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Monday, February 18, 2013
The Scientific Rebuttal to Large DGU Estimates
The Huffington Post
Though the scenario plays out in virtually every western and action film ever made, good guys stopping bad guys with guns is a rare occurrence as we know from reports from the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice and the Harvard Injury Control Policy Research Center's David Hemenway. Every year there are even a few token incidents in the news of this occurring, but for most part these events are uncommon. And there is a good reason for why that is: Human physiology.
When people are put in a crisis situation the fight-or-flight response is triggered and the sympathetic nervous system kicks into action involuntarily. Stress hormones like epinephrine are released en masse into our blood stream increasing arterial pressure and blood flow to major muscle masses, dilating the blood vessels. This boosts our gross motor skills. Still some blood vessels constrict which reduces blood flow to the ends of appendages to limit injuries. The heart rate increases. A report from Killology Research Group, that studies the science of combat, explains that "extreme SNS activation will cause catastrophic failure of the visual, cognitive, and motor control systems." Tunnel vision and auditory exclusion impair our ability to take in our surroundings, we lose complex motor control (meaning we fumble performing anything but the most basic movements) and irrationality and confusion prevent sound action.
Though the scenario plays out in virtually every western and action film ever made, good guys stopping bad guys with guns is a rare occurrence as we know from reports from the U.S. Department of Justice's National Institute of Justice and the Harvard Injury Control Policy Research Center's David Hemenway. Every year there are even a few token incidents in the news of this occurring, but for most part these events are uncommon. And there is a good reason for why that is: Human physiology.
When people are put in a crisis situation the fight-or-flight response is triggered and the sympathetic nervous system kicks into action involuntarily. Stress hormones like epinephrine are released en masse into our blood stream increasing arterial pressure and blood flow to major muscle masses, dilating the blood vessels. This boosts our gross motor skills. Still some blood vessels constrict which reduces blood flow to the ends of appendages to limit injuries. The heart rate increases. A report from Killology Research Group, that studies the science of combat, explains that "extreme SNS activation will cause catastrophic failure of the visual, cognitive, and motor control systems." Tunnel vision and auditory exclusion impair our ability to take in our surroundings, we lose complex motor control (meaning we fumble performing anything but the most basic movements) and irrationality and confusion prevent sound action.
Why NRA Fear Tactics Work So Well
ABC News Medical Unit
The studies looked at things like differences between groups’ perception of eye movement, and aversion to threatening noises. Researchers also noted that Democrats had larger anterior cingulate cortexes, which are associated with tolerance to uncertainty, while Republicans had larger right amygdalas, which are associated with sensitivity to fear.
Sunday, February 17, 2013
Where Chicago Gets Its Guns
The Chicago Tribune via commenter nickxdanger
As he sold four handguns in a South Side parking lot last year, Levaine Tanksley boasted to his customer that there were plenty more illicit weapons available, investigators say.
"Twenty-five more in four hours," Tanksley told his customer, who was secretly working for law enforcement and recording the conversation. "Give me $5,000 and you can put your order in then. I'll get you whatever, give me a list."
As Tanksley, who police say has ties to a Chicago street gang, made his sales pitch, David Lewisbey was stocking up on more weapons at a gun show 40 miles away in Crown Point, Ind., one of several trips he made across the state border and back in little more than a day, according to federal authorities. Five hours later, Lewisbey, an unlikely gun trafficker then enrolled in college, was back in Chicago as Tanksley made good on his promise and sold the informant nine more guns, authorities allege.
A federal indictment charges the two with illegally selling 43 firearms to the government informant in just under 26 hours, a volume made possible by gun shows and less restrictive state laws in Indiana, by far the No. 1 source of out-of-state guns used in crimes in Cook County. Private gun sales in Indiana don't require background checks, a waiting period or even a record of the transaction.
More on the Nuttiness of Wayne La Pierre
Huffington Post
What Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association and its chief spokesman, wrote was a paranoid, maniacal screed that, if it had come from another crazed source you wouldn't have been surprised. That it said "NRA" in the byline shouldn't make it palatable. It should make it reprehensible.
You want just one example? That's a fair enough request. The head of the NRA outlier group feverishly wrote --
Zero.
That's reality. Actual reality.
Not some sick dream rant by the cult leader of a fringe pack to gin up fear.
It's a numerical fact. And it's according to the NY Police Department -- who I'm guessing have access to more real statistics and actual information than Wayne LaPierre. But then, the barista at my local Starbucks seems to have access to more actual information than Wayne LaPierre.
What Wayne LaPierre, CEO of the National Rifle Association and its chief spokesman, wrote was a paranoid, maniacal screed that, if it had come from another crazed source you wouldn't have been surprised. That it said "NRA" in the byline shouldn't make it palatable. It should make it reprehensible.
You want just one example? That's a fair enough request. The head of the NRA outlier group feverishly wrote --
After Hurricane Sandy, we saw the hellish world that the gun prohibitionists see as their utopia. Looters ran wild in south Brooklyn. There was no food, water or electricity. And if you wanted to walk several miles to get supplies, you better get back before dark, or you might not get home at all.Actually, the reality is that for almost five days after Hurricane Sandy... there were NO murders.
Zero.
That's reality. Actual reality.
Not some sick dream rant by the cult leader of a fringe pack to gin up fear.
It's a numerical fact. And it's according to the NY Police Department -- who I'm guessing have access to more real statistics and actual information than Wayne LaPierre. But then, the barista at my local Starbucks seems to have access to more actual information than Wayne LaPierre.
Squirrel Hunting Event in Upstate New York Draws Protests
CBS Local reports
Protesters from New York City headed upstate Saturday to demonstrate against a squirrel-killing contest in the small town of Holley.Mr. Shapiro speaks very nicely. I would just say it's fucking sick.
The 7th annual Hazzard County Squirrel Slam was sold out Saturday, with all 1,000 tickets spoken for. The contest in Holley – a town of about 1,800 approximately 20 miles from Rochester – will raise money for the volunteer Holley Fire Department, the event sponsor.
Prizes ranging from $50 to $200 were being given out Saturday for the largest squirrel shot and the heaviest group of five squirrels. Five rifles and shotguns are to be raffled off, according to a flier posted on the Holley Fire Department Web site.
“Declaring someone a winner for killing the most animals influences children and the wider community to believe that wildlife is unimportant and killing for a monetary prize is meritorious,” Brian Shapiro, New York state director of the Humane Society of the United States, wrote in a letter to Holley Fire Chief Pete Hendrickson.
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