40 reasons why we need gun control

Status
Not open for further replies.

ccsniper

member
Joined
Jul 5, 2008
Messages
1,621
Location
midwest Arkansas
I just came across this and totally agree with it.

40 Reasons For Gun Control
Significant portions of this article are excerpted from Michael Z. Williamson's excellent and witty piece, "It's amazing what one has to believe to believe in gun control"
1. Banning guns works, which is why New York, DC, & Chicago cops need guns.

2. Washington DC's low murder rate of 69 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, and Indianapolis' high murder rate of 9 per 100,000 is due to the lack of gun control.

3. Statistics showing high murder rates justify gun control but statistics showing increasing murder rates after gun control are "just statistics."

4. The Brady Bill and the Assault Weapons Ban, both of which went into effect in 1994 are responsible for the decrease in violent crime rates, which have been declining since 1991.

5. We must get rid of guns because a deranged lunatic may go on a shooting spree at any time and anyone who would own a gun out of fear of such a lunatic is paranoid.

6. The more helpless you are the safer you are from criminals.

7. An intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .357 Magnum will get angry and kill you.

8. A woman raped and strangled is morally superior to a woman with a smoking gun and a dead rapist at her feet.

9. When confronted by violent criminals, you should "put up no defense -- give them what they want, or run" (Handgun Control Inc. Chairman Pete Shields, Guns Don't Die - People Do, 1981, p.125).

10. The New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns; just like Guns & Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

11. One should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a surgeon for internal medicine, a computer programmer for hard drive problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

12. The 2nd Amendment, ratified in 1787, refers to the National Guard, which was created 130 years later, in 1917.

13. The National Guard, federally funded, with bases on federal land, using federally-owned weapons, vehicles, buildings and uniforms, punishing trespassers under federal law, is a "state" militia.

14. These phrases: "right of the people peaceably to assemble," "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "enumerations herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," and "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people" all refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arm" refers to the state.

15. "The Constitution is strong and will never change." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.

16. Rifles and handguns aren't necessary to national defense! Of course, the army has hundreds of thousands of them.

17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons", but private citizens shouldn't have "assault rifles", because they are military weapons.

18. In spite of waiting periods, background checks, finger printing, government forms, etc., guns today are too readily available, which is responsible for recent school shootings. In the 1940's, 1950's and1960's, anyone could buy guns at hardware stores, army surplus stores, gas stations, variety stores, Sears mail order, no waiting, no background check, no fingerprints, no government forms and there were no school shootings.

19. The NRA's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign about kids handling guns is propaganda, but the anti-gun lobby's attempt to run a "don't touch" campaign is responsible social activity.

20. Guns are so complex that special training is necessary to use them properly, and so simple to use that they make murder easy.

21. A handgun, with up to 4 controls, is far too complex for the typical adult to learn to use, as opposed to an automobile that only has 20.

22. Women are just as intelligent and capable as men but a woman with a gun is "an accident waiting to happen" and gun makers' advertisements aimed at women are "preying on their fears."

23. Ordinary people in the presence of guns turn into slaughtering butchers but revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

24. Guns cause violence, which is why there are so many mass killings at gun shows.

25. A majority of the population supports gun control, just like a majority of the population supported owning slaves.

26. Any self-loading small arm can legitimately be considered to be a "weapon of mass destruction" or an "assault weapon."

27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.

28. The right of Internet pornographers to exist cannot be questioned because it is constitutionally protected by the Bill of Rights, but the use of handguns for self defense is not really protected by the Bill of Rights.

29. Free speech entitles one to own newspapers, transmitters, computers, and typewriters, but self-defense only justifies bare hands.

30. The ACLU is good because it uncompromisingly defends certain parts of the Constitution, and the NRA is bad, because it defends other parts of the Constitution.

31. Charlton Heston, a movie actor as president of the NRA is a cheap lunatic who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas, a movie actor as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

32. Police operate with backup within groups, which is why they need larger capacity pistol magazines than do "civilians" who must face criminals alone and therefore need less ammunition.

33. We should ban "Saturday Night Specials" and other inexpensive guns because it's not fair that poor people have access to guns too.

34. Police officers have some special Jedi-like mastery over hand guns that private citizens can never hope to obtain.

35. Private citizens don't need a gun for self-protection because the police are there to protect them even though the Supreme Court says the police are not responsible for their protection.

36. Citizens don't need to carry a gun for personal protection but police chiefs, who are desk-bound administrators who work in a building filled with cops, need a gun.

37. "Assault weapons" have no purpose other than to kill large numbers of people. The police need assault weapons. You do not.

38. When Microsoft pressures its distributors to give Microsoft preferential promotion, that's bad; but when the Federal government pressures cities to buy guns only from Smith & Wesson, that's good.

39. Trigger locks do not interfere with the ability to use a gun for defensive purposes, which is why you see police officers with one on their duty weapon.

40. Handgun Control, Inc. says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.

credit due
http://www.kc3.com/editorial/40reasons.htm
 
I think its interesting, but even reading between the lines I think the author is going a bit overboard. For example, in #18, he makes the comment that 50 years ago there were no school shootings. Is this true, or were there just less that people knew about because mass media isn't what it is today? Fifty years ago that little school in Kansas (not based on an event, just a random state I picked) didn't get on their local news' website that was picked up by an affiliates filter. That's one of the things we talked about in some of my psych classes - violence isn't up today from what it was 50 years ago just because we hear about it in the news more, we just have more nationwide and worldwide news readily available.

This does an interesting job highlighting the flip-flop between elitist (only military+police are capable of handling firearms) and paranoid (firearms are so easy to use they practically kill people themselves) anti positions. I have a coworker who says the reason she doesn't like guns is because "if you pull a knife, its not necessarily deadly, but if you pull a gun the fight stops." The fight stopping is my goal, it's why I carry!
 
Great read, I came in here to bash you but the content wasn't what I expected. ;)
 
Now, if you'd get only one gun grabber read and comprehend one reason of the 40.

Nice thread, though.
 
Re: it's too long

How about each of us tweet and/or post to FB one item a day for the almost 6 weeks it would take to go through the list? (giving attribution, of course)

With the number of followers, friends and friends of friends represented by the folks in this forum, how many thousands of people would get a pro-2A thought every day for over a month?

Those who are already pro-2A would get a daily dose of intellectual ammo with which to continue spreading the message.

Those on the fence would get a daily challenge to really THINK about the 2A.

Honest antis (there are some) would likewise be challenged.

We could start a very large conversation in the country, one not predicated on the same "guns are evil" premise shared by the MSM and their allies.
 
Any of about 10 or 15 of them would be good sig material here; I like number eight, but I'm not gonna use it because I just changed my sig like five minutes ago. So, someone else have at it..!
 
I like this one myself.
27. Most people can't be trusted, so we should have laws against guns, which most people will abide by because they can be trusted.
 
Satire put to good use is unusual, but in this case its great, and I 100% agree.
 
The worst episode of school violence took place in Bath, Michigan in 1927. 44 dead, including 32 children. The killer used explosives.
 
I believe the figure of 69 homicides per 100,000 per year for Washington D.C. and 9 for Indianapolis are old stats.

I would compare D.C. 2010 21.9 homicides per 100,000 pop. per year against El Paso TX 2010 with a rate of 0.8 per 100,000 per year. (5 murders in a population ~600,000 in 2010; a bad year was 12 total, still under 2 or one third the national average.)


"if you pull a knife, its not necessarily deadly, but if you pull a gun the fight stops."

If you pull a gun, the fight more often stops without bloodshed. Gary Kleck in an article in Social Problems (1988) cited results from a 1981 survey conducted by Peter D. Hart Research Associates survey for a pro-gun control group. In that sample only 2% of defensive gun uses resulted in wounding or killing.

Personally I know of four defensive gun uses by women with no shots fired, brandishment-only, most under circumstances (1 woman against 4 men, 2 women v 2 men, 1 woman v 2 men) where I suspect if the woman had pulled a knife, the defensive threat might not have been considered credible and There Would Have Been Blood to garble a movie title.

Philip Cook I believe wrote that introduction of a gun into a dangerous situation increases the danger that someone will die. I agree: in some defensive situation, the introduction of a gun in defense raises the danger that a potential attacker may die and he may abandon the scene.
 
With some editing and simplification, there's about a dozen good bumper stickers in there. I'm all for satire. The more cynical, the better - especially when hand lettered and waving in the camera's range at political events.

If the guy who had the Read John message can do it at sports events, we can.
 
This is good stuff but it is a little dated; first saw it a few years ago when I wanted to find out more about Michael Z Williamson. His book Freehold is one of my favorites, should be required reading for Military officers.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top