Reply To: THE PUZZLE OF MURDER-BY-GUN STATISTICS

[Gallup’s Mirror]

Belle: It does matter. You cannot make a sweeping generalization on this issue. The problem (and the solutions) are not uniform cookie cutter that can be the same in all places. A more regional approach makes sense in tackling this issue AND in understanding it.

Unseen: You don’t understand what this thread is about, then. I’m REFUTING the sweeping generalization that there is a correlation between gun ownership and murder rate.

Assumption fallacy.

A generalization means taking a position using a very small statistical sample. The research I posted cited data obtained from 27 countries with a collective population well into the hundred millions. Epidemiology on a scale so vast is not a sweeping generalization.

Refuted it? You won’t even acknowledge it.

I’m saying generalizations don’t bear up under scrutiny.

Dishonest paraphrasing.

Unseen is saying there is “no relationship whatsoever” between rates of gun ownership and murder, a claim which is scientifically untrue.

@Belle
The reactions of some participants in this thread resemble religious fanaticism, only the dogma is ideological. Rational discourse is impossible when someone is so uncritical of a sacred cow that not even scientific research causes any doubt in his mind.