Post by trianglewhip on Nov 13, 2013 2:28:03 GMT -5
Excerpted from Michael Z. Williamson's "It's amazing what one has to believe to believe in gun control"
1. That a hijacker could easily take a gun away from a pilot, but the hundreds of passengers aboard would then be unable to take the gun away from the hijacker.
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. That suggesting teachers be armed is an outrageous suggestion for a "civilized" society, which explains why the Swiss and Israelis do it.
4. It takes too long to retrieve a gun if someone breaks in your house, but if you dial 911 on your cell phone, talk to the dispatcher and wait half an hour for the cops to arrive, you‘ll be safe.
5. That car keys, umbrellas and hairspray are good tools for self-defense, despite the fact that police continue to carry guns.
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. That "assault weapons" are "very powerful" but big game hunters oddly prefer .30-06s and .375 H&Hs.
9. That police operate in groups with backup, which is why they need larger capacity magazines than civilians, who must face criminals alone, and therefore need less ammunition.
10. That to properly understand Nazi gun control, one must consider the "legitimate fears" they had of the Jewish population. (This was another self-proclaimed liberal. I'm beginning to wonder.)
11. That a bank guard can protect money with a gun, but you cannot protect your children with one.
12. The 2nd Amendment, passed in late 1700s, 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. That everywhere in the constitution “people“ actually means “people“, except "the right of the people to keep and bear arm" refers to the state.
15. "The Constitution should never be violated." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.
16. That Hitler and Stalin didn't disarm citizens, only Jews, Gypsies, gays, unionists and other "undesirables." (Yes, a liberal member of the MMM actually said this in the Washington Post.)
17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons", but also 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. That a gun is a symbolic penis…what this has to do with defending one's life I have no idea. It simply serves to prove that anti-defense psychiatrists clearly have Freudian issues that THEY need to address.
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. That guns cause the high suicide rate in the US, even though Japan's rate is almost three times higher, despite the fact that guns are completely banned in Japan.
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 "spray bullets" and kill large numbers of people. That is why police need assault weapons. You do not.
38. That registration of guns will help law enforcement, because that way they won't need probable cause and a warrant to conduct a search.
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. The Brady Campaign says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.
41. That gun safety courses in school only encourage kids to commit violence, but sex education in school doesn't encourage kids to have sex.
42. That a criminal will take a gun away from you and use it against you, so conversely, the best thing to do when threatened is to take the criminal's gun away from him and use it against him.
43. That it is reasonable for California to have a minimum 2 year sentence for possessing but not using an assault rifle, and reasonable for California to have a 6 month minimum sentence for raping a female police officer.
44. That .50 caliber rifles are both "very rare" and "selling like hotcakes."
45. "It can't happen here."
46. That we must close shooting ranges because of the noise, but ban silencers because they are quiet.
47. That the same people who build illegal high-tech drug labs for less than $30,000 won't build illegal low-tech gun shops for less than $10,000.
48. That it's safer with less guns, which is why lunatics shoot up schools instead of gun shows or police stations.
49. That oppressing gun owners until they violate the law justifies oppressing them further.
50. In past century one hundred and seventy million people were exterminated by governments that disarmed citizens using gun-control laws. But gun-control in America bears no resemblance to authoritarianism.
51. That a ranch rifle made after 1994 is now somehow a military rifle.
52. That small arms could never be used to resist a world power, as all the Viet Cong bombing, air superiority, and naval missions prove.
53. That .50 caliber weapons must be banned in case Americans use them to shoot holes in the armored cars that the government doesn't own and isn't going to send against them.
54. That there is no left-wing conspiracy to send police and troops to imprison American gun owners, but there is a vast, right-wing conspiracy of gun owners who must be disarmed for attempting to stop it.
55. That Charlton Heston, as president of the NRA, must be a racist, despite his marches with Dr. King in the 1960s. After all, all gun owners are racist, and that theory isn't bigoted.
56. Even though the government can’t control a black market for drugs it will have no problems with a black market for guns.
57. Even though the government cannot stop millions of unarmed illegal aliens from crossing our border, the idea of an armed invasion here is crazy.
58. That the 1939 US vs Miller case, is "established law" that endorses gun control and the matter is closed, just like Plessy vs Ferguson endorsed "separate but equal" schools and the matter is closed.
59. That the typical town only needs one law enforcement officer per 1000 population, because most people are law abiding, but that it's dangerous to let citizens carry weapons because most people are criminal.
60. That a team of cops shooting an unarmed citizen 19 times and not getting charged with murder is "law enforcement" but an old lady shooting a knife-wielding attacker is "vigilanteism," and we should leave defense to the professionals.
61. That an 18 year old can handle a machinegun and die defending another nation's oil reserves, thereby being a hero, but an 18 year old who tries to defend his or her child with a gun belongs in jail.
62. That a zero-tolerance policy is bad regarding drugs, but a zero-tolerance policy is good regarding guns.
63. That banning rifles with bayonet lugs will cut down on all the bayonet charging bank robbers.
64. That it is reasonable for California to have a two year minimum prison sentence for possessing a .50 caliber target rifle even though they are perfectly legal in rest of America and no crimes have ever been committed with one.
65. That it in Nevada, Arizona and Idaho a day on the range with your family shooting an AR-15 is a perfectly legal and wholesome American activity. But accidentally get on the wrong road and cross the California border with that same AR-15 and you instantly become a crazed and dangerous felon facing a two year minimum prison sentence.
1. That a hijacker could easily take a gun away from a pilot, but the hundreds of passengers aboard would then be unable to take the gun away from the hijacker.
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. That suggesting teachers be armed is an outrageous suggestion for a "civilized" society, which explains why the Swiss and Israelis do it.
4. It takes too long to retrieve a gun if someone breaks in your house, but if you dial 911 on your cell phone, talk to the dispatcher and wait half an hour for the cops to arrive, you‘ll be safe.
5. That car keys, umbrellas and hairspray are good tools for self-defense, despite the fact that police continue to carry guns.
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. That "assault weapons" are "very powerful" but big game hunters oddly prefer .30-06s and .375 H&Hs.
9. That police operate in groups with backup, which is why they need larger capacity magazines than civilians, who must face criminals alone, and therefore need less ammunition.
10. That to properly understand Nazi gun control, one must consider the "legitimate fears" they had of the Jewish population. (This was another self-proclaimed liberal. I'm beginning to wonder.)
11. That a bank guard can protect money with a gun, but you cannot protect your children with one.
12. The 2nd Amendment, passed in late 1700s, 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. That everywhere in the constitution “people“ actually means “people“, except "the right of the people to keep and bear arm" refers to the state.
15. "The Constitution should never be violated." But we should ban and seize all guns thereby violating the 2nd, 4th, and 5th Amendments to that Constitution.
16. That Hitler and Stalin didn't disarm citizens, only Jews, Gypsies, gays, unionists and other "undesirables." (Yes, a liberal member of the MMM actually said this in the Washington Post.)
17. Private citizens shouldn't have handguns, because they aren't "military weapons", but also 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. That a gun is a symbolic penis…what this has to do with defending one's life I have no idea. It simply serves to prove that anti-defense psychiatrists clearly have Freudian issues that THEY need to address.
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. That guns cause the high suicide rate in the US, even though Japan's rate is almost three times higher, despite the fact that guns are completely banned in Japan.
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 "spray bullets" and kill large numbers of people. That is why police need assault weapons. You do not.
38. That registration of guns will help law enforcement, because that way they won't need probable cause and a warrant to conduct a search.
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. The Brady Campaign says they want to "keep guns out of the wrong hands." Guess what? You have the wrong hands.
41. That gun safety courses in school only encourage kids to commit violence, but sex education in school doesn't encourage kids to have sex.
42. That a criminal will take a gun away from you and use it against you, so conversely, the best thing to do when threatened is to take the criminal's gun away from him and use it against him.
43. That it is reasonable for California to have a minimum 2 year sentence for possessing but not using an assault rifle, and reasonable for California to have a 6 month minimum sentence for raping a female police officer.
44. That .50 caliber rifles are both "very rare" and "selling like hotcakes."
45. "It can't happen here."
46. That we must close shooting ranges because of the noise, but ban silencers because they are quiet.
47. That the same people who build illegal high-tech drug labs for less than $30,000 won't build illegal low-tech gun shops for less than $10,000.
48. That it's safer with less guns, which is why lunatics shoot up schools instead of gun shows or police stations.
49. That oppressing gun owners until they violate the law justifies oppressing them further.
50. In past century one hundred and seventy million people were exterminated by governments that disarmed citizens using gun-control laws. But gun-control in America bears no resemblance to authoritarianism.
51. That a ranch rifle made after 1994 is now somehow a military rifle.
52. That small arms could never be used to resist a world power, as all the Viet Cong bombing, air superiority, and naval missions prove.
53. That .50 caliber weapons must be banned in case Americans use them to shoot holes in the armored cars that the government doesn't own and isn't going to send against them.
54. That there is no left-wing conspiracy to send police and troops to imprison American gun owners, but there is a vast, right-wing conspiracy of gun owners who must be disarmed for attempting to stop it.
55. That Charlton Heston, as president of the NRA, must be a racist, despite his marches with Dr. King in the 1960s. After all, all gun owners are racist, and that theory isn't bigoted.
56. Even though the government can’t control a black market for drugs it will have no problems with a black market for guns.
57. Even though the government cannot stop millions of unarmed illegal aliens from crossing our border, the idea of an armed invasion here is crazy.
58. That the 1939 US vs Miller case, is "established law" that endorses gun control and the matter is closed, just like Plessy vs Ferguson endorsed "separate but equal" schools and the matter is closed.
59. That the typical town only needs one law enforcement officer per 1000 population, because most people are law abiding, but that it's dangerous to let citizens carry weapons because most people are criminal.
60. That a team of cops shooting an unarmed citizen 19 times and not getting charged with murder is "law enforcement" but an old lady shooting a knife-wielding attacker is "vigilanteism," and we should leave defense to the professionals.
61. That an 18 year old can handle a machinegun and die defending another nation's oil reserves, thereby being a hero, but an 18 year old who tries to defend his or her child with a gun belongs in jail.
62. That a zero-tolerance policy is bad regarding drugs, but a zero-tolerance policy is good regarding guns.
63. That banning rifles with bayonet lugs will cut down on all the bayonet charging bank robbers.
64. That it is reasonable for California to have a two year minimum prison sentence for possessing a .50 caliber target rifle even though they are perfectly legal in rest of America and no crimes have ever been committed with one.
65. That it in Nevada, Arizona and Idaho a day on the range with your family shooting an AR-15 is a perfectly legal and wholesome American activity. But accidentally get on the wrong road and cross the California border with that same AR-15 and you instantly become a crazed and dangerous felon facing a two year minimum prison sentence.