We estimate that there were 2.1 million excess firearm purchases from March through May 2020–a 64.3% increase over expected volume, and an increase of 644.4 excess purchases per 100,000 population. We estimate a relative rate of death and injury from firearm violence of 1.015 (95% Confidence Interval (CI): 1.005 to 1.025) for every 100 excess purchases per 100,000, in models that incorporate variation in purchasing across states and control for effects of the pandemic common to all states. This reflects an increase of 776 fatal and nonfatal injuries (95% CI: 216 to 1,335) over the number expected had no increase in purchasing occurred.

This is more Gnomes Underpants theorems: More gun were bought + violence increased = More Guns, More violence.

But, unless they manage somewhere to link specific guns purchased during this time period to crimes occurred in the same span, their study is just academic masturbation of the second degree.

Yes dear academics, you must hope that a firearm is recovered from the scene of the crime, traced to the buyer and hope he/she was the culprit or that the newly purchased firearm was lost or stolen and ended up in the hands of the killer.  Now, let’s say police agencies out of the goodness of their harts allow you to get all that missing info, you will discover a new factor that may screw your gleaming study: Time To Crime. From the Brady Bunch website:

“Time-to-crime” is the amount of time between the retail sale of a firearm by a federal firearms licensee (FFL) and its recovery by law enforcement.

You see that? It is very important to your study because you claim the the guns sold had a direct and immediate effect on the raise in violent crime, right.

Except reality is so different. One example is the Sunshine State:

If you were to recover a firearm from a crime scene in Florida, the average date when that gun was bought was eight and a half years ago.  Did you take that into account in your study? Of course not.  What you suddenly have is a miniscule amount of guns bought during this virus period may appear in a crime scene in an average of 8 years.

One last question: Does your study include the BLM riots, #CHAZ, etc?

Your “conclusion” of gun sales are instant Gun Violence is absurd and it has been absurd for decades. And in the era of Google, with the same old data and studies available, one has to wonder why is this being rehashed and who is footing the bill to perpetuate this load of statistical manure.

Hat Tip Roger G.

The Italian composer, who scored more than 500 films — seven for his countryman Leone after they had met as kids in elementary school — died in Rome following complications from a fall last week in which he broke his femur.

Ennio Morricone, Prolific Italian Composer for the Movies, Dies at 91

Just two of his most memorable scores to commemorate his passing:

Once again, 2020sucks.

Hat Tip Robert E.

If you are wondering what is this about:

A study released Thursday links the use of hydroxychloroquine by COVID-19 patients to lower death rates, as health experts around the country try to find an effective treatment to combat the pandemic.

The study, conducted by Michigan’s Henry Ford Health System, states that hydroxychloroquine, the controversial anti-malarial drug heralded by the White House as a potential treatment for the coronavirus, “significantly” lowered the mortality rate among COVID-19 patients.

In patients who received the drug, the death rate was 13 percent as compared to a death rate of 26.4 percent in patients who weren’t administered the treatment.

“The findings have been highly analyzed and peer-reviewed,” Marcus Zervos, co-author of the study and division head of Infectious Disease for Henry Ford Health System, said in a statement. “We attribute our findings that differ from other studies to early treatment, and part of a combination of interventions that were done in supportive care of patients, including careful cardiac monitoring. Our dosing also differed from other studies not showing a benefit of the drug.”

Study ties hydroxychloroquine use to lower COVID-19 death rate

In less “glamorous” and “civilized” days, these politicians would be removed form their homes in the middle of the night and probably hanged from the nearest tree for allowing innocent people to die for their political profit.

Not saying that everything old should be new again…

A little exchange I had in Twitter

I hope I am not alone in the sentiment. This kind of blockades upgraded from annoyance to ambush points.

We better have a plan to deal with road closures.

The shocking wave of violence came as the city was reeling from ongoing anti-police brutality protests, weeks of lockdown orders prompted by the coronavirus outbreak and soaring summer temperatures. Adding to the chaotic atmosphere, illegal fireworks exploded throughout the five boroughs all night long

41 shot overnight in NYC with at least 4 dead in citywide explosion of gun violence

Maybe I am reading to much into this, but are they saying shooting fireworks is violence?

Sunday’s shooters took advantage of an ongoing atmosphere of crisis, said Councilman Donovan Richards, who chairs the Council’s Public Safety Committee.
“The people exploiting this moment are sensing the division on the ground and they’re totally taking advantage of the streets, without a doubt,” the Queens Dem told The News.

My reply will be a copy/paste I made yesterday on a post about the same thing happening in Atlanta:

No shit, Junior? You really did not see this coming? Either you are lying or you are all kinds of unmitigated stupid. Were you expecting criminals to act honorable and stop their evil ways just because you went after the ones that faced them?  Please tell me you saw this in high school:  What happens to one species when you remove its natural predator, the one that keeps the numbers in check from the ecosystem?

(I am all for smart recycling. Hehehe.)

Same as with the moron in Atlanta, Councilman Richards has trouble understanding why the experiment went Tango Uniform. They thought their ideas were sound, they have the best interest of the  people at heart and it has to work because their motives are pure.!
The problem is Reality is a serial rapist and does not spare the stupid, elected or otherwise.

But Atlanta and New York are being helpful after all. You may have noticed that politicians that about a week or so ago could not see a camera without saying “defund the police” are now belting a different aria altogether and doing a Whoopie Goldberg “It is not really defund-defund” verbal acrobatics; anything which would reduce cops in the street and have their asses unelectable.

The hilarious part is that they will try to pin this on Trump, but I doubt the majority of their voters will buy it.

We’ll see.