Friday, December 4, 2015

Lies And Statistics

Overheard on NPR this afternoon (paraphrasing):
There have been over 351 mass shootings in the US so far this year. Of these, only two involved Muslims. Should we be so worried -- if at all -- about Muslim terrorists? 
_____________________

For the figure cited, "mass" is defined as involving four or more people; "shootings" tallies the number of people killed or wounded by gunfire and includes the perpetrators. So the San Bernardino shooting already accounts for more than 10% of the total: 14 killed + 21 wounded + 2 dead losers = 37.

Please correct me if I'm wrong.

20 comments:

Leland said...

Just using the smell test, but I'm sure we haven't had a mass shooting everyday. I don't even know if we had 1360 homicides, but maybe.

chickelit said...

A Snopes Report discusses the numbers.

bagoh20 said...

Battling narratives. Here's the other view:

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/12/03/weve-had-a-massive-decline-in-gun-violence-in-the-united-states-heres-why/

Rabel said...

Well, OK, since you said please. The source of the 351 number addresses mass shooting incidents, not number of shootees so your calculation is wrong. But you meant well so it's all good.

More interesting than the rare opportunity to correct chick is the column in that's org's datasheet listing the "Alleged Shooter." Who's investigating mass shootings in the US, the San Bernadino FBI? Chicago PD? Mayberry Sheriff's office second in command? Unless "unknown" is a more common name that I think.

Leland said...

So it seems that the number is inflated, even if we accept in the count the perps being killed to reach 4. But, as you would guess, none of that is true. Here is the website and here is the actual data (requires Excel). If you put a filter on the deaths, and take out the 1,2,3 dead, you get only 41 "mass shootings". To get close to their number, you have to include injured with dead. If you only count the 41, then the total dead is 210, and at least 19 of those are definitely Islamic terrorist. That doesn't include the 4 people killed in Colorado Springs on Halloween night, which the police (who killed the shooter to make it 4) won't release the name. What the hell is up with that? Anyway, 14 more of the 41 shootings don't have a named killer.

If you go with the invented statistic, then there were 353 "mass shootings" so far this year, and ignoring the one undisclosed, 279 of those shootings don't have a named suspect. While some of them look like obvious domestic violence cases (family murder/suicide), how many of the rest of those are from immigrants? Is this really a statistic progressives want to use to push for disarming the US population and reducing our civil liberties?

rcocean said...

Slightly OT. Rubio along with most of the other Republicans voted down an admendment that would have "paused" giving visa to Jihad countries until better vetting process were in place. Further:

"Earlier this year, Rubio introduced an immigration expansion bill known as the I-Squared bill which would substantially expand immigration. That bill is backed by Mark Zuckerberg’s immigration lobbying group, as well as the lobbying firm chaired by Rupert Murdoch, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, and Disney’s Bob Iger. It has also been endorsed by Oracle, whose billionaire co-founder Larry Ellison is helping to fund Rubio’s campaign. GOP frontrunner Donald Trump has said, “Senator Rubio works for the lobbyists, not for Americans. That is why he is receiving more money from Silicon Valley than any other candidate in this race. He is their puppet.”

rcocean said...

BTW what ever happened to the 3rd suspect?

chickelit said...

@rcocean: Cruz is worse than Rubio on high tech immigration: he wants massive increases in H-1B visas. Bags and I disagreed with this proposal a while back.

Leland said...

BTW what ever happened to the 3rd suspect?

From what I've seen today, the FBI probably took custody of the suspect, asked them a few questions, they responded "alluh akbar", and then the FBI let them go with a warning to watch out for privileged white males.

windbag said...

John Lott shreds the myth that the US leads the world in mass murders.

http://www.nydailynews.com/opinion/john-lott-myth-american-gun-violence-article-1.2268490

bagoh20 said...

I suppose that if these assholes just used the dozen bombs they had ready instead of their guns, the left wouldn't have much to say on the matter. The right is animated because they were Islamic terrorists, the left because they used guns. Personally, I feel safer in a country with guns, but not so much in one full of terrorists. I bet many on the left would be torn on that choice.

windbag said...

And here's a handy chart of gun use in America.

Joe Biden, America's Putin said...

Why would an arm of the corruptocat party give us truthful stats?

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

I think I'm going to stop voting for Democrats.

bagoh20 said...

From Windbag's link: 3/5 polled felons said they won't mess with an armed victim. The other two won't be a problem for long.

bagoh20 said...

"I think I'm going to stop voting for Democrats"

They'll get your vote back when your dead.

bagoh20 said...

If windbag's link is using good data, that chart could be a test to determine if you are reasonable, retarded, or hopelessly partisan. Read it and ask: Are guns the problem?

Also, unless statistics are racist, the most murderous nations have something in common with the most murderous parts of the U.S, and it's not guns.

ndspinelli said...

Ritmo w/ an epiphany!

Methadras said...

These people lie. On a constant basis. Daily. They lie to themselves and then they lie to everyone else. They don't care, it goes on unabated. No one stops them, no one pushes back and they keep doing it.

Rabel said...

Welcome, Sith Lord Ritmo.