Guys (and gals), if we hope to win anyone over, and I do, my take is that we need to do it by
- admitting that there is too much irresponsible / illegal gun use
- facing the fact that misbehavior with guns is very severe, and probably tragic
- working to encourage responsible, lawful gun ownership and to reduce irresponsible gun use
Don’t try to do it by insulting their intelligence with shopworn old arguments like these, 'cause it isn't working:
Anybody else noticed a trend from the anti-gun types who hang out on Huffington Post?
1) Handguns are the leading murder weapon
2) guns were designed to kill
3) other countries like England banned guns and now have less gun deaths
4) a madmen with a "assault weapon" can kill a lot more people than a madmen with a baseball bat
we should ban guns!
Statements 1 through 4 are, in fact, all true.
These stats and others are real, not made up, and we all know it and should begin to deal with it.
- Change #1 from handguns to guns in general, and they are used in more killings than all other forms of murder combined, by a wide margin.
- Guns are not only designed to kill, but to do it efficiently, repeatedly, and at long range. If you really intend to kill, get a gun. No one but a nitwit wits shoots with the intent to injure.
- True
- True. Also, most mass murders (not serial killers) do involve guns.
Guns are no more different than a shovel both can kill you but neither will attack you by themselves.
This is plain dumb. Guns are different from shovels. And ball bats, knives, and all the other tools used in those tired gun comparisons.
Bullets kill well and efficiently. The instant one is fired the lethal radius extends at least 1500 feet. For all of the other tools, listed and unlisted, they are tough to aim and the lethal radius ends at the end of your arm. Vehicles are almost never used as weapons.
Guns are NOT the same as other tools, stop insulting people’s intelligence, or showing your own lack, by telling them otherwise.
Well meaning people think if there were no guns it would be a better world yet feudal Japan had no problem killing people with out them. No offense to the Japanese intended they were just very good at it.
Please. Japan has almost no guns, an urban population far denser than ours, and almost no violent crime compared to us. If you must pick examples, pick some that make sense.
Pick any other country where there are no guns and people lose their lives and other things from all sorts of weapons. Guns just make it less work. That's why they (guns) were called the great equalizer. 5' woman can stand her ground against the largest hairy legged guy if she is armed and knows how to use it.
If she's given time to get to it, and if she is lucky.
There are lower murder rates, gun and otherwise, in gun-free countries and everybody know it.
Our rates of gun ownership and murder are both cited, correctly, as being among the highest in the developed world. The strength of the correlation is questionable, but face the fact that it exists. There would no doubt be fewer murders if all the guns were gone. Thank goodness for 2A.
Interestingly enough, the type of person who is scared of guns and would not allow one in their home would probably be totally comfortable around archery equipment. Even though being run through with a broad head can be just about as deadly as being shot, it does not make that loud scary noise therefore it does not elicit that strong primordial urge to avoid it.
Or maybe they just know the same thing that the military and the police know – that guns are much better for killing than is archery equipment.
It is critical that we, as gun owners promote shooting in a positive way as we are dealing with peoples deep seeded subconscious fears and the only way to conquer that fear is with knowledge.
Yes. Also that we face facts and then do all we can to reduce or eliminate unlawful or irresponsible gun misuse.
As far as anti to pro let them get robbed or the pookey scared out of them and they will be the first at the gun range...It's all about comfort zone.
This is probably true for a few, but really not the best way to win them over.
I think a lot of people are anti gun due to fear.
Ya think? Maybe fear of being shot by an idiot or a criminal? That’s a fear that, sadly, is well founded and relentlessly publicized.
Some people are naive and think that if we outlaw guns, then no one will have guns to rob stores... but criminals will always get their hands on guns regardless.
Hear this one a lot, too. "If guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns". But it doesn’t really make sense, and most thinking people see that.
A outlaws will have guns, but not many and not for long. If guns were outlawed, eventually they'd become unavailable or too expensive for anybody to own. (I can hear it now – how much is too much to defend your life?)
It would take time, but eventually the supply would dry up. Try to buy a machine gun (legal or otherwise) these days – cheapest I’ve seen was north of $5000, and it was junk. A total ban would work. Eventually.
Unfortunately, many people buy this at face value. (England gun ban v. deaths). If you do a search, you will find that both England and Australia have had significant increases in all forms of gun violence since they have enacted their misguided laws.
But if we do just a little more research, we learn that even so their gun death rates are tiny compared to ours. The bottom line.
And so on. Flamesuit on. I’m on your side, but I want us to win, not just babble tired platitudes at each other. The antis and those indifferent are not stupid. Platitudes won’t win them over, but honesty and action just might.
