Daily Clips: January 21st, 2016
What *don’t* we know about gun violence because of the restrictions on federal research?Clare Foran takes a look at this question and the answers (or lack thereof) are extremely depressing.
“It’s actually kind of appalling,” said Sherry Towers, a professor at Arizona State University who has done research on mass shootings. “We’re one of the richest nations in the world, and we aren’t exactly forbidding scientists to look at this, but the federal government is strongly discouraging it.”
When a government is actively discouraging information that could help save American lives, you know there is something terribly corrupt going on. And we know why – because if the government can’t research gun violence then it becomes extremely difficult to pinpoint the precise impact of gun laws.
Many basic questions remain largely unanswered as a result…Do open-carry laws make gun violence worse, or do they cut down on firearm injuries and deaths? Researchers can’t say with certainty. They also don’t know much about the path that guns take in order to fall into the hands of criminals, or how gun laws impact firearm sales on the black market. For that matter, the psychology of gun violence is not well understood. What motivates people to use guns to commit a crime or suicide, and what are the most effective ways to stop mass shootings, gun-related homicide, and suicide? Limited research makes it challenging to reach well-supported conclusions.
Just today, Senator Ed Markey called for the ban on gun violence research to be overturned. Eventually, reason and research will prevail in this bloody topic.
Republicans ignore a poisoned city: The author, a former George W. Bush speechwriter, writes about the poisoning of Flint, Michigan’s water supply and laments how Republicans have given up on the city. He doesn’t think his party has completely ignored the situation because the majority of the population just happens to be black or poor. No, he says they haven’t touched on this subject at all because:
The party is accustomed to talking about policies and ideas to help urban America and then implementing them in safe, Republican-friendly areas like Idaho or Arizona. It’s not easy to go to a place where nobody knows you or likes you.
Cry me a river. See how he turned the blame from the party to the people? It’s the people of Flint’s fault for not “knowing” the Republican party or “liking” them. Give me a break.
Tweet of the day:
In 2009, auto sales hit a 27-year low. Last year, they hit an all-time high. pic.twitter.com/pDc8W8mtb5
— President Obama (@POTUS) January 20, 2016
