Bad data and the "evil empire": interpreting poll data on gun control

TLDR: This article's conclusions bear little relationship to the evidence and the data are in any case so seriously flawed that no reliable conclusions of any kind could be drawn from them on the subjects that the authors address.

Abstract: Abusing the National Rifle Association (NRA) is always good sport for the intelligentsia and for gun-control true believers. Weil and Hemenway (pp. 353-365 in this issue) apparently could not resist the temptation to take some cheap shots at the “evil empire,” hanging their case on some dubious data from a commercial survey. Fun aside, two things are clear about this article. First, its conclusions bear little relationship to the evidence. The authors' survey data, even if taken at face value, simply do not support the authors' conclusions. Second, the data are in any case so seriously flawed that no reliable conclusions of any kind could be drawn from them on the subjects that the authors address.