02-25-2014, 06:12 PM
$tevie wrote:
Exactly, which is why either "side" of the gun debate putting up instances of "guns good" or "guns bad" aren't meaningful for considerations of whether loose gun laws are better than strict gun laws at providing enough positive value for society. IOW, anecdotes are not very helpful in trying to weigh the pros and cons of gun regulation on society as a whole.
What is needed is many peer reviewed scientific studies. Unfortunately, the NRA has created conditions that has discouraged such studies so it will take longer than it should to get a sufficient compilation to make any firm conclusions.
That said, it may very well be worth discussing any one incident on its own merits - but generalizing away from that one incident very much is going to be problematic in terms of "anecdotes aren't data".