Richard Florida, who is a Senior Editor with Atlantic magazine and Director of Martin Prosperity Institute of the University of Toronto, has done a study that determines the circumstances that run parallel with firearms deaths at the state level. He recounts all the accusations that might have caused Jared Loughner’s massacre in Tucson, Arizona, just over a year ago, some blaming politics others the shooter’s mental state. Florida says we must look deeper for the answers.
Arizona then and now is the center for the fight against immigration with known bigot and racist state senator Russell Pearce, author of the state’s anti-immigration bill, SB-1070, recalled and voted out of office, while his buddy, neo-Nazi J.T. Ready, continues to foster hate against all ethnic groups. Arizona also has the loosest gun laws of any state in the U.S. Richard Florida asks if “tighter gun control laws” could have made a difference. Arizona ranks eighth nationally with 15.1 firearms deaths per 100,000 population.
Florida decided to go to the state level to analyze “…the statistical correlations between firearm deaths and a variety of psychological, economic, social, and political characteristics of states. But he cautions, “…that correlation does not imply causation, but simply points to associations between variables.”
Read More