But as a member, he said, he was struck by the association's paranoia. I don't think the government is going to take everyone's guns. To be fair, he also spoke with an NRA vice president who said the association recognized the need to keep guns away from youths, which is the cornerstone of Blumstein's message. Still, he let the membership lapse. Academicians aren't the only ones who recognize Blumstein's clout.
Government does, too.
The FBI sometimes refers questions about statistical interpretation to him. Last year, when Pittsburgh police charged Texas trucker Carlitos Bell with abducting a Lawrenceville boy and sexually assaulting him, the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette wanted to find out how often total strangers abducted children at random. Call Blumstein, the local FBI office said. But answering the question was a lesson in the kind of complexity Blumstein deals with all the time. By that measure, between 200 and 300 children are abducted each year.