While commenting earlier on this blog on the loss of life due to mass shooting at Virginia Tech Campus, I mentioned that one of the more annoying things about the mater was that the talking heads were having a good time pushing forward their predictable prescriptions for the policy on hand guns. I also stated that either side is trying its best to selectively pick details that confirm that a tighter gun control policy or looser control that allows freer gun ownership are silver bullets for this problem with gun violence perpetrated by male.
Making reference to one case of pontification, I referred to the the shortcomings and serious data errors in the book More Guns, Less Crime. Well, the numbers guy at the Wall Street Journal makes a more detailed point about the thoughtless deployment of numbers in the ongoing policy debate. As he states, most of the numbers used in support of either side of the intractable problem are altogether inexact. However, the ability to deploy numbers in policy discussions arrest attention and this will happen in this and other policy contexts as well. Watch the numbers.
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