CNN's Fareed Zakaria on Gun Control

[ay82]

Granted, this is coming from CNN and that too from Fareed Zakaria, of all people, but I figured it would lead to an interesting discussion, if nothing else.

Gun Control Article

[IronSight]

I saw an interesting graph in The Atlantic magazine recently. A spectrum shows the number of gun-related deaths by state. Now if you add one more piece of data – gun control restrictions – you see that the states with at least one firearm law (such as an assault weapons ban or trigger locks) tend to be the states with fewer gun-related deaths.

Someone is clearly not good with statistics, good with feel-good bullshit not based on facts, however.

Thank you for posting, now I know to relegate this guy's opinions into the "unproven, hastily copied and pasted nonsense" category.

ETA: Anyone able to overlay a map of genocides and all mass killings (including government) over top of his feel-good map?

[father-of-five]

Nothing is really new here. We live in a world where it seems that the number of statistics convieniently taken out of context is larger than the amount of firearms owned by Americans. It is a matter of opinion which of the two is really more dangerous.

There's a real sick sense of national pride by Mr. Zakaria when the United States is convieniently compared to Serbia, Iraq, and Yemen, using a map with no key.

Thanks for the read, but again, nothing new here.

[ay82]

Nothing is really new here. We live in a world where it seems that the number of statistics convieniently taken out of context is larger than the amount of firearms owned by Americans.

You're right. This is simply the sad state of (an unfortunate majority) American society these days.

I've been having discussions with friends and colleagues on the same for the past few months now, and I'm progressively getting more and more depressed that this country is constantly going in the wrong direction.

Nothing like a Sunday morning depressing discussion on the future of our nation! Makes you feel all cold and empty on the inside! (sadly, I'm not joking)

[PocketProtector]

CNN Group think. There's only one reason he works there, he's a LibProgCommie just like the rest of the MSM.

[BobFromBucks]

Nothing like a Sunday morning depressing discussion on the future of our nation! Makes you feel all cold and empty on the inside! (sadly, I'm not joking)

What I find personally depressing are the large number of gun owners who will read this and agree with doing something like banning guns they don't shoot, or changing handgun laws since they only have one up in the closet for personal defense, or whatever other laws as long as their ox isn't getting gored.

"How can (changing or adding) a law making gun owners or gun buyers do (insert nightmare here) be a big problem?" they say.

I predicted in the 80's that all future shooting and hunting will be controlled by the government on government facilities someday. The average hunter can be satisfied easily and shooters will do what they are told (or so they believe).

I still may be correct.

[father-of-five]

You're right. This is simply the sad state of (an unfortunate majority) American society these days.

I've been having discussions with friends and colleagues on the same for the past few months now, and I'm progressively getting more and more depressed that this country is constantly going in the wrong direction.

Nothing like a Sunday morning depressing discussion on the future of our nation! Makes you feel all cold and empty on the inside! (sadly, I'm not joking)

Sorry to hear that you are having a tough time. Be safe and be careful.

[MikeB0]

The statistics he sites in the article includes suicides, police shootings, accidents, self-defense, etc. The same statistics have been used in a number of articles lately. Unfortunately the average person won't know this, and a lot of CNN readers/viewers are unlikely to comprehend the difference, nor care about the skewed statistics.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/...-deaths/69354/

Note that these figures include accidental shootings, suicides, even acts of self-defense, as well as crimes.

[PocketProtector]

The statistics he sites in the article includes suicides, police shootings, accidents, self-defense, etc. The same statistics have been used in a number of articles lately. Unfortunately the average person won't know this, and a lot of CNN readers/viewers are unlikely to comprehend the difference, nor care about the skewed statistics.

http://www.theatlantic.com/national/...-deaths/69354/

The good news?
NOBODY SAW IT.

[American1776]

Okay, whenever some anti-gun person brings up that map that tries to correlate gun-related deaths and gun ownership/lax laws, tell them to check the overall murder rates instead. Sure, NJ might have lower gun deaths than Colorado, but Colorado has a murder rate HALF that of NJ.

NJ has around 4.4 murders per 100,000. Colorado has about 2 per 100,000. Vermont, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, New Hampshire all have murder rates in the 1-2 per 100,000, well below the NJ rate. NJ has strictest gun control around, they can't seem to stop the murders.

Look at Maryland's (non concealed carry) overall murder rate. 7 per 100,000. That's almost 7 times the murder rate of Vermont and the Dakotas.

Looking only at gun related deaths doesn't give you an accurate picture of how well that state is doing with regard to overall murders (and I would imagine with how safe you are, too).