Saturday, August 15, 2015

FLAWED STUDY ON SHOOTING OF COPS

A University of Illinois at Chicago study found that police officers are most likely to be killed in states where the most people own guns

David Swedler of the University of Illinois at Chicago School of Public Health headed a study that found more cops are killed in states with more guns. The gun ownerships were rated on a per capita basis to factor out that there are more guns in states with large populations.

Swedler’s team found that between 1996 and 2010 there were 782 cops killed in the line of duty. 716 of those officers were killed by gunfire with 515 by handguns.

Swedler says, "Officers are three times more likely to be murdered on the job in high gun ownership states in comparison with low gun ownership states. That was the big wow for me."

The study found that cops often encounter guns in domestic violence cases. Thus the more per capita gun ownership, the more likely a cop will be shot answering a domestic disturbance call.

"In states where firearms are more prevalent, officers responding to reports of domestic violence are more often entering potentially lethal situations compared to officers responding to such calls in states with lower firearm prevalence," Swedler says. "If people in the United States are concerned about the lives of police officers, think about the laws in your state regarding firearms."

Aha, there we have it. Swedler is really advocating gun control, possibly even a ban on private gun ownership. And that’s why this study is flawed.

In states like New York and California with very strict gun control laws, cops are still being shot to death. And New York also has one of the lowest per-capita rates of gun ownership. Swedler points out that New York has a low rate for cop killings, but that obviously ignores the shootings of New York cops since 2010, and for the families of slain police officers, gun ownership rates don’t count for shit.

Swedler’s study is just another case in which an academician holds a strong opinion and sets out to prove it’s true. It does not take a rocket scientist to figure out that cops are more likely to get shot in places where there are more guns. Swedler and his team did not need to waste however much money (probably tax dollars) and untold man-hours to discover his “big wow,” something that common sense will tell you!

It’s crystal clear that Swedler is a gun control freak. He is, however, quite clever in couching his fear and hatred of guns by making it look like he is concerned about the shooting of cops. He probably doesn't give a damn about cops, he's just scared that one of those Chicago gangbangers is going to shove a gun up his ass.

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