More guns, less crime
Gun sales spiked again in 2011. The FBI released it’s preliminary crime reports and crime is down overall, even violent crime. Yeah, correlation and all, I know. But the anti-gunners would have us believe that guns cause crime so more guns would mean more crime, right?
December 19th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
The fact that they insist on causality when statistics appear to go their way, and you admit the potential for mere correlation when the statistics seem to give you the upper hand, speaks volumes. Those who fight to curtail our civil rights ought to follow your example and show some intellectual integrity.
December 19th, 2011 at 1:54 pm
You are confusing the issue with relevant facts.
December 19th, 2011 at 2:20 pm
But you are quite right. From correlation you cannot infer causation. But a lack or correlation pretty much proves a hypothesis is wrong.
December 19th, 2011 at 4:11 pm
I’m with you: When it comes to citing gun-related correlations to obliterate the lie that citizen liberty to arm causes more crime, the correlations between descriptive statistics are fair game. While ants do not cause picnics any more than getting that AR-15 for Christmas causes bank robberies, such statistics subtract the false argument that would have been made against us.
December 19th, 2011 at 5:00 pm
So it is one false argument down, 9,999 or so still to go….
December 19th, 2011 at 5:55 pm
The FBI report is a pile of crap the DOJ-BJS last year recorded over 4X the number of violent crimes than the FBI, as Lt Col Grossman says if there is anything holding violent crime in check it is the armed citizen, but the FBI report is fluff
December 19th, 2011 at 9:32 pm
I’m with the Duck: What public LEO bunch would NOT fudge stats? Except for gun running cartel stuff that could be used to enact more restrictive gun laws, of course…
They cherry-pick, suppress, et, et. God only knows what the real numbers are.
December 19th, 2011 at 10:10 pm
RC beat me to it, but to expand on the point, if there is a causal relationship between X and Y, then there has to be a positive correlation relationship between X and Y. That is just the way the system works. If, however, there is a negative correlation between X and Y (as there is between firearm ownership and firearm-related crime rates), then there simply cannot be a causal relationship.
December 20th, 2011 at 10:26 am
Following on the outrages of NOAA, BATF and CDC, no one is likely to trust political “science” again for at least a generation.
You can’t spell “statistics” without “statist.”