Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Go ahead, Wayne, blame the 2-year-old

I double dog dare Wayne LaPierre and all the other gun nuts to say, in public, guns don't kill people while reading this story.

Wal-Mart parking lots are extremely violent places in gun nut states like Texas and Florida -- lots of carjackings, domestic assaults, robberies and gang shootings. Funny thing is, despite all the open and concealed carry laws, they are still violent. Dunno if there is a lot of crime in Idaho Wal-Marts but I feel safe at the Maui one.

Dok Zoom rounds up other holiday gun news, with mordant (pun intended) commentary.

UPDATE The Washington Post has a terrific -- that is, it will turn your stomach -- backgrounder on the mother who was shot with her own pacifier, with an O Henry "Gift of the Magi" holiday twist and everything. 

You will be unsurprised to learn that the gun nut grandfather/father-in-law considers the shooting just one of those things but is angry at people who suggest that in  well-regulated society his grandson did not have to kill his mother. Be very sure to follow the link highlighted as "grandstand."

“They are painting Veronica as irresponsible, and that is not the case,” he said. “… I brought my son up around guns, and he has extensive experience shooting it. And Veronica had had hand gun classes; they’re both licensed to carry, and this wasn’t just some purse she had thrown her gun into.”
But read the whole thing.

 AND ANOTHER UPDATE

Even the people who sell penis substitutes are not stupid enough to want people around them with their PSs loaded and ready to shoot (this is the entrance to a gun store):


RING OUT THE OLD
And in case you weren't reading the newspapers in 2014, Gary Legum has a partial roundup of what you missed.

9 comments:

  1. Wal-Mart parking lots are extremely violent places in gun nut states like Texas and Florida -- lots of carjackings, domestic assaults, robberies and gang shootings.

    Prove it.

    ReplyDelete
  2. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2245074/Walmart-security-guard-shoots-shoplifting-mother-dead-parking-lot-tries-escape-young-children.html

    http://www.click2houston.com/news/walmart-in-stafford-evacuated-after-man-shot-in-parking-lot/30169958

    http://www.clickorlando.com/news/man-shot-killed-in-parking-lot-of-walmart-in-marion-county/26877088

    http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2014/08/01/3466778/prosecutors-wont-charge-florida-man-for-fatal-gunfire-in-wal-mart-parking-lot-thanks-to-stand-your-ground/

    http://walmartshootings.blogspot.com/

    ReplyDelete
  3. Three instances covering three years. And a link to a blog that is a festival of innumeracy and crimes against logic.

    Great work there, Harry.

    How about doing this: ascertain how many Wal-Mart shoppers are there in Texas and Florida in a year. Then find out how many them are victims of a shooting while at Wal-Mart.

    That will yield a gun victimization rate for Wal-Mart shoppers.

    Then compare with that for the general population in Texas and Florida. Also, compare with a bastion of gun control like, say, Chicago.

    Easy enough to do, and you might actually be on to something.

    I doubt it, though.

    ReplyDelete
  4. The point is that having an armed, ignorant, touchy citizenry does nothing to deter gun violence.

    ReplyDelete
  5. The point is that having an armed, ignorant, touchy citizenry does nothing to deter gun violence.

    Translated into English: I am now moving the goal posts to some other some other place entirely, which is just as evidence-free as the other one.

    Confiscationists such as yourself a great deal in common with Creationists.

    ReplyDelete
  6. http://www.armedwithreason.com/a-lott-more-lies-debating-more-guns-less-crime/

    ReplyDelete
  7. I haven't had time to look at that cite in much detail, except to notice that the most recent of the first three studies in it has data that is now 12 years old.

    UPDATE: I have looked at three more, and the newest of them is 17 years old.

    UPDATE: Oh, wait, there's one that uses newer data. To the extent that 1998 is newer than 1997, that is.

    UPDATE: Found some cutting edge research (last study cited). Where cutting edge is eight years old, that is.


    Here is something less aged.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Read further and stop quoting people who fake data like Lott

    ReplyDelete
  9. What data did Lott fake?

    Please be specific, and watch out for self-inflicted wounds.

    BTW, is that data in my link faked?

    ReplyDelete