Gun Violence To Be Met By Science!

The NY Times reports on a conference meant to focus research money on gun violence, but only if the proper topics are researched:

WASHINGTON — A panel of experts convened in response to the school shooting last year in Newtown, Conn., gave the federal government an ambitious set of priorities on Wednesday for research on guns, ending what experts said has been a 17-year hiatus in the study of gun violence after Congress took away federal money for the topic in the 1990s.

President Obama has included $10 million for gun-related research in his 2014 budget, the first federal financing for the topic in years, and the panel’s chairman, Alan I. Leshner, said the report was a first step to deepen evidence about the public health implications of guns. The panel was assembled by the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council at President Obama’s request.

We can see this train wreck coming down the tracks. I love the optimism here:

“We need a science base so we are not wasting money on things that don’t work,” [panel’s chairman, Alan I. Leshner] said.

Uh huh. Because only science can really tell us whether adding flash suppressors, bayonet lugs and pistol grips to a semi-automatic rifle makes it a Truly Dangerous ASSAULT WEAPON. I am strangely confident that the panel will eventually support an assault weapons ban regardless of the evidence, sort of like NYC Police Chief Kelly.

And you can already guess where "the science" won't be headed:

Some lines of inquiry were rejected as not worth pursuing. Ronald C. Kessler, a professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School, led a discussion on whether media, including television and video games, were a motivating factor for gun violence.

He said the panel “looked deeply” into the question and concluded that it was not a research priority.

Is it not a priority becasue they honestly think there is no likelihood of a link being established? Or it it not a priority because the politics of overcoming Hollywood money and the free speech issues appear insurmountable? And if it is the latter, there are plenty of other avenues of research the NRA would be happy to pre-emptively eliminate - are they also being abandoned?

What we probably have here is a panel designed to study all the liberal answers to gun violence and present rationales for same.

JUST THINKING OUT LOUD HERE... If the NRA spokesflack had real gumption he would promise that if the panel's final report concluded that an assault weapons ban was a waste of time, he would eat it.

Comments

[henry]

That panel is just as sciency as the UN climate panel.

[Melinda Romanoff Justified]

Hasn't this conclusion been written already?

[Neo]

Two words: Pro Forma

Latin for "as a matter of form" or "for the sake of form"

[MarkO]

The science is settled.

[Neo]

The Forms Of Kanly Must Be Properly Observed

Kanly (kanli) is a Turkish word meaning sworn enemy. The act of kanly was originally created as a way of allowing bitter disputes to be resolved without any harm being brought upon innocent bystanders.

[Rob Crawford]

How guns improve "public health": criminals get shot.

[Marlene]

In a 19-14 party line vote,the Maine Senate rejected a bill to allow trained public school employees to carry concealed firearms.The bill was offered by a legislator who is a retired Maine State Police detective.He had been thinking about school safety pre-Sandy Hook shooting,because the response time in his rural Washington County district is longer than an hour.The MEA (teachers union) opposed the bill.
OT...the 84 year old woman who won the record powerball in FL is a former resident of Maine.

[Ignatz]

I don't know about anyone else but every day I become more and more enthusiastic about the prospect of refreshing the tree of liberty.

[Cecil Turner]

I wonder how they'll determine who is going to receive the federal largesse in research grants? No doubt it'll be well spent--and politically neutral--I'm sure.

[James D.]

Neo @ 9:59 AM - kanly?

Does that mean Obama - Beast Rabban? I can totally see that.

[Flannigan]

When I left the gun store with my stripped down AR-15 lower receiver I was amazed to find that the law required me to purchase and install a lock before leaving the store to prevent firing of the "weapon" which has no trigger, no barrel, no magazine and no upper assembly. I guess the lock prevents someone in my house from purchasing all the other parts and completing the rifle.

How do they know I kept this piece of metal locked?

[narciso]

Interesting that Dr. Leshner is an addiction specialist, and a Huff Po contributor.

[Ignatz Ratzkiwatzki]

Many states require a firearm to be sold with a lock.
For the purposes of regulation and legal definition the AR lower receiver by itself is classified as a firearm, hence the lock.

Stupid? Yes.
Follows a certain byzantine bureaucratic logic? Even more so.

[NJJan]

Posted on new thread - NJ Attorney General Jeffrey Chiesa is interim senator. He is a registered republican.

[lyle]

He is a registered republican.

Yawn. So is the gov, no?

[daddy]

Hope they all wear this pic on their t-shirts at the anti-gun Conference: