Errors in Huffington Post discussion on gun control

[Wehrwolfen]

Errors in Huffington Post discussion on gun control​

By: John Lott
1 January, 2013


Paul Heroux has this as part of his post up at the Huffington Post:

Economist John Lott likes to point out that wherever there has been a gun ban we have seen crime increase. Lott has specifically made the point concerning England's 1997 gun moratorium. Unfortunately, this example is a little loose with the statistics. In some countries where an increase in gun homicides followed a gun ban, it was part of an already rising trend, as it was in England. In other cases it followed the ban. In short, there is no causal relationship; the relationship is spurious. Additionally, Lott also said that he did not accept that the US is the leader in gun homicides in the developed world. This flies in the face of the facts.

If you want to see how wrong Mr. Heroux is about this claim on how murder rates changed after the UK handgun ban see the figures available here.

Lott has also noted that the common denominator of the recent mass shootings is that they all occurred in a gun free zone. This implication is that the shooters targeted the zones because they were gun free. This can't and won't be proven, and it is unlikely anyway. First, we know that students all over America carry guns to schools every day, so schools are not really gun free. Second, Fort Hood is a military base with lots of guns, and Virginia Tech is a university with its own police force. Third, there is more reason to believe that the recent mass shootings targeted the people at the locations because of who they were, not because of where they were. The presence or absence of a gun ban is spurious. . . .​

Read more:
John Lott's Website: Errors in Huffington Post discussion on gun control

 

[Oddball]

"Errors" suggests honest mistakes.

There's little, if anything, honest about the hacks at HuffyPuffy.

 

[SFC Ollie]

Where to start?


Lott has also noted that the common denominator of the recent mass shootings is that they all occurred in a gun free zone. This implication is that the shooters targeted the zones because they were gun free. This can't and won't be proven (Nor Disproved), and it is unlikely anyway. ( Unlikely? Really? according to whom?) First, we know that students all over America carry guns to schools every day (Grade schools?) , so schools are not really gun free. Second, Fort Hood is a military base with lots of guns ( Yes, and those guns are secured in arms rooms locked up where it would take up to an hour to move from a processing point to your arms room and have your Armorer sign out your weapon to you), and Virginia Tech is a university with its own police force.(Shany Hook has their own police force) Third, there is more reason to believe that the recent mass shootings targeted the people at the locations because of who they were (Again, as far as we know there was no connection between the shooter at Sandy Hook And the school, Nor between the shooter and the theater.), not because of where they were. The presence or absence of a gun ban is spurious. . . .

Some people simply have an agenda.............Like this writer, obviously.......