What Mass Shootings and Big Data Have in Common

In his address to the National Rifle Association last weekend, President Trump criticized gun-free zones while his secret service discordantly made the convention a gun-free zone for his safety. The controversy returned guns to the headlines after a month of data scandals. Gun control activists might rightly lament the nation’s short attention span, which shifted outrage to Facebook and Cambridge Analytica in April. But in fact, data privacy and mass shootings are more closely related than they might first appear. The spring’s twin controversies both come from global markets in morally questionable goods. And the industries’ histories have striking similarities.

 

Justin Sullivan/Getty Images