BOOK REVIEW, Chapters 1 & 2 of David Hemenway "Private Guns - Public Health"

[GreenStormCloud]

In post # 49 of this thread http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=118&topic_id=300522#300702 DUer Botany appeals to Dr. Hemenway as an authority. Dr. Hemenway claims to approach guns as a public health problem and to not be anti-gun. A posted that I would get the book and post a book review. The review will be done by chapters.

Chapter 1 simply establishes that the US has much gun violence compared to European nations. He then compares the violent crime rates of the US to Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and an average of 17 industrialized nations - all European with Japan added in. Data as of the year 2000.

In the table the US has by far the lowest percentage of people victimized for Car Theft, Burglary, Robbery, Sexual Incident, Assault or Threat, 11 Crimes (He doesn't explain what that is, and I don't have any idea.)

Percentage of People victimized in 2000
Nation-------Car Theft--Burglary--Robbery--Sexual--Assault--11 Crimes
US-----------0.5--------1.8-------0.6------1.5-----3.4------21.1
Canada-------1.4--------2.3-------0.9------2.1-----5.3------23.8
Australia------1.9--------3.9-------1.2------4.0-----6.4------30.0
New Zealand--2.7--------4.3-------4.3------2.7-----5.7------29.4 (Note: NZ data is from 1992.)
17 Nations----1.0--------1.8-------0.8------1.7-----3.5------21.3

The 17 Nations are Australia, Belgium, Canada, Catalonia (Spain), Denmark, England and Wales, Finland, France, Japan, Netherlands, Northern Ireland, Poland, Portugal, Scotland, Sweden, Switzerland, United States.

Altough not part of that chart, he notes that the US has a high murder rate, especially murder by firearm.

Notice that the US, which has very low levels is included in the average of the 17 nations, and then the US is compared to that average. By including the US in the average he brings the average victimization rate down. If the US is going to be compared to a rate, the US should not be part of the numbers that the rate is composed of.

On page 7, he says, "...our violence rates resemble those of other high-income countries." But according to his own table, we are far less violent than those other countries.

Chapter 2.

In this chapter he mainly recounts the success of the public health approach in reducing auto injuries by redesign of car and of highways. Page 13 has a table (Table 2.1) of suggestions for changes to be made that would reduce firearms injuries. The table demonstrates that Hemenway knows very little about firearms.

I will not reproduce the entire table here, but only those suggestions that demonstrate Hemenway's ignorance.

1.b. Prohibit manufacture of certain types of firearms (e.g., plastic firearms) (It would seem that he is still caught up in the old GLOCK hysteria. He doesn't know that there are no plastic firearms, and never have been.)

2.b. Prohibit manufacture os specific types of ammunition

4.a. Require registration of firearms (Already shown by real life to be useless in controlling crime)
4.b. Improve gun tracing though better firearm labeling (All guns already have serial numbers and the make and model stamped into them. If he means micro-stamping, that won't help)

5.a. Require waiting period. (Already shown to be useless)
5.c. Arrest batters; confiscate their firearms (I included this from the list as an example of something I totally agree with, and to show that not all of his suggestions are mistaken.)

7.a. Redesign bullets to reduce injury severity (Full metal jacket bullets already exist)
7.b. Redesign firearms to reduce rate of fire, muzzle velocity (Guns that fire only one shot already exist, and so does ".22 BB cap". Note, .22 BB cap was developed in 1845. It was the cartridge used in amusement park shooting galleries.)

He continues to state the the pro-gun lobby tends to take the following views:
Criminals don't obey laws about murder, robbery, rape, etc so they won't bother with laws about guns either. The criminal is blamed for his gun misuse.
Suicidal people who really want to kill themselves will do so anyway using a different means.
People who have accidents with guns are usually habitually careless. They often have records of heavy drinking, repeated auto accidents, traffic tickets, assaults, etc. They are accidents looking for places to happen and will find way to hurt themselves, even if guns didn't exist. (He doesn't note that the firearms accident rate has been going down markedly.)

He claims that in the following chapters, he will show that the above paragraph is a wrong-headed view and that a health care approach to firearms will reduce injuries.

In a couple of days I will post about the next chapter or two. At this point, Yes, Dr. Hemenway does need to put in his application at Burger King. Personally I perfer Jack-in-the-Box burgers because you can order cheddar cheese on the burger instead of American cheese.

[AtheistCrusader]

1. Don'cha know that Glock will walk right through airport security?

Gawd help us when the terrorists finally get around to watching Die Hard and pick up on that one.

[jazzhound]

2. The ultimate smackdown of the "gun epidemic" drivel

Furnished by Don Kates and associates:

http://www.guncite.com/journals/tennmed.html

[spin]

3. Good review. I'm gladI didn't waste my money on this book. (n/t)

[Euromutt]

4. Thanks for having the patience to read this

So that the rest of us don't have to.