"No More Names" - Or "Lies, Damned Lies and Statistics"

OK, I do NOT have time for this today, I am beyond slammed, but I needed a little break and I have a list of ongoing things I need to buy, news I scan for, and I found something that got me started down the path.

Started with a scan of news that is business, looking for gun related legislative updates, found this story on Fox that talkes about a Bloomberg group, "No More Names", that held a rally in New Hampshire. Bloomberg has spent millions going after a NH Senator who voted against the gun bill, has been target #1 among those Senators in his sights.

I found it interesting b/c they stand out there at a "rally" (I put it in quotes b/c per the article there were 40 or so of them and 60 or so pro-gun people) and read the names of people killed in gun violence since Newtown. The interesting part? They read the name of the Boston Marathon bomber shot in a gunfight with police as one of these "victims". It's a classic distortion where it's technically true he was killed with a gun, but the implication of the list is these are all "victims of gun violence" and this guy was shot by the POLICE and was a murderer and terrorist. Hardly a name that supports the legislation they are proposing.

That kind of crap really grates on me. It's an intentional lie, a complete fabrication that through a simple sophistry avoids being a "technical" falsehood, but is one for any person of character.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/06/20...aev-as-victim/


So far OK, quick 5 minute read, I'm still on schedule. But this got to me b/c the story said they had 4,600 or so names (up to more now per their site) and I also know these groups have long used these distortions to overstate their case. Their #1 tactic that I consider misleading is to include suicides. They're reading a list of names of "gun violence" in support of "common sense" things like banning "assault weapons" but the number they cite in support is 50% people who killed themselves and not one of those lives would be saved by anything they're asking you to support.

But these people included a TERRORIST who was shot by the POLICE, people who are for sure still going to be armed. That's even more heinous than suicide inclusion IMO.

So I got to wondering "who else do they include"? I went to their site and looked but couldn't find a list, EXCEPT They put at least some of the names as the background on the site page.

OK, I'll google a few and see what I find. The first 3 were indeterminate, I found articles where their death was reported with ease (internet is amazing), but nothing really clear about the cases.

The FOURTH name I checked was Darwin Demarcus Weathers. He was shot and killed by his girlfriend on Christmas night. here's the problem: the prosecutor ruled it to be SELF DEFENSE, and in a 9 page report showed that she had sought safety with a domestic abuse group, that he had more than once threatened to kill her (with a gun to her head at least once), the normal sad story of horrible abuse.

This guy's name is on their website as a "victim of gun violence"!!!!???? This isn't a story of gun violence showing guns need to be restricted, this is the kind of story the NRA prints in their "Armed Citizen" magazine sections where people use guns to defend themselves and stop the bad guys. This is a gun SUCCESS STORY in my view, a woman who clearly could never have physically defended herself, pursued by an abusive and violent person, managing to save her life b/c she had access to a gun. THey have pictures of he two, trust me she was no match for this guy. http://www.mlive.com/news/grand-rapi...ith_had_a.html

I checked 4 names at random. How many names on there were criminals, drug deals gone bad, innocent people defending themselves? Man I'd like to find the time to look up their whole list. Statistics suggests they're just listing everyone killed by a gun whether in the line of duty by cops, in self defense, whatever. It's all just more names you can put up there to make it look like gun violence is out of control and more important imply that it's innocent people just like you and your family who are the victims.

Just like the 30 year felon murderer whose bio talks about his "work with long term incarceration", this is a list that includes a lot of people we should be glad were shot with a gun, b/c it was in self defense or prevention of a crime against innocent people.

"No more names"? How about "No More Distortions" or "Honest Debate About the Issue"? There are no doubt innocent victims of gun violence, but this shows the problem: we can't stop there with our discussion, we have to look at what is going on and what can really be done. Do we really just want to take the gun from that girlfriend's hands blindly and hope he doesn't just beat her to death instead?

back to work....

OK, a few more. Went 2 more, found Iquan Carter. A little bit on this victim of gun violence: (remember these are all framed as those killed since Newtown, clearly couching the whole list in terms of innocent children, not murderers and self defense):

Iquan Carter, 23, who was just released from Elmira Correctional Facility on Sept. 17, was shot on Ontario Street, between Second and Third streets, following an argument with his killer, according to police.

He drew an unloaded gun on his armed killer, according to people with knowledge of the investigation.

Carter stumbled through an alley before collapsing in the back yard of 55 Ontario St., authorities said.

Carter was treated by paramedics and rushed to Albany Medical Center Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Police were canvassing the neighborhood. No arrests were reported.

Police are unsure whether a nearby camera on a street corner captured the incident.

Carter, also known as "Ike," was shot in the leg on Aug. 8, 2006, on Livingston Avenue. He was charged at the time with pistol-whipping a 16-year-old youth two days earlier.

Carter served a six-year prison stretch at the maximum security Elmira lockup after being convicted of third-degree weapon possession in May 2007.

On Aug. 29, 2006, he was arrested in a car with a loaded .38-caliber handgun.

Carter had a poor disciplinary record in prison. While there he engaged in drug use, fighting, creating disturbances and violent conduct, officials said.

http://www.timesunion.com/local/arti...ng-4127649.php

Not a valid statistical sample yet but good enough for me to say they just culled the police reports and put every name on there whether knowing the facts of their case would really persuade anyone that gun control is a good idea or not.