|
February 07, 2005
More murder is less!
Bill Barnes, described as the principal architect (via Jeff Soyer) of the proposed ordinance to ban handguns in San Francisco, is a man destined to go far in politics. Consider this dazzling display of statistical talent in his discussion of the District of Columbia gun ban in the San Francisco Bay Guardian: Meaningful gun reform is one part of making communities safer. New investments in education, community development, and jobs are also needed to provide real alternatives to violence. Nevertheless, fewer handguns in the flow of commerce will make it more difficult to obtain one. A community conversation about the violence caused by handguns will lift our city up, as neighbors talk to one another about strategies to increase the peace in our neighborhoods.Once you get past the "community conversation," be sure to read and parse what follows very carefully, and keep a close eye on the moving number "20." Note the clever way "20-year low" (which is not there yet, but is "on its way') follows "more than 20 years ago." That's the sort of manipulation that experienced store owners (conned one time too many into refunding too much change) would spot, but I'm afraid most Bay Areans -- especially those who agree with the gun ban -- missed it. While I'm sure very few of San Francisco's gullible read this blog, I do think it's fair to point out that "more than 20-years ago" means 1976! (That's almost thirty years ago!) What Mr. Barnes does not tell you is that the murder rate had been dropping before the ban. And in the time period since the ban, the District's murder rate and robbery rate have gone up, and, with the exception of one year, remained consistently higher: ....with a murder rate of 46 per 100,000 people in 2002, the District easily holds the title of the U.S. murder capital among cities with over 500,000 people. This was not even close to being the case prior to the ban.So actually, DC gun ban statistics are a persuasive argument against the San Francisco ordinance; not the other way around. (As recently as 2002, Washington earned the title of "the Nation's Murder Capital.") I have to admit, Barnes has balls. Not every political strategist can turn an argument against something into an argument for it. Of course, as Michael Bellesiles proved, it works better if you simply falsify the data. Perhaps Mr. Barnes should go into History. posted by Eric on 02.07.05 at 03:42 PM
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry: http://classicalvalues.com/cgi-bin/pings.cgi/1976 Listed below are links to weblogs that reference More murder is less!:
» How to lie with Statistics from Synthstuff - music, photography and more...
There is a wonderful book called “How to Lie with Statistics” by Darrell Huff and Irving Geis. A very real-world example of this was discovered by Eric at Classical Values: More murder is less! Bill Barnes, described as the principal... [Read More] Tracked on February 8, 2005 01:03 AM
» 125th Carnival of the Vanities from Coyote Blog
Welcome to the 125th edition of the Carnival of the Vanities. [Read More] Tracked on February 8, 2005 11:34 PM
» 125th Carnival of the Vanities from Coyote Blog
Welcome to the 125th edition of the Carnival of the Vanities. [Read More] Tracked on February 8, 2005 11:52 PM
Comments
"Meaningful gun reform"? That's even more of a Newspeak euphemism than "gun control". It's gun confiscation, a gun ban. "Victim disarmanent" is what it really is. I'm against it. Steven Malcolm Anderson (Cato theElder) the Lesbian-worshipping man's-man-admiring myth-based egoist · February 8, 2005 03:20 AM |
|
December 2006
WORLD-WIDE CALENDAR
Search the Site
E-mail
Classics To Go
Archives
December 2006
November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 May 2002 See more archives here Old (Blogspot) archives
Recent Entries
Laughing at the failure of discourse?
Holiday Blogging The right to be irrational? I'm cool with the passion fashion Climate change meltdown at the polls? If you're wrong, then so is God? Have a nice day, asshole! Scarlet "R"? Consuming power while empowering consumption Shrinking is growth!
Links
Site Credits
|
|
So effing busted. But the Bay Area media will never expose this dishonesty, since they feel, as a matter of faith, that guns are evil. The ends therefore justify the means.
This incident is Scrappleface worthy.