Oh yes, the Kellermann study, the most technically primitive study of guns-violence links ever published in a professional journal. Kellermann fails to address the possibility that there's a two-way relationship between gun availability and violence, which leads him to confuse cause and effect. He demonstrates unprofessional bias in interpreting his results, and often displays a lack of simple common sense. His guns-in-the-home study was especially dumb, because it ignored any defensive use that didn't result in someone's being killed.
What, You can’t understand a post that isn’t written in car bumper sticker mode? OK, got it. No wonder you keep trotting out Kellerman; you are the intended target of his message.
I think we can both agree on the human level **** happens and "social science" is squishy. But, the urge to cut down a tree is hindered by the lack of a saw and other means are less efficient and tend to make the supposed lumber jack think twice.
Dos the availability of a saw cause an individual to consider illegally cutting down a tree that belongs to their neighbor, simply because they can physically cut it down?
How was cause and effect confused? Kellermann found an independent relationship between guns being kept at home and an increased risk of murder (independent of domestic violence, drug use, and arrest records). So it doesn't appear to simply be a case of violent people being more likely to own guns. Addressing all defensive gun use was outside of the scope of the study. He was studying the risk factors for homicide (not the risk factors for all violent crime) in the home. Whatever defensive gun use that was occurring did not result in a lower homicide rate among people who kept guns at home. In fact, the opposite pattern was observed: a homicide was more likely to occur in homes where guns were kept. That's why his study is so devastating to the false beliefs of gun apologists.
And yet Arthur Kellermann freely admitted there were various other factors far more likely to lead to a homicide than whether or not a firearm was kept within the home. Even renting property rather than owning property was more likely to lead to a homicide than a firearm being present within the home.
