We have a recent report by the US government that climate change is almost certainly caused by humans. However, we don't have the same rigor in gun death statistics; instead policy debate can rely only on FBI crime statistics which aren't directly comparable year-over-year due to changing measurement methodology (see "Caution to users").
This is because the NRA put pressure on the CDC through a Republican Congress to halt this research, under the logic that it promotes the cause of gun control.
But how likely is it that this is intentional, to use the US Second Amendment as an ongoing lightning rod for public attention (in a "bread and circuses" sense) while political business continues as usual on the back end (e.g. Paradise Papers)? Obama and a Democratic congress had the opportunity to restart this, which would presumably be just as "common sense" as the actual reforms they have been promoting on this issue, since whoever was actually supported by the facts would presumably have a motivation to set the program back in motion to improve support for their proposals.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by jmorris on Thursday November 09 2017, @02:30AM (2 children)
No, we got Congress to drop the hammer on the CDC misusing the funds given to it for one purpose and redirecting it to political activism by a the SJWs who infest the CDC. Guns are not a disease to be researched by the Centers for Disease Control. The FBI maintains crime statistics. The CDC should be trying to stop the next plague that lands here from the third world.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday November 09 2017, @03:16AM
You mean like weapons and ammunition that's imported instead of made in the USA?
(Score: 4, Interesting) by jimtheowl on Thursday November 09 2017, @04:41AM
Wouldn't it be a surprise if the place you call "here" was to be the origin pf the next plague. Indirectly it is likely to be, because the current US administration encourages short term profit at the expense of the permafrost no longer being permanent.
As bad as methane is, there is more sinister lurking underneath that ice.