Jonathon Dursi details the spread of a bogus comparison between crime rate in US in Canada from John Lott to David Frum to Alan Gottlieb:
So here's the path of the lie as far as I can see it:
- Aug 2005: Lott claims violent crime is twice as rampant in Canada as in the US; this is untrue, and comes from fallaciously comparing two different statistics from different countries.
- Oct 2005: Lott makes other claims about Canadian crime rates in the National Post, equally cherry-picked.
- Jan 2006: Frum play the same game in the National Post, comparing incommensurate `Total Specified Crimes' numbers
- Jan 2006: Gottleib includes the Lott and Frum false
comparisons and goes for the trifecta, comparing Canadian Sexual
Assault numbers, which include groping, to US forced rape numbers.
Gottleib's article is picked up on by some of the usual suspects such
as NewsMax, the National Center for Policy Analysis, Mich News.
Of course, these bogus comparisons started long before Lott. Here's a post of mine from 1993 debunking another one.
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The National Post has printed a letter from Gary Mauser commenting on the Lott/Lehrer oped I discussed earlier. Here is the whole thing:
It should not surprise many people that Canada's gun laws have not worked (More Gun Control Isn't The Answer, John R. Lott Jr., June 15). Anyone living in a…
After reviving my first ever online post. I've dug up my first ever post on guns. Phil Ronzone posted this to soc.culture.australian:
Of even more interest is the TREMENDOUSLY larger per capita rape numbers in the "non-violent peace loving" European counties. The Unites States at 26.30 is below…
Lott has a new article at Fox News where he claims that gun control is unravelling:
Crime did not fall in England after handguns were banned in January 1997. Quite the contrary, crime rose sharply. Yet, serious violent crime rates from 1997 to 2002 averaged 29 percent higher than 1996; robbery…
Over the past few years crime rates in Australia, Canada and England have fallen dramatically.
For example, in NSW crime plunged to the
lowest level in 20 years, in Canada, the 2003 homicide rate was the lowest in 36 years, while in England the crime rate was the lowest since the BCS started in…
The lie is being repeated in Canada
www.pierrelemieux.org/artaubin.html
www.fraserinstitute.ca/admin/books/chapterfiles/Nov05ffmauser.pdf
I have emailed NCPA's website and referenced this blog and the PDF guide (from Statistics Canada) on comparing Canadian and U.S. crime figures. I essentially stated their mirroring of the Gottlieb article was irresponsible and requested they retract it from their site.
I requested a reply. I'll let you know what their reply is if and when I receive it.