Storm damage

Gun Research papers post Federal "ban"

1: Mozaffarian D, Hemenway D, Ludwig DS. Curbing Gun Violence: Lessons From Public Health Successes. JAMA. 2013 Jan 7:1-2. doi: 10.1001/jama.2013.38. [Epub ahead of print] PubMed PMID: 23295618.

2: Barber C, Hemenway D. Too many or too few unintentional firearm deaths in official U.S. mortality data? Accid Anal Prev. 2011 May;43(3):724-31. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2010.10.018. Epub 2010 Dec 3. PubMed PMID: 21376860.

3: Johnson RM, Barber C, Azrael D, Clark DE, Hemenway D. Who are the owners of firearms used in adolescent suicides? Suicide Life Threat Behav. 2010 Dec;40(6):609-11. doi: 10.1521/suli.2010.40.6.609. PubMed PMID: 21198329; PubMed  Central PMCID: PMC3085447.

4: Hemenway D, Vriniotis M, Johnson RM, Miller M, Azrael D. Gun carrying by high school students in Boston, MA: does overestimation of peer gun carrying matter? J Adolesc. 2011 Oct;34(5):997-1003. doi: 10.1016/j.adolescence.2010.11.008. Epub 2010 Dec 10. PubMed PMID: 21146203.

5: Wintemute GJ, Hemenway D, Webster D, Pierce G, Braga AA. Gun shows and gun violence: fatally flawed study yields misleading results. Am J Public Health. 2010 Oct;100(10):1856-60. doi: 10.2105/AJPH.2010.191916. Epub 2010 Aug 19. PubMed PMID: 20724672; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2936974.

6: Richardson EG, Hemenway D. Homicide, suicide, and unintentional firearm fatality: comparing the United States with other high-income countries, 2003. J Trauma. 2011 Jan;70(1):238-43. doi: 10.1097/TA.0b013e3181dbaddf. PubMed PMID: 20571454.

7: Hemenway D, Barber C, Miller M. Unintentional firearm deaths: a comparison of  other-inflicted and self-inflicted shootings. Accid Anal Prev. 2010 Jul;42(4):1184-8. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2010.01.008. Epub 2010 Feb 7. PubMed PMID: 20441829.

8: Miller M, Hemenway D. Guns and suicide in the United States. N Engl J Med. 2008 Sep 4;359(10):989-91. doi: 10.1056/NEJMp0805923. PubMed PMID: 18768940.

9: Finley CJ, Hemenway D, Clifton J, Brown DR, Simons RK, Hameed SM. The demographics of significant firearm injury in Canadian trauma centres and the associated predictors of inhospital mortality. Can J Surg. 2008 Jun;51(3):197-203. PubMed PMID: 18682765; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2496605.

10: Weiner J, Wiebe DJ, Richmond TS, Beam K, Berman AL, Branas CC, Cheney RA, Coyne-Beasley T, Firman J, Fishbein M, Hargarten S, Hemenway D, Jeffcoat R, Kennedy D, Koper CS, Lemaire J, Miller M, Roth JA, Schwab CW, Spitzer R, Teret S, Vernick J, Webster D. Reducing firearm violence: a research agenda. Inj Prev. 2007 Apr;13(2):80-4. PubMed PMID: 17446246; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2610593.

11: Miller M, Lippmann SJ, Azrael D, Hemenway D. Household firearm ownership and rates of suicide across the 50 United States. J Trauma. 2007 Apr;62(4):1029-34; discussion 1034-5. PubMed PMID: 17426563.

12: Hepburn L, Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. The US gun stock: results from the 2004 national firearms survey. Inj Prev. 2007 Feb;13(1):15-9. PubMed PMID: 17296683; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2610545.

13: Miller M, Hemenway D, Azrael D. State-level homicide victimization rates in the US in relation to survey measures of household firearm ownership, 2001-2003.  Soc Sci Med. 2007 Feb;64(3):656-64. Epub 2006 Oct 27. PubMed PMID: 17070975.

14: Hepburn L, Azrael D, Miller M, Hemenway D. The effect of child access prevention laws on unintentional child firearm fatalities, 1979-2000. J Trauma. 2006 Aug;61(2):423-8. PubMed PMID: 16917460.

15: Johnson RM, Miller M, Vriniotis M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. Are household firearms stored less safely in homes with adolescents?: Analysis of a national random sample of parents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2006 Aug;160(8):788-92. PubMed PMID: 16894076; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3064948.

16: Rothman EF, Hemenway D, Miller M, Azrael D. Batterers' use of guns to threaten intimate partners. J Am Med Womens Assoc. 2005 Winter;60(1):62-8. PubMed PMID: 16845765.

17: Miller M, Azrael D, Hepburn L, Hemenway D, Lippmann SJ. The association between changes in household firearm ownership and rates of suicide in the United States, 1981-2002. Inj Prev. 2006 Jun;12(3):178-82. PubMed PMID: 16751449; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2563517.

18: Kacanek D, Hemenway D. Gun carrying and drug selling among young incarcerated men and women. J Urban Health. 2006 Mar;83(2):266-74. PubMed PMID: 16736375; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2527163.

19: Rothman EF, Johnson RM, Hemenway D. Gun possession among Massachusetts batterer intervention program enrollees. Eval Rev. 2006 Jun;30(3):283-95. PubMed PMID: 16679497.

20: Hemenway D, Vriniotis M, Miller M. Is an armed society a polite society? Guns and road rage. Accid Anal Prev. 2006 Jul;38(4):687-95. Epub 2006 Jan 24. PubMed PMID: 16434012.

21: Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D, Vriniotis M. Firearm storage practices and rates of unintentional firearm deaths in the United States. Accid Anal Prev. 2005 Jul;37(4):661-7. PubMed PMID: 15949457.

22: Miller M, Hemenway D, Azrael D. Firearms and suicide in the northeast. J Trauma. 2004 Sep;57(3):626-32. PubMed PMID: 15454813.

23: Miller M, Hemenway D. Unsupervised firearm handling by California adolescents. Inj Prev. 2004 Jun;10(3):163-8. PubMed PMID: 15178673; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1730094.

24: Hepburn L, Miller M, Azrael D, Hemenway D. The effect of nondiscretionary concealed weapon carrying laws on homicide. J Trauma. 2004 Mar;56(3):676-81. PubMed PMID: 15128143.

25: Hemenway D, Miller M. Gun threats against and self-defense gun use by California adolescents. Arch Pediatr Adolesc Med. 2004 Apr;158(4):395-400. PubMed PMID: 15066882.

26: Cook, Philip J., Jens Ludwig, Sudhir Venkatesh and Anthony Braga. (2007) Underground Gun Markets. The Economic Journal. 117: F558-588.

27: Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig. (2006) The Social Costs of Gun Ownership. Journal of Public Economics. 90(1-2): 379-391.

28:Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig (2006) Aiming for Evidence-Based Gun Policy. Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 25(3): 691-736.

29: Peters, Joseph, Philip J. Cook and Jens Ludwig (2005) Gun Crime and Gun Control: The Hawaiian Experience. University of Chicago Legal Forum. 2005: 55-90.

30: Ludwig, Jens (2005) Better Gun Enforcement, Less Crime. Criminology and Public Policy. 4(4): 677-716.

31: Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig (2004) Does Gun Prevalence Affect Teen Gun Carrying After All? Criminology. 42(1): 27-54.

32: Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig (2004) Principles for Effective Gun Policy. Fordham Law Review. LXXIII(2):589-613.

33: Ludwig, Jens. (2003) Evaluating Gun-Policy Evaluations. Criminology and Public Policy. 2(3):411-419.

34: Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig (2003) Fact-Free Gun Policy? University of Pennsylvania Law Review. 151(4): 1329-1340.

35: Ludwig, Jens and Philip J. Cook (2001) The Benefits of Reducing Gun Violence: Evidence from Contingent-Valuation Survey Data. Journal of Risk and Uncertainty. 22(3): 207-226.

36: Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig (2001) The Costs and Benefits of Reducing Gun Violence. Harvard Health Policy Review. 2(2): 23-28.

37: Ludwig, Jens and Philip J. Cook (2000) Homicide and Suicide Rates Associated with Implementation of the Brady Handgun Violence Prevention Act. Journal of the American Medical Association. 284(5): 585-591.

38:Cook, Philip J., Bruce Lawrence, Jens Ludwig and Ted R. Miller (1999) The Medical Costs of Gunshot Injuries in the United States. Journal of the American Medical Association. August 4, 1999. 282(5): 447-454.

39: Webster, Daniel W., Jon S. Vernick and Jens Ludwig (1998) No Proof that Right-to-Carry Laws Reduce Violence. American Journal of Public Health. 88(6): 982-983.

40: Cook, Philip J. and Jens Ludwig (1998) Defensive Gun Uses: New Evidence from a National Telephone Survey. Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 14(2): 111-131.

41: Ludwig, Jens (1998) Concealed-Gun-Carrying Laws and Violent Crime: Evidence from State Panel Data. International Review of Law and Economics. 18: 239-254.

42: Ludwig, Jens, Philip J. Cook and Tom W. Smith (1998) The Gender Gap in Reporting Household Gun Ownership. American Journal of Public Health. 88(11). 1715-1718.

43: Cook, Philip J., Jens Ludwig and David Hemenway (1997) The Gun Debate's New Mythical Number: How Many Defensive Uses Per Year? Journal of Policy Analysis and Management. 16(3): 463-469.

44: Webster, Daniel W., Jon S. Vernick, Jens Ludwig and Kathleen Lester (1997) Flawed Gun Policy Research May Endanger Public Safety. American Journal of Public Health. 87(6): 918-921.

Gannett employees violating code of ethics?

A few days ago a Gannett-owned rag in White Plains NY posted an online map/database of people with pistol permits. A few days later Des Moines columnist Donald Kaul came out of retirement to write a violent and threatening piece saying the NRA should be designated a terrorist organization, gun owners should be murdered by police for possessing "assault weapons" and GOP Congressional leadership should be dragged behind a truck.

In response, National Gun Rights Examiner David Codrea's wrote a piece: Gannett requested to investigate ethics of anti-gun personnel. Inspired by his article, I submitted the following letter to Ms. Wall.

And no, none of what I wrote is hyperbole.

Date: Thu, 3 Jan 2013 11:50:05 -0800
From: bruce_krafft-at-yahoo.com
Subject: Ethical violations?
To: bwall@gannett.com

Dear Ms. Wall,

I understand that you, as Gannett's Chief Ethics Officer are who I should contact if I believe one (or more) of your employees has committed an ethical breech. Thus I am writing to bring two possible violations of Gannett's ethics policy to your attention.

The first requires a little background; my best friend from my hometown, the man who was best man at both my weddings was a NYC cop for 25+ years, retiring in the spring of 2009. During his last few years he was with the F.B.I. and ATF, working undercover. I don't know exactly what he did, but apparently there are a bunch of very nasty people who are very angry with him. The kind of nasty who don't see it as overkill to rape and murder a man's family in front of him before they necklace him. His telephone, cars and home are all listed in his wife's maiden name, and he has worked very hard to stay off the radar. But, unsurprisingly, he has a gun permit and you White Plains paper just put his name and address out on the internet for anyone to see.

The second possible violation comes from Des Moines, Iowa of all places where columnist Donald Kaul has came out of retirement to write a horrific screed in which, because he disagrees with their suggestions to stop school shootings, he appears to accuse N.R.A. members (of which I am not one, by the way) of not caring that 20 children were murdered in their school.

In his first bullet point he calls for designating the NRA as a terrorist organization, simply because they hold beliefs with which he disagrees. Isn't there something in your policy about being committed to diversity? Or is it only a commitment to diversity that you don't disagree with?

Also in his first bullet point he agrees that the Second Amendment protects an individual, civil and human right to own and carry guns, yet in his second he calls for the imprisonment and/or murder by police of those of us who chose to lawfully exercise this right (I'm sorry but I can read his statement "'prying the guns from their cold, dead hands' thing works for me" as anything other than a threat.

Speaking of threats his last bullet point suggests that certain political leaders, simply because he disagrees with their political beliefs, should be dragged to death behind a truck unless they agree to abandon their principles. Again is this the sort of "commitment to diversity" your company tolerates and encourages?

I thank you for your time and kind attention to this matter.

Peace,

Bruce W. Krafft

 

"God does not play dice with the Universe." - Albert Einstein

"Albert stop telling God what to do." - Niels Bohr

So how would I lower crime?

A commenter on TTAG, one Robert, asked in response to my Taking on the Anti Arguments, One at a Time – Part 1:

"Bruce, I think that you should elaborate on what you think would lower crime and why it would work. If you can both show why the anti’s argument is wrong and suggest a valid replacement, then you would have a rock solid position that no one could object to."

Well Robert, keep in mind that as a good libertarian I believe taxes are theft, but given the current state of affairs in this country the first thing I would suggest is a tax increase.

Antis, Once Again, Conveniently Using Their Own Facts

Posted over at The Truth About Guns.

Taking on the Anti Arguments, One at a Time

Part 1 is available on The Truth About Guns here, part two is here.

HR 822′s Chances are Better Than Advertised. Apparently.

Read this post over at The Truth About Guns

Answering An Anti: “I would like strict gun control which wouldn’t impact on your lives much at all as long as you’re law abiding and mentally competent.”

Well that’s part of the problem, Mike…the definitions you are using. I often say that the devil is in the details and those particular details can get very devilish. When you couple the vague mental competence standard with the fact that (based on the number of amicus briefs in support of the petitioner in Heller v. DC) a large part of the anti community feels that a complete ban on handguns and a ban on any operable long guns is “reasonable,” you get guys like me concerned that, since I’ve taken anti-depressants, with a swipe of a pen I’ll have my rights removed . . .

The Truth Can Come Out In The Oddest Ways

First of all we need to deal with some terminology issues. According to Opposing Views, the cities of Hartford and New Haven Connecticut recently held gun "buybacks" which took 179 guns "off the streets".

First of all, what is a "buyback"? Did the cops once own the weapons? If not, how can they buy them "back"?

Second is the statement that this "buyback" took 179 guns "off the streets". Why don't I ever find any of these guns lying around "on the streets"? I would be delighted to take them "off the streets", give them a nice place to live and generally treat them with the care and respect that fine machinery deserves.

Now we can move on to the truth that slipped out between the cracks of officialese:

Who Wouldn’t Be for National Gun Registration?

Posted over at The Truth About Guns.

"What's the Big Deal With Fast & Furious?"

The other day a friend asked me what the big deal was with the whole Fast & Furious/Gunwalker scandal: "Why is it a 'scandal' at all? Don't cops run stings all the time?" I told him that unless he had at least a half-hour I would have to get back him. I then sat down and started really looking at everything and realized I should have told him an hour, at least.

This Guy Don't Know From Depravity

Posted at The Truth About Guns.

Punishing The Ones Who Didn't Commit A Crime

Posted at The Truth About Guns.

"Why are you gun-nuts so paranoid about Obama?"

Posted at The Truth About Guns.

Why Would You need A Gun In A Park/Playground/Church/Mall etc.

The Fayetteville Observer complains today that the state legislature is going to take away the city's power to ban guns in parks:

"This isn't a gun issue. Our parks are not high-crime areas. We will have guns in Festival Park and Mazarick Park and most others not because the Second Amendment or some jurist says we must, but because state lawmakers surrounded by serious problems once again ran off to indulge in political posturing."

I can't count the number of times I have heard a variation on that theme: "Well why would you need a gun in ..." a park, a mall, a church, a school, etc. from people who assure me that it isn't a Second Amendment issue (shades of the classic "I'm not prejudiced I have lots of black friends"). Most of them can't explain just why exactly relegating guns to the back of the bus is not a civil rights issue, but we'll let that pass for the nonce.

Guys, the sky isn't falling. Really

The Philadelphia Inquirer has their knickers in a serious twist over H.R. 822, the "National Right-to-Carry Reciprocity Act of 2011", stating:

"The threat of gun violence to Philadelphia-area residents from the so-called Florida loophole could go national - unless U.S. senators such as Pennsylvania Democrat Bob Casey, and many others, do the right thing."

What Kind Of "Christians" Are These People

My great-grandmother was wont to say "There's nothing like a 'good Christian' to work up a powerful hate." I wish it weren't true, but with the doings of the Westboro Baptist Church and stories like this Interracial Couple Banned From Kentucky Church my wishes appear to be far from fulfillment.

"In a move to 'promote greater unity' among its body and the Pike County community it serves, a small Kentucky church voted to ban interracial couples from membership and from participating in certain worship activities, Kentucky.com reports."

The Police State Cometh: Episode II

From the New York Times (not *my* 'paper of record' by any means) we hear that Prosecution Explains Jury Tampering Charge. Wow, did some Mob guy get to a juror with threats or a bribe? Were gang-members busted intimidating witnesses? What happened?

"Julian P. Heicklen, a 79-year-old retired chemistry professor, has often stood on a plaza outside the United States Courthouse in Manhattan, holding a 'Jury Info' sign and handing out brochures that advocate jury nullification, the controversial view that if jurors disagree with a law, they may ignore their oaths to follow it and may acquit a defendant who violated it."

Wait, huh? Isn't political speech one of the most protected forms of speech? But a couple of paragraphs down we learn:

"... [P]rosecutors are offering their first detailed explanation for why they charged Mr. Heicklen, arguing in a brief that his 'advocacy of jury nullification, directed as it is to jurors, would be both criminal and without Constitutional protections no matter where it occurred.'"

"His speech is not protected by the First Amendment,' prosecutors wrote."

The Police State Cometh

From Amnesty International by way of the Huffington Post we hear: Senate Introduces Disastrous New Detention Bill. When I first read about this I thought it must be a hoax. I couldn't believe that even a Congresscritter would be stupid enough to vote for something like this, but a quick perusal of Google News confirmed that some members of Congress, not satisfied with merely abrogating their oaths of office are intent upon positively shredding the Constitution. And quite possibly starting a civil war while they are at it. I'm sure that conservatives have visions of Occupy-ers being rounded up and incarcerated dancing in their heads, but they should bear in mind Thomas Paine's admonition: " He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself." Any law that Conservatives can use to sweep up Liberal protesters can also be used by Liberals to sweep up Conservative protesters.

Loose Ramblings on the Bill of Rights

I often hear people talk about how the Second Amendment gives us the right to keep and bear arms. In fact nothing could be further from the truth. The Bill of Rights does not grant rights, rather it recognizes rights that we have simply by virtue of being people.