Crackpot realism is one way to describe the sentimental attachment to gun rights. The gross numbers - the rarity of gun violence in England and Australia, for example - fails to dislodge the attachment of many to "Second Amendment rights". But the right to own a gun does not establish the wisdom of actually having one. - gwc
New Harvard Research Reveals How Conservative Media Infects The National Conversation On Guns | Research | Media Matters for America
An ongoing monthly survey of firearms researchers conducted by the Harvard School of Public Health shows that Guns are rarely used for self defense, that possession of a gun increases the likelihood of death by homicide, suicide, and domestic violence.
Anyone familiar with the gun debate has heard the talking points of the National Rifle Association and other gun rights advocates: "Carrying a gun for self-defense makes you safer." Or: "If only more ordinary citizens were armed, they could stop mass shootings." As we've shown in our reporting, these arguments don't stand up to scrutiny. After the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School, David Hemenway, director of the Harvard Injury Control Research Center, commented on another long-running assertion from the gun lobby: "There is no evidence that having more guns reduces crime," he told the New York Times.
Yet, Hemenway says that some in the media have continued to treat such assertions as legitimate points of debate. That leaves the public thinking, "Okay, so there's disagreement on this," he says. [Mother Jones, 4/2/15]
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