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https://publichealthwatch.wordpress.com/2015/04/04/new-harvard-research-debunks-gun-lobbys-favorite-talking-points/Public Health Watch
New Harvard Research Debunks Gun Lobbys Favorite Talking Points
POSTED BY PUBLICHEALTHWATCH ? APRIL 4, 2015
Anyone familiar with the gun debate has heard the talking points of the National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates: Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer. Or: If only more ordinary citizens were armed, they could stop mass shootings. As weve shown in our reporting, these arguments dont stand up to scrutiny. After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, commented on another long-running assertion from the gun lobby: There is no evidence that having more guns reduces crime, he told the New York Times.
Yet, Hemenway says that some in the media have continued to treat such assertions as legitimate points of debate. That leaves the public thinking, Okay, so theres disagreement on this, he says.
lindysalsagal
(20,791 posts)A Violence Policy Center study found that Texas concealed handgun license holders were arrested for weapon-related offenses at a rate 81% higher than the general population of Texas aged 21 and older (offenses included 279 assaults, 671 unlawfully carrying a weapon, and 172 deadly conduct/discharge of a firearm). Between January 1, 1996 and August 31, 2001, Texas concealed handgun license holders were arrested for 5,314 crimesincluding murder, rape, kidnapping and theft. And a 2007 investigation by the Florida Sun-Sentinel found that the states permit system had granted concealed carry permits to more than 1,400 individuals who pled guilty or no contest to a felony, 216 individuals with outstanding warrants, 128 individuals with active domestic violence restraining orders, and six registered sex offenders.
hack89
(39,171 posts)and lets see rates for all crime, not just gun crime.
X_Digger
(18,585 posts)1 - Conviction Data: http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/chl/reports/convrates.htm
2 - Number of Licensees: http://www.dps.texas.gov/rsd/chl/reports/demographics.htm
3 - Population Data: http://www.dshs.state.tx.us/CHS/popdat/detailX.shtm
jeff47
(26,549 posts)Same with the "more people killed by cars" talking point - a lot more people have cars, and those cars are "deployed" far more often.
hack89
(39,171 posts)certainly not CCW permit owners.
jeff47
(26,549 posts)And there's your answer. It is the CCW permit owners, at least in Texas.
Now, that does not mean a CCW permit makes someone a violent criminal. Mostly likely it's correlation.
hack89
(39,171 posts)CCW permit holders vs members of the general population that own guns. Gun owners vs gun owners.
The OP dishonesty framed the issue by having one group with a 100 % gun ownership rate and compared it to a much larger group where gun owners were a minority.
ananda
(28,895 posts)The looser gun laws were a sop to the criminal justice industry.
yardwork
(61,772 posts)Kang Colby
(1,941 posts)flamin lib
(14,559 posts)'gun rights activist' and NRA member and apologist.
Attack the messenger, the message is undeniable.
Kang Colby
(1,941 posts)Guys like Hemenway, DeMarco, and Webster have made careers in portraying private gun ownership in the worst possible light. They are not unbiased sources of reputable academic integrity. They are men paid for and funded by gun control special interest groups.
Yet, when unbiased sources like the CDC review the data, the conclusions are much different.
http://www.nap.edu/read/18319/chapter/1
Photographer
(1,142 posts)CTyankee
(63,926 posts)I would be interested in knowing.