Gun Control: Stats vs. Public Policy - a psychological perspective

Not TOO bad of a last view....still....no thanks

Again I find myself writing using my professional training as a psychologist  - but that's why I am going massively into debt and that's why I write the blog: to save the world from evil and tyranny, one blog post at a time!

I watched the.....shout down against Piers Morgan the other day (he had it coming) and Piers just wanted to cite statistics as a case for public policy.

Let me make this muddy water clear.

You grasp this you're getting a graduate masters/doctoral education y'all right here.

Just because you have statistics, does not mean you know what needs to be done.

It's that simple.

Go further, to transpose British gun-culture, or British culture in general directly onto America would be a research and statistical disaster in the making - they are two separate countries, outlooks, views, values, histories, purposes.  To compare Britain to the United States as a model for future plans and actions is like saying you're going to train your dog to be more like your cat because the cat gets into less trouble.  YOU DONT DO IT.  No more than you use the treatment for a sex addict to help a smoker stop smoking - its two different creatures.

Let me go further.

Statistics are one thing.

INTERPRETING THEM is another.

Building research off them - is yet another.

Analyzing your research conclusions - is still yet another.

And finally, using your conclusions to design and implement public policy - is still yet ENTIRELY another.

Last I checked, Piers Morgan who fraudulently faked news and has been caught in a lie doesn't even know how to tell the truth let alone tell what the truth is - so I doubt he'd be skilled at interpreting statistics.

Going back to El-Salvador -94th in the world in terms of gun ownership, #1 in gun violence - "a lot of gun violence in the US" is verrrrry relative when you're talking about the third most populated country in the world, and the most heavily armed, and the number that are gang-killings are their own stat and much gun violence is concentrated in areas where only criminals have guns (Chicago).  I could measure the stats many many different ways to pull Piers' pants down in public and humiliate him intellectually - though when you're dealing with the stupid like him, they usually aren't even aware they've been shown up. 

My point?  Stats still don't tell you what's going on and there's many ways to measure those stats.  And I wouldn't trust CNN as a source. Stats don't tell you jack squat as to what's happening.

Let's go back to the 1960's, shall we?  Question Everything.  Question Authority.

"Where'd you get that stat" would be a great place to start.

"Are there any that contradict it?" is another.

"What is wrong with that statistic?" is yet another.

You can fill in the rest.

Y'all are smart enough.

Otherwise you wouldn't be here.

Night all, and God Bless America!