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OK - I need to get all my ducks in a row.
I'm about to move into an apartment with an old friend of mine. He's a self-proclaimed liberal - but intelligent and rational. Most of his political beliefs he inherited, and he hasn't really thought about them too much. Among them, of course, is a general distaste for guns. In some respects, he's come a long way, insofar as he recognizes that people have the right to own guns, subject to registration, waiting periods, the AWB, etc. This is as compared to his parents who would melt down every gun if they could.
In any event, he's brought up the issue of having guns in the apartment. He's fine with it, but he wants me to not let on to his family that they're there. I can do this. What really is notable to me is that he's opened the door to have a conversation about guns, and knowing that he is intelligent, I think I've got a good chance to show him that the various restrictions he's by default in favor of really don't make any sense.
I'm going to need rock-solid evidence from parties as disinterested as possible (while guncite and packing have tons of great information, citing them directly will be suspect), though. So: can anyone point me to such information? Specifically, I'm going to want to demonstrate what's wrong with waiting periods, registration, full-auto bans, and the AWB. I'm also looking for before-and-after statistics on places that have enacted stringent controls on or complete bans of handguns (NYC, DC, Chicago, England, Australia, anywhere else?), or that have relaxed/eliminated such controls. Numbers on relative suicide rates are especially valuable.
On the abstract argument front, there are the obvious "criminals are already breaking the law," and "would you want to put a 'NO GUNS IN THIS HOUSE' sign on your front lawn?" Are there any other sort of catchy, logically appealing statements that I should keep in mind?
I'm currently looking through the CDC and DoJ websites for information, but I'm having a hard time putting something coherent together, so if you've got any leads in that direction, please share.
Anyway, the two hurdles I see are first that he's been to a range and used guns, but came away sort of "take it or leave it." So there goes the most obvious (and normally most effective) tactic to make a convert. Second, he's lived his entire life in the insulative cotton batting provided by wealthy liberal parents in a the People's Democratic Republic of Madison, so he doesn't have any gut-level connection with wanting to be prepared if the SHTF.
All I've really got going for me is his intelligence and basic rationality. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
I'm about to move into an apartment with an old friend of mine. He's a self-proclaimed liberal - but intelligent and rational. Most of his political beliefs he inherited, and he hasn't really thought about them too much. Among them, of course, is a general distaste for guns. In some respects, he's come a long way, insofar as he recognizes that people have the right to own guns, subject to registration, waiting periods, the AWB, etc. This is as compared to his parents who would melt down every gun if they could.
In any event, he's brought up the issue of having guns in the apartment. He's fine with it, but he wants me to not let on to his family that they're there. I can do this. What really is notable to me is that he's opened the door to have a conversation about guns, and knowing that he is intelligent, I think I've got a good chance to show him that the various restrictions he's by default in favor of really don't make any sense.
I'm going to need rock-solid evidence from parties as disinterested as possible (while guncite and packing have tons of great information, citing them directly will be suspect), though. So: can anyone point me to such information? Specifically, I'm going to want to demonstrate what's wrong with waiting periods, registration, full-auto bans, and the AWB. I'm also looking for before-and-after statistics on places that have enacted stringent controls on or complete bans of handguns (NYC, DC, Chicago, England, Australia, anywhere else?), or that have relaxed/eliminated such controls. Numbers on relative suicide rates are especially valuable.
On the abstract argument front, there are the obvious "criminals are already breaking the law," and "would you want to put a 'NO GUNS IN THIS HOUSE' sign on your front lawn?" Are there any other sort of catchy, logically appealing statements that I should keep in mind?
I'm currently looking through the CDC and DoJ websites for information, but I'm having a hard time putting something coherent together, so if you've got any leads in that direction, please share.
Anyway, the two hurdles I see are first that he's been to a range and used guns, but came away sort of "take it or leave it." So there goes the most obvious (and normally most effective) tactic to make a convert. Second, he's lived his entire life in the insulative cotton batting provided by wealthy liberal parents in a the People's Democratic Republic of Madison, so he doesn't have any gut-level connection with wanting to be prepared if the SHTF.
All I've really got going for me is his intelligence and basic rationality. Any help will be greatly appreciated.
