From: hal@finney.org
Date: Thu Jan 04 2001 - 15:09:39 MST
Brian Williams writes:
> 1A) DuPage county has easy access to g**s and no murder/less crime
>
> 2A) Chicago has NO/eliminated access to handg**s yet murder/crime
> persist.
>
> 3) Statistics prove both 1&2 incorrect, and support 1A&2A.
>
> therefore:
>
> 4) easy access to g**s has no effect on crime/murder.
>
> and possibly:
>
> 4A) easy access to g**s may reduce/prevent crime/murder.
This is incorrect reasoning, because there may be other differences
between Chicago and DuPage county. To do the test properly you would
have to find two areas that had similar demographics but differed only
in gun accessibility.
(Yes, I am aware that such studies have been done, and that people differ
in interpreting the results. I don't want to get into that debate.
I just wanted to point out that this particular line of reasoning
involving these two locations is not correct.)
Hal
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