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Ash, Yes, thank you for the voice of reason in this paper, finally something to work with! On 2/8/13 8:30 PM, "Ash Paul" <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > >Dear Amy, Ambuj and Anoop, >The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School for Gun Policy and Research published >a very good paper in Oct 2012: The Case for Gun Policy Reform in America: >http://www.jhsph.edu/research/centers-and-institutes/johns-hopkins-center- >for-gun-policy-and-research/publications/WhitePaper102512_CGPR.pdf >You might find it informative. >Regards, >Ash > >------------------------------ >On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 15:24 GMT Amy Price wrote: > >>Ambuj, >> >>Yes you are right, this is a great article. In this latest shooting a big >>focus was on the autistic community which caused serious hurt to the >>children and parents in this population. Still, in my estimation other >>than >>if it was by accident the act of shooting someone would be a sign of >>mental >>illness, perhaps the thought of someone shooting another except in war or >>self defense is too much for me to even comprehend. >> >>From: Ambuj Kumar <[log in to unmask]> >>Reply-To: Ambuj Kumar <[log in to unmask]> >>Date: Friday, February 8, 2013 9:49 AM >>To: <[log in to unmask]> >>Subject: Re: Gun Control Laws >> >>Hi Anoop, >> The closest discussion where some logic and reasoning was used was on >>NPR >>by the science correspondent Shankar Vedantam who very nicely explained >>the >>issue and the challenges in addressing the issue of gun control and >>violence. The link is >>http://www.npr.org/2013/01/16/169543652/hard-to-identify-many-mass-murder >>s-a >>s-mentally-ill-beforehand >> >>Some nice and logical quotes from Shankar on this issue are as follows: >>"The truth is there are very large number of people who could potentially >>commit violence and a very small number of people who actually do, and >>science does not have a very good way of spotting the needles in the >>haystacks." >> >>Another one: >>" We know when the system breaks down. We don't know when the system >>works. >>We don't know when the system has kept guns out of the hands of somebody >>who >>could have become a mass shooter. Every time there's a mass shooting, the >>intuitively appealing thing to do is to focus on background checks and >>focus >>on people with mental illness. These seem to be the lowest hanging >>fruits. >>The idea that you can single out dangerous people and keep guns away from >>them, that's really a stretch when you look at the scientific data." >> >>Thanks >> >>Ambuj >> >> >> >> >> >>On Fri, Feb 8, 2013 at 8:31 AM, Anoop Balachandran >><[log in to unmask]> >>wrote: >>> I hope you all are familiar with the recent debate about gun control >>>laws in >>> USA. I am bringing up this point because all I see is people bringing >>>up >>> anecdotal evidence to support their hypothesis, even by politicians. I >>>think >>> this is clear case of system 1 thinking and confirmation bias. >>> >>> So my question is why aren't people looking at studies, why aren't they >>> talking about risk vs benefits like in an evidence- based approach than >>> quoting one or two anecdotes. Or if there are no studies why isn't >>>anyone >>> calling for more funding on these studies. >>> >>> just curious to know what all you guys think about this issue from an >>> evidence-based approach. >>> >>> Thanks >>> Anoop Balachandran >> >> >> >>-- >>Ambuj Kumar, MD, MPH >>727-481-2787 >> >> >