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Banning research funding is a decidedly more political act. One that people don’t have the opportunity to cut through. Also as an aside your point about existi
by kasey_junk 7y ago
Banning research funding is a decidedly more political act. One that people don’t have the opportunity to cut through.
Also as an aside your point about existing data not correlating with homicide rates is particularly non compelling because it doesn’t normalize for firearm kind (handguns are more likely to be used in homicides than other forms of firearm) nor victim type (firearm ownership is massively correlated with domestic murders) statistical collection bias (the Las Vegas mass shooting was not included in national homicide statistics) or the massive scale difference of the US vs the rest of the world (we have a lot more murders of all type).
But here is the thing bad data is _easier_ to manipulate. Every good actor should be cheering expanded research into this issue because it gives all of us a better framework to reason from.
- roenxi 7y ago> Banning research funding is a decidedly more political act. Possibly but not probably. Once a situation becomes politically interesting any action or inaction could potentially be the more political act. If only highly political actors are asking for more research then doing nothing is simply fiscal prudence and not an especially political act. I expect a lot of research on violence has already been conducted and the answers to any questions are probably already known. I don't normally see people in this debate saying 'we don't know X', they say 'we know X' and someone else says 'that is true but misleading/not important enough to justify Y/think of the children', etc.
- kasey_junk 7y agoWe weren’t “doing nothing”. We were actively discouraging research.
- anon9001 7y agoImagine if there was an initiative to research the use of cryptography in crimes, because obviously cryptography does have an impact on public safety. Also, as you know, there's powerful people that would love to see encryption regulated in ways that aren't in the public interest. That's how gun people feel about researching gun violence.
- joe_the_user 7y agoThe subject "gun violence" seems like it has inherent presuppositions. Research on violence in the generic seems far more neutral. Moreover, there hasn't been a ban on research on the subject of gun violence - it is simply that this is the first time money specifically for research on that topic has been allocated.