Left and Right and Space and Time

It looks like one of the differences between the left side of the political spectrum and the right side is that the left side is more likely to think in terms of differences in space and the right side is more likely to think in terms of differences in time. For example, when analyzing gun control laws, the left side will compare homicide rates between different places with more of fewer guns:

States with the greatest number of guns in the home also have the highest rates of homicide, a new study finds.

The study, in the February issue of Social Science and Medicine, looked at gun ownership in all 50 states and then compared the results with the number of people killed over a three-year period.

On the other hand, the right side will compare different times:

During the past decade we've added a minimum of 30 million new firearms in public hands - at least 10 million of which were handguns. Since 1993 we've gone from 21 states with "shall-issue" or unrestricted concealed-carry legislation to 39. We've had an influx of "assault weapons" and "pocket rockets" - supposed engines of death and destruction far more lethal than the weapons available in the 60's.

Yet homicides declined. Non-fatal firearm related crime declined.

(Both seen via No Silence Here (seen via Instapundit))

My personal opinion is that variations in time are more important (for one thing, variations in time can distinguish between cause and effect), but then, I would say that as a reactionary.