Diamond Lifetime
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I bet 44% of Americans know someone who is a convicted violent criminal that shouldn't be out on the street...
That's just nuts, its got to be closer to 95%
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I bet 44% of Americans know someone who is a convicted violent criminal that shouldn't be out on the street...
You guys want to be friends with me. I don't know anyone that was shot ever except a guy in the next. Bay at speed steel.
I'm lucky. You can rub my head if you like.
I never imagined. Maybe I've led a charmed life. The closest I ever came was at a gravel pit shooting range in Idaho when some yahoo started shooting at a spot about 15' to one side of me while I and some others were setting up targets. After about three yells he stopped though.
I could tell you that my own Dad and his youngest brother my favorite uncle Both shot themselves in the head, two other family members killed themselves with pre meditated over doses, But what does it matter they are dead by different methods.
I would agree in theory except for the astonishing capability of satellite surveillance available to anyone with enough tech savvy to access it...Ah, overpopulated country/world. I'm sure we ALL know somebody. OR at least somebody who knows somebody. What does that mean anyway? Not a darn thing. Live in a cabin in Montana with zero contact with humanity and you'll dodge this bullet. Maybe.
I knew several people shot and killed. If I answered honestly, and excluded wars, the number of people I know who have been shot is going to be high. In fact, in the very strictest sense of the word, I have been shot. (as a kid, large caliber bullet, extreme range, hit big toe. Bruises only.) I grew up in an area with a lot of gang violence. Very weird scenario, and probably shouldn't count for anything. It plowed up the ground on approach in a furrow that looked like Bugs and Daffy's approach I had seen a particular looney tunes episode that morning.I've been seeing a headline that 44% of Americans know someone killed by gun. Example: Pew: 44 percent of Americans know someone who has been shot The full report and the questions asked are here: 1. The demographics of gun ownership The specific question being reported can be seen in context here: http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-co...W25-W26-combined-topline-chkd-for-release.pdf
ASK WAVE 26: INJUREDAI see two major problems with this question right off the bat:
Not counting yourself, has someone you PERSONALLY KNOW ever been shot, either accidentally or intentionally, or not?
Apr 4-18 2017
Yes: 44
No: 56
No answer: *
Given these structural flaws to the query, it is totally clear that it was designed to make this look like much more of a problem than it is.
- How many knuckleheads answered "yes" because they read about Dick Cheney loading a buddy with birdshot. Yes it says "personally" but people often hear what they want to hear. Antis may also be prone to lie about this because they are so emotionally invested in the issue.
- Worse than that, it does not distinguish between war related shootings and non-war shootings, and that's a huge problem if the point is to assess gun safety in America. What this question does is push a narrative that says guns make us unsafe and suggests as evidence that basically half of America knows someone killed or wounded by a gun. But if we are talking about gun safety in America, what happens in Iraq or Vietnam is not pertinent to the question and without that added detail, it is impossible to know that the answers refer to incidents that happened inside or outside of America.
- Aside from veterans' likely increased exposure to shootings while at war, It also fails to take the simple expedient of asking where the shooting took place. It is entirely possible that an immigrant from or a non-military visitor to a chaotic and violent region was included in the survey and without knowing where that shooting took place, this question is simply importing foreign gun violence thus padding the numbers.
Anyway, I know one's personal experience is not data, merely anecdote, but as a non-vet, I don't personally know anyone who has ever been killed or wounded by a firearm (beyond slide bite) and so far as I know, neither do any of my long time friends with one exception, and that all relates to his experiences in Vietnam.
It's the anticipated heat... Stay cool and well hydrated...The simplest thing to remember is this - if you hear or read anything that starts with or includes:
* "statistics say"
* "studies say"
* "polling data says"
* "experts say"
even "sciences says"
Know that you are likely being manipulated by someone with some agenda. All of those things require money to fund them, and people don't fund studies, etc., unless it's going to benefit them in some way. Assume there is an inherent bias in all of these things and you'll be better off. I tend to be a skeptic by nature, so it serves me well when this stuff comes up. Want to impress me with a study, science, poll, then be prepared to cross verify that data from numerous independent sources from lots of different backgrounds with different biases. And, if at all possible, do it in a way that doesn't benefit you in some way, such as funding further research, maybe then I'll believe you. And therein lies the slippery slope. We require people like scientists to publish, and if we like the results or they favor us in some way, we support them, don't like them and it dies on the vine.
How about folks just use a little common sense and stop wasting time on all this stuff. It's all used as tools to get your money, your time or your vote.
Dang, looks like I'm still in a mood today....
It's the anticipated heat... Stay cool and well hydrated...
I worked at a ministry in inner city LA. I spoke at the funeral of a kid who got shot in a drug deal whom I knew.