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Dave Kopel nails it. Now, will the antis listen?

Rusty Young Man

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...01/the-costs-and-consequences-of-gun-control/

Article said:
Today the Cato Institute published my monograph “The Costs and Consequences of Gun Control.” The policy analysis examines several gun control proposals which have been promoted by the Obama administration and the gun control lobby: bans on so-called assault weapons; bans on standard magazines; confiscation; and the prohibition of all private sales, loans and returns, except when processed by a gun store. After explaining why each of these proposals is likely to do little good and much harm, the paper discusses realistic alternatives which really can save lives. The most important of these is providing a much broader safety net for people seeking help for severe mental illness. In addition, respecting the right to bear arms has been demonstrated to be successful in thwarting would-be mass murderers.

Prohibiting certain guns or magazines will be futile without confiscation of such arms currently owned by citizens; so said a 2013 memo by Greg Ridgeway, acting director of the National Institute of Justice (the research arm of the Justice Department). Likewise, the NIJ memo explained that “universal” background checks are useless without comprehensive registration of all guns and all gun owners. Yet Americans have historically resisted gun registration, precisely because of concerns about confiscation. These concerns are not unfounded; registration lists have been used to enforce confiscation in New York City, in Australia and in Great Britain. In Australia, the confiscation was euphemistically called a “buy back,” although it was in fact involuntary confiscation, with only partial compensation paid for the confiscated items.

Moreover, all of the the gun control laws discussed above affirmatively harm public safety. The term “assault weapons” is a political gimmick designed to foster confusion. These guns are not machine guns; they fire only one bullet each time the trigger is pressed, just like every other ordinary firearm. They are not more powerful than other firearms. To the contrary, their ammunition is typically intermediate in power, less powerful than ammunition that is made for big-game hunting.

SNIP...

Although some persons demand that we immediately “do something” about guns, we would do better to carefully examine whether particular proposals will be helpful or harmful. The best prospects for saving lives are by helping a politically powerless group — the severely mentally ill — and not in a culture war against the Second Amendment.

All good points, however they may fall on deaf ears as the ones who should listen to this would rather dance in the still-warm blood of murder victims. :(
 

utbagpiper

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A good read, thank you.

You are correct about the deaf ears, at least among true believers. For them, this is a religious matter, as irrational and impossible to combat with logic as any church dogma could possibly be.

But material such as this is important and useful for persuading those who are reasonable and open to logic, but not yet off the fence. Some are persuaded by arguments about rights, others are more open to practical arguments. We should have many tools at our disposal and use that which is most effective with any given person or group.

Charles
 

Citizen

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...01/the-costs-and-consequences-of-gun-control/



All good points, however they may fall on deaf ears as the ones who should listen to this would rather dance in the still-warm blood of murder victims. :(

Dave isn't trying to convince the deaf-ears.

This sort of paper is aimed at the people with latent pro-gun inclinations, the new pro-gunners who don't have a good argument to support their position, that sort of thing. He's giving ammunition to those who don't yet have for whatever reason.

For unfamiliar readers, Kopel is a former assistant attorney general for Colorado or something; he's not a light-weight intellectually. Nor a light-weight in the gun-world. If you want to sharpen your arguments, his writings on gun rights are worth reading. Just use google.
 
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Rusty Young Man

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Dave isn't trying to convince the deaf-ears.

This sort of paper is aimed at the people with latent pro-gun inclinations, the new pro-gunners who don't have a good argument to support their position, that sort of thing. He's giving ammunition to those who don't yet have for whatever reason.

For unfamiliar readers, Kopel is a former assistant attorney general for Colorado or something; he's not a light-weight intellectually. Nor a light-weight in the gun-world. If you want to sharpen your arguments, his writings on gun rights are worth reading. Just use google.

Ah, now I see it. Agree upon rereading it that the tone of the article does appear to be directed towards the who would like a crash-course in arguing FOR the Right to effective self-defense.
 

solus

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Ah, now I see it. Agree upon rereading it that the tone of the article does appear to be directed towards the who would like a crash-course in arguing FOR the Right to effective self-defense.

welcome to the age of illumination grasshopper...

welcome indeed...

now go forth and read other tomes of his work and spread the word

ipse
 
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