On Fri, 11 Mar 2005, Doug Kanter wrote:

>
> "Lena B Katz" > wrote in message
> ...
>>
>>
>> On Fri, 11 Mar 2005, Doug Kanter wrote:
>>
>>> "Lena B Katz" > wrote in message
>>> ...
>>>
>>>
>>>>> Like many gun owners, I'm no big fan of the NRA, since they tend to
>>>>> have
>>>>> an
>>>>> unhealthy, polarizing effect on the gun debate. But, the figures they
>>>>> use
>>>>> in
>>>>> their arguments are backed up with cites (sources). They would only be
>>>>> hurting their cause by fiddling with numbers whose accuracy can easily
>>>>> be
>>>>> checked. Only an idiot would suggest such a thing.
>>>>
>>>> I'm a bit "gun-shy" over here... Just found a "pamphlet" saying that
>>>> studies had shown that Abstinence Education was no better than No Sex Ed
>>>> at all.
>>>>
>>>> Problem was, when I looked at a metaanalysis, it had found that
>>>> _neither_
>>>> Abstinence Plus or pure Abstinence Education was better than No Sex Ed
>>>> at
>>>> all.
>>>>
>>>> People distort. Somtimes they do it intentionally.
>>>>
>>>> Lena
>>>
>>> So, if I took you to our county clerk's office, where you could
>>> personally
>>> count (as in "how many are there") pistol permit records, along with
>>> photocopies of the cancelled checks used to pay for them.......
>>
>> I said, in part of my message that you kindly deleted, that your source
>> was relatively unbiased. I'm not trying to say that gov't numbers can't
>> be faked/misleading, but I'm also not trying to say your numbers aren't
>> valid.
>>
>> NRA numbers might require a bit more homework... mostly on who did the
>> research and how biased they are.
>>
>> Lena
>
> If a link in an NRA story points directly to an FBI web site showing (for
> example) the number of crimes committed with certain types of guns, I think
> it's safe to assume the data is clean.

I don't trust either the FBI or the NRA to get their facts straight. No
one gets a carte blanche with me. They deserve some sort of checking, on
my part, or anyone else's. that's what an educated reader is supposed to
do.

For instance, FBI crime statistics may note how many "unarmed robberies"
occurred, without bothering to explain that most of these unarmed
robberies are multiple people assaulting one person (while yes, one on
one, a gun will make most people stop... will you bet on a gang of kids
stopping because of a gun?). Facts can be distorted and mislead (and, if
you can cite sources saying that most unarmed robberies are done by single
people, i'll go eat some humble pie(my source on this is what I'd call
controversial). I like learning.)

Lena