3 ms·

He actually links to the 2018 version of the same data (which shows the death toll from hands and feet to be about 2.25x that of rifles), but conveniently ignor

He actually links to the 2018 version of the same data (which shows the death toll from hands and feet to be about 2.25x that of rifles), but conveniently ignores that fact. Well, schools don't have "foot violence" drills, either. He claims that he heard "somebody" make the meteor claim. Perhaps he did. I've heard a lot of people make a lot of bogus claims over the years. I suppose writing lengthy blog posts to refute anonymous "somebodies" might be his hobby. An alternative explanation might be that he went looking for an easily-refuted straw man to advance his political agenda.

i_am_proteus 7y ago
Given the implication of his opening line that "gun advocates do not understand statistics and mathematics," this is an excellent example of a straw man.
- Turing_Machine 7y ago
  I'm pretty sure that generalizing from a single anonymous "somebody" to "gun advocates" as a whole does not "demonstrate understanding of statistics and mathematics".
  - jakeogh 7y ago
    Parent's comment makes more sense if one assumes they are referring to the article.
    - Turing_Machine 7y ago
      Ah, so it does.
babyslothzoo 7y ago
> An alternative explanation might be that he went looking for an easily-refuted straw man to advance his political agenda. Well, that's obvious from the very first sentence of the masturbatory piece.
weare138 7y ago
> Well, schools don't have "foot violence" drills, either. No one has ever walked into a school and punched or kicked multiple people to death either. Why? Because you couldn't even if you wanted to. That's a completely illogical line of reasoning.
- masonic 7y ago
  No one has ever walked into a school and punched or kicked multiple people to death, either "No one ever" is a broad claim. But certainly, killing 8 school kids with a knife or 7 with a cleaver is easy enough -- two examples in two months here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_attacks_in_China_(2010–12) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_attacks_in_China_(2010–...
  - weare138 7y ago
    > No one has ever walked into a school and punched or kicked multiple people to death It's not a broad claim and not even relavent to your point. But while we're on the subject, we don't have a "mass knifing" or "mass cleaving" problem in America either.

i_am_proteus 7y ago

Given the implication of his opening line that "gun advocates do not understand statistics and mathematics," this is an excellent example of a straw man.

Turing_Machine 7y ago
I'm pretty sure that generalizing from a single anonymous "somebody" to "gun advocates" as a whole does not "demonstrate understanding of statistics and mathematics".
- jakeogh 7y ago
  Parent's comment makes more sense if one assumes they are referring to the article.
  - Turing_Machine 7y ago
    Ah, so it does.

babyslothzoo 7y ago

> An alternative explanation might be that he went looking for an easily-refuted straw man to advance his political agenda. Well, that's obvious from the very first sentence of the masturbatory piece.

weare138 7y ago

> Well, schools don't have "foot violence" drills, either. No one has ever walked into a school and punched or kicked multiple people to death either. Why? Because you couldn't even if you wanted to. That's a completely illogical line of reasoning.

masonic 7y ago
No one has ever walked into a school and punched or kicked multiple people to death, either "No one ever" is a broad claim. But certainly, killing 8 school kids with a knife or 7 with a cleaver is easy enough -- two examples in two months here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_attacks_in_China_(2010–12) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/School_attacks_in_China_(2010–...
- weare138 7y ago
  > No one has ever walked into a school and punched or kicked multiple people to death It's not a broad claim and not even relavent to your point. But while we're on the subject, we don't have a "mass knifing" or "mass cleaving" problem in America either.