Newsgroups: talk.politics.guns
From: [s t ratos] at [netcom.com] (Steve Fischer)
Subject: Re: Lott-Mustard study
Date: Sun, 26 Oct 1997 01:29:56 GMT

      A great deal was made of the fact that the money which finally
ended up funding Dr Lott's recent study on the effects of CCW issuance
on crime, originated with the Olin Foundation, even though the money
was not given to Lott, but to the University of Chicago's Law and
Economics School.  If that were not enough, the money was "cleaned"
even further by filtering it through a competitive process which gave
the money to outstanding academics to support whatever project they
chose - not whatever project Olin wanted funded.

      I thought it might be useful to compare how the Olin money was
dispersed with how the new anti-gun violence group at Johns Hopkins 
University was funded.  They received a grant from the Joyce Foundation
of Chicago.  It wasn't hard to find them on the internet.  They're
a progressive, socially activist foundation.  I contacted them by snail
mail and asked for information on obtaining grants from them for work
on anti-gun violence.  They sent me a multipage pamphlet containing
a grant application cover sheet.

      The following was taken word for word out of the Gun_Violence
section of the "1996 Program and Grant Application Guidelines" of the 
Joyce Foundation.  As you can plainly see, their focus is entirely
on treating gun violence as a public health issue, not a matter of
personal responsibility and law enforcement.  Enjoy.

================================== Begin ================================


                         G U N    V I O L E N C E
                         -------------------------

              Gun violence is the leading cause of death and injury 
        in America, killing more than 37,000 people a year,  Gun 
        deaths of young people occur at an especially high rate.  
        While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and 
        much of the medical community have acknowledged gun violence 
        as a public health epidemic, most laws and public policies 
        treat gun violence as a purely criminal problem.  The 
        Foundation believes that gun violence can be reduced by 
        dealing with it as a public health issue.

        ************************************************************

      The Joyce Foundation seeks to foster broader public understanding
of the health implications of gun violence - an understanding that will
lead to strategies that emphasize prevention and do not rely solely on
punishment.

      In the interest of decreasing gun injuries and deaths in America,
the Foundation will consider proposals directed toward the following
goals:

      *  strengthening public policies that deal with gun violence as
         a public health issue;

      *  developing, coordinating and disseminating policy research
         that collects and analyzes gun violence data from a public
         health perspective and examines prevention strategies;

      *  encouraging and strengthening the activity of medical pro-
         fessionals in addressing gun violence as a public health
         issue;

      *  supporting coalitions that address gun violence as a public
         health issue and promote policies that reflect that view; and
  
      *  increasing public awareness of gun violence as a public health
         issue.

      In general, we will limit our consideration to proposals focusing
on gun violence rather than on broader violence issues.  We seek proposals
that place a priority on evaluating the impact of their work and that
include an evaluation plan.  Because of the Foundation's Midwest focus, 
locally oriented proposals from outside the Midwest region are unlikely
to receive support.

===============================  end ====================================

-- 
       Steve D. Fischer / Atlanta, Georgia / [s t ratos] at [netcom.com]