• New law targets gun owners • Survey offers ‘voodoo statistics’ New law targets gun owners As a law abiding citizen I strongly object to Gov. Ige’s federal registry for lawful gun owners. Is this what we’ve come to? How the heck
• New law targets gun owners • Survey offers ‘voodoo statistics’
New law targets gun owners
As a law abiding citizen I strongly object to Gov. Ige’s federal registry for lawful gun owners. Is this what we’ve come to? How the heck can one object to say, banning and tracking Muslims in this country and yet we require honest, law-abiding US citizens to register with the federal government just because you own a firearm? This is a serious abuse of powers in my opinion.
Is this what finally breaks the camel;s back and gets all legal gun owners to unite and say enough! Creating laws that will do nothing to prevent crime is a total waste of resources. This reminds me of Tom Cruise’s movie “Minority Report” where people are arrested and incarcerated before they commit a crime without due process.
We are guaranteed that right as a free citizen of due process. Where will this end? Come on folks! This is serious abuse of power! Can you imagine being stripped of your right to own a firearm just because you were arrested? Not charged! Arrested! What if you were at the wrong place at the wrong time? Cops hook you up until they sort things out. They enter you into the federal database and boom! The cops show up to take all your legally owned and registered firearms away. Guilty until you prove otherwise. Is this what we are? We already have enough gun laws. How about enforcing what we have already instead of coming up with more. Hawaii — the socialist state of America.
Stephen Shioi, Kapaa
Survey offers ‘voodoo statistics’
The front page of the June 25 issue of The Garden Island features a story headlined “Hooser: Tell me what you think. The survey results are posted on the Friends of Gary Hooser website with the annotation “Recently our campaign mailed out over 21,000 surveys to every registered voting household on Kauai…To date we have received and tabulated nearly 1,000 responses. This very large response rate is indicative of the concern Kauai residents have for the issues…(and) has a very high reliability factor and likely reflects the feelings/positions of the general population on Kauai.”
The TGI article states that “According to the data, 52.5 percent of the people polled … and 74.2 percent think … Hooser said he was surprised 91 percent of the population polled supported growth limitation …”
I would like to comment on this article and this survey as a fine example of what I would call “voodoo statistics.” I find it amusing and disheartening that anyone can convince themselves that the anonymous responses of less than 1,000 people can be taken as a political and moral mandate for the 67,701 (2012) residents of Kauai. The percentages reported are for the responses received, so 52.5 percent represents the view of 500 people, not the general population of Kauai. I would contend, that given the inclination, I could find 50 people to say that I am handsome, but it wouldn’t make it true.
While we are on statistics, here are some frightening (2012) numbers for Kauai:
• There were 55,500 adults over the voting age of 18.
• There were 39,834 registered voters.
• In the 2012 primary, 15,606 voted.
• In a two-person election race, 7,804 votes will determine the winner.
• 7,804 divided by 55,500 = 14 percent of the population elects our “representatives” It is no wonder politicians resort to voodoo statistics. They think that their election is a “mandate from the people.” To project the future of our island on the opinions of a few is pure folly.
Nolan Ahn, Lihue
