Mark Small

A lot of times concepts R implicit. Other times, said out loud. Example of the former: the more guns we have, the safer we are. That notion popped into my mind yesterday when white people with assault weapons demonstrated against “stay at home.” 2/17

Positions taken by my 14 or so opponents include: Abernathy (guns are fundamental), Bales (guns protect us from tyranny), Niederberger (guns help provide protection and security), Beckwith (100% rating from the NRA), Dietzen (pro-2nd Amendment). 3/17

Mitchell (will protect 2nd Amendment), Davidson (will not support any gun control policies), Brizzi (pro-2nd Amendment), Hullinger (protecting 2nd Amendment among most important issues), Hook (right to bear arms guaranteed by 2nd Amendment). 4/17

Epidemiological studies - NOT sorry if that is too pointy-headed and intellectual for some people, but epidemiology is a “branch of medicine ... deals with the incidence, distribution, and possible control of diseases and other factors relating to health.” 5/17

Mechanism of death in a shooting usu easy to discern: dude got shot. Cause of death is > complex. In “2017, the most recent year for which complete data [are] available, 39,773 people died from gun-related injuries.” Pew Research Ctr. citing numbers from CDC. 6/17

Number of ppl shot by someone acting in self-defense? Number of ppl shot while they fought against government tyranny? Accidental shootings? We should know more, but we are prevented in that. 7/17

W/nearly 40K deaths/year related to a specific thing, we should expect health-related studies. In 2017 approximately sixty percent (60%) of gun deaths were suicides (23,854) Hey! There is a statistic!). Any such studies have been blocked, effectively, by the NRA. 8/17

Under the Dickey Amendment, CDC is prohibited from advocating or promoting gun control. Since 1996, even after Sandy Hook, CDC has not funded any studies on gun violence and prevention. 9/17