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Seems like there is a consensus among economists who do research on gun violence, and they agree that guns make people safer.[1] I am certain that you have now

by nickff 10y ago

Seems like there is a consensus among economists who do research on gun violence, and they agree that guns make people safer.[1] I am certain that you have now been persuaded by this evidence, and believe concealed carry should be permitted worldwide... Or maybe you dismissed the result because you dislike the conclusions and conveniently believe John Lott is untrustworthy? I picked this example because I suspect it's an issue you will be extremely reluctant to change your mind on. [1] http://crimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Survey-of-Economists_Final.pdf http://crimeresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Survey-o...

mikeash 10y ago
This may surprise you, but I don't have particularly strong views on gun control. I reject the claims of the pro-gun side that guns are a useful and necessary defense against tyranny, and I do think gun control would probably be useful and good, but I don't argue that side strenuously and don't vote based upon it. Going even further, I think American liberals should abandon their gun control fetish at least for the time being, because it's costing them a lot of votes for no particularly good reason. As far as issues go, this one is way down the list in importance. Anyway, on to the actual link. My first question is, why is it useful to survey the opinion of economists on gun violence? That doesn't seem like the right field to poll at all. Shouldn't you be asking criminologists?
- milfandcookies 10y ago
  I'm interested to hear why you believe that guns are not a useful and necessary defense against tyranny.
  - randallsquared 10y ago
    Let's please skip that right now. It's far from the original topic, and there are so many places you can find reasoned arguments for either side.
MaulingMonkey 10y ago
> Seems like there is a consensus among economists who do research on gun violence, and they agree that guns make people safer.[1] This is a very "American" focused survey both in content and in responses. I'd be wary that you're oversimplifying. I wouldn't label the survey response to Question 3 "consensus" either. >> Of the valid email addresses, 43 were Americans, 4 were Canadians, 2 were Australians, and one was Swedish. >> Yet, while researchers from both the United States and Canada have extremely similar views that private gun ownership makes people safer, the few researchers from Australia and Sweden are much more supportive of gun control. Aaand this is why I hesitate to suddenly generalize the American solution to other parts of the world. I'd like to see the opinions of a statistically significant number of non-american economists before coming up with non-american answers. > I picked this example because I suspect it's an issue you will be extremely reluctant to change your mind on. My mind hasn't changed here - but my views already align roughly with the "consensus" you've pointed out - although with the additional, gigantic caveat, that these views apply to gun policy in America, where among other things, I believe there's no possibility of putting the genie back in the bottle with regards to widespread firearms availability. I feel it would be jumping the gun to try and apply the same approach to violence and crime in, say, Japan - based on only the above survey.

by nickff 10y ago

mikeash 10y ago

This may surprise you, but I don't have particularly strong views on gun control. I reject the claims of the pro-gun side that guns are a useful and necessary defense against tyranny, and I do think gun control would probably be useful and good, but I don't argue that side strenuously and don't vote based upon it. Going even further, I think American liberals should abandon their gun control fetish at least for the time being, because it's costing them a lot of votes for no particularly good reason. As far as issues go, this one is way down the list in importance. Anyway, on to the actual link. My first question is, why is it useful to survey the opinion of economists on gun violence? That doesn't seem like the right field to poll at all. Shouldn't you be asking criminologists?

milfandcookies 10y ago
I'm interested to hear why you believe that guns are not a useful and necessary defense against tyranny.
- randallsquared 10y ago
  Let's please skip that right now. It's far from the original topic, and there are so many places you can find reasoned arguments for either side.

MaulingMonkey 10y ago

> Seems like there is a consensus among economists who do research on gun violence, and they agree that guns make people safer.[1] This is a very "American" focused survey both in content and in responses. I'd be wary that you're oversimplifying. I wouldn't label the survey response to Question 3 "consensus" either. >> Of the valid email addresses, 43 were Americans, 4 were Canadians, 2 were Australians, and one was Swedish. >> Yet, while researchers from both the United States and Canada have extremely similar views that private gun ownership makes people safer, the few researchers from Australia and Sweden are much more supportive of gun control. Aaand this is why I hesitate to suddenly generalize the American solution to other parts of the world. I'd like to see the opinions of a statistically significant number of non-american economists before coming up with non-american answers. > I picked this example because I suspect it's an issue you will be extremely reluctant to change your mind on. My mind hasn't changed here - but my views already align roughly with the "consensus" you've pointed out - although with the additional, gigantic caveat, that these views apply to gun policy in America, where among other things, I believe there's no possibility of putting the genie back in the bottle with regards to widespread firearms availability. I feel it would be jumping the gun to try and apply the same approach to violence and crime in, say, Japan - based on only the above survey.