Meh, not too bad Newsweek article: "Can a liberal learn to love guns?"

Status
Not open for further replies.
He's still getting a few things wrong...
After all, as a tabloid reporter in New York City, I find I’m always writing about guns, whether it’s the 9 mm pistols carried by our men in blue or the assault weapons, Saturday Night Specials or sawed-off shotguns preferred by our criminals.
I'm pretty sure bad guys like the small cheap guns, not assault weapons and sawed-off shotguns, though, not saying that they never have, and I'm not talking about nutjobs like the mass shootings. I'm talking about career criminals.
 
black liberal new yorker here, currently living in cali. Up until 6 months ago, I'd never owned a gun, never felt the need, until I came across jim march's website, http://www.ninehundred.com/~equalccw/ from that website and others, :scrutiny: I got a better understanding of gun control history, how it was created to basically keep black people, freed slaves, etc. unarmed. I don't think it's a coincidence that current gun control laws are strictest where there are high concentrations of people of color. I resent that, frankly, :banghead: so I bought my guns, joined the NRA, went to the range, got some training, and got my utah ccw. The second amendment applies to all of us, not just some of us. Just one lib's journey.
 
Tim James, Standing Wolf, MBS357:

PLEASE drop the guy a polite, clear note, make your points, and reference the article, even though it was written months ago.

Earlier on the thread, there is a note I wrote to him and a URL to the article itself (which is still active).

I don't think there is anything better, except taking a journalist out to the range, than establishing two way communication with a person who has (AMAZINGLY) open his or her mind to examine the REAL facts about firearms, their usage and ownership.


Best,
BB62
 
I wrote him a couple emails and he replied to each one very quickly, fairly nice guy in the emails. I told him he has a standing offer to hit the range and grab a few bagels in Austin on me if he ever comes down here. His reply was, "An Austin bagel?!? Come on!" :)
 
I don't have any hard facts to back me up, which is why I'm wrong about the .12 gauges. =p
But I've just seen it posted up here a LOT, especially about the assault weapons.
I'm going to look at GunFacts.
Found it:
Nationally, “assault weapons†were used in 1.4% of crimes involving firearms and
0.25% of all violent crime before the enactment of any national or state “assault
weapons†ban. In many major urban areas (San Antonio, Mobile, Nashville, etc.) and
some entire states (Maryland, New Jersey, etc.) the rate is less than 0.1%3

And I just wrote up a letter to him, I want to get an opinion on it before I send it off, just to make sure everything's in order:
I just read your article, here ( http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6173343/site/newsweek/ ), about you facing your fears and actually experiencing shooting first hand. While I'm very glad you've done this, one mistake appeared in your article that popped out to me:
"...or the assault weapons, Saturday Night Specials or sawed-off shotguns preferred by our criminals."
First off, "assault weapons" was a term coined by certian politicians to scare people, they're not very different from average semi automatic hunting rifles, they just look different.
Secondly, according to GunFacts:
"Nationally, "assault weapons" were used in 1.4% of crimes involving firearms and
0.25% of all violent crime before the enactment of any national or state "assault
weapons" ban. In many major urban areas (San Antonio, Mobile, Nashville, etc.) and
some entire states (Maryland, New Jersey, etc.) the rate is less than 0.1%3"
While I'm not sure about sawed off shotguns, .12 gauge does appear to be popular amongst wrong doers.
Also, GunFacts is reccomended reading for anyone, lots of great information there.
http://www.gunfacts.info/
BB62, I agree, he does seem incredibly open minded. It's weird. o_O
 
Oh, good. He went from a gun grabbing lib who would ban everyone's guns to a gun grabbing lib who would keep his guns while banning your's. :rolleyes:

There's a fine line between educating the DUmmies to arming your enemies.
 
I don't think it's a coincidence that current gun control laws are strictest where there are high concentrations of people of color. I resent that, frankly...

As well you should, friend—as should, in fact, every American who believes we should all be equal under the law.
 
Mbs357

My only suggestion would be to spell "certain" correctly.

My only question was this: how did you arrive at the popularity of .12 gauge shotguns? I know you didn't mean to, but it almost implies that shotguns are popular among the criminal element...


Best,
BB62
 
Oops!
Well, since I didn't get a reply here I went ahead and sent it.
His reply (Which came suprisingly quickly):
I really wasn't trying to demean any particular gun. I was just putting
together a list of guns that we here in NYC typically hear about in crimes.
I'm in the news business, so the cops up here talk about "assault weapons" a
lot. No offense intended.
And my reply:
No offense taken, I was just pointing out that assault weapons aren't
used all that often by criminals, and that assault weapons aren't very
different from other rifles. Most fire the same cartridges with
similar performance to average hunting rifles. They just have
different aesthetics.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top