Here's the editor's take:
"Editor’s Choice
Better data on the epidemiology of firearm-related death is required before a universal handgun ban would be justified.
Legal precedent generally supports the states' right to restrict firearm access.(1, 2) A large number of US citizens, however, passionately oppose restrictions on gun ownership.
Public health measures — especially those that place significant and unpopular restrictions on personal freedom — must be strongly supported by specific data. These data presented here do not demonstrate that the handguns in which this law proposes to ban — which include legally purchased and licensed handguns — are the handguns responsible for increasing the risk of homicide and suicide.
The lack of such evidence leaves open the possibility that banning handguns might only disarm law-abiding citizens who are unlikely to commit homicide and leave intact the black-market supply of handguns to criminals.
Improved data collection are critical in producing effective gun-control legislation.
Staurt Weisberg
New Media Editor"
While he sounds reasonable, he STILL doesn't get it. "Public health measures — especially those that place significant and unpopular restrictions on personal freedom — must be strongly supported by specific data." What is the law of the land, the Constitution or Public Health Measures? I don't care how much "specific data" (which doesn't exist) he comes up with -- it's a Constitutional right we're talking about.
"Improved data collection are critical in producing effective gun-control legislation." Repeat after me, "Gun violence is NOT a disease and cannot be handled as such. And what happens when the improved data collection reveals that?"
I told him as much at mss@ama-assn.org
Update: I no sooner sent the email off when I ran across that great post by CassandraComplex
http://www.thefiringline.com:8080/forums/showthread.php?threadid=25606
describing the junk science used in this poll -- I sent the entire message to Mr. Weisman as reinforcement to my first email.
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The New World Order has a Third Reich odor.
[This message has been edited by Oatka (edited March 11, 2000).]