Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Hawaii vs. Louisiana

The Charleston Gazette published an op-ed piece about guns and gun violence. I realize it's rehashing the same old talking points, but they're good talking points.

In Louisiana, nearly half of homes possess firearms -- and Louisiana has America's worst gun death rate, almost 20 per 100,000 population per year.

In Hawaii, fewer than 10 percent of homes have guns -- and the shooting fatality rate is only 2.8 per 100,000 per year.

"The equation is simple: More guns lead to more gun deaths," says Kristen Rand of the national Violence Policy Center, which ranks states according to gun killings.

Incidentally, West Virginia is 10th-worst in the shooting gallery, with nearly 15 deaths per 100,000, the center says -- far above the U.S. average of 10.3. The most dangerous states are Louisiana, Mississippi, Alaska, Alabama, Nevada, Arkansas, Tennessee, New Mexico, Arizona and West Virginia.


Of course a simple and transparent comparison like Louisiana and Hawaii is not sufficient for guys like Joe Huffman. Always ingenious, he discovered another way to describe the comparison which favors his argument. Throwing in "all violent crime," leaving guns out of it and picking and choosing the perfect combinations, he comes up with some semblance of an argument. The problem is, the bombastic tone and overall prolixity, reminiscent of Linoge, makes one wonder if it's really an elaborate con job. At least that's what I wonder.

What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.

14 comments:

  1. Sadly, you will always consider this a con job until you develop the Excel skills to understand Linoge, the statitician skills to understand Joe, and the open mind to consider that cherry-picked data that supports your notion is worth less than a larger set of data that doesn't support it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Of course these are the same stats that listed North and South Dakota has having a higher gun murder rate than they had actual murders.

    Information provided by a notorious lying, anti-American, anti-freedom leftist organization like VPC wouldn't be suspect or anything.

    ReplyDelete
  3. "The equation is simple: More guns lead to more gun deaths," says Kristen Rand of the national Violence Policy Center, which ranks states according to gun killings.

    It would be nice if the problem of violence in America were that easy. Unfortunately there are many social and economic factors that are in play, making it much harder for a simpleton like Kristen Rand to talk to.

    ReplyDelete
  4. "The equation is simple: More guns lead to more gun deaths," says Kristen Rand of the national Violence Policy Center

    Simple? Then what is this about a state with "lax" gun laws:

    New Hampshire named safest state in the country

    April 5, 2010

    CONCORD, N.H. --New Hampshire has been named the safest state in the nation for the third year in a row.

    In a report released Monday, Washington-based CQ Press announced its national crime rankings.

    http://tinyurl.com/y755w9k

    ReplyDelete
  5. "The equation is simple: More guns lead to more gun deaths," says Kristen Rand . . .

    Another bit of simple calculation will lead one to notice that there are more traffic deaths in areas with many busy roads than in, for example, remote swamps, extremely mountainous areas, and in the oceans. Shall we ban roads?

    Here's a statistic for you, that I challenge you to refute: of all the extinct species in the history of the planet, not one of them had figured out the manufacture and use of firearms. In other words, extinction = gunlessness, 100% of the time.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Here's a statistic for you, that I challenge you to refute: of all the extinct species in the history of the planet, not one of them had figured out the manufacture and use of firearms. In other words, extinction = gunlessness, 100% of the time.

    Man, I've got to get some of Hoffmmann's meds.

    ***MikeB*** You simply have to do an article on this most classic comment of Hoffmmann's. This is in the "aware of all internet traditions" category of internet craziness.

    --JadeGold

    ReplyDelete
  7. BTW, FWM apparently can't read.

    The study is looking at gun deaths not gun murders. Gun deaths would include murders, suicides, accidents, etc.

    And FJ omits that another state, Nevada--with very lax gun laws--was CQ Press' most dangerous state in the US for the fifth straight year.

    --JadeGold

    ReplyDelete
  8. BTW, CQ Press' most dangerous states:

    1. Nevada

    2. New Mexico

    3. Louisiana

    4. South Carolina

    5. Tennessee

    6. Florida

    7. Delaware

    8. Maryland

    9. Arizona

    10. Arkansas

    A quick perusal shows at least 8 of those states have very lax gun laws, including Linoge's beloved Tennessee.

    --JadeGold

    ReplyDelete
  9. JadeGold: "And FJ omits that another state, Nevada--with very lax gun laws--was CQ Press' most dangerous state in the US for the fifth straight year."

    I am happy to include it since I am not one who is trying to make a correllation. The safest state AND the most dangerous state have similar gun laws -- so it's NOT the gun laws.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Jadegold: “A quick perusal shows at least 8 of those states have very lax gun laws, including Linoge's beloved Tennessee.”

    Don’t most states have “very lax gun laws”? I mean how many “gun control” states are there? Only five states score better than 50 according to the Bradys.

    ReplyDelete
  11. FishyJay said, "The safest state AND the most dangerous state have similar gun laws -- so it's NOT the gun laws."

    I don't think it's fair to say that, unless you're still trying to say the gun control argument is that ONLY gun laws factor into this.

    No one is saying that, so what you said about the safest and the least safe states having similar laws means less than the fact that the top ten in the hit parade include most of the "lax-law states."

    ReplyDelete
  12. mikeb: I don't think it's fair to say that, unless you're still trying to say the gun control argument is that ONLY gun laws factor into this. No one is saying that, so what you said about the safest and the least safe states having similar laws means less than the fact that the top ten in the hit parade include most of the "lax-law states."

    If other things "factor into this" (and they do) that calls into question any attempt to cite gun laws as the cause.

    And not only do you have NH as the best state, you have anti-gunowner MD among the worst.

    Both of those call such conclusions into question.

    ReplyDelete
  13. MikeB: “No one is saying that, so what you said about the safest and the least safe states having similar laws means less than the fact that the top ten in the hit parade include most of the "lax-law states."

    Again, read what I posted. What is your ratio of “Lax-law states” to “non-lax-law states”? Is that ratio any different than the top ten?

    ReplyDelete
  14. FishyJay:

    "And not only do you have NH as the best state, you have anti-gunowner MD among the worst.

    Both of those call such conclusions into question."


    Could they be the exceptions that prove the rule? If the lists work up to 90%, aren't they good lists?

    ReplyDelete