Reply #25: Thanks in return... [View All]

Certainly, if "acquaintances" were limited to drug dealers and other undesirables, it would be too narrow. The larger point is that acquaintances in a study of this sort is a poor term as most people (IMO) view "acquaintances" as merely folks several steps removed from the status of friend, or even business partner (this is how I and my friends would view the term). In fact, I would say that the term is far too promiscuous and does not take into account drug dealers and other undesirables. This is the gripe I have with these studies: they fail to take into account that most gun-related homicides are concentrated into inner-city enclaves, and involve "acquaintances" in crime. Thus it is hard to picture (let alone believe) that some family living in (what's left of) an upper-middle class status is as likely to be "touched" by gun crime/accident as a different family living in different conditions. Fact is, they aren't.

I don't have the link readily available, but there is a "scatter shot" statistical analysis of homicides in Baltimore which show the vast majority of these crimes being concentrated in the poor, inner-city and mainly African-American portions of that city. I rather suspect that the same could be seen in other cities as well. It is not racist to point this out, for the vast majority of African-Americans do not engage in homicidal behavior. But this phenomenon does point up the big problem of generalizing from the specific to the whole.