This is Part 2 of a series.
-Read Part 1-
Yesterday I looked at over a hundred pro-gun control / anti-gun memes and protest signs.
Almost every single one presented an opinion as fact, contained a serious logical flaw of some kind, or outright lied.
Here are some of the worst offenders, along with my criticism:
Come on. This is just lazy.
Every single anti-gun protester out there knows for a fact that the overwhelming, vast majority of people whose guns they want to take away are not the same people who commit school shootings. And yet they still use this sorry-ass shaming tactic in their weak arguments.
Get it through your head. Gun owners are not responsible for school shootings by mere virtue of owning guns. A firearm owning individual is in no way, shape, or form responsible for any kind of shooting unless they themselves aimed the gun and pulled the trigger.
Let's try this same logic out on other popular possessions:
Drunk driving kills 28 people per day. Car owners are responsible for these deaths! Ban cars!
700 children drown in swimming pools each year. Do you care more about your swimming pool than you do about children???
We don't blame car owners as a class for drunk driving related deaths. We don't punish drivers who haven't driven drunk and committed manslaughter. And we don't blame swimming pool owners as a class for drowned children. We don't take away everyone's pools or ban swimming pool manufacturing. That would be ridiculous. So why are you trying to blame and punish gun owners, as a class, for school shootings?
You want to regulate guns like cars? Allow me to explain why your argument is invalid.
For one thing, car registration, insurance, and driver's licensing laws are mostly just ways for the state to make money. They don't prevent accidents from occurring. They don't prevent someone with murderous intent from mowing over a bunch of unsuspecting college students with their Honda. An attempt is made to prevent people who should not be driving from obtaining a license, but guess what? Unlicensed drivers still find ways to get on the road all the time. So what exactly would this portfolio of regulations accomplish? Not much.
But there's another aspect to this that it seems the creator of this meme hasn't thought of. Cars are very large objects that are operated in full view in public spaces. It is, ostensibly, very easy for police to keep tabs on cars and their drivers. If a car is untagged, eventually the driver will fuck up and drive past a cop, who will make that driver's life very hard. Guns (especially handguns), on the other hand, are small and easy to conceal. Catching an "unlicensed gun owner" is a lot harder of a task than catching an unlicensed driver.
And...you guys. I gotta break some news to you. I hope you're sitting down, because this may come as a shock.
Just because you think guns are bad and you get the government to bully gun owners, does not mean that all the guns will magically disappear or become registered and trackable by authorities. Quite the contrary. Most existing gun owners will resist these edicts by simply not reporting or registering their weapons. Why? Because they are criminals or have criminal intent? For some, yes. But for most, it will be an act of civil disobedience. Gun owners will act in defiance against unjust laws. It's already happening.
It has always been possible to make firearms at home, with a little know-how. But as of right now, it is completely and totally possible to make a full AR-15 at home in your garage, using only a 3-D printer and parts purchased from Home Depot. (Thank you, Defense Distributed!) And one can 3-D print their own pistol, too, for one or multiple uses, with plans downloaded from the internet.
Passing a whole suite of laws will not make the black market go away, especially in such a high demand, lucrative market as firearms. In fact, laws will make the black market more profitable, more accessible, and more ubiquitous than it already very much is. Furthermore, gun owners would be in the moral right for choosing to keep their firearms unregistered, and to use the black market to buy and sell guns.
Oh, haha, very funny. You want to save children from dying in school shootings? Here are some ideas:
- Allow teachers and staff to optionally conceal carry at work.
- Stop prescribing psychoactive drugs to children.
- Stop treating minors as an unfree subclass.
- Don't send your kids to school, or better yet, abolish compulsory schooling altogether.
These may sound like radical ideas to some, but they are actually quite practical. A gun ban in the United States would be a declaration of war, and gun control measures like magazine limits and universal gun registration are nothing more than a circle-jerk for anti gun politicians. Until you are ready to commit to some of the ideas above, you're wasting your time.
Yes, let's.
The only laws that make any sense are the ones that decent people are going to follow anyway without being told.
- Don't murder.
- Don't steal.
- Don't rape.
- Don't commit fraud.
Things like that. Those laws don't need to be legislated, because everyone already follows them out of conscience. Everyone except criminals, that is, who (newsflash) don't give two shits about your laws.
All the other laws are merely codifying the state's self-given privilege to steal from you and tell you what you can do with your own property, or how you must interact with other individuals.
So yes. Let's get rid of all the laws.
No, it isn't.
Look, just because you feel strongly about your opinion doesn't mean you are being victimized by those who think differently. Get over yourself, already.
Unless you have been the victim of a gun-related crime, no gun owner, or their guns, have ever done anything to harm you. And if you have been the victim of a gun-related crime, then take your issues up with the perpetrator of that crime in court. Leave the rest of us alone.
I saved the most ludicrous for last.
Dude. Are you seriously, seriously suggesting that it is legal in the United States to hunt schoolchildren?
Murder is already illegal. Hunting humans is definitely illegal, no matter how many shotgun shells you are using. We can't make it any more illegal than it already is. GTFO with that shit.
The third and final part of this series is now up. Read Part 3!
If you are now seized by an unshakeable urge to read more stuff I have written, try these:
Gun Control: Meme vs. Reality (Part 1)
How to Apologize in 5 Steps
DIMENSION WANDERER EXTRAORDINAIRE - A Totally Fabricated Bio
Hi, I'm Starr!
I believe all human interactions should be consensual
