Jun 5, 2026
Aaron Brown is a quantitative analyst, risk manager, and author of the new book Wrong Number: How to Extract Truth from a Blizzard of Quantitative Disinformation. https://amzn.to/4frmg3n
He's also about to debate gun control at the Soho Forum in August — and his preparation for that debate is a pretty good preview of what's in the book.
Topics include: why out of 28,000 gun control studies, the RAND Corporation found only 20 that weren't statistically crippled; the smoking analogy and what it tells us about legislation that runs ahead of evidence; why gun laws burden legitimate owners and not criminals; why we have a crime problem, not a gun problem; The Lancet paper that claimed US aid saved 92 million lives; how to spot three red flags that tell you a statistic is BS; and Wonder Bread's motto "Helps build strong bodies 12 ways" — which nobody ever actually wrote down.
Get the book → Wrong Number: How to Extract Truth from a
Blizzard of Quantitative Disinformation
https://amzn.to/4frmg3n
TIMESTAMPS:
0:00 — Intro — Aaron Brown and Wrong Number
0:34 — The Soho Forum gun control debate — and who he's up
against
3:45 — The proposition: abolish all restrictions on adult firearm
ownership
4:48 — Lou on navigating gun laws across state lines (NJ → PA →
NY)
7:25 — The wide cultural divide: Scranton airport vs. any other
airport with guns
9:04 — RAND Corporation: of 28,000 gun control studies, only 20
weren't crippled by errors
10:04 — The smoking analogy — legislation running ahead of the
evidence
12:15 — Gun control laws only burden legitimate owners — not
criminals
12:43 — The Glock switch ban and the AR-15 — targeting the popular,
not the dangerous
15:18 — "Trump is a fascist" — and you want him to take the
guns?
15:42 — Stop calling it a gun problem. It's a crime problem.
17:47 — We can identify the 1% of kids likely to commit 20–30% of
violent crime
19:31 — Genetic markers for violence — and why that's
controversial
20:48 — The Nordic prison model — does it work, and could it work
here?
22:09 — Immigration data: why lumping everyone together gets you
bad answers
25:20 — Lou's joke about open borders (for immigrants like his dad,
not his cousins)
25:39 — Aaron's Jewish smuggler ancestors — blocked from junk
dealing by licensing laws
27:04 — Did US aid really save 92 million lives? The Lancet paper
that can't add up
29:13 — They saved 114% of the people — including 46M in China,
which gets no aid
31:22 — Most published research findings are false — and we've
known since 2005
32:42 — DOGE cuts and the "millions are dead" narrative
36:15 — Three red flags that tell you a statistic is BS
39:18 — Wonder Bread's "12 ways" — nobody ever wrote them down
40:18 — Outro — Wrong Number and the Soho Forum debate
Watch full episodes on YouTube →
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J4Vb53s4I0A&list=PLb5trMQQvT077-L1roE0iZyAgT4dD4EtJ
Listen on Apple Podcasts →
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-lou-perez-podcast/id1535032081
Listen on Spotify →
https://open.spotify.com/show/2KAtC7eFS3NHWMZp2UgMVU
📖 Lou's book — That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore:
https://amzn.to/3VhFa1r
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