Gun Control & RKBA
In reply to the discussion: Ohio: Buckeyes for Concealed Carry President Uses Handgun to Defend Family [View all]DanTex
(20,709 posts)Sticking with the dumb argument! Incredibly valid! At least you dropped the "deaths per gun" thing. I'll have to remember that, though, it was a classic example of sheer idiocy!
Are you aware that Russia ranks below Libya, Panama, Mexico, and Saudi Arabia in the human development index. I mean, beyond pictures of airplanes, do you have any logical argument as to why Russia is a better point of comparison than Western Europe, Canada, Australia? Do you know of any social scientist that has suggested that Russia is a more appropriate comparison? Do you think that the fact that Russia has a low life expectancy is a good argument against single payer healthcare? Or are you only cherry-picking Russia because it's the only example you can find of a country with high homicide and strict gun laws?
The fact of the matter is that there is extensive evidence that gun availability contribute to suicide rates. Once again it is the NRA crazies against the scientific community. The Hemenway study I posted, and Harvard School of Public health has some good info about this, but the following chart is a good starting point:
Yes, I get that Japan has a high suicide rate. This is because guns are just one factor, not the only factor. Nobody is claiming that you can predict the suicide rate exactly based on the number of guns. As I was discussing with ellisonz above, the whole concept of multivariate analysis, that there can be more than one factor involved, always seems mindboggling to the gun loons. Japan has a high suicide rates for cultural reasons. If they had a lot of guns, there is little doubt that their suicide rate would be even higher.
As I've pointed out many times before, there is a significant body of scientific and statistical research on this. The fact that you choose to ignore it all doesn't change that. You are, in fact, exactly like a global warming denier that picks out a few scattered and useless statistics (e.g. "deaths per gun" , makes some preposterous arguments (Russia LOL), and ignores the scientific evidence. I don't know what it is about gun fanatics and their aversion to science, but pictures of airplanes are no substitute for rigorous and systematic analysis of data.