Statistic and gun sales

mayosligo · April 17, 2012, 06:59 PM

Heard someone talking today about waiting periods and they said there was a federal study that showed a correlation between the day a gun was purchased and that gun being used to shoot someone in a crime or self defense. I thought this sounded odd because I work with stats and I am not sure how they would measure that. Especially when the vast majority of crimes involving a firearm involve an illegal gun either stolen or pitched outside of a legal means. Anyone know if there is any validity to this claim?

**Tom Servo** · April 17, 2012, 08:17 PM

There is no validity to the claim. Things were made up during the early 1990's to justify "cooling-off" (or waiting) periods, but I don't recall seeing a shred of evidence to back that up.

The DOJ does maintain statistics on what's called "time-to-crime," but those are measured in years, not days.

mayosligo · April 17, 2012, 08:32 PM

I somewhat figured it was a misunderstood stat that was made up or misinterpreted. Again I could not figure how they could measure it as it was stated.

April 17, 2012, 06:59 PM	#1
mayosligo Senior Member Join Date: February 16, 2006 Location: Baton Rouge, LA Posts: 293	Statistic and gun sales Heard someone talking today about waiting periods and they said there was a federal study that showed a correlation between the day a gun was purchased and that gun being used to shoot someone in a crime or self defense. I thought this sounded odd because I work with stats and I am not sure how they would measure that. Especially when the vast majority of crimes involving a firearm involve an illegal gun either stolen or pitched outside of a legal means. Anyone know if there is any validity to this claim?

April 17, 2012, 08:17 PM	#2
Tom Servo Staff Join Date: September 27, 2008 Location: Foothills of the Appalach Posts: 7,104	There is no validity to the claim. Things were made up during the early 1990's to justify "cooling-off" (or waiting) periods, but I don't recall seeing a shred of evidence to back that up. The DOJ does maintain statistics on what's called "time-to-crime," but those are measured in years, not days. __________________ In the depth of winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer. --Albert Camus

April 17, 2012, 08:32 PM	#3
mayosligo Senior Member Join Date: February 16, 2006 Location: Baton Rouge, LA Posts: 293	I somewhat figured it was a misunderstood stat that was made up or misinterpreted. Again I could not figure how they could measure it as it was stated.