CAN I BE OF ASSISTANCE?

Friday, April 30

Rant

Abuse & Misuse

The National Coalition for the Abuse and Misuse of Statistics* have been running ads on Streetvision** lately, proclaiming that:
Handguns kill over 400,000 people each year. 80% of them are women and children.***
Yeah, I'd noticed that we've been hip-deep in dead bodies lately, down here in Oz. 400,000 every year, just from handguns...

Oh, that's not an Australian statistic, you say?

Funny, that.

So how many people are killed by handguns**** in Australia each year? This handy article in The Age, found in about 10 seconds of Googling, tells us that the number in 2001 was 49.

This represents a drop since tough new restrictions were put in place in 1996, from a 1991 figure of 29.

No, hang on - isn't 49 more than 29? I could've sworn...

And those numbers include accidents and suicides. Suicide is the single largest cause of death involving firearms, and accounted for 80% of such deaths over a ten-year period from 1991 to 2001.

And 90% of the victims in that ten-year period were men.

But far be it from me to accuse the National Coalition for Gun Control of being somewhat careless with the truth.

* Well, they call themselves the National Coalition for Gun Control, but...
** Television - 90% ads - projected at captive audiences in the underground stations in Sydney.
*** That may not be exact, but it's pretty close.
**** Yeah, I know. Guns don't kill people - I do.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 06:45 AM | Comments (12) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 247 words, total size 2 kb.

Thursday, April 08

Rant

World Ends, Film At 11

They're making Starship Troopers 2.

When even Slashdotters can point out that the first film is a failed attempt at satire based on a complete lack of understanding of the original book, you know you're in for some Z-grade celluloid.

Can we bring Mike and the robots out of retirement for the premiere? Or Joel, I always liked Joel.

Posted by: Pixy Misa at 08:42 AM | Comments (3) | Add Comment | Trackbacks (Suck)
Post contains 69 words, total size 1 kb.

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