Anyone here into firearms?

MacCool · 12-29-2011, 09:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by wstar

Correlation != Causation regardless. Just about any time you see a statistical correlation used in an argument (especially in the news), there's no proof of causal link. It could as easily be that lower crime rates paradoxically cause an increase in the sales of guns by some social/psychological effect nobody's thought of. Or it could be that the average temperature rose 0.03 degrees during that timeframe, and rising temperatures cause both a drop in crime and an independent increase in gun sales. Or it could be random chance.

There are many more sound arguments for gun ownership than dubious crime stats correlations.

It's true that there's no proof of causation. The 47% decrease in violent crime rate since 1991 might be related to other factors than the 90 million increase in guns owned during that same period. No way to know.

OTOH, what we have NOT seen in an increase in violent crime associated with increased gun ownership, including over the last 8 years for so as states have had massive increases in handgun carry permits issued.