“It is well documented that mass shootings are related to the accumulation of gun purchases, however, the motivation for this link has been underestimated,” says first writer Maurizio Porfiri, a professor at New York University’s Tandon School of Engineering, recently in studies. year at the Polytechnic University of Cartagena in Spain. “Previous studies on this subject have been conducted basically from the point of view of the social sciences. Instead, we use a knowledge science approach.”
Porfiri and his colleagues used a statistical approach called motion entropy research, which is used to examine large and complex systems, such as money markets and weather replacement models. With this approach, two variables are defined and then computational techniques are used to find out whether the long term of one variable can be predicted across the beyond the other. “This is one step above the correlation test,” Porfiri explains. “It’s about finding causality. Unique in this study is space-time data research, examining the habit of all U.S. states.”
The knowledge gained here from several sources: FBI background check, which reconciled monthly sales of firearms across the state; a Washington Post knowledge base on mass shootings; and media policy about mass shootings in five primary newspapers across the country. The reports were classified into two categories: those that mention gun regulations and those that do not. In total, the review used knowledge about 87 mass shootings in the United States between 1999 and 2017.
Researchers also evaluated uncovered individual states on the degree of restriction of their gun laws. “We expected arms sales to increase in states that have more permissive gun laws, but this is less expected in states with restrictive laws. We’ve noticed it in both,” Porfiri says. “In addition, when we look at the express geographic areas, we found no evidence that arms sales increased when mass shootings occurred nearby.
He adds that one of the limitations of knowledge is that news policy may not fully capture public opinion at any given time. In addition, the study was a success in determining causal links between states, more paintings are needed to examine the nature of those relationships, that is, when one of them has much more restrictive legislation than another.
Porfiri uses PC systems to examine engineering-related issues, adding ion polymer steel compounds and underwater robots. His explanation of why reading mass shootings is personal: he received his doctorate. in 2006 Virginia Tech, which the following year was the site of the deadliest mass shooting in the country at the time. Member of his Doctorate. The committee died in the shooting and knew many others who were deeply affected.