Thread: Darwin is getting slow in his old age.

Beavis, the raw data might be the same, but the interpretation sure as hell is not

"Wish" (a anti gun control lobby group by the way), tried to somehow prove that gun deaths in Aus are not decreasing, or that the decrease is not related to legislation implemented in 1996. The way they try to do this is by referring to the "difference" in yearly numbers. All that this proves is that the decrease is roughly linear...

Take a look at the Aus/USA graph. See what happens immediately following 1996 ? Those numbers are per 100k population, and compensate for increases or decreases in population. The anti control groups claim that "gun-crime" is falling in the USA. In my book the most serious consequence of gun crime, gun negligence etc is death. The green line seems to be fairly flat to me...

Originally Posted by ebf

Beavis, the raw data might be the same, but the interpretation sure as hell is not

"Wish" (a anti gun control lobby group by the way), tried to somehow prove that gun deaths in Aus are not decreasing, or that the decrease is not related to legislation implemented in 1996. The way they try to do this is by referring to the "difference" in yearly numbers. All that this proves is that the decrease is roughly linear...

Take a look at the Aus/USA graph. See what happens immediately following 1996 ? Those numbers are per 100k population, and compensate for increases or decreases in population. The anti control groups claim that "gun-crime" is falling in the USA. In my book the most serious consequence of gun crime, gun negligence etc is death. The green line seems to be fairly flat to me...

Not sure where you got the statistics regarding the USA but the Berau of Justice Statistics found that firearm homicide decreased by 39% between 1993 and 2011.

Non fatal firearm violence declined by 69% in the same period.

I figure those are pretty significant reductions. Neither pro nor anti gun laws really explain it. It was a pretty tumultuous period politically for firearms.