Important Anti-Gun Study Shown to be Flawed (if facts matter) [View all]

[AnotherMcIntosh]

Last edited Sat Jan 5, 2013, 01:54 PM - Edit history (1)

Recently, a professor published a study in the Journal of Public Health in support of another AWB. The study is an important one and will influence others. Other influential sources will refer to it. Some already have.

The Harvard School of Public Health, as just one example, recently referred to the anti-gun ownership study while saying

"Compared with the United States, Switzerland ... (has a lower rate) of gun ownership, stricter gun control laws, and their policies discourage gun ownership.

"Rosenbaum, Janet E. Gun utopias? Firearm access and ownership in Israel and Switzerland. Journal of Public Health Policy. 2012; 33:46-58.
http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/research/hicrc/firearms-research/other-countries/index.html

The example statement of alleged lower gun ownership, stricter gun control laws, and anti-gun policies in Switzerland is either true or not true.

The study is either a fact-based one or one which is at odds with the facts. If you have an anti-gun politician who is going to rely upon it, shouldn't you be aware of whether it is reliable or not? As the MSM makes a push for another public controversy, and as certain politicians in Washington and others push for greater anti-gun ownership legislation, there are those who will undoubtedly rely and refer to it. (If the study is not a fact-based one, that should be known and pointed out when anti-gun advocates claim to have relied upon it. For a historical context of how professional appearing reports and commentaries have been used for propaganda within the United States, Google "Operation Mockingbird." They say that it has been discontinued.)

A Swiss national who is familiar with Swiss law, practices, and policies, has taken the time to show how the study is flawed. In an open letter now published on the web, that author recently wrote:

"Dr. Rosembaum: It appears today that your efforts to publicize your research ("Gun Utopias? Firearm Access and Ownership in Israel and Switzerland," Journal of Public Health Policy 33, p. 47 (2012)) have accelerated. The most recent showcase for your paper and the concepts that underlie it happens to be Foreign Policy ("A League of Our Own," Foreign Policy (December 19, 2012)) but Ezra Klein showcased your research in an interview for his Washington-Post sponsored Wonkblog some days before ("Mythbusting: Israel and Switzerland are not gun-toting utopias," Wonkblog (December 14, 2012)). It is unfortunate then that the body of your research on Switzerland can only be described as "shoddy," at best. At worst it appears more like raw academic fraud. "

http://www.finemrespice.com/node/122 (also in full text at http://www.democraticunderground.com/1172100207)

More details can be found in that letter and an earlier December 2012 analysis by the same author who also wrote:

"The instant study appears to be laden with pervasive and material flaws, some of which are difficult to explain in the absence of malice. In the case of her interpretation of Swiss firearms law these defects appear particularly egregious. Further, the conclusions to which Dr. Rosenbaum leaps and her propensity to publicize them by seeking out exposure through mass media outlets are concerning. Coupled with her public advocacy statements on e.g., her Twitter stream one is given the impression that Dr. Rosenbaum is engaged in advocacy, not in science. Certainly, it is a strain to view her as an unbiased researcher in light of these impressions.

http://www.finemrespice.com/node/121

EDITED TO ADD MORE from the Swiss author who critized the article published in the Journal of Public Health :

"In fact, despite your absurd claims that ownership of firearms in Switzerland is "rare," the same data shows that Swiss civilians are better armed than the populations of Northern Ireland, Lebanon, Kosovo, Angola, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Libya, Mexico, Guatemala, South Africa, Pakistan, Jordan, Brazil, Nicaragua, Iran, El Salvador, Mozambique, Afghanistan, Zimbabwe, Myanmar, Syria, Egypt, Palestine, the Ivory Coast, Liberia, Laos, Chad, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, and Ethiopia. Perhaps now is a good moment to remind you once again that you cite the same report from which these figures are drawn repeatedly in your research?

http://www.finemrespice.com/node/122