Lies, Damn Lies and Gun Statistics
Powerline analyzes a pro-gun control study and finds it undermines its own argument that stricter gun laws decrease gun homicides.
But there is more: note that Fleegler’s study covers all 50 states, but leaves out the District of Columbia. Why do you suppose he chose to do that? Because the District has 1) some of the nation’s most draconian gun laws, and 2) the highest murder rate in the country, higher even than Louisiana’s. In 2011, the District had a firearms homicide rate of 12.46 per 100,000. Now let’s redo Fleegler’s math, with the District counted as one of the ten strictest jurisdictions. We now have an average rate of 4.0 gun homicides per 100,000 in the ten most anti-gun jurisdictions, and a gun homicide rate of 3.5 per 100,000 in the ten jurisdictions with the fewest gun regulations, even if we include the outlier, Louisiana.Based on those numbers, you could argue that strict gun laws cause more gun violence. I wouldn’t necessarily go that far; I think it is fairer to say that Fleegler’s study doesn’t prove anything at all, but suggests, at least, that draconian gun laws are ineffective when it comes to homicide–which, after all, is what those laws are primarily intended to prevent.
When outliers like DC and Louisiana are removed, there remains a statistically significant bump in suicides caused by firearms. But even that raises questions:
Most people–most liberals, certainly–would say that a person has a right to commit suicide if he is determined to do so. If guns are the suicide weapon of choice, and it is easy to see why they are for most people, why should the state try to make its citizens use other, more difficult or painful means?
Like abortion, guns are a fact of life in America. No one forces you to have a child in this country just as no one forces you to own a gun. Anti-choice gun zealots aren’t going to be swayed by Powerline’s counterargument, but for those of us who are pro-choice gun owners, it provides more support for our position (not that the #2 amendment in our Constitution should need support, but hey, these are troubling times.)
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