Tim Lambert
tlambert
Posts by this author
April 16, 2003
Mac Diva is trying to figure out why Lott does the things he does. Atrios explains why he cares about Lott. Brad Delong says that I have "a very strong case". Matt Yglesias has some thoughtful comments on appropriate behaviour in this case. ArchPundit has one two posts.
On Monday Glenn Reynolds…
April 15, 2003
Kevin Drum has a nice summary on Lott's anonymous attack on Levitt. Kieran Healy tells what Lott's next step will be. Brian Linse thinks Reynolds and Kopel should offer some answers. Atrios links here. And Tom Spencer has two posts. First, he observes that Reynolds' cover up for Lott raises…
April 14, 2003
First, a recap and a time line on the Kopel/Lott/Reynolds attacks on Steve Levitt:
16 Aug 2001
Glenn Reynolds claims that the NAS panel is "stacked" with "ardent supporters of gun control", especially Levitt.
29 Aug 2001
Dave Kopel and Glenn Reynolds write an article in National Review Online…
April 12, 2003
You can read Steve Levitt's op-ed on pools and guns here. It is quite clear from the op-ed why he wrote it: he lost his son and he didn't want another parent to lose a child to a preventable accident. I am totally disgusted with Lott for accusing Levitt of exploiting the death of his…
April 11, 2003
I asked Steve Levitt about Lott's attack. He comments:
I wrote that op-ed piece on swimming pools and guns almost a full year before it was published. Members of the U of C publicity department can attest to that. I wrote it at the tail end of the summer, so they suggested waiting until the…
April 10, 2003
Otis Dudley Duncan
This discussion is concerned with four topics: (1) Lott’s references to, remarks about, and discussions of DGU statistics originating in sample surveys or polls carried out by other investigators; (2) Lott’s claims about a survey he says he conducted in 1997; (3) Lott’s reports…
April 10, 2003
Just so people don't have to take my word for the nature of Lott's attack on Levitt, here are Lott's exact words. On page 54:
- Another panel member, Steve Levitt, an economist, has been described in media reports as being "rabidly anti-gun."[10]
On page 289:
[10] Dave Kopel and Glenn…
April 9, 2003
I've been reading Lott's new book, The Bias against Guns. Chapter 3 is entitled "How the Government Works against Gun Ownership". The heart of the chapter is on pages 53--55, where he argues that the National Academy of Sciences stacks its panels against guns.
His first…
April 8, 2003
John Quiggin has written an article for the Australian Financial Review examining the role weblogs played in the John and Trent Lott affairs. Jim Henley has some interesting comments on gun issues including his assessment of Lott.
April 8, 2003
Lott has a long message at his website where he discusses Mary Rosh and argues that when he claimed that he had "not participated in the firearms discussion group nor in the apparent online newsgroup discussions", he was not lying:
Another misunderstanding in the media is that I was lying as…
April 7, 2003
John Quiggin gives some more examples of folks behaving like the Heartland Institute and the Independence Institute and covering up their mistakes rather than acknowledging them.
April 7, 2003
After I concluded yesterday that Kopel had probably added the attribution to Kleck in one Lott op-ed, Lott has weighed in, contradicting Kopel's story. In this posting Lott writes:
"My vague recollection of what happened is that David Kopel (Research Director at the Independence…
April 6, 2003
So, was the attribution of the 98% to Kleck's study in the Lott quote below made by Lott, or did Dave Kopel add it?
"Guns clearly deter criminals, with Americans using guns defensively over 2 million times each year---five times more frequently than the 430,000 times guns were used to…
April 5, 2003
[Note: This is a copy of a document found at this link on John Lott's website on April 6, 2003. I have added critical commentary, written in italics like this. Tim Lambert ]
Statement on John Lott's Survey Work on Self-Defensive Uses of Guns
by David B. Mustard Monday 10 February 2003
Background…
April 5, 2003
[Note: This is a copy of a document found on John Lott's website on April 6, 2003. I have added critical commentry, written in italics like this. Tim Lambert ]
------ Forwarded Message
From: "Dave Kopel"
Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2003 13:07:49 -0700
To: <cut>
Subject: Re: FW: A quick question. John…
April 3, 2003
Noam Alaska doesn't think much of Lott's new book.
Mac Diva explains what she thinks is wrong with Lott's research.
April 3, 2003
Julian Sanchez suggests that if Lott really got the 98% from his survey, then by marrying the 2.5 million Kleck DGU estimate with the 98% brandishing number, Lott is indulging in cherry-picking the numbers most favourable to his position from different surveys. Well, in this case I don't…
April 2, 2003
Julian Sanchez has another thoughtful post on the question of whether it was Lott or Kopel who attributed the 98% to Kleck. I'm still trying to collect my thoughts on this one, but I should correct one statement he makes. Even if the attribution is established to be Kopel's it does…
April 1, 2003
Pro-gun activist Neal Knox has leaped to Lott's defence. He claims that Lott is in trouble for getting the same result in his survey as Kleck when in fact concerns were raised because Lott's brandishing number was so very different from Kleck's. I was going to do a detailed…
March 31, 2003
Harvard's David Hemenway has a devastating review of Lott's new book, The Bias against Guns. Apparently Lott claims that the "impact from closing the gun show 'loophole'" was a reduction of 102% in Indiana's auto theft rate, which would have meant that thieves were returning previously…
March 30, 2003
John R. Lott, Jr. Resident Scholar American Enterprise Institute
[Critical Commentary by Tim Lambert
This is a copy of the original document by Lott, downloaded from Lott's web site here on March 21, 2003. My comments appear in italics like this.]
Guns make it easier for bad things to…
March 29, 2003
In today's letters page in the Washington Post, Saul Cornell catches Lott misquoting Mustard. In a response to this review of Evaluating Gun Policy, Lott claims that Mustard wrote that the data showed "sharp decreases in murder, rape and robbery." Cornell replies:
Scholars have a duty to…
March 29, 2003
One feature of Lott's behaviour in this affair is his refusal to admit that he attributed the 98% figure to "national surveys" and to Gary Kleck. Instead, he told Slate
"A lot of those discussions could have been written more clearly."
However, in on-line publications by the…
March 28, 2003
Meanwhile, CNSNews.com seems to be blissfully unaware of the Lott affair, with this story reporting:
"Surveys Lott conducted in January 1997 indicated that guns are used more than two million times a year in self-defense, either by threatening to use a gun, brandishing it, firing…
March 28, 2003
I've done some more investigation in Lott's latest explanation for his Mary Rosh postings:
I originally used my own name but switched after receiving threatening and obnoxious telephone calls from other Internet posters.
The first group of Lott postings were made between 3 June…
March 27, 2003
This story in the Zanesville Times Recorder highlights the problems that Lott's behaviour has caused for advocates of concealed carry laws. They are now having to say things like:
"Lott's research has little bearing on the state's need for responsible and fair concealed weapons…
March 26, 2003
Mac Diva comments on Lott's claims in his Washington Post letter. Mac doesn't believe Lott's story about the threatening phone calls that forced Lott into the Mary Rosh deception.
March 24, 2003
Guy Cabot comments on how Lott keeps trying to make it look like the question was whether he had a disk crash or not. Jo Fish isn't impressed either. Tom Spencer suggests that the American Enterprise Institute is looking for a way to let Lott go. skippy thinks Lott should "stop lying…
March 23, 2003
The Washington Post has printed a letter from Lott responding to two Washington Post articles, one about his survey, and one about Mary Rosh. Lott makes several false claims in his letter:
that the Post did not print a letter from "an academic who wanted to correct a statement attributed to…