Mini-Throughput: What the Data Say About Guns

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : Now does this mean that gun ownership is driving murder rates?
63% : If you plot total murder rate again gun ownership, the correlation shown in the graph above completely disappears.
63% : The state-to-state correlation of gun ownership to murder rate is as murky as the country-to-country data, with no obvious correlations jumping out until you start adjusting for confounding factors.
62% : If you plot overall suicide rate against gun ownership, there is no connection whatsoever.
62% : The connection between gun ownership and murder is also unclear because, again, you can't just ignore murders when they don't involve a gun.
61% : In the wake of the Port Arthur massacre, Australia enacted tight restrictions on gun ownership and bought back over 600,000 weapons.
58% : I'm not saying gun ownership isn't a big part of the problem; I'm saying that this is very difficult to argue by comparing the US to other countries.
57% : He contrasts this against Wyoming which has high gun ownership and a low homicide rate.
56% : We trail countries like Iran (2.5), Rwanda (2.6) and Ghana (2.1).
51% : Suicide is far more a function of culture and circumstance than it is of gun ownership.
50% : However, I thought I would turn toward the debate over guns as a scientist and see what the data actually say about gun control, gun ownership and gun deaths.
42% : But if you're looking for some skepticism on big sweeping claims about the link -- or lack thereof -- between gun control and gun violence -- I'm hoping I can help generate a little more light and a little less noise.
40% : Columbine, which happened while the assault weapons ban was in place and did not use assault weapons, is also classified as using assault weapons.
40% : This has been the general conclusion of researchers on the subject of the assault weapons ban.
39% : I don't think the zealots will be persuaded -- anti-gun folks will still to ban them no matter what the data say and militia-types will oppose any gun control no matter what the data say.
38% : Claim: Mass shootings dramatically increased since the assault weapons ban expired.
35% : As expected, the recent spate of mass shootings has prompted intense debate about gun control.
35% : When a Republican runs for governor on the platform of "Jesus, Guns and Babies", she's not opening a debate on gun control.
35% : I am extremely dubious of gun control both as a matter of civil liberty and as a solution to the problem of gun violence.

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