Violence Policy Center and Chicken Little
Don't believe everything the Violence Policy Center says. Actually, you're probably better off not believing anything they say.
Their big thing now? 50 caliber rifles. They want to ban them. Why? Well, they're now using the whole terrorism thing.
So I decided to go straight to the horse's mouth. Here is their article on the crimes committed with a 50 caliber rifle. Let's see. So far in 2005, we have a guy who stole one from someone else. Oh my God! The sky is falling!
Let's go to 2004. There's a crazy guy driving a bulldozer around running over things. Oh, he happened to have three guns, including a 50 caliber. And another guy was in a shoot out. Notice he didn't hit anyone. Wow.
2003? Nothing.
2002? Nothing.
2001? Nothing.
2000? Well, we have some guy illegally sell 50 caliber rifles.
All right. We made it through half the decade and there have been zero people even injured by 50 caliber rifles.
Go ahead and read the rest on your own. Note the years. Hate to break it to you, Violence Policy Center, but 99.99% of people with these rifles are good guys and fellow gun nuts. If you want to keep losing elections, keep trying to ban my guns. People like me decide who to vote for and who to fund by reason, not emotion, not by appealing to heartstrings, and not by scare tactics.
posted by The Zombieslayer @ 10:16 PM
33 Comments:
Most social "epidemics" are blown out of proportion. (Anyone remember Reefer Madness?) If you look at real research regarding crack babies, violent crimes, etc - it's always a few cases masquerading as "trends". It doesn't help that the general public is totally statistics illiterate.
amen. More guns= less crime. It's a very simple equation.
Why don't we ban bulldozers?
tshsmom: I think the Israelis would have a problem with that ;-)
Laura - I've had so many friends who had Reefer Madness. I've yet to see it though. And to this day, I've yet to meet someone stoned who got into a fight while stoned. As much as I like my booze, I'd readily admit I've seen some serious unpleasantries with drunk people turning into a-holes.
Ben - Yeah, been meaning to read that book. Never got around to it though.
Tshsmom - Heh. In Santa Barbara a few years back, some kid on psychiatric meds forgot to take his drugs and ran over five people with his parents' SUV while shouting "I am the Angel of Death." Four of them died. Notice nobody called for banning SUVs. And in one swoop, one SUV killed more people in America than all 50 caliber guns put together.
Laura - Touche (I don't know how to make that accent thingie). But there's a can of worms I don't want to open right now.
ZS: If you want to keep losing elections, keep trying to ban my guns. People like me decide who to vote for and who to fund by reason, not emotion, not by appealing to heartstrings, and not by scare tactics.
Well said!
Laura: I think the Israelis would have a problem with that
Too true. Israel’s planned ‘pull-out’ of Gaza is deplorable! I recently opined on the specifics and drew some alarming parallels.
Robert: I was being sarcastic. Though it's a volitile situation, which people spend their whole lives studying (i.e. comments section won't do it justice in discussion), I don't think you can lay blame squarely on either party. Go back through history and you find a constant tennis match of who's aggressive against whom. There is no good solution - but historically speaking, Israel didn't belong in Gaza to begin with.
Bridget - Who's Adrian T? Please put up a link. I'd love to check it out. As for Mr. B, just give him a good kick in the ding ding. It would get you fired, but you'd make a lot of people very happy in the process. ;)
Laura and Robert - I've changed my opinions on the whole Israeli/Palestinian situation so many times. I try not to get into this certain discussion because it is way too complex for a comments section. I'll be the great Zombieslayerdamus here though, and predict the future. Here goes...
There will be fighting in the Middle East. There will also be fighting in the Balkans. And whomever gets involved in either will get sucked in and the fighting will only get worse. Okay, there's my prediction of the future. :(
Great post Mr. ZS... I think the 50 caliber was invented to knock down those persistent zombies, wasn't it? Oh, wait, that was the .45 M1911 and the Moro zombies.
Anyways, I'm an anomaly. I am a rabid 2nd amendment supporter who doesn't like guns and probably will never own one. I'm my father's son and he was almost blasted into oblivion by accident. With that said, owning firearms is a Constitutional right and a deterrent to crime and oppressive governments. So, I'm with you all the way.
Secondly,one of two times I almost got busted ("arrested" back in the 60's and 70's) smoking pot was at a screening of Reefer Madness. I thought that was ironic. I no longer imbibe, because I don't want to go insane like the piano player in the flick... also, I saw how Sonny and Cher halucinated, when they smoked dope in those films they showed us in 7th grade health class (1967)-- I don't want to end up like Sonny or Cher.
Bo - I don't judge people from the mistakes they made in their youth. I really wish Clinton would have said, "Yeah, I smoked pot about five or six times but I don't now." I would have respected him more for it instead of the "I didn't inhale" crap.
So you know about the Moros. Yes. I have a friend who watched a Moro woman kill a man in a bar. He asked her out and she was in a bad mood, broke a beer bottle and slit his throat. Killed him almost instantly. Scary people they are, and even scarier when trying to drop them with a .38. That only managed to piss them off.
A little story you probably already know about but I wanted to share with anyone else who's interested. Do you know why the Marines are called "leathernecks?" It's because of during the war against the Moros, the Moros would take the last person in a line out by slitting his neck and disappearing into the jungle before anyone could figure out what was going on. So Marines would take their belts off and wear them around their necks. I'd much rather have my pants fall down than have my neck slit, and I'm sure they were thinking the same thing. Crazy stuff.
Oh, and I won't require everyone to own a gun because I don't believe in forcing adults to do anything. But when the zombies come, everyone will be handed one. I'll supply.
As for Cher, my wife loves her. Has her greatest hits. I don't like her voice though. I wouldn't want to end up like Sonny either.
Danius - Well said. You're all right in my book.
Gee..GUNs!! who even inverted such thin'....Boy! the world is goin to the monkeys...you and i are only the sane
i mean invented....heheh
ps: i think its the chineses who made the first gun powders...curse em...lol
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Actually, I didn't know about the leathernecks... thanks for the lesson. I love that kind of stuff.
And, when the zombies are coming in waves, I will gratefully accept the gun you hand me (or the rocket launcher, if you have one handy). I don't like the toilet plunger, either, but when trouble comes my way, I'll grab one to solve the problem.
Savage: Oh yeah, I know how to lie with statistics... it's my job ;-). Well not lying per se, but I'm often asked to present our data in the "best light" - I never go beyond what I think is morally correct, even if sometimes the execs want me to. as for the e` - that's just way too much work for one little symbol... ;-p
I don't typically post the type of response I'm about to post, but I have to say something because I find it very frustrating.
All of you who have never been to Israel, never lived in Israel and cannot read Hebrew - keep your opinions to yourselves.
Your understanding of the events in the Middle East is based on the media's skewed point of view.
Sign me,
An Israeli blogger
Ahhh, democracy... keep your opinions to yourselves. I won't get into it here, since this is ZS's blog and (how dare me) I made a sarcastic comment. Someone hang me now. This wasn't the topic of the post, so let's drop it.
Hysterical overexageration of any issue is the norm. Look at violence in High schools, child abductions, serial killers, take your pick. If we belived the press we would all be getting slaughtered going to the grocery store everyday. In fact, this stuff is no more common today than it ever was, there is just more publicity.
As for Adrian T's blog there is a link to it on mine. offmyblog.blogspot.com
I support our right to own a gun, and just finished an NRA gun safety course. If you follow simple third grade level safety rules, nobody gets hurt. I get annoyed with overblown liberalism.
"I really wish Clinton would have said, "Yeah, I smoked pot about five or six times but I don't now." I would have respected him more for it instead of the "I didn't inhale" crap."
Isn't that the truth--I mean, literally? If politicians would just be straight up honest, I think they would be surprised by the results. They also wouldn't have to keep track of all their lies--
Not sure how I feel about this topic.
I wrote up a story about how I was robbed at gunpoint. Not sure if we had a gun if things would have turned out for the worst. I was lucky that night.
Don't know many people that have been in that situation, so who really knows.
Israeli blogger - You better watch your mouth here. This is an open forum, and if you're offended by it, at the very least, mind your manners.
If you don't agree with me, keep your opinions to yourself, is what you're saying.
I've never been to North Korea. I don't believe in media conspiracies. Sure, the media's slanted, but I wouldn't go so far to say everything they say are lies. And I have no intentions of going to North Korea. I'll take their word for it. For someone who can't even move up in a corporation because I'm opinionated, you think I'd survive for more than a week in North Korea? I don't need to go there to find out.
Tenxin - Yup, they made the first gunpowders, but not the first guns. They could have ruled the world.
Bo - nice analogy. I got a chuckle out of that.
Savage - despite people being sheep, I'd be more afraid of an elitist state. As dumb as the average American may seem, we still have the best state in the world and it's because of all our checks and balances.
Laura - yup. I could have written a Perl script to find how to do that accent over the e but I'm too lazy.
ZL - quote of the day there. Ban banning things. I love that.
Laura again - No. Feel free to fire away. Don't be intimidated by that jerk. This is a perfect example of someone saying "I'm better than you and your opinion's worthless." You know how I feel about that attitude.
Exmi - Sweet! I'll check it out later on today. Thanks. And yes, the media just loves to blow things out of proportion for a story. In the process, they're making us scared of each other, which is not a good thing. Most people are basically good, and a lot friendlier than the media portrays them.
Scott - their safety courses are excellent. I really should join the NRA for that reason alone. I'm a lifetime GOA member, and was really mad at the NRA for their past compromises.
Danius - It's your freaky haircut, not your clothes. Geez. ;)
Sadie - Yeah, that would apply to regular people in general too. I wish more people would be honest, but in the PC witch hunt world, it's hard to be. I find the only way to stay honest is just not say anything at all.
Jenbeauty - It happens, and it's most unfortunate. Yes, I've been in situations where I wouldn't have been able to reach my gun. For example, I had a rifle on my back and a grizzly took one look at me, decided he had better things to do, and took off. If he had attacked, well, I hope playing dead would have worked.
I opened that discussion on my blog... so if anyone feels like talking about Israel/Palestine, Gaza, whatever... I just didn't want to bog down your post with something totally off topic...
It's always seemed odd to me that some people are so bent on watering down one of our basic rights. Step back and think about it, folks. Arming only the government is a bad idea.
Levi - Step back and think about it, folks. Arming only the government is a bad idea.
Agreed. I've always said we are armed for three reasons:
1) to fend off foreign invasion,
2) to protect against tyranny,
3) to protect ourselves against thugs
Laura - Okay, probably a good idea. Sorry you got yelled at like that. Whether he is right or wrong, he should have been civil about it.
Zombieslayer,
I'm on the fence about the whole gun thing specifically when it comes to self-protection (as opposed to hunting or so). Even police forces have abused their 'self defense' card (as in the Diallo incident).
The tough part is that it's someone's life hanging in the balance of someone else. And I've personally been around plenty-a-dumbasses that I don't trust should have a gun.
We've all made mistakes, and most "thugs" do stupid things at a relatively young age. Armed civilians would suggest it's cool to get (posisbly fatally) shot for a 'mistake'.
Isn't this a country of second chances? I'd hate to lose my life over something I did as a stupid, don't-know-any-better 18-21 year old.
If there's a way to regulate it, then sure ... I don't see the harm.
Any thoughts? Is this something that can be regulated given CON-AM #2?
Oh yeah, I meant to mention something about TASERS (or anything to incapacitate, rather than kill) solely for self defense purposes. It will do a fine job knocking someone out and allowing the appropriate authorities to then deal with a 'stupid' crime.
Cultureshocked - the problem I have with regulation is the regulators. As much as crime sucks and accidents happen, and guns sometimes are at fault, I'd rather have the freedom than be without it, if you see what I'm getting at. I don't trust any gov't, no matter how good the intentions, for making choices for me. I make my own choices.
As for tasers, wouldn't know. But for the record, tear gas is tolerable if you breathe normally and don't hyperventilate. Pepper spray though sucks. So for a non-deadly defensive weapon, I suggest pepper spray for someone who wants to defend themselves against a thug without carrying a gun.
They're actually making great gains in the realm of non-lethal force. John watches the Discovery/History channels all the time and there's always something on about the new technology. I could get on board with that. I wouldn't mind people carrying around tasers and zapping each other ;-)
Of course, tasers can kill as well, but not very often.
Ah Danius, what the witers of the consitution gave the people was the right to own the most advanced military technology available for their own personal use. Hence sheer logic states that we should still be able to have that. (not that I encourage the idea of personal atomic bombs mind you.)
Tazers are also used by criminals to incapacitate their victims. Jon Benet Ramsey was tazered.
I'm an avid gun user, but I don't carry one in public. There's too great a risk of innocent bystanders getting shot in MOST instances. HOWEVER, don't EVER try to enter my home if you don't belong there!
Savage - there are still some Congresspeople who are not rich, but if I'm not mistaken, no Senators are not millionaires. Nice thought, huh?
Tshsmom - I have no need for carrying a gun in Santa Barbara. There's no crime here. But a bad guy entering my house might be the last thing they've ever done, depending on how fast they run.
Exmi - Agreed. I'd feel safer if the people were truly the last check and balance of a dictatorship. I fear a police state much more than an accident. Of course I'd draw the line at land mines and atomic weapons. By the way, land mines are not effective against zombies anyways. They could still bite you without legs.
Laura - I have no opinion on tasers. Never seen one used and don't know how effective/uneffective they are. But I'm all for people having non-lethal weapons if that's what they prefer. Keep in mind though, a zombie will recover from a taser shock and will continue to come at you. If you refuse to carry a gun, at least have a crowbar in your car so you could finish him off.
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