At one time or another in the past, I have used the saying “I don’t care what you say about me as long as you spell the name right.” After reading the article by Hay and McCleary, about the only thing that can be said is they certainly have spelled the name right (some 56 times). The purpose of this rejoinder is to clarify many inaccuracies and mistakes contained in their craftnote, which without correction will perhaps more often than not be categorized as “Evaluation is a difficult game to play well in the real world.” It is, but not because of the numerous conflicts reported by the authors with regard to our latter effort.

The purpose of the first article in Evaluation Quarterly (1977), “The Effect of Massachusetts’ Gun Control Law on Gun-Related Crimes in the City of Boston,” was twofold:

(1) “to measure the deterrent effect of the law” and

(2) “to present one approach” to the analysis