Miguel A. Faria Jr.

Miguel A. Faria Jr. is editor-in-chief of the Medical Sentinel, which is published by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons. Faria contends in the following viewpoint that private gun ownership is not the public-health hazard that many in the medical community present it as. On the contrary, he claims that private gun ownership makes law-abiding citizens safer. Faria maintains that doctors and medical organizations conduct unreliable studies documenting the dangers of gun ownership because they are encouraged to do so by the gun-control lobby and often obtain federal money for undertaking such research.

As you read, consider the following questions:

1. According to Faria, what important fact about Seattle was ignored in John H. Sloan’s study comparing that city’s crime rates with Vancouver...