Question

Question 1

U.S. homicide rates are 10 times greater than France or Germany's rates.

True

False

Question 2

Beyond injuries from gun violence, what other costs exist that are difficult to quantify?

Human life

Suffering of gun advocates

Quality of life

Social costs of fear

Question 3

What was the court's decision of the McDonald, et al. v City of Chicago, et al. case?

The Second Amendment is not attributable at the state level once the state has made a law

Individuals in Chicago may not have weapons in their homes

The Second Amendment applies at the state level and local governments can't restrict these rights

There was not a court ruling in this case and it is still being evaluated

Question 4

The City of New York v. A-1 Jewelry & Pawn, Inc. et al. case revealed two sides of an ongoing debate about whether gun manufacturers should be responsible for gun injuries.

True

False

Answer 1

   (1) The statement that "U.S. homicide rates are 10 times greater than France or Germany's rates" is FALSE

If we go by 2015 survey numbers, The value for Intentional homicides (per 100,000 people) in each of the nations is as follows:

France: 1.60

Germany: 0.85

United States: 4.88

So we can clearly that though U.S. homicide rates are definitely greater than France or Germany's rates but they are not 10 times greater

(2) Beyond injuries from gun violence, what other costs exist that are difficult to quantify? Of all the 4 options, it is Suffering of gun advocates that cant or I would say difficult to quantify

Let's take each of the options one by one:

Human life

(a)One way to decide would be to use the quality-adjusted life year (QALY) standard

The main use of QALYs is within the framework of cost-effectiveness analysis, to assess the improvement in quality-adjusted life expectancy obtained through a specific health intervention (i) relative to a situation in which either no intervention or a standard alternative intervention is provided. In such analysis, the number of QALYs gained can be determined as follows:  

where Qi is a vector of health-related quality of life weights predicted (or observed) for each time period t following the intervention.

(b) Another way is The HLV approach which determines the amount of life insurance coverage you may need.

human life value approach works – step by step

1. Get an estimate of the person's average yearly earnings by using current income (also take into consideration future increases in salary).
2. Deduct from the estimated amount in step 1 all living expenses, payments for insurance, and taxes to get the amount that is enough to financially support the family. Generally, that amount is about 70 percent of the pre-death earnings of the insured person. This amount will largely depend on the financial circumstances surrounding a family.
3. Determine the needed replacement period. That period may be up until the children will have finished college or until retirement of the family's breadwinner.
4. Take into account the rate of return that will be paid on the interest-bearing account in which the insurance company will leave the death benefit.
5. Calculate future income by multiplying the estimated net salary by the number of years. After that use the rate of return from the previous step to get an estimate of the current value of the family's earnings for the desired replacement period.

Suffering of gun advocates

This is one cost that cant or I would say difficult to quantify

Quality of life

Composite indexes that are used to determine quality of life are:

• Human development index (HDI)
• Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

(a) HDI: It can be quantified using Human Development Index. HDI is commonly used international measure which combines measures of life expectancy, education, and standard of living, in an attempt to quantify the options available to individuals within a given society. The HDI is used by the United Nations Development Programme in their Human Development Report.

Formula for HDI is:

where,

LEI is Life Expectancy Index, EI is Education Index and II is Income Index

(b) Genuine Progress Indicator (GPI)

GPI = A + B – C – D + I

• A is income weighted private consumption
• B is value of non-market services generating welfare
• C is private defensive cost of natural deterioration
• D is cost of deterioration of nature and natural resources
• I is an increase in capital stock and balance of international trade

Social costs of fear

There are different mathematical formulas by various people that helps us ascertain the social cost of fear. One being QALY method. Another one is Fear Assessment done by Mathew Adler.

(3) Option (c) The Second Amendment applies at the state level and local governments can't restrict these rights os correct

McDonald v. City of Chicago, case in which on June 28, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled (5–4) that the Second Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which guarantees “the right of the people to keep and bear Arms,” applies to state and local governments as well as to the federal government.

(4) The City of New York v. A-1 Jewellery & Pawn, Inc. et al. case revealed two sides of an ongoing debate about whether gun manufacturers should be responsible for gun injuries is a FALSE statement because

New York City Sues 15 Gun Dealers in 5 States, Charging Illegal Sales and not the Gun manufacturers in that case. The lawsuit seeked monetary damages from the 15 dealers and the appointment of a special master to monitor their sales closely.