As seen on BTCNews, you can compare different municipalities for things like crime rates/types. In response to a column in the NYTimes by tenured bloviator Glenn Reynolds on the benefits of mandatory gun ownership, we learn — to our great surprise — that Reynolds trotted out a widely-held but bogus ‘truth’ and found a way to sell it. The Houston Chronicle has more.
I guess they don’t require law professors to understand statistics, but I should leave the beatdowns to others who are better at it.
I think this is an interesting tool for these kinds of ‘debates’ (debate defined as some monkey flinging his work product at the keepers): the cited comparison — between Kennesaw, GA, and Schererville, IN — makes Kennesaw look pretty damn violent.
| Kennesaw | Schererville | |
|---|---|---|
| Population: | 28,189 | 27,602 |
| Murder: | 0 | 0 |
| Forcible Rape: | 0 | 1 |
| Robbery: | 7 | 9 |
| Aggravated Assault: | 27 | 3 |
| Burglary: | 91 | 45 |
| Larceny Theft: | 398 | 596 |
| Vehicle Theft: | 56 | 66 |
What’s with the huge disparity in assaults? And burglaries — Reynolds’ main point — certainly don’t prove anything about gun ownership being a factor.