The Problem With ‘Gun Violence’ Research

From the NSSF:

There’s no query that crime is an issue in want of multi-faceted solutions. The firearm and ammunition business acknowledges the shared objective of lowering crime and supports unbiased research that can assist to satisfy that objective.

However, a recent article within the Seattle Times illustrates the issue on the heart of the controversy over violent crime: bias among researchers.

In this microcosm of the controversy, the creator begins with the information {that a} group of trauma facilities have began a two-year venture amassing knowledge on sufferers with firearm-related accidents. The analysis, funded by the National Collaborative on Gun Violence Research, sounds nice on the floor. More knowledge on non-fatal accidents will help determine options to assist additional drive the trendline downward, and construct on the declines seen in recent years.

After a short description of the venture, the creator dives headfirst into the wrong and deceptive assault on the 1996 Dickey Amendment and the false narrative promoted by gun management teams that it blocks such analysis. We will let the facts speak for themselves on this, however the pivot from “more research is great,” to “the evil gun lobby is blocking research,” is fast right here.

Inconvenient Facts

Apart from quoting NSSF knowledge on the rise in firearm purchases over the previous few months because of considerations about COVID and social unrest, the creator ignores the NSSF’s existence. That means there may be zero point out of the firearm business’s initiatives that assist goal the very actual issues going through our communities.

There is not any point out of the Project ChildSafe initiative, the long-standing program to teach gun homeowners about safe storage and to offer free gunlocks in each state. Likewise, whereas the creator acknowledges that two-thirds of firearm-fatalities are suicides, not the results of violent crime, she fails to say the business’s partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention, or work with the Department of Veterans Affairs to develop Real Solutions for these tragedies.

Instead, the politics of gun management takes heart stage within the article, simply because it usually does when a examine on a firearm-related subject is let go. The bias inherent within the analysis and within the media signifies that even analysis undertaken with laudable targets is more likely to fall sufferer to manipulation and the political agenda of gun management advocates.

With millions of new gun owners becoming a member of the ranks of these exercising their Second Amendment rights in these unsure occasions, the firearm and ammunition business will proceed to pursue real solutions for safer communities, even with out the eye from biased researchers or the media.