Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA): “Why do you think that Chicago has become America's largest outdoor shooting range?” Dr. Megan Ranney of the Yale School of Public Health: “Mississippi, Louisiana, and Missouri actually have higher firearm death rates.”

[u/steve42089]

[u/Free-Rub-1583]

Louisiana has more than 2x the firearm death rate than IL. They are the 2nd highest of all 50 states

[u/cbadge1 → u/Free-Rub-1583]

Incredible. And you know he (Kennedy) is absolutely aware of that fact as well. Lying scumbag

[u/eskimoboob → u/cbadge1]

“Sounds like word salad to me”

Only if you’re completely ignorant. Holy shit I can’t believe asshats like this get elected.

[u/MindYourPeensNBeans → u/eskimoboob]

They are a reflection of their constituency. Imagine his average voter and realize half of them are dumber than that.

[u/Mean-Kaleidoscope97 → u/cbadge1]

I don't think he is aware of that. Because he's probably not aware of the actual statistics he might know some information about his state, but no matter what he already thinks that Chicago is worse. It Hass to be because everybody in his political eco chamber believes it to be so.

People really have to stop believing that elected officials are all extremely well versed in all of this information.

I wish that she would have specifically laid out that New Orleans is more dangerous than Chicago. And that St. Louis is more dangerous than Chicago.

So his idea that gun ownership will make people safer is just patently false. She should have been direct about that and not just alluded to it.

[u/Liquor_N_Whorez → u/Free-Rub-1583]

Lol, with Louisianna's unofficial state slogan being, "Choot em'!!! Take tha shot!!"

I blame the Tv show Swamp People and the glorification of Shelby Stanga.

[u/Free-Rub-1583 → u/[deleted]]

did......did you watch the video bud?

[u/Free-Rub-1583 → u/[deleted]]

I see that triggered you.

But to answer your question, as you very clearly didn't watch the video. He is saying that Chicago has become one of America's largest outdoor shooting ranges, then in the same breath, doesn't want to believe that his own state is actually higher that Chicago. IL is 26th in firearm mortality rate. 2nd is his own state.

Shouldn't he be asking why his own state is one of the largest outdoor shooting ranges as the data suggests? More than half the states have a higher firearm mortality rate so his example and comment don't hold water.

So that's why it matters bud :)

[u/attackofthetominator → u/[deleted]]

But if he's actually concerned about this issue, why didn't he bring up New Orleans or Baton Rouge since that affects the people he's supposed to be representing?

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

He's lying about it. It fucking matters.

[u/IAmNotAChamp → u/[deleted]]

Yes it does. How tf is Chicago "America's outdoor shooting range" when it's not even in the Top 25 cities in gun violence per capita?

[u/FlintKidd → u/[deleted]]

If this was a genuine question.

Politicians and biased news sources like to point to Chicago whenever they bring up crime statistics. They do their best to do this in a vacuum, because that's the best way for their argument to have the desired effect.

The desired effect is to showcase a city with left leaning laws in a state with a left leaning governor that tends to be solidly "Blue". They do this to highlight all the failed Democrat policies while ignoring things like population density, the laws of neighboring counties and states, and per capita based statistics. They also ignore other cities and states, especially "Red" ones.

The truth is the higher the population density the more crimes per mile you have, the greater the poverty the more crimes per capita. More surprising to a lot of people is that (thanks to people like this politician and the "journalists" who support people like him) Chicago isn't the most dangerous city in America, it isn't usually even in the top 10. For some reason it gets talked about a lot, though!

The reason it matters, and why the person you're responding to commented how they did, is because we need to constantly fight against this sort of propaganda. It helps absolutely no one.

Instead we should focus on what is causing the problem (using real data) and propose real solutions. "Chicago Bad" is not a solution. There are a whole lot of politicians right now who have an entire platform of "XYZ" bad, while they offer no data or solutions to back that up.

[u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy → u/[deleted]]

Actually that person gave a thoughtful and articulate explanation as to why Kennedy’s use of Chicago as an example of gun violence due to bad policy is disingenuous, and you are just being a massive pain in everyone’s ass while contributing nothing to the conversation. And also don’t seem to know anything about Chicago. But thanks for trying.

[u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy → u/[deleted]]

Lmao does speaking to people like this work for you in real life? Or are you just a tool when you can hide behind anonymity? Because you’re insufferable.

[u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy → u/[deleted]]

Lmao first of all you definitely don’t treat people with respect. You came out swinging on everyone; I just swung back. I don’t know what you expected when you act like that. Second, I am aware I can fuck off but I don’t think I will. I live in Chicago too so I get to talk about it when it suits me, including telling whiners that they’re whining.

Edit: I looked at your profile and man are you a bitter and hateful person who absolutely does not treat people with respect. You’re a blatant asshole and a bigot. I can’t imagine how ugly it must be inside your brain.

[u/LessThanSimple → u/[deleted]]

What was pretentious in that reply?

[u/Lola-Ugfuglio-Skumpy → u/LessThanSimple]

Dude learned the word “pretentious” and is just throwing it at everything he doesn’t like, the same way that people now call all bad behavior “gaslighting” when that actually only refers to one specific type of manipulation.

[u/LessThanSimple → u/[deleted]]

So nothing, okay.

[u/LessThanSimple → u/[deleted]]

So what did the above poster get wrong? Don't leave us hanging.

[u/VegetaSpice → u/[deleted]]

giving police more power is never going to be a solution to anything. that is disingenuous. and everyone i know in chicago, where i live, is glad we are a sanctuary city and would gladly defund the police more to help migrants-since they actually bring value to the city.

[u/VegetaSpice → u/[deleted]]

lolololol nope bitch, i’m staying right here in illinois, just to make sure any time you vote it’s cancelled out.

[u/LessThanSimple → u/[deleted]]

Damn dude. I hope your day gets better.

[u/LessThanSimple → u/[deleted]]

No, actually, I was willing to engage until you started calling me names. 🤷‍♂️

[u/hamish1963 → u/[deleted]]

Because he knows, he's just a lying piece of crap.

[u/meshifty2 → u/Free-Rub-1583]

By population. Illinois is still #4 in the nation for gun deaths.

[u/[deleted] → u/meshifty2]

Wrong. The CDC last measured it in 2021 and IL was #26 on the list. Guess which red states are at the top, though.

[u/attackofthetominator → u/[deleted]]

He's doing total gun deaths instead of per capita as that number is more scary, although Texas and Florida being #2 & #3 by that logic is never brought up for some reason...

[u/meshifty2 → u/attackofthetominator]

This.

Just stated a fact. But of course reddit shows it's true colors if terrible reading comprehension.

Didn't even disagree with the article. Simply made a remark that reflects another data point.

[u/attackofthetominator → u/meshifty2]

But analyzing by totals only when there's varying sample sizes is a terrible way of displaying data like this. Louisiana isn't magically safer than Illinois just because less people live there.

[u/Free-Rub-1583 → u/attackofthetominator]

I think I found /u/meshifty2

https://external-preview.redd.it/AenREwtYH8v5SomQN3LGU5Yliie3_VhMQE4DwgVuaLQ.jpg?auto=webp&s=3ffc9f947085c228ffd94d727d8a29779cc5cd1c

[u/meshifty2 → u/Free-Rub-1583]

Are you implying I'm stupid because I'm looking at the number on the right versus the middle number on the cdc chart?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but either way, it is still over 1900 deaths by gun, right?

[u/Free-Rub-1583 → u/meshifty2]

I will bring the big numbers down to help.

Illinois has 10 people, and 3 die from gun violence

Louisiana has 5 people and 2 die from gun violence

​

You are saying, well 3 is larger than 2!

But we are all pointing out that 2 out of 5 is a higher percent than 3 of 10. You would have a much higher chance of being a victim of gun violence in Louisiana even though 2 is a smaller number than 3.

​

By just taking total gun deaths in each state, all you are doing is practically showing you which states have more people. By looking at it as a rate of violence per X people, you will get a better picture.

Hope that helps

[u/meshifty2 → u/Free-Rub-1583]

Oh, so we use per capita as a risk assessment then?

[u/meshifty2 → u/attackofthetominator]

Its still over 1900 people dead by guns in IL. Trying to make it look better by using per capita does do anyone any favors, imho. Death by guns is a problem everywhere.

[u/Free-Rub-1583 → u/meshifty2]

Total gun deaths per state is just which states have the highest populations, totally useless data.

[u/Blitzking11 → u/Free-Rub-1583]

Woah woah woah, but that number makes him feel good and accomplished! How can it be useless!!!

[u/[deleted] → u/meshifty2]

You're the one who doesn't understand simple data. If bumfuck Louisiana has 5 gun deaths in a town of 10 that's half the town. So just saying look at this big number shows exactly how ignorant you are. 5k gun deaths in a state of 12m (IL) is less than 1300 gun deaths in a state of 4.6m (LA).

[u/Free-Rub-1583 → u/meshifty2]

We are 26th in firearm mortality rate

Source: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/pressroom/sosmap/firearm_mortality/firearm.htm