper stance, then one risks injuring or killing innocent bystanders.