Mark Small

Some ppl are scared to talk about gun control. And it’s not because some stupid bastard like Beckwith or Niederberger has keen insight. It’s because some people are scared that a gun nut will pull out a gun and shoot. 5/17

The face of the gun nut starts to turn red. Teeth clench. There is an indication he - not to be sexist here, but usually “he” - might “draw.” It’s as if to threaten the sanctity of the gun is to pose a threat to his other “gun.” 6/17

Of course, rational conversation is difficult when we are not allowed to study a topic. We know how many people die and a bullet in the head is pretty clear as mechanism of death. 7/17

According to a Pew Research Ctr summary of gun deaths in “2017, the most recent year for which complete data [are] available, 39,773 people died from gun-related injuries in the U.S. according to the [Centers for Disease Control].” 8/17

Gun nuts will quote arcane “facts” to argue against gun control. It takes a couple of minutes to look some of the things up, and they’re usually crap. We should know more. 9/17

One of the powers of Congress is “To promote the Progress of Science...” U.S. Const. Art. 1, sec 8. Unfortunately, Jay Dickey, an Arkansas Congressman, sponsored budget prohibitions, in 1996, as a result of NRA lobbying. 10/17

The CDC is prohibited fr advocating/promoting gun control. Despite Pres Obama, after Sandy Hook, ordering CDC to resume funding research on gun violence & prevention, CDC has not performed any such studies since 1996. 11/17

Most of the research that has been done has by economists, sociologists, or criminologists. See “Firearms Research”, Scientific American, updated from 496 Nature 412-415 (2013). This is important. 12/17