7 ms·

Because partisans are not interested in solid science. They are interested in getting their way.

CamperBob2 14y ago
Exactly. No one on the pro-gun control side looks too closely at the statistics because they don't like what they see. Namely that the odds of someone who isn't suicidal and who isn't involved in criminal activity dying from a gunshot wound are about the same as the odds of being hit by a wayward meteor.
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
- brazzy 14y ago
  Thanks for proving the GP's point so nicely.
  - CamperBob2 14y ago
    If hyperbole were a valid method of proof, I suppose the world would be a funnier place, perhaps even a less violent one. Maybe we could revisit the laws of rhetoric after we're done nerfing the Second Amendment.
- necubi 14y ago
  Come on now. The odds of being hit by a meteor (actually meteorite) are effectively nil [0]. Are you claiming that the 88 people shot in mass shooting last year [1] were all suicidal or criminals? And really, while mass shootings get all the news attention, they are only a tiny part of the problem. The real tragedy is the way easy access to handguns has transformed communities like the South Side of Chicago, where kids are gunned down every week. This American Life recently did a remarkable report [3] on the conditions in and around one Chicago high school where in the past year 29 current and former students were shot. That reporting could have just as easily been done in Oakland, or Detroit. This is not about ideology. People are dying every day, innocent people going about their lives, and our current strategy of doing nothing, of burying our heads in the sand, is accomplishing...nothing. [0] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/12/insurance-from-the-skies/#.UTPRKl5QCTM http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/12/in... [1] http://www.thenation.com/blog/171774/fifteen-us-mass-shootings-happened-2012-84-dead http://www.thenation.com/blog/171774/fifteen-us-mass-shootin... [3] http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/h...
  - DamnYuppie 14y ago
    So what do you want to do about the innocent people dying from drunk drivers?
    - gradstudent 14y ago
      Your comparison is a red herring. Cars are useful and beneficial devices that enhance our lives. Guns are weapons intended to kill. They have zero utility to people who are not farmers or members of the police or military. That leaves recreational hunting as the sole activity for which one could justifiably claim gun ownership as a necessity. You don't need a hand cannon or a semi-automatic assault rifle to hunt deer. Seriously, fuck guns.
      - CamperBob2 14y ago
        They have zero utility to people who are not farmers or members of the police or military. These would be the same organizations (well, excluding farmers, I suppose) who killed about a hundred million of their own countrymen in the twentieth century alone? Yeah, I can see where allowing the government to hold a monopoly on the use of force is a really bright idea. Good thinking there, Tex.
        monochromatic 14y ago
        Now now. Anyone named Tex would probably not hold such wrong-headed beliefs about guns :)
        gradstudent 14y ago
        > These would be the same organizations (well, excluding farmers, I suppose) who killed about a hundred million of their own countrymen in the twentieth century alone? Yeah, I can see where allowing the government to hold a monopoly on the use of force is a really bright idea. The right to bear arms is an anachronism that needs to be scrapped. Two points: 1. Civilian small arms are useless against an organised modern military. If your government wanted to tyrannise you, they would and all the AR15s in the world wouldn't save you. 2. If you do not trust your government, elect a new one. If that doesn't work, move.
- nazgulnarsil 14y ago
  Exactly. No one on the anti-gun control side looks too closely at the statistics because they don't like what they see. Namely that the odds of someone who isn't suicidal and who isn't involved in criminal activity dying from a gunshot wound are about the same as the odds of being hit by a wayward meteor. see how silly you're being?

Exactly. No one on the pro-gun control side looks too closely at the statistics because they don't like what they see. Namely that the odds of someone who isn't suicidal and who isn't involved in criminal activity dying from a gunshot wound are about the same as the odds of being hit by a wayward meteor.

deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
brazzy 14y ago
Thanks for proving the GP's point so nicely.
- CamperBob2 14y ago
  If hyperbole were a valid method of proof, I suppose the world would be a funnier place, perhaps even a less violent one. Maybe we could revisit the laws of rhetoric after we're done nerfing the Second Amendment.
necubi 14y ago
Come on now. The odds of being hit by a meteor (actually meteorite) are effectively nil [0]. Are you claiming that the 88 people shot in mass shooting last year [1] were all suicidal or criminals? And really, while mass shootings get all the news attention, they are only a tiny part of the problem. The real tragedy is the way easy access to handguns has transformed communities like the South Side of Chicago, where kids are gunned down every week. This American Life recently did a remarkable report [3] on the conditions in and around one Chicago high school where in the past year 29 current and former students were shot. That reporting could have just as easily been done in Oakland, or Detroit. This is not about ideology. People are dying every day, innocent people going about their lives, and our current strategy of doing nothing, of burying our heads in the sand, is accomplishing...nothing. [0] http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/12/insurance-from-the-skies/#.UTPRKl5QCTM http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/badastronomy/2008/10/12/in... [1] http://www.thenation.com/blog/171774/fifteen-us-mass-shootings-happened-2012-84-dead http://www.thenation.com/blog/171774/fifteen-us-mass-shootin... [3] http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/harper-high-school-part-one http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/487/h...
- DamnYuppie 14y ago
  So what do you want to do about the innocent people dying from drunk drivers?
  - gradstudent 14y ago
    Your comparison is a red herring. Cars are useful and beneficial devices that enhance our lives. Guns are weapons intended to kill. They have zero utility to people who are not farmers or members of the police or military. That leaves recreational hunting as the sole activity for which one could justifiably claim gun ownership as a necessity. You don't need a hand cannon or a semi-automatic assault rifle to hunt deer. Seriously, fuck guns.
    - CamperBob2 14y ago
      They have zero utility to people who are not farmers or members of the police or military. These would be the same organizations (well, excluding farmers, I suppose) who killed about a hundred million of their own countrymen in the twentieth century alone? Yeah, I can see where allowing the government to hold a monopoly on the use of force is a really bright idea. Good thinking there, Tex.
      - monochromatic 14y ago
        Now now. Anyone named Tex would probably not hold such wrong-headed beliefs about guns :)
      - gradstudent 14y ago
        > These would be the same organizations (well, excluding farmers, I suppose) who killed about a hundred million of their own countrymen in the twentieth century alone? Yeah, I can see where allowing the government to hold a monopoly on the use of force is a really bright idea. The right to bear arms is an anachronism that needs to be scrapped. Two points: 1. Civilian small arms are useless against an organised modern military. If your government wanted to tyrannise you, they would and all the AR15s in the world wouldn't save you. 2. If you do not trust your government, elect a new one. If that doesn't work, move.
nazgulnarsil 14y ago
Exactly. No one on the anti-gun control side looks too closely at the statistics because they don't like what they see. Namely that the odds of someone who isn't suicidal and who isn't involved in criminal activity dying from a gunshot wound are about the same as the odds of being hit by a wayward meteor. see how silly you're being?