Have Barack Obama and Eric Holder Caused an Increase in Mass Murder?

[ShooterInPA1]

Attorney General Eric Holder said today, in a speech to a convention of police chiefs, that mass shooting incidents have tripled in the last few years:

Between 2000 and 2008, the U.S. experienced an average of five mass shootings every year. Since then the annual average has tripled, Holder said. So far in 2013, there have been at least 12, he said.

According to Justice Department figures on mass shootings, 404 people were shot and 207 people were killed from 2009 to 2012. From 2000 to 2008, 324 people were shot and 145 were killed.

So Holder is telling us that since he took over as AG, mass shooting incidents have tripled. Normally that might be considered an admission against interest, inasmuch as he is the nation’s chief law enforcement officer. But of course Holder didn’t take any responsibility for the trend he described. As far as I can tell, Democrats are interested in crime only when it serves as an excuse for gun control; never as a reason to consider more effective law enforcement measures, or to step up prosecution and punishment of criminals.

I think Holder’s numbers are roughly correct. They are consistent with this report on “active shooter” incidents from 2000 to 2010. One wonders, though: why is Holder obsessed with “active shooters?” Such individuals, almost always deranged, are extraordinarily rare. Is it statistically meaningful for 12 such incidents to occur in a population of 315 million, as opposed to four or five? I doubt it. Yet the Obama administration loves to talk about “active shooter” incidents because they are always the predicate for silly gun control proposals.

Let’s look at a more meaningful measure of violent crime: the homicide rate. The FBI–which works for Eric Holder, in theory–puts out reliable numbers annually.

http://www.powerlineblog.com/archive...ass-murder.php

[PocketProtector]

A classic example of how you can cherry pick a statistic and make it fit your agenda.

Especially when you're dealing with low information people who look no further

[Posit]

A classic example of how you can cherry pick a statistic and make it fit your agenda.

Especially when you're dealing with low information people who look no further

... especially when you're a low integrity politician.

[Pilot321]

... especially when you're a low integrity politician.

Unfortunately, most seem to be low integrity these days, but Holder is close to the top of that list with his boss, (Valerie Jarrett).

These people will say and do anything to advance their agenda to put a strangle hold on the law abiding citizen. We are their true enemy, and target of any new laws, and regs on legal gun ownership.

[PocketProtector]

... especially when you're a low integrity politician.

Can't get any lower than this POS

[ATBackpackin]

This is a classic case in which progressives love to change language and definitions to fit their agenda. I think according to the FBI a mass shooting is any shooting where four or more people are killed. I think the Brady Pukes changed their definition to any situation where three or more people are shot. According to their definition if a gang member shoots three people from a rival gang, it is a mass shooting.

These situations are not what most logical people would consider a mass shooting, but they put these stats out there and most people do know know any better or take the time to find out.

The term mass shooting has become the same as assault weapon (rifle), while there are truly a few in reality but a lot more by the progressives new definition. They use these tactics to scare the masses. Straight out of the progressives playbook, AKA Rules For Radicals.

[Jhaydeno]

... especially when you're a low integrity politician.

That POS's next comment made under his breath went something like this: "and that is nothing, you should see how many Mexicans we killed with AR's, AK's, and grenades!"


Holder and his henchmen should be criminally indicted by the UN, that would almost make that NGO worthwhile...

[LisaA]

Of course, mass shootings have increased. It is Holder's and O's agenda to target mentally unstable individuals to kill many people so that the sheeple become "frightened" and proclaim "gun violence" needs to end. Read: confiscate all your guns.

[Philbert]

Is it statistically meaningful for 12 such incidents to occur in a population of 315 million, as opposed to four or five? I doubt it.

What's "statistically meaningful"?

[Pilot321]

What's "statistically meaningful"?

Don't want to speak for someone else, but I took it to mean statisically significant, often + or - 5% margin of error, so 12 out of 315M would be insignificant in an analysis.