AST (After Sean Taylor)-To gun or not to gun?

[Schneed10]

Originally Posted by mheisig

It would appear quite the opposite, actually:

Bureau of Justice Firearms and Crime Statistics

Gun Sales Rise as Crime and Accident Rates Fall

Of course give it about 5 minutes before someone argues that statistics don't mean anything. Oddly enough, statistics relating to firearms and the research methodologies have got to be the most hotly debated thing I've ever seen. Each side claims to have the stats to back it up.

Just stumbled across this too - a diving website, of all things:

Australia's high crime rates prompt travel warning

Just FYI, Australia banned firearms in the mid-90s.

Yeah it depends how you count "firearm and ammunition sales". Are you going by dollars in sales, or are you going by firearm units? If somebody showed me that firearm unit sales are increasing while gun crimes are decreasing, I'd be sold.

The reason people argue the stats is because you can twist the data and hide your definitions for counting things, and present a graph, and slip it past most people. Political lobbyists are notorious for this, they're not objective in any way. They're just trying to find some way, any way, to support their argument and continue their cause - even if it's fallacy.

You have to be completely objective when reviewing data like that. And unfortunately, the people publishing it (on either side of the argument) are most often not objective.