Former Democratic state House candidate Elizabeth McCarthy confessed to a state investigator that she liedabout being a medical doctorand about treating victims of the 2016 Pulse massacre in Orlando. – FloridaPolitics
Well isn’t that refreshing. Lying “for the good” of the people. Because guns bad! Believe her, she’s a doctor. Except she is not.
I don’t know what this is a case of honestly. Lying for ‘the cause’ or just a case of self aggrandisement where McCarthy thought she could make these lies stick and gain a position to influence legislation, power, and money out of it.
Standing behind the lectern at a March town hall hosted by Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.) in Orlando, she described working as an emergency room doctor on June 12, 2016 — the night a gunman opened fire at the Pulse nightclub, killing 49 people in what was, at the time, the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history. Performing triage that night had been one of the hardest moments of her career, she told the audience, adding that when she wheeled bodies into the morgue, she could hear the victims’ cellphones ringing as their loved ones desperately tried to get in touch.
“That night, because I’m gay, it struck me even harder,” she said. “Because these were my people.”
Dressed in a black suit and flats, McCarthy paused frequently, seemingly overcome with emotion. The other panelists, including a sheriff and a survivor of the Pulse shooting, looked on, rapt, as she described the nightmarish scene that had unfolded in the operating room. When McCarthy said that she had personally removed 77 bullets from 32 people, the audience gasped. – Washington Post
Fake doctor throwing the victim card for political clout on the bodies of 49 people… classy.
DoH Medical Quality Assurance Investigator Rafael B. Aponte questioned McCarthy, whose full legal name is Catherine Elizabeth McCarthy, on July 9. He filed his report and the cease-and-desist order on Wednesday. McCarthy could not be reached Wednesday to comment.
With costs, she is being assessed a total penalty of $3,094.95. She has 30 days to dispute the investigation’s findings and seek a hearing, if she decides to do so. $3,100 for utilizing the deaths of 49 people for her own gain.
Rep. Darren Soto had originally described McCarthy as a friend and long time medical adviser who “showed her mettle” on the night of the attack. Apparently Soto and his staff don’t believe in proper credentialing but when the whole storm came to ahead Soto disavowed McCarthy and basically said he’d been bamboozled into the belief by the local DNC.
What won’t anti-gunners do to wave the bloody shirt? False doctorates and heroics aren’t the line apparently. Soto’s disavowal is nowhere on his website, but his Gun Control Town Hall still lists “Dr.” McCarthy as a panelist. I’m certain the “good doctor” had a great many things to add with her vast fabrication of medical expertise and removing some 77 completely imagined bullets from patients she never treated.
GAT Daily is a Proud Partner with The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) and we are happy to help announce the 20th year of Project ChildSafe, an NSSF initiative.
Project ChildSafe Marks 20 Years as America’s Leading Firearms Safety Program
NEWTOWN, Conn.–The National Shooting Sports Foundation (NSSF) this year marks the 20th anniversary of its Project ChildSafe program, which has increased awareness of safe firearms handling and storage practices among millions of gun owners, helped reduce accidental firearms deaths to historic lows and become an indispensable firearms safety education resource for partners in every state and the U.S. territories.
“The number one objective of Project ChildSafe has always been saving lives by urging gun owners to store their firearms responsibly when not in use, and giving them the tools to do it,” said NSSF CEO Steve Sanetti.
Those tools include educational materials and more than 38 million free gun locks that have been distributed by a network of thousands of partners from law enforcement, fish and wildlife agencies, conservation groups, firearms retailers, gun ranges, the faith community, tribal organizations, Boy Scouts of America chapters, 4-H and other groups nationwide.
Project ChildSafe has made a meaningful impact on safety nationwide. Annual reports from the National Safety Council show fatal firearms accidents are trending toward the lowest numbers since data collection began, and recent reports from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show fatal firearms accidents represent less than half of a percent of all accidental deaths in the U.S.
Further evidence of the program’s value can be measured in the ongoing demand for the gun locks, which currently outpaces supply by almost five-to-one. Equally compelling are the qualitative assessments from the National Safety Council, GAO and RAND:
In a 2017 report, the GAO concluded that providing free locking devices positively influenced behavior to store firearms more safely.
In 2019, the RAND Corporation (conducting research for the National Institute of Justice), noted that Project ChildSafe is the only program that offers freely available gun locks at a national level, and in the context of the GAO findings, concluded that Project ChildSafe is a “noteworthy component of national efforts to improve safe storage.”
Project ChildSafe, which originally launched as “Project HomeSafe” in 1999 in five cities across the country, has marked a number of other successes over the years, some of which can be viewed in annual reports on the Project ChildSafe website, under the Resources section.
Joe Bartozzi, who became NSSF’s President in 2018, says these results are a good start and certainly not the end of the Project ChildSafe story.
“While we can look back proudly on 20 years of tremendous results, we’re also looking to the future and ensuring that the number of accidental firearms deaths keeps declining and that responsible storage is synonymous with gun ownership,” Bartozzi said. “I’ve always been a huge supporter of Project ChildSafe and look forward to continuing that work.”
That “work” on keeping firearms out of the wrong hands includes building on current partnerships with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention and the Veteran’s Administration to help address firearms and suicide, and working with other partners to help curb firearms thefts, especially from vehicles. “Nearly two-thirds of all gun deaths in the U.S are suicides, and when you look at crimes involving guns across the country, the vast majority of them involve stolen guns,” Bartozzi said. “The importance of storing firearms responsibly as a means to help prevent suicide and gun crime cannot be overstated.”
It’s also noteworthy that while NSSF is leading the effort with Project ChildSafe, it’s getting plenty of help.
“It’s the support from the entire industry – manufacturers, retailers, gun ranges and hunting and shooting organizations, that drives the Project ChildSafe message,” said Bill Brassard, NSSF Senior Director of Communications, who has been with the program since its inception. “In just the past five years, more than 9,000 organizations have signed on to help Project ChildSafe emphasize the importance of safe storage to gun owners.”
In addition to the firearms industry funding the program over the last two decades, NSSF has been the recipient of numerous federal and state grants, special contributions from industry companies and public giving to expand Project ChildSafe’s messaging on gun safety. To help the program meet demand for its safety materials in the future, the Project ChildSafe Foundation, a 501(c)(3) charity, was formed to accept donations in support of Project ChildSafe’s firearms safety efforts.
About NSSF: The National Shooting Sports Foundation is the trade association for the firearms industry. Its mission is to promote, protect and preserve hunting and the shooting sports. Formed in 1961, NSSF has a membership of thousands of manufacturers, distributors, firearms retailers, shooting ranges, sportsmen’s organizations and publishers nationwide. For more information, visit nssf.org.
Governor Phil Murphy of New Jersey signed S101 into law to take effect early next year. S101 will mandate that New Jersey firearm retailers, who already have an onerous burden of regulation to comply with the state laws, must have at least one “Smart Gun” on their store shelves.
What comes next? They must sell so many smart guns per month or year in order to stay licensed?
The bill that Murphy signed states, “[The bill] requires firearm retailers to have available for purchase at least one personalized handgun approved by the commission and listed on the roster as eligible for sale.”
Approved lists for guns. Similar in scope to California’s laws which have effectively stopped all new firearms, at least handguns, from being approved for sale in that state due to their microstamping requirement. Will the board approve any firearms? Can that board, in good conscious, sign off on any current generation smart gun as safe and reliable?
If the board won’t sign off on any smart guns will that force New Jersey FFL’s to cease operating?
If there are two technologies in the firearms space that are the pipedream of pipedreams of sci-fi ignoramus gun controllers they are Smart Guns and Microstamping.
Biometrically or digitally locked “smart” firearms are taking a simple safe firearm and introducing a highly complicated biometric or wireless comm component in order to reduce the likelihood it is used by an unauthorized person. It’s a fantasy out of science fiction that we are nowhere close to having as a viable technology base.
Think about it. It uses exiting pairing and or smart security tech. No device is tested on those more than… our phones. But how many times does your bluetooth fail to pair up or the biolock take several attempts and a reset to enable?
All. The. Time. It happens daily and it slows down the usability process on a device that is needed immediately to save your life. Imagine if a seatbelt required you to biometrically release it in order to get yourself out of car that’s on fire? Imagine if an AED required a bluetooth pairing in order to use? Imagine any other piece of emergency equipment that required a spotty, only works sometimes or under good conditions, unlock to use.
We have a developed, and honestly purposefully encouraged, fundamental disconnect into what a firearm is for. A firearm is an on demand life saving tool and when you need it, it MUST be there. Smart Guns are dumb. Smart safes, vaults, security boxes, and anything that isn’t immediate access required are fine. Smart guns… are dumb.
During the signing ceremony, Murphy said, “Even though there’s more to do, we must take great pride in what we are doing today. These new laws will send the message we take gun safety and the safety of our communities seriously.”
By mandating an unreliable technology? By requiring retailers to spend their own money to carry this proven unreliable tech at their own expense just to stay in business? What happens if they can’t because no company is willing to build an unreliable weapon just to meet a legal requirement? Does every store in NJ just fold?
Low hanging political points to pander to a bunch of smart technology neophytes. These same people are just as ignorant on firearms technology and can’t see the forest for the trees. They stop at how good the tech sounds and not how well it actually works.
The supermajority of all supermajorities of smart tech interactions we have on a daily basis are under non critical conditions. So when my bank app or Spotify won’t open its just annoying. If I needed that phone to open in a split second to save my life I would not carry it.
Smart guns are dumb!
If me having sweat or dirt on my hand can cause a failure in this device it isn’t ready. If being around certain other electronics can cause a failure it isn’t ready. If being inside a building with a certain composition affects connectivity and causes failures it isn’t ready. If being wet can short the system it isn’t ready.
Smart tech is nothing more than the illusion of added safety for the cost of real world loss in reliability. Just like with microstamping, the tech doesn’t exist right now to make this what it needs to be. It will provide no real world benefit. But it sure looks great on an election campaign highlight real…
From Springfield Armory’s acclaimed line of XD-S Mod.2® comes their newest, most concealable offering yet. The XD-S Mod.2® in 9mm is a less than one-inch wide pinnacle of reliability. 25K rounds without a stoppage and an integral grip safety for total peace of mind when carrying.
The XD-S Mod.2® ships with two stainless steel magazines: a
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Available in models with Tritium, Fiber Optic, and Viridian Laser.
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Frame Black Polymer w/ Enhanced Grip Texture
Slide Steel, Melonite®
Recoil System Dual Captive Recoil Spring w/ Full Length Guide Rod
San Antonio, Texas (July 19, 2019) – Blaser USA is pleased to announce a special promotion in partnership with Minox Optics. From July 15, 2019 through December 31, 2019, customers who purchase any new Mauser or J.P. Sauer and Sohn rifle from an authorized dealer’s in-store inventory will receive a coupon code for 50% off the online purchase of one Minox optic. This discount applies to any of the riflescopes, binoculars, monoculars, spotting scopes, night vision devices or surveillance cameras found on the Minox USA website with potential savings of up to $1,750.
“We are pleased to offer consumers special pricing on Minox optics when they purchase a Mauser or Sauer rifle from July 15 through the end of the year,” said Jens Krogh, Vice President of Sales and Marketing for Blaser USA. “Minox makes high-quality optics that are rugged and deliver excellent performance in the field, and our Mauser and Sauer rifles are highly regarded for their accuracy and reliability at great price points. This special promotion simply allows us to offer even more value to hunters and shooters as we approach the fall hunting season.”
For more information on Mauser rifles and details on the terms and conditions of this promotion, visit www.mauser-usa.com.
For more information on J.P. Sauer and Sohn rifles and details on the terms and conditions of this promotion, visit www.jpsauer-usa.com.
Blaser USA Inc. is the official US importer for iconic German firearms brands Blaser, Mauser and J.P. Sauer, and English gunmaker John Rigby & Co. Established in 2006, the company which is based in San Antonio, Texas works with over 200 authorized Blaser dealers across all North American states, with this figure continually growing. Today Blaser USA’s industry-leading product portfolio includes bolt-action, combination rifles and over-and-under shotguns designed specifically for game hunters and competitive target shooters. Its custom shop offers exclusive
engravings, design work and custom finishing for bespoke guns. With recent innovations, Blaser has gone on to expand its product portfolio into cutting edge optics and accessory lines. For more information about the company and product lines, visit: www.blaser-usa.com.
At this point if you have not heard of Aero Precision I need to know where you found your rock, I’m gonna go hide under there the next time the internet gets overly internetish.
For anyone who hasn’t heard nor seen Aero Precision pass across your feeds, they are probably among the best regarded manufacturers of AR-10 and AR-15 parts for the home builder. Builds are Aero’s specialty and helping you with the parts you need for your first, next, next next, or the one after that is what you go to Aero for.
So when I come up with a one off project like my SCDM, Aero is there going, “Why not? Let’s do it!”
Designated Marksman
The Designated Marksman (DM) concept has been deployed successfully in GWOT theaters for several years. Having a squad member with a more specialized rifle and optic system that can extend that weapons effective engagement range. Enabling the range of observation and engagement to be further than the general issue rifles in the squad.
So what I wanted personally was was the same thing… but different.
Built on a smaller scale and conforming to the goofy legal frameworks of rifle/pistol/firearm/SBR/whatever will they think of next. Also, as a Flat Dark Earth aficionado, I wanted this project in that color scheme. Aero Precision got me started.
Why not a regular rifle?
Image via Wikipedia, the Mk12 MOD1
Like stated above the DM is carrying equipment to extend the effective range beyond the standard carbine in the team, in the pictured case assumed as the M4/M4A1.
My premise starts from the assumption that the “squad of boogaloo bois,” or whatever moniker we decide on for the gram, is running MK18-like AR pistol types. In whatever hypothetical emergency that has arisen, maybe the aliens really did get out of Area 51 in September and they’re pissed, the go guns are AR pistols in a ~10.5″ configuration running red dot sights and lights.
Pistols make the most sense as they are legally the most mobile, an SBR has form requirements to cross state lines which will make it a pain. (I know, that won’t matter once the feces hit fan blades, but prior to that it’s still a thing.)
So, everyone is rolling with their MK18esk, Driveway, Cul De Sac, Truck Cabin, Alien, Boogaloo specials… which are 0-100 meter effective PID type guns. They can get you around and out of the office building, move in and around a vehicle, and are providing that significant increase in individual and group firepower that having 5.56 carbines do. Go them! Go team!
My role, and the concept of this build, is that little group’s SDM. So I needed to build this with a few performance and design goals.
Longer effective range for observation and engagement than the base guns for the team
Ammo commonality, must be 5.56
AR pistol or Title I configuration (non NFA)
FDE, because it must be FDE
Sub-Compact Designated Marksman (SCDM)
As you may well know, effective range on a system is derived from two factors: The capability of the gun and the capability of the shooter to discern and engage valid targets.
The base effective range of a ~10.5″ 5.56 rifle or pistol is 300 meters (per the MK18 CQBR specs), the gun itself can reach out that far with a high hit probability on a static target from a well supported firing position. I round that listed effective range down to 50-100 meters, factoring in the ability of the shooter to positively ID threat/non-threat with the unaided eye in a more complex environment. Dot sights make eye relief and sight alignment non issues over iron sights but they do not help you see and ID.
Muzzle velocity is another concern on shorter barrels. The effects of 5.56 terminally change as velocity drops. So the higher that starting velocity can be from the muzzle the longer the range you have for the improved terminal ballistics. Both the effective range of observation and the effective range of terminal ballistics are going to be shorter than the effective range of acceptable hit probability.
The red line at 2500 feet per second represents the rough terminal ballistics change. This is chart is specifically referencing 62gr M855 ammunition, however different 5.56 rounds won’t drastically alter the fact that more velocity increases your terminal effects. The ~10.5″ guns are right on the edge of that efficiency drop.
Barrel: 12.5″ Daniel Defense, 5.56 NATO
In response the SCDM would get a 12.5″ barrel. Aero has a matching M4E1 receiver set with an R-ONE ATLAS freefloat handguard. The barrel and bolt would be Daniel Defense, since that time a few more options have hit the market from Ballistic Advantage, however I am more than satisfied with the DD barrel and bolt. NOTE: The 12″ ATLAS is actually 12.56″, completing another proper spec M-LOK and machining pattern slot.
Original via Guns and Ammo
Across a vast variety of ammunition, about 150 feet per second of muzzle velocity is gained over the 10.5’s. Gained by using the 12.5″ barrel is a greater distance window for that increased terminal effectiveness.
Readers… you know I like ACOG’s. I won’t rehash that topic overmuch here.
The TA31 offers a robust combat proven system with 4x optical zoom. Battery free, set and forget, and lighter than any LPVO offering don’t hurt either. It rounds out the color scheme nicely.
Receiver: M4E1 and Geissele all the things
I must say, Aero Precision, you have the most user friendly upper and lower set to build on.
For the majority of supporting parts, Geissele was the name. Trigger: Geissele SSA-E. Charging Handle: Geissele Super Charging Handle. Bolt Catch: Geissele Maritime Bolt Catch.
Safety selector is my favorite Noveske/Magpul collaboration, their STS. The pistol grip is my preferred BCM MOD 3. Easy day.
The buffer tube, receiver end cap, and castle nut were all done up in flat dark earth by my friends over at BG Defense. Pulled from their in stock production. Capping it off on the back is an SBA3 brace from SB Tactical and on the front was a spare AAC 51T Breakout I had in a parts box.
Lumens are courtesy of a Surefire M600 Scout (pictured) or an X300U with tapeswitch.
So far, about 1,000 rounds into it’s life, this is proving to be my absolute favorite AR. The SCDM feels and handles lighter than either of my 8.5″ guns, the LWRC M6IC PSD and IWI Galil ACE. It comes at the trade off of being a longer gun though and doesn’t stow and go quite as nicely.
Oh! The longer barrel produces a significantly quieter gun.
The Gun Runs
This Aero project was 100% a recreational build. The SCDM was an entertaining concept from a goofy train of thought that proved out into a fantastically working rifle… or carbine… pistol? Firearm?
That’s another neat technical note about the SCDM build’s spec sheet. Due to the fact it’s measurable OAL (minus brace, that’s a non measurable accessory per the ATF right now) is over 26″ it can be built as an “Other Firearm” per Title I definitions instead of a “Handgun” under the same title rules. It is up to you, the assembler, to be certain of the legalities of what you are building from the receiver and unto which Title I definitions you want to ascribe your final product.
Yes, you can bring firearms on your flight. How much of a hassle it is depends on your pre-flight preparedness. I hate flying, for a number of reasons (I hate crowds, I hate lines, I hate having to take off my pistol and trust my safety to people less skilled, etc.), but that still doesn’t stop me from getting on planes at least half a dozen times a year. Most of the time I do fly with firearms in my checked baggage, and over the years I have learned a few tricks that may ease your travels.
Check out Handguns Magazine for more expert advice on everyday carry.
Check the Rules
While the TSA does not limit the number of firearms you can have in your checked baggage, I know of at least one airline that does. Every airline has a website with their specific rules on transportation of firearms and ammunition – check it. Basically, the firearm must be unloaded and in a locked case and declared during the ticket counter check-in process. I recommend acting professional, polite (as if you’ve checked guns dozens of times before), and like it’s no big deal, because it shouldn’t be. A smile will get you checked in quicker and with less problems than an attitude.
Locked Case
Simply having a padlock on your case isn’t good enough for the TSA. They want to make sure that the lock prevents access to the gun inside, and I have had agents undo the latches on my gun case and attempt to pry it open wide enough to pull the gun out. This is surprisingly easy with some rifle cases (I recommend a padlock at each end), and even some handgun cases. Don’t be gentle when you test your cases, because the TSA agents won’t be. I know one gun writer whose rifle cases were destroyed by TSA agents using pipes as crowbars, and then told he couldn’t fly with them because his rifle cases would no longer securely lock. What this has to do with combating terrorism I’m a little fuzzy on.
Although regulations don’t require it, I always put my locked pistol case inside a locked piece of luggage, and I’ve had TSA cut the padlock off the luggage just to get a look at the pistol case. Why? I have no idea.
Currently, when I am just travelling with a pistol or two, I put them in a Pelican 1495 case. In addition to the combo lock built into the case itself I secure it with a combination padlock. To get to the guns inside, someone would need boltcutters AND a bandsaw. I check it as a separate piece of luggage.
Springfield Armory is offering incredible deals on their Defenders Series XD’s, both the 9mm 4” Service Model and the 9mm 3” Sub-Compact. This limited-time sales event is designed to encourage new shooters to purchase their first firearm, and to drive customers looking for a good value to invest in the Springfield Armory brand. You’ll also receive a Defenders Series Certificate and an invitation to join The Defenders, an online community of enthusiasts who will receive exclusive offers, giveaways, and discounts.
This year’s class of Publius Fellows headed from the Claremont Institute to the West End Gun Club in the Los Angeles area’s San Gabriel Mountain foothills for an Independence Day of shooting, learning about the Second Amendment, and consuming mass quantities of barbecue.
The Publius Fellowship is one of four educational programs offered by the Claremont Institute to up-and-coming young conservatives headed for careers in scholarship, journalism, or government.
Graduates of the Publius Fellowship and the other Claremont Institute fellowships come from all over the U.S. and some from other countries. Many have gone on to fame and influence as political commentators and media personalities (Laura Ingraham, Dinesh D’Souza, Ben Shapiro, Mark Levin, the late Andrew Breitbart), politicians (U.S. Senator from Arkansas Tom Cotton), and political advisors, staff, and speechwriters in the federal government.
This year’s class of fourteen Publius Fellows was made up of the usual mix of bright, ambitious young conservatives either aiming at or already in careers in think tanks, congressional staff offices, and similar high-powered pursuits. One is a research associate at the law firm that is suing Harvard University for racial discrimination against Asian American applicants. Several Fellows are active journalists, a profession in dire need of balance in covering firearm issues. Another is a communications consultant for Donald J. Trump, Inc. and vice president of the University of California-Berkeley College Republicans. Read the impressive credentials of each one here.
A surprise member of the group was Publius Decius Mus (google it for his real name), a former National Security official in the Trump administration. He’s also a senior fellow of the Claremont Institute who is famous for his August 2016 political call to arms, “The Flight 93 Election.”
We all met on the public range at my gun club, the West End Gun Club, up in Meyer Canyon in the San Gabriel Mountain Foothills north of Fontana, California. Instructors were Claremont Institute Senior Fellows Professors Dan Palm and Ed Erler, Vietnam veteran and crack shotgunner John Schmutzer, and yours truly.
After a review of the Four Rules and the range’s policies and rules, and with eye and ear protection in place, we started the Fellows out shooting a lineup of rifles. Each rifle came from an era in American military history, briefly described by Drs. Palm and Erler, from the M1 Garand and M1A rifles of World War II, on to semiauto civilian versions of the M14 of the Korean War and early Vietnam War, to the AR 15 of Vietnam and after, to a rail-equipped AR representing the current iteration of this incredibly versatile, modular sporting rifle.
On the firing line
After a couple of hours on the rifle end of the range, we moved over to the pistol side. I reviewed once again the Four Rules, then the fundamentals of handgun shooting including stance, grip, sight alignment, sight picture, and trigger control. Then all hands blazed away on the firing line with a mix of 1911-model .45 ACP pistols, Sigs and Rugers in .22 caliber and 9 mm., a Ruger revolver in .357 Magnum, and the classic Dirty Harry handgun—a Smith & Wesson Model 29 revolver chambered for .44 Magnum.
After the shooting session, and with all spent brass policed up, the group moved off the firing line to a layout of barbecue with all the sides and nonalcoholic beverages. Professor Ed Erler continued his tradition of a lunchtime lecture on The Second Amendment as an Expression of First Principles. This 2013 Imprimis article was widely circulated when first published, and it gives the Publius Fellows intellectual background on the Second Amendment that they would never get in most university political science courses.
This year’s group were less experienced shooters overall than last year’s, but all were the good students we already knew them to be. And new to this year’s group were two junior shooters, the children of two of the party.
I am always heartened by the reaction of other club members we run into during this annual event when they find out our group are smart, young people in public life who not only know about guns, but fully support our Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms. The club’s range officer this year was particularly happy to learn about them.
DRGO has roots in the Claremont Institute. Remember that the Claremont Institute’s president at that time, Dr. Larry Arnn, adopted Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership as one of the Institute’s projects in 1994. Our fledgling project was greatly assisted by the capable staff there, including editing and public affairs support. Most recently DRGO was the client of the Claremont Institute’s Center for Constitutional Jurisprudence, with the Center’s Clinic Director Anthony T. Caso authoring DRGO’s 2012 amicus curiaebrief for the state in the federal court case Wollschlaeger v. Governor of the State of Florida.
The Claremont Institute’s mission is “to restore the principles of the American Founding to their rightful, preeminent authority in our national life.” To understand how vitally important this restoration is, we need only look at how badly the Second Amendment had fared in American politics up until a decade ago, and how poorly it is honored in some places even today. The Claremont Institute’s work over the years has guided policy makers in following the Constitution, without which private gun ownership in America would be a thing of the past. DRGO is proud to have been part of the Claremont Institute and to retain ties of friendship with its good people.
I’m looking forward to Independence Day 2020, when we will infuse another class of Publius Fellows with the spirit of the Second Amendment.
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—Timothy Wheeler, MD is the founder and former director of Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, and a retired head and neck surgeon.
Children in states with strict gun laws less likely to die, study says
Correlation. Does. Not. Equal. Causation.
A study released on Monday has led to a flurry of headlines stating the latest study of gun control has found that states with Universal Background Check laws (UBC’s) had lower child mortality rates due to firearms. Most of those headlines read like the second one above, if not even more emphatically linking the mortality rate to UBC’s
But the first headline, from PBS, is the most accurate inquiry into the data. In the first paragraph they answer that question.
There may be a connection between tougher gun laws and fewer child fatalities from firearms, a new study suggested Monday. The study, published in the journal Pediatrics, says states with universal background checks report fewer children’s deaths due to gun incidents. However, more data is needed to understand the relationship between firearms and public health, and to conclude whether such laws save lives, the study maintains.[emphasis mine]
They don’t know. But they don’t want to say that. Not too loudly at least.
They found a correlative link but do not have causative break downs. Anyone inside statistical analysis will tell you highlighting a single input, like UBC’s, and then projecting them as the assumed causative (as the headlines do) is simple lying with statistics.
Reading into the various pieces further they are very careful with their language. They are attempting every possible linguistic method to keep UBC’s as the assumed causative because it was the correlative they found to push the narrative.
According to the study, 21,241 children died due to firearm use between 2011 and 2015, based on federal data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That produces a firearm-related fatality rate of 4.65 per 100,000 U.S. children. -PBS
The key terms are children and died. “Died” will include suicides, homicides, and accidents, all of which have very different causative circumstances but ending in the same result. The study generalized all of these factors to try and forward the idea that a UBC is the common solution in the reduced rate of mortality. Precisely how, or even a blind shot in the dark as to a reason, a UBC would influence suicide or accident rates is not expressed.
Among states with universal background checks, Goyal said the study suggests a 35-percent drop in child firearm fatality rates compared to states without those laws.
Suggests. Another careful word choice that doesn’t tie them into verifying the causative relations to their premise. The publishers want you to believe this is why (the UBC’s) it works without deep delving into the how or why that could possibly be the case.
Also their numbers seem to include a very interesting extension of “children”…
The study also grouped in young people between the ages of 18 and 21 into its accounting of child fatalities, which critics say painted a disingenuous picture for a study focused on child deaths.
Considering these “children” can vote, smoke, drink (21), and enlist for war, yeah I’d go with pretty disingenuous. My 21st birthday was after the start of my 4th year of service…
Children evokes an emotive response in us. It’s supposed too, we are wired to defend our offspring on a macro level. So using the term children in the headlines is to evoke that image of a child, 0-12 years of age. But including teens and young adults, who are developmentally and functionally at or near an autonomous adult level, are used too heavily pad the number.
What would the rate look like if we take the 18-21 year old “children” out?
Age group 0-17, 2012-2014 National Vital Statistics System via AAP News & Journals
By excluding the legal adult, voting age, military age male and female portion of the study the mortality rate drops to only 37.8% of what the study claims. From 4.65 to only 1.76 per 100,000. By including the young adults the study is able to nearly triple their mortality rate.
I’m not saying these deaths aren’t of note. They are. What I am saying is that equating these deaths to that of a 6 year old is back to using statistics to lie.
What about actual children? Excluding both teens and young adults? What is the danger to the truly and fully dependant age ranges?
Age group 0-12 NVSS
Less than 1/10th of the deaths are children. Over 90% of the 21,241 are over the age of 12. Over 60% are over the age of 18!
So why isn’t this study correlating that UBC’s have a 35% reductive effect on firearms deaths among young adults? Why use the term children?
Simple. Dead children evoke an emotive response. But when placed in perspective things change.
Drowning rates varied by age group with the highest rates among children 1-4 years of age at 3.0 per 100,000; among this group, drowning represented 27% of all unintentional injury deaths.
The unintentional drowning rate is six times higher for children age 1-4 than all firearm related deaths of children age 0-12. Granted these are different studies, different year ranges, and only some overlapping age ranges not direct data point to data point.
Thepoint, however, is that when we break down the data into useable pieces the headline presumption completely falls apart. The headlines are deliberately shaping a correlation causation relationship that has no substantiation and is, in point of practical analysis, a farce.
The conclusion the study wanted was that a gun control measure, UBC’s in the case, reduced gun deaths. What they produced was a piece of misconstrued data to fit their message, and evoked the emotive “dead children” card.
When we break down the data we can draw some conclusions.
Crime among young adult, especially male, results in the majority of homicide gun deaths
Suicide among young adults is also a massive contributing factor to gun deaths
Young adults are the majority contributor to all of these stat blocks
The UBC might have a peripheral influence on criminal homicide and suicide deaths with a number of attached suppositions.
Supposition A. That a transfer that was blocked was the only method for the person committing suicide or committing homicide to get the weapon.
Supposition B. That the firearm was the only method that person had considered to complete the action of suicide or homicide and that they will not commit otherwise by any other method.
Supposition C. The person looking to commit suicide or homicide is unwilling to break the UBC law.
Supposition D. The person looking to commit the suicide or homicide is already properly flagged by background as prohibited.
Conclusions
Well… conclusion, singular. This is just another massaged set of data where they’ve shucked away the useable bits and burned the credibility for the sake of promoting a message. *le sigh* Correlation AND causation folks… they matter. They really do if you genuinely want to improve on these problems.
I don’t follow the pediatric trauma literature because I’m in general office care, so this was news to me. It seems that previous studies of children and tourniquets have involved rescue mannequins and studies of average limb circumference for age group. What makes this study unique is that it is a prospective study which involved actual children ages 6-16 with actual CAT use and Doppler measurement of arterial flow.
This is good news for those with Stop the Bleed training. Solid evidence that an adult Tourniquet CAN be used effectively in a pediatric trauma situation is likely to be reassuring.
What isn’t surprising however, is the focus on “Gunshot injuries” in the article as well as in the hand-wringing commentary which follows it on the next page in the journal.
The commentator laments the,
“… appalling social conditions that make an article on how to stop 6-year olds from bleeding to death after gunshot wounds necessary in the first place.”
He goes on to scold that,
“Almost as tragic is the inurement to school shootings and resultant ease with which we, the putative guardians of children’s health, can blithely read such articles with scarcely a second thought about the existence of the larger problem: repeated mass injuries from school shootings. The United States is the clear world leader in both absolute and relative frequency of school shootings, with >250 reported since 2009.”
First of all, I can’t take this commentator who is supposed to be a physician seriously at ALL. You know why? Because he uses freaking WIKIPEDIA as one of his references for his school shooting data.
Seriously? Dude, do you even know how to do academics? You make my head hurt. How did this get published in a major journal? Oh I know – because you spouted the party line, that’s why.
This obsessive and myopic (not to mention sloppily supported) focus on “gunshot injuries” and “school shootings” obscures the value of this study and the wider benefit to pediatric trauma victims in general. What about the thousands of children who experience traumatic injury in motor vehicle accidents yearly? This is a number which far exceeds pediatric gunshot injury, yet the commentator chose the latter rather than the former as the focus of his emotional finger-waggling.
The commentator’s hypothetical 6-year old is much more likely to need a tourniquet after her mother wrecks their car than because of a school shooting. But that apparently didn’t occur to the commentator nor to the authors of the study, who used “Gunshot injuries” as their first attention-grabbing words.
This tunnel-vision is typical of the American Academy of Pediatrics and Organized Medicine in general though. I don’t know why I expected anything different. Never let facts stand in the way of the narrative, and always be sure to muddy-up otherwise good research with an emotional and political smokescreen.
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Have you ever felt as if you don’t have two brain cells left to rub together anymore? That’s been me the past few weeks. Too much life and too many projects – getting a kid moved to grad school, trying to learn to knit, taking a spinning class (the wool, not the bike – I’m not THAT insane), learning to dehydrate foods for long term storage, working a full-time job … and working on my shotgun rehab project.
The shotgun project is making me lose the most brain cells. Although there’s not much in the way of rust, this gun is incredibly dirty. I’ve been soaking and scrubbing with various solvents and oils off and on for the past few weeks as I get time and motivation. But wow, I’m starting to think that I need to install an industrial fume hood at my house. I’m getting worried about preserving those last two brain cells. I don’t think seeing visions in my own basement is in the manual of arms for this gun. I finally moved some of the operation upstairs into the living room in front of the TV, because at least there are windows upstairs.
After I broke up the worst of the crud with Kroil, I’ve now moved on to Hoppes #9 for the detail work. That smell is bringing me back to my childhood, with my father cleaning his FIAS in front of the TV after a day chasing woodcock and grouse. The Hoppes receptors in my brain are apparently still functional after all these years. THAT was a surprise.
But it isn’t just the solvents that are getting to me. Some of it is the bargain-hunting process that is endangering my cognitive function. I got a fantastic deal on Amazon for a Magpul SGA replacement stock. It was listed as “used, in damaged original package”, and it was $23 cheaper than new. That was my score-of-the-month. It arrived in perfect condition and I am just tickled.
My deal for the month
But when I went to use another supplier for the Magpul forend, I started getting brain damage from pounding my head on the desk. The supplier (not Magpul) kept sending me emails about the stuff in my cart. (I left it in the cart while I shopped around the web for a few days) Here was this discount code and that discount code and yet another discount code – but when I broke down and tried to actually make the purchase, then those codes were no longer valid. ARGH. Talk about bait and switch. It made my brain hurt. I did finally make the purchase though, because I figured that the $23 I saved with the stock almost paid for the forend anyway. See the kind of higher math I rationalize purchases with? Only two brain cells remember? Plus the closed head injury from the desk. (There’s no photo of that deal because it hasn’t arrived yet)
I did have passing thoughts of keeping the original stock and forend and just spray painting them or something, but I finally decided that it was more work and mess than I wanted to get into. Besides, the Magpul stock has an adjustable LOP, and the forend has M-LOK so I can attach a light if I want. This is supposed to be a defensive/tactical shotgun after all. And using spray paint would have just exposed those last two brain cells to even more solvents and propellants.
Once I’m finished with the re-build project then I plan to further stress my brain by taking a defensive shotgun course.
Although I have not yet reached retirement age, I am finding that it takes a lot more effort than it used to to get up out of those kneeling and prone positions. Not to mention that I tore an ACL in med school and never got it fixed. (Sometimes you just can’t fix stupid.) The “seasoned” shotgun course doesn’t require those more challenging positions, so that sounds like it might be more up my alley.
I need to get my new/old shotgun into working order first, before I pull the trigger on a class though, and I also ought to practice up a few reload skills. I haven’t tried to do fast reloads since I stopped doing 3-Gun a few years ago.
So, I think I’ve got the prerequisite skills needed to take a defensive shotgun class – now I’m just hoping there isn’t a brain cell count requirement.
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On the firing line
