General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: WaPo Article Contends "Zero" Correlation Between State Gun Laws and State Homicide Rates [View all]branford
(4,462 posts)I don't care if Volokh is the Chairman of the RNC. Either his data and methodology is good or its not.
Can conservatives ignore data, on any topic concerning firearms and otherwise, because the researcher is a Democrat or liberal? The science is what matters.
Most studies of social science, regardless of researcher or compiler of data, have problems due to the complexities of the subject matter. You haven't event attempted to rebut anything in Volokh's blog post. Did you even read it. Heck, you could have simply mentioned some of the criticisms raised in the comments (too late!). I'm not sure if you're just ideologically obstinate or disinterested, but either way it's not convincing and will not advance your goal of gun control. If you want to succeed, you have to maturely and directly counter your opposition, not simply insult or dismiss them.
For the sake of discussion, I'll even entertain your inquiries:
*Do you support universal background checks? Yes, I've mentioned this numerous times.
*Do you support any restrictions on sale or transport of guns? There are already numerous restrictions on the sale and transport of guns, including our current NICS system, which I strongly support.
*Do you support any publicly funded studies on gun violence? Yes. In fact, while I was employed by the National Institute of Justice, I actually participated in firearms-related research. Also, be careful what you wish for, as some of these studies run counter to the gun control agenda.
For example, the research of the Department of Justice and Obama's National Institute of Justice found that the 1994 AWB, and AWB's generally, to have no measurable effect on crime or anything else.
Updated Assessment of the Federal Assault Weapons Ban: Impacts on Gun Markets and Gun Violence, 1994-2003
https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/nij/grants/204431.pdf
Summary of Select Firearm Violence Prevention Strategies
https://archive.org/stream/NijGunPolicyMemo/nij-gun-policy-memo_djvu.txt