On Monday, ABC World News Tonight reported results of a poll it had commissioned in the aftermath of Virginia Tech. Subject: gun control. In a two-minute-plus segment, ABC noted that 62% favored gun control, although responders evenly split over whether more gun control would have helped at Virginia Tech.But according to Brit Hume on FOX the next day, ABC left out one of its poll's most newsworthy findings. Asked what lay behind the massacre, 40% said "popular culture," presumably including media concentration on violence. 35% said, "the way parents raise their children." Only 18% said, "availability of guns."
1 comment:
Of course, there is a difference between cause and consequence that you are ignoring. The question of whether we need more gun control is a political question, and therefore, reasonably (in a democracy) put to a poll. If a majority of people want more gun control, in a sustained fashion, for a long enough time, then that is what we will get.
The question of the causes of gun violence, however, is not up for public debate. It is in fact a scientific question that can be addressed with the tools of social science, independent of what Brit Hume or a majority of voters happen to think.
Comparing the US to other similar nations - the UK; Japan; Canada; Australia - with similar cultural values and similar exposure to video game, televised, and cinematic entertainment, reveals that we experience far more gun violence (most of it accidental rather than deliberate) in the US. One can therefore conclude, objectively and with high confidence, that this is the result of the US's relatively lax gun laws.
Indeed, this conforms to common sense. I don't really understand why anyone would attempt to argue differently.
Aloha,
Derek
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