Gun Advocate John Lott Was The Real Author Of A Viral FoxNews.com Op-Ed

[SecularMotion]

Taylor Woolrich, who made national headlines in 2014 over her efforts to carry a gun on her college campus after being stalked, revealed that John Lott, a discredited gun researcher, was the actual author of an op-ed published at FoxNews.com under her name that portrayed her as an unconditional supporter of campus carry laws and was picked up by dozens of media outlets.

Woolich was interviewed for an August 13 Buzzfeed article that recounted how she was stalked for years by an older man - beginning when she was a teenager and continuing after she went to college 3,000 miles away - and how her story went viral after it became enmeshed with the gun lobby's efforts to allow students to carry firearms on college campuses.

In her interview with Buzzfeed, Woolich criticized Lott, alleging that he pressured her into allowing him to submit an op-ed he wrote -- "Dear Dartmouth, I am one of your students, I am being stalked, please let me carry a gun to protect myself" -- to FoxNews.com under her name.

Lott, a columnist for FoxNews.com, is one of the country's best-known pro-gun advocates and a frequent source of conservative misinformation about gun violence; his research linking permissive laws regarding the carrying of guns in public to lower crime rates has been debunked. He has also faced accusations of data manipulation and fabrication in order to advance a pro-gun agenda.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/08/17/gun-advocate-john-lott-was-the-real-author-of-a/204975

[Fred Sanders]

1. The GOP Lying Machine blueprint was borrowed directly from the NRA and Fox.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

3. You take the word of hypocrites that violated gun control laws?

[DonP]

9. And it's amazing that with all your "brilliance" you can't do anything about it

Boy, the NRA "distorted the 2nd amendment" over 40 years ago and the gun control "brain trust" still has its finger up its nether regions and seems to be incapable of doing anything about it, even with Bloomberg's Billions of $ to support it?

This advice from someone that couldn't even save the long gun registry in Canada.

Pretty ineffectual.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

2. "a discredited gun researcher"

Discredited by whom for what?

That's a pretty bold statement coming from Brock's outfit after they violated DC gun laws.

[SecularMotion]

4. And "a frequent source of conservative misinformation about gun violence"

His research linking permissive laws regarding the carrying of guns in public to lower crime rates has been debunked. He has also faced accusations of data manipulation and fabrication in order to advance a pro-gun agenda.

[Nuclear Unicorn]

5. But no actual use of facts to counter Lott, just hand-waving.

[SecularMotion]

6. John R. Lott: Fudging Firearm Facts

Let’s say you wrote a book. In that book you flubbed essential information. As in, the facts you based the entire premise of your book upon. You assumed a false identity to positively review your own writings. You get hailed as a hero by powerful lobbies, who then use your book as a talking point in order to try and subvert the nation’s laws and regulations. Then you get exposed. You lose your career, right? Not if you’re John R. Lott.

John R. Lott was disgraced for bad information that he put over with the help of a false identity, “Mary Rosh,” in the early 2000’s. Would you keep your job if you did that? Could you advance a career? How about even talk yourself out of failing a class? No self-respecting educator could pass anyone who completely messes up his or her research, whether or not they pretend to be someone else approving their own work.

Apparently, Fox News is neither an educator nor self-respecting, as they have been employing Mr. Lott as a contributor for some time now. John R. writes a column and appears on television as an advocate for the gun lobbies, even brazenly listing himself as the author of “More Guns, Less Crime,” the book containing his faulty statistics.

http://politicalmoll.com/john-r-lott-fudging-firearm-facts/

[DonP]

8. See Post 5

[Eleanors38]

7. Mediamatters still using armed bodyguards?

[SecularMotion]

10. Kick