08-23-2019, 02:58 AM
montana Wrote:I have no idea what he is talking about : lots of errors and bold underlined below??? I sent him the exact gun facts I posted on this forum. I cant believe it would be hard to explain his Alabama statistics, since they were obviously not correct after doing a little research. I will be much more careful when posting statistics from now on, especially from John Lott. I apologize for the mistake.
Given the 30,000 number for firearm related deaths mentioned, I suspect that the data is a number of years old. The CDC number for firearm-related deaths in 2019 has climbed to 39,773. Again this is based on "cause of death" listed on death certificates so it is not just for murders. If indeed the 1-firearm-murder-in-Alabama info is from Mr. Lott, it has been brought to his attention many times over the years, that could explain the terse response. It is old news to him. This is a business for him. He makes a lot of money from speaking engagements and commenting at places like Fox News about firearms and crime data, so his income is largely tied to being sensational. Mr Lott is a very smart guy and has published books filled with firearms statistics since 1998, so it is nearly impossible that he believed Alabama data was correct. He also knew that as long as he could correctly claim that his data is from an FBI report, he was ok from a legal standpoint. Merely misleading people without telling an outright lie is not against the law. Very clever people can still be sneaky.
Over the years I have learned to be suspicious of "facts" that seem too extreme, imply that the opposing group is either corrupt or incredibly stupid, or that are designed to elicit an emotional response. Especially that last one. If a speaker can get a group chanting, he knows they are no longer thinking critically. My wife is relatively liberal, so I see things like this from both the left and the right. My physical activities are often restricted these days, so I have more time than most people to research topics like this. I apologize if I get too wordy. My Dad was right when he said "ask that boy what time it is and he will tell you how to build a watch!"