An in-depth look at how the gun ban in Australia has worked

[rd_kent]

Some interesting studies. All should read, then discuss.....


Ready, set, go!



http://www.gunsandcrime.org/austudies.html#top

[villager]

1. From the homegrown website that refers to "Dems" as "dims?"

I see....

[Euromutt]

5. Yeah, why strain yourself finding flaws in the analysis...

...when you can just dismiss the whole thing with an ad hominem?

[sharesunited]

2. Here's the money quote:

"mass killings create great randomness in the homicide data and therefore obscure the ordinary homicide trend."

Sorting out the different kinds of dead who had bullets enter their bodies.

[GreenStormCloud]

3. Your ideas, if enacted, would leave me helpless against violent felons.

My guns give me the ability to effectively resist attack from violent criminals. Further, my guns are not a threat to any innocent person.

Why do you want to strip me of my ability to defend myself?

[Taitertots]

4. Because whether or not you are safe is of no concern to them n/t

[Euromutt]

6. What makes that the money quote?

Other than that it lends itself to be twisted into a gratuitous cheap shot, that is?

See, the whole point about a mass killing "obscures the ordinary homicide trend" is because in a country with a fairly low population like Australia, with concomitantly low absolute numbers of homicides, one mass killing can really throw off the numbers. During the years 1995, 1996 and 1997, the number of murders in any given month was typically in the 20-30 range; the notable exception was April 1996, in which the number of murders was almost 60 (see http://www.aic.gov.au/documents/2/5/1/%7B251C08EB-8AF7-4C8C-8E47-0C230AD99DDC%7Dfacts.pdf figure 8). Of those, 35 were of course victims of the Port Arthur massacre, so that one incident accounted for ~3/5 of the murders that month.

And now the important part: mass killings don't obscure the trend because they're common, but because they're rare. If mass killings were a regular occurrence, they'd just be part of the trend. The fact that they are not is what skews the numbers.

[rd_kent]

7. So I see that none of our resident anti-second amendment folks have anything to say....

Kinda hard to spew the same old talking points in the fact of cold hard facts, huh?

You just wind up making yourself look even stupider if you do.