The Danger of Liquor Stores

We think they missed something here:

• Chicagoans near a liquor store or bar on the city's South or West sides are up to roughly 500 times more likely to be shot than other people in the neighborhood, according to an abstract of a study released Wednesday by Northwestern University.
  Though violent crime is a persistent issue in some distressed neighborhoods, Dr. Marie Crandall says there is a link between a troubled neighborhood resident's proximity to a liquor retailer and the risk of becoming a victim of gun violence.
  Crandall, an associate professor of surgery at Northwestern's Feinberg School of Medicine and a trauma surgeon at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, said she expects the study's conclusions to be controversial.

And why would the be controversial?

• The study found that gun violence rates near liquor stores in Chicago's southern and western portions stand in stark contrast with the rest of the city. Crandall found no clear link between liquor retailers and gun violence in more affluent areas but said clear risks are apparent in more impoverished areas such as Austin, Woodlawn, Roseland and Englewood.

Well, the simpleton would associate minority violence with liquor stores, rendering the findings "controversial."

But an impartial observer, like a cop, might associate certain risky behaviors (drug dealing, drug use, prostitution, link fraud, fencing of stolen goods, etc) with high traffic locations such as ::gasp!!:: liquor stores, which makes the findings about as controversial as "the Cubs suck because of a billy goat."

We should be scientists. Our studies would be works of art and revolutionize the entire field.