Opinion Articles

Sunday, June 20, 2010

Scaremongering news stories? There's an app for that

Mark Bridge writes:

Here’s a news headline that caught my eye.

Shotgun certificate up for renewal?  There's an app for that

Or, if you prefer…

Police to allow gun users renew licences with iPhone app

As you’d probably expect, the story isn’t as clear-cut as the headline suggests.

There isn’t an application to renew shotgun certificates. The police aren’t allowing gun users to obtain new licences with a click on their iPhone.

No, staff from Sussex Police are simply going to discuss the idea of mobile apps at a conference on Friday. There aren’t any firm plans for a “gun licence app” and, even if there were, it would just help applicants submit their details online. There’d still be a police visit before anyone was allowed to keep a weapon.

But that’s not the reason this news non-story caught my eye. No, I was more interested in the demographic profiling.

e-volve iphone holsterI reckon something like 165,000 people have firearms certificates and another 625,000 have shotgun certificates in England, Scotland and Wales. And let’s say there are around 3 million iPhone users in the UK.

What’s the number of people who own a gun and an iPhone?  I just wondered, that’s all.

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Author: The Fonecast
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