Dear Lee and Marcus, I am afraid I fell for a Liberal meme. It may, of course, be true, but at least so far as I can determine from a quick scan of the web, there is no consensus on the causality that I implied.
So, at the moment, I guess it just comes down to values. I hate the damned things. My apologies. Nick -----Original Message----- From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Tuesday, December 18, 2012 11:01 AM To: Nicholas Thompson; [email protected] Subject: Re: [FRIAM] How to avoid shootings Nick: > So, Marcus. You would make no changes in things as they are? Note > that both Australia and Scotland have made changes in gun deaths recently by making > changes in gun laws. N How do you know that? In both places, I believe that (1) the background level of non-massacre gun murders (not suicides nor accidents) was low(ish) and remains low(ish), and that (2) the gun massacre which prompted the change in gun laws was unprecedented--so that, again, the "background level" (if it makes sense to talk about that when it's zero) was low (as could be) and remains low (as could be). Maybe the two massacres would have, without the new gun laws, been followed by more; maybe not. How *could* you know that (not to go all epistemological on you)? My claims about background levels are, of course, just what I think I've read; I could be wrong, misinformed, or forgetful. All three happen, occasionally. ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College to unsubscribe http://redfish.com/mailman/listinfo/friam_redfish.com
