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1996-06-03
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From: righter@aros.net
Subject: LETTER to Editor, Salt Lake Tribune and Miami Herald
Date: 04 Jun 1996 11:51:23 -0600
This is my response to an Editorial written by the Herald and reprinted in the
Tribune regarding the CDC cutting back on the NCIPC's gun "research".
The Righter Sarah Thompson,
M.D.
4379 King Arthur Drive (801) 468-4637 - voice
Salt Lake City, UT 84119 (801) 966-7278 - fax
righter@aros.net
June 2, 1996
Letters to the Editor
The Miami Herald
Dear Editor:
Your editorial "Keep Guns in Sight", reprinted in the Salt
Lake Tribune (6/1/96) is yet another egregious example of media
perpetuation of "the Emperor's New Clothes" syndrome regarding
firearms: If a lie is repeated often enough, it becomes the
truth.
The CDC's National Center for Injury Prevention and Control
(NCIPC), is not only NOT "the country's most reliable provider of
unbiased research on life's hazards", it is an agency guilty of
blatantly biased research designed to discredit gun ownership and
further a political rather than a medical or scientific agenda.
It is a hotbed of lies and outright fraud, not a "beacon of
enlightenment". Testimony to this effect was presented to the
House Appropriations Committee by William Waters, M.D. of Doctors
for Integrity in Policy Research and Timothy Wheeler, M.D. of
Doctors for Responsible Gun Ownership, - neither organization in
any way affiliated with the NRA. I presented similar testimony
at the Mayo Clinic last month.
As one example, the study you quoted showing that having a
gun in the home nearly triples the risk of homicide (by Arthur
Kellerman(1), one of the NCIPC's "hired gun" researchers), has
been widely discredited for errors in design, statistical
analysis, and generalizing from a dysfunctional, high-risk
population to the general public. Kellerman has further shown
his hypocrisy by publicly stating that if his wife were
assaulted, he would want her to have a .38 special (revolver) to
defend herself.(2) He has also refused to make his data, paid
for by our tax dollars, available for evaluation.
The CDC ignores the far more reliable criminological studies
which demonstrate a clear benefit to gun ownership, i.e. that
there are up to 2.5 million defensive gun uses per year, and as
many as 75 lives protected by guns for every life lost to a
gun.(3)
No responsible gun owner should have any objection to
legitimate research on gun safety or to safety education. The
NRA has developed and sponsors the best gun safety training
available, yet is continually demonized by the media for
advocating it. But given the huge amount of fraud and
misinformation perpetrated by the NCIPC, the CDC is quite correct
in restraining or disbanding it, and I applaud them for doing so.
Emotionalism, fraud and political agendas have no place in
legitimate scientific research or public policy.
Sarah Thompson, M.D.
1. Kellerman, A.L., et. al., Gun ownership as a risk factor for
homicide in the home.
New England J. of Medicine, 1993
2. Japenga, A., "Gun Crazy", San Francisco Examiner, This World,
April 3, 1994, cited in Kates, Don, et. al., Guns and
Public Health: Epidemic of Violence or Pandemic of
Propaganda, Tennessee Law Review, Vol. 62, #3, Spring 1995,
P.540, #104
3. Kleck, Gary and Gertz, Marc, Armed Resistance to Crime: The
Prevalence and Nature of Self-Defense with a Gun, The
Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology, Northwestern Univ.
School of Law, Volume 86, #1, Fall 1995, P. 164
Sarah Thompson, M.D.
The Righter
PO Box 271231
Salt Lake City, UT 84127-1231
801-468-4637 - voice mail
801-966-7278 - fax
righter@aros.net
Dedicated to ALL Civil Liberties