A New Idea About How to Stop School Shootings (nationwide teacher walkout)

[Tijuana]

Something I personally found interesting when looking into the Dickey Amendment a bit more:

So, the pro-gun representative from Arkansas now says he regrets how this shook out. I'm sure he'll stand by the motives, but he clearly thinks it was inartfully done and counterproductive. This should highlight just how extreme of a position it is to not allow CDC research into gun violence, accidents, and suicides.

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I think it'd be worth looking at risk factors for accidents and suicide. With the advent of electronic health records (as one example), there's more data available at present than what there used to be. It would be worth assessing what criteria are consistent with significantly elevated risk and what behavioral health strategies mitigate those risks. This really shouldn't even be all that political - this sorts of look at accidents and suicide is amenable to the same sorts of epidemiological science as other sorts of accidents and suicide.

This is easier for the CDC to carry out than a private institution due to network effects - it's literally what the CDC does. They have researchers that are in a much better position to handle this and much more likely to be given the data by health networks than I'd expect any private organization to be.

I don't really have a position that the CDC studying guns is bad. I just take issue with the notion that some life saving shit is being averted by not doing a stupid study.

But let's get real. Democrats could have passed a new bill negating this, in 2009. Yet, they did not. Maybe it's not quite the high priority they are making it now, when they are no longer in power.

[Spectral]

I don't really have a position that the CDC studying guns is bad. I just take issue with the notion that some life saving shit is being averted by not doing a stupid study.

I probably agree with your core point. I think there's a lot of exaggeration around the likelihood of the CDC spending a couple million dollars and it suddenly making some huge difference. The kinds of gains I'm talking about statistical, on the margins sorts of things, the same way that most gains with regard to infectious diseases and chronic diseases are measurable only with statistical tools. They still matter and I generally have a lot of respect for the the CDC's recommendations with these sorts of things. It's not a huge deal, but it is a good Schelling Point for whether someone's being really extreme or not.

But let's get real. Democrats could have passed a new bill negating this, in 2009. Yet, they did not. Maybe it's not quite the high priority they are making it now, when they are no longer in power.

Well, yeah. This shit happens all the time in politics. Some minor issues are more useful when they're issues than when they're solved.

[Tijuana]

I probably agree with your core point. I think there's a lot of exaggeration around the likelihood of the CDC spending a couple million dollars and it suddenly making some huge difference. The kinds of gains I'm talking about statistical, on the margins sorts of things, the same way that most gains with regard to infectious diseases and chronic diseases are measurable only with statistical tools. They still matter and I generally have a lot of respect for the the CDC's recommendations with these sorts of things. It's not a huge deal, but it is a good Schelling Point for whether someone's being really extreme or not.

Well, yeah. This shit happens all the time in politics. Some minor issues are more useful when they're issues than when they're solved.

PREACH!

I would argue that it's not just small issues. Take the immigration reform bill Trump wants. He is giving Democrats more than they even asked for, but they won't sign it. If he alters his position to match theirs, they will still not pass the bill. They feel they get more done, by using immigration as cudgel to allege racism, than by actually solving the problem. Republicans take similar approaches on other issues as well. But this is the mother of all issues for Democrats. If they can't call Republicans racist, or shills for the wealthy, they literally have no other issues to run on.

[szechuan]

A better understanding of what happened so you know where the teens come from and why this protest matters.

[Mormolyce]

PREACH!

I would argue that it's not just small issues. Take the immigration reform bill Trump wants. He is giving Democrats more than they even asked for, but they won't sign it. If he alters his position to match theirs, they will still not pass the bill. They feel they get more done, by using immigration as cudgel to allege racism, than by actually solving the problem. Republicans take similar approaches on other issues as well. But this is the mother of all issues for Democrats. If they can't call Republicans racist, or shills for the wealthy, they literally have no other issues to run on.

Liar.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/n...217-story.html