Danus ex
Member
Hello all,
I'm a graduate student in rhetoric at a major (liberal) university, and I've come up with a very obvious hypothesis: people with little firearms education have a negative opinion of firearms.
Fortunately, this is testable. I would like to conduct a survey asking people about their formal education level, 'firearms education level' (would have to invent some kind of scale), and their opinions on guns and gun control.
Ideally, those who wish to participate in the debate over gun control should acquire some expertise in the history of, use of, and effects of firearms in society. We require accreditation of some kind for most debates, why not this one? My favorite professor is currently writing a book on gun control--one that goes somewhat against the second amendment (though he does not support confiscation)--but because he does have personal knowledge of firearms, I have the utmost respect for his opinions. I believe he is the exception, however.
The data would probably support my hypothesis. This would not do much to change the debate over whether or not education makes people less likely to buy and use guns (which, of course, means fewer guns and fewer violent crimes in dream land), but it may cause many to seriously redefine 'education'. The results of this survey would ultimately distinguish formal education from firearms education. There probably isn't a truly practical side to this research.
However, to get on my pro-2A platform, we trust experts in our society for good reason. Public health policy is determined mostly by public health experts. Transportation policy is determined mostly by transportation experts. Shouldn't gun policy be set mostly by gun experts? It irritates me when people substitute expertise with belief (please, lets not start a religious debate here).
I do wonder if the NRA would give me a grant for this? Hell, gun control advocates might do it too! I'd like nothing better than to take their money (and buy guns with it).
Thoughts?
I'm a graduate student in rhetoric at a major (liberal) university, and I've come up with a very obvious hypothesis: people with little firearms education have a negative opinion of firearms.
Fortunately, this is testable. I would like to conduct a survey asking people about their formal education level, 'firearms education level' (would have to invent some kind of scale), and their opinions on guns and gun control.
Ideally, those who wish to participate in the debate over gun control should acquire some expertise in the history of, use of, and effects of firearms in society. We require accreditation of some kind for most debates, why not this one? My favorite professor is currently writing a book on gun control--one that goes somewhat against the second amendment (though he does not support confiscation)--but because he does have personal knowledge of firearms, I have the utmost respect for his opinions. I believe he is the exception, however.
The data would probably support my hypothesis. This would not do much to change the debate over whether or not education makes people less likely to buy and use guns (which, of course, means fewer guns and fewer violent crimes in dream land), but it may cause many to seriously redefine 'education'. The results of this survey would ultimately distinguish formal education from firearms education. There probably isn't a truly practical side to this research.
However, to get on my pro-2A platform, we trust experts in our society for good reason. Public health policy is determined mostly by public health experts. Transportation policy is determined mostly by transportation experts. Shouldn't gun policy be set mostly by gun experts? It irritates me when people substitute expertise with belief (please, lets not start a religious debate here).
I do wonder if the NRA would give me a grant for this? Hell, gun control advocates might do it too! I'd like nothing better than to take their money (and buy guns with it).
Thoughts?