Business Insider August 27, 2018
https://www.businessinsider.com/science-of-gun-control-what-works-2018-2
BI bemoans the fact that there is no national database of gun owners and no requirement to register guns.
"That's one of the many obstacles researchers come up against when trying to evaluate why so many people die from guns in the US."
But despite this obstacle they have been able to reach some conclusions:
1. "Making it easier to carry concealed guns increases the number of gun homicides." Must be true. They've got "studies" that show a 9% increase in homicides where concealed carry is easy.
2. There was a spike in gun sales after Sandy Hook. (true) Their conclusion?
"The researchers' calculations showed that 40 adults and 20 children died as a result of those additional gun purchases [after Sandy Hook]." Really?
3. "The so-called Lautenberg amendment to the 1968 Gun Control Act disqualifies people with a misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence from buying or owning weapons. Researchers found that gun murders of female intimate partners decreased by 17% as a result of the amendment."
4. "Laws that call for longer sentences for gun crimes also seem to help a little." Hmmm...maybe because the bad guys that have proven they will shoot you with a gun are no longer out in public?
5. "States that have stricter gun-control laws and spend more money on education and mental-health care have fewer school shootings." "There was an average of one school shooting per year from 1966 to 2008, but an average of one per week from 2013 to 2015, the study found." I think NPR just recently busted the school shooting statistics.
6. "After Congress let a 1994 ban on assault weapons expire in 2004, gun massacre deaths skyrocketed." "The number of gun massacres and massacre deaths decreased by 37% and 43% respectively after the 1994 ban on assault weapons went into effect, one researcher found. After it expired in 2004, they shot up by 183% and 239%."
Let's just say the BI has got a LOT of "studies".
Business Insider has some things we could do to quell gun violence in America.
1. "According to one study, replacing medium- and large-caliber weapons with small-caliber guns would dramatically reduce gun homicide rates."
They're talking about the (flawed) Boston study of gunshot deaths released in July and discussed here:
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=597292
Being totally uncharitable today I can see how this would work. Instead of a 'gun buyback' program there would be a 'gun exchange' program where thugs could turn in their used guns (.380 caliber and up) and get shiny new handguns (.22, .25 etc. up to .32 caliber...maybe an exception would have to be made for the .327 magnum...that might be too powerful but hey since it's the caliber that's deadly why not allow it anyway.) After this program gets underway I see a wave of kinder, gentler shootings in our urban areas.
2. "Weapons buy-back programs have been successful in reducing mass shootings." They bring out the Australian gun buyback program with some startling results. "firearm suicides dropped by 65% and homicides by 59% over the next 10 years. While Australia had seen 13 mass shootings — defined as five or more deaths — in the 18 years before the 1996 massacre, there has only been one in the 22 years since."
3. "Reducing access to guns could reduce the number of suicides in the US." They've got some startling results here too. "When the Israel Defense Forces stopped letting troops bring weapons home on the weekends, suicide rates dropped by 40%, one study found." Wow. Color me stunned (or skeptical).
4. "The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma has called for regulations that they say will make the population safer. Their recommendations include removing firearms from domestic violence perpetrators (and those threatening violence while their cases are underway); regulating the sale of high volume ammunition, semi-automatic weapons, bump stocks, and trigger actuators; and requiring reporting of all firearm sales." Regulating the sale of high volume ammunition? I just gave up figuring out what that means but hey, isn't it something we should at least try, even if we don't know what it is? (sarcasm off)
https://www.businessinsider.com/science-of-gun-control-what-works-2018-2
BI bemoans the fact that there is no national database of gun owners and no requirement to register guns.
"That's one of the many obstacles researchers come up against when trying to evaluate why so many people die from guns in the US."
But despite this obstacle they have been able to reach some conclusions:
1. "Making it easier to carry concealed guns increases the number of gun homicides." Must be true. They've got "studies" that show a 9% increase in homicides where concealed carry is easy.
2. There was a spike in gun sales after Sandy Hook. (true) Their conclusion?
"The researchers' calculations showed that 40 adults and 20 children died as a result of those additional gun purchases [after Sandy Hook]." Really?
3. "The so-called Lautenberg amendment to the 1968 Gun Control Act disqualifies people with a misdemeanor conviction for domestic violence from buying or owning weapons. Researchers found that gun murders of female intimate partners decreased by 17% as a result of the amendment."
4. "Laws that call for longer sentences for gun crimes also seem to help a little." Hmmm...maybe because the bad guys that have proven they will shoot you with a gun are no longer out in public?
5. "States that have stricter gun-control laws and spend more money on education and mental-health care have fewer school shootings." "There was an average of one school shooting per year from 1966 to 2008, but an average of one per week from 2013 to 2015, the study found." I think NPR just recently busted the school shooting statistics.
6. "After Congress let a 1994 ban on assault weapons expire in 2004, gun massacre deaths skyrocketed." "The number of gun massacres and massacre deaths decreased by 37% and 43% respectively after the 1994 ban on assault weapons went into effect, one researcher found. After it expired in 2004, they shot up by 183% and 239%."
Let's just say the BI has got a LOT of "studies".
Business Insider has some things we could do to quell gun violence in America.
1. "According to one study, replacing medium- and large-caliber weapons with small-caliber guns would dramatically reduce gun homicide rates."
They're talking about the (flawed) Boston study of gunshot deaths released in July and discussed here:
https://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=597292
Being totally uncharitable today I can see how this would work. Instead of a 'gun buyback' program there would be a 'gun exchange' program where thugs could turn in their used guns (.380 caliber and up) and get shiny new handguns (.22, .25 etc. up to .32 caliber...maybe an exception would have to be made for the .327 magnum...that might be too powerful but hey since it's the caliber that's deadly why not allow it anyway.) After this program gets underway I see a wave of kinder, gentler shootings in our urban areas.
2. "Weapons buy-back programs have been successful in reducing mass shootings." They bring out the Australian gun buyback program with some startling results. "firearm suicides dropped by 65% and homicides by 59% over the next 10 years. While Australia had seen 13 mass shootings — defined as five or more deaths — in the 18 years before the 1996 massacre, there has only been one in the 22 years since."
3. "Reducing access to guns could reduce the number of suicides in the US." They've got some startling results here too. "When the Israel Defense Forces stopped letting troops bring weapons home on the weekends, suicide rates dropped by 40%, one study found." Wow. Color me stunned (or skeptical).
4. "The American Association for the Surgery of Trauma has called for regulations that they say will make the population safer. Their recommendations include removing firearms from domestic violence perpetrators (and those threatening violence while their cases are underway); regulating the sale of high volume ammunition, semi-automatic weapons, bump stocks, and trigger actuators; and requiring reporting of all firearm sales." Regulating the sale of high volume ammunition? I just gave up figuring out what that means but hey, isn't it something we should at least try, even if we don't know what it is? (sarcasm off)