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Everybody who cares about this issue knows the gun lobby spends a lot of money supporting its friends and targeting its enemies. We know the real cost of easy gun ownership is measured by the innocent lives snuffed out every year by gun violence. Ask the parents of the 20 children who were gunned down at Sandy Hook Elementary School or the parents of the 565 kids who were killed by guns in 2011. Ask the survivors of those who died at the Century Cinemas 16 in Aurora, Colo. They will tell you the real cost of the gun lobby. According to a CBS News/New York Times Poll, 92% of Americans support universal background checks for gun buyers.
So what can we do now? Well, there’s that old standby solution: vote. The NRA happily provides a guide to the “Friends and Foes of Second Amendment Rights” to any like-minded voter who wants to support or defeat their elected representatives. They rate gun-friendly lawmakers in Washington. If you are one of the 92% of voters in favor of broader restrictions on guns and gun ownership, you can use those ratings to vote for new representation. As the New York Times editorial board wrote: “It’s now up to voters to exact a political price from those who defied the public’s demand.”
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The credit score is a three-digit number produced by an algorithm that distills information from credit reports. Many in the financial services sector consider it to be a pretty accurate risk assessment tool, permitting tens of thousands of credit extenders and service providers to analyze millions of applications and reach quick decisions about the credit-worthiness of individuals.
My thought or flight of fancy: What about a risk assessment tool for gun worthiness? Wouldn’t all Americans — especially those who manufacture and sell guns — welcome the prospect of better predictability given the news of late?
A credit score comprises five weighted components:
I’m no gun expert, but surely the above could form the basis for what we could call the gun score.
Now before we go any further, I have to say that were this idea to take root, the NRA might find itself lobbying for expanded background checks.
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What might it include for would-be gun owners?
This is a one-off list thrown together on the fly by a non-expert. Doubtless, if risk assessment experts were to apply themselves, the questions would become much more intrusive.
I spoke with Dr. Steven Skiena, a professor of computer science who focuses on algorithms and data analysis at Stony Brook University. He thinks a gun score would be hard to design and implement, but that it’s possible.
“It becomes difficult to build up some kind of model that really has discriminating power,” Dr. Skiena told us. “With guns you have a large number of people who use guns safely and a very small number of people who don’t. This is a little bit different from the world of credit risks, where say 5%-10% of people default on loans. I’ll guess that the number of people who shoot other people with licensed guns is a tiny fraction of 1%. You’ve got a very large haystack and you’re trying to detect this tiny needle.”
So, I guess that means we need to expand the list of criteria. How about this?
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Seems kind of extreme if you ask me, and there’s likely a great potential for false positives. Also, lest we forget, the right to credit is not guaranteed in the Bill of Rights.
I’m not suggesting that gun ownership should be abolished, nor am I passing judgment on the NRA’s interpretation of the Second Amendment. I’m simply saying this: Rather than trying to create something as Byzantine as a gun score, wouldn’t it be more reasonable and less intrusive to pass a law that requires expanded background checks for gun buyers and bans on assault-style rifles and high-capacity gun magazines?
This is an Op/Ed contribution to Credit.com and does not necessarily reflect the views of the company.
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