What we don’t know is killing us.

Do guns kill people? Do people with guns kill people? Do people without guns kill people? Do people with guns prevent other people from killing people?

You think you know. I think I know. But really, we don’t. 

Nobody does, because we aren’t doing the science that would give us the answers. Why not? Good question. The last attempt at this kind of research, done in 2004, came up with the conclusion that we don’t know enough. And since then, nothing.

Why not? Ask the NRA, who have been lobbying vigorously to shut down this kind of work. Think tobacco lobby, climate change denial, the usual money trail.

That the opponents of research are funded by the nation’s firearms industry is a pretty good indication of what the answers might be, if we could ever fund the research again. But until we do, we’ll never know.

And it’s killing us.

You can read more about this here.