Brady Campaign Accuses "gun Lobby" Of Lying

BRADY CAMPAIGN ACCUSES US OF LYING

In another addition of the dim bulb review, we bring you the latest from a recent Senate Public Safety hearing where Brady Campaign spokesman Nick Wilcox accused the “gun lobby” of lying about their research.  This is particularly rich, given that much of our statistics come directly from CDC studies which were commissioned by their anti-gun hero, President Obama. Yup, these folks are a few fries short of a Happy Meal.

Wilcox was touting support for SB 536 by Sacramento Democrat Senator Richard Pan.  His bill requires the Department of Justice (DOJ) to give all available information on “gun violence restraining orders” (GRVOs) to researchers at the University of California’s Firearm Violence Research Center (Center).

Pan thinks the original bill (authored by Senator Lois Wolk in 2015 which created the Center) just didn’t go far enough.  GRVOs are civil and not criminal, so researchers can’t legally access the information, so the Brady Campaign wants to expand the data “reach.”  Pan says “Without access to the GVRO records, researchers will not be able to monitor its effectiveness or make suggestions on how to improve the program and overall gun violence prevention measures….”  

But there’s a big problem.  It lets the Department of Justice cherry-pick who gets what data.  They have discretion as to who they provide the information.  Will they give it to Professor John Lott of the Crime Prevention Research Center?  We doubt it.  Do you want them to have such absolute power?  We don’t, and that’s why we need your help, because shutting the public out of the process is just plain wrong.

The Firearm Violence Research Center started off on the wrong foot because the top guy leading the studies is openly anti-gun (click here to read about Garen Wintemute).  We aren’t afraid of balanced, honest research, but isn’t it reasonable to expect openness as to how the research is gathered, by whom it is collected and what criteria is used? 

To do otherwise makes things highly suspicious.  Transparency is always the best policy, especially since the FVRC is fully funded by the state! 

Do you have faith in the University of California’s Gun Violence Prevention Center?  We don’t. 

• The liberal LA Times reported that anyone who harbors an idea that researchers produce Olympian truths about social issues is naïve (“Putting a Spin on the Truth with Statistics and Studies”). 

• Judith Stacey, a USC Professor of Sociology says many social scientists have been pushed out of academia into politics because of the implications of what she calls “virtual social science“ – spinning statistics to create “truth” in the mass media.  “You get into the political arena and there’s no review,” she said. “They just choose the research they want to have on the record. That’s not research. That’s politics.” 

• David Murray, Director of Statistical Assessment Service (a non-profit educational organization that analyzes scientific findings) has said the tide of bad statistics is rising, “It’s everywhere now. In politics. In polling. The interpretation of public reaction. Physical sciences. It’s the way you win arguments. The way you make points.”

Does anyone else find this frightening?

This is scary stuff – so when we hear the Brady Campaign accusing us of lying, we would laugh if it weren’t so serious.  We want to make sure the facts are just that:  FACTS. 

We need people to breath some truth into their twisted sense of reality – having a balanced approach is reasonable given the high emotion that the subject of gun violence produces – on both sides of this important issue.

The bill will come before the Senate Appropriations Committee (click here for a link to the committee members) in the coming weeks – call and ask for a NO vote now!

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