General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Gun Homicide Rates Up 31 Percent Since Stand Your Ground(FL) [View all]Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)The use of homicide instead of murder rates is the first clue this isn't a good study to try and base policy on. Homicide isn't always murder, if a victim of an attempted rape shoots her attacker it is a homicide, but a justifiable homicide in the name of self defense (but some here would still label a rape victim fighting back a gun jumper). Likewise that justified police shootings are still homicides.
The states they compared Florida too also are not very good controls. None of them really are good controls as they don't match Floridas laws or demographic makeup very well- and they seem to have been cherry picked, with no mention of how both Florida and the controls compared to the national average.
They don't seem to have looked at any other changes in the law or policy during the same period to see if they are a cause.
And after all that even the study authors can't say that there is any causation between the law and the increase in homicides.