by Loki » Mon 09 Oct 2006, 15:17:39
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Dreamtwister', '
')I wonder if that might have anything to do with relative poverty levels...It's interesting that you chose Vancouver to argue your point, since it contains the poorest slum in North America. Maybe the reason everyone is ignoring this "elephant" is because it's pink.
I chose Vancouver-Seattle because those are the only cities for which I have data--I also happen to have spent plenty of time in both cities (used to live in Vancouver). Some anti-gun advocates cooked up a study using these two cities to "prove" that gun control leads to a decrease in murder rates. Here's a quote from an article that debunked this sorry excuse for scholarship, which is pretty typical of the "public health" professionals' take on guns:
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ince its publication this article on gun control is among those most frequently cited, though this small scale (two cities) study has been thoroughly debunked by three large scale (national and multi- national) studies. Kellermann and Sloan's biased interpretation of their data, asserting that guns are to blame for crime, assaults, and homicide, is even refuted by their own statistics.
Kellermann and Sloan glossed over the disparate ethnic compositions of Seattle (12.1% Black and Hispanic; 7.4% Asian) and Vancouver (0.8% Black and Hispanic; 22.1% Asian). The importance? Despite typically higher prevalence of legal gun ownership amongst non-Hispanic-Caucasians in the US, the homicide rate was lower for non-Hispanic-Caucasian Seattle residents (6.2 per 100,000) than for those in adjacent Vancouver, Canada (6.4). Only because the Seattle Black (36.6) and Hispanic (26.9) homicide rates were astronomic could the authors make their claim.
Could guns have some special evil influence over Blacks and Hispanics, but not others? Hardly! The authors failed to identify the inescapable truth. The roots of inner-city violence lie in the disruption of the family, the breakdown of society, desperate and demoralized poverty, promotion of violence by the media, the profit of the drug trade, the pathology of substance abuse, child abuse, disrespect for authority, and racism * not in gun ownership.
Guns in the Medical Literature - A Failure of Peer Review
My point is that to compare the US with other countries is comparing apples to oranges. Control for differences in race/ethnicity and our violence rates are equal to or less than many so-called "more civilized" countries. Race/ethnicity may just be a proxy for poverty, as you suggest, and there is some evidence for this. Regardless, few European anti-gun nuts like Lorenzo consider differences between the US and their particular nanny state paradise. It's much easier to indulge in America-bashing when you don't have to think.
![[smilie=new_snipersmilie.gif]](https://udev.peakoil.com/forums/images/smilies/new_snipersmilie.gif "new_snipersmilie")
![[smilie=qleft3.gif]](https://udev.peakoil.com/forums/images/smilies/qleft3.gif "qleft3")
, talking casually about buying a new gun; how his roommate had 10 guns...............I just found that kind of shocking.
