Bruce at mAss Backwards left a comment for my post Just One Question:
I’ve been contemplating the “just one question” approach for a while now. There’s a series of town meeting-style forums coming up in Boston with our Mayor Tom “Never Met a Gun Control Scheme I Didn’t Like” Menino.
I’m going to put my name in for one of the limited slots available. Shoudl I get the chance to address the Mayor, I’d ask:
“Mr. Mayor, as you know, the City of Boston over the last year has seen a marked increase in the rate of homicides and armed robberies. My question for you is a simple YES or NO question. Do the hard-working, law-abiding citizens of Boston have the right to defend themselves from violent criminals?”
A “yes” answer woudl be an outright lie.
A “no” answer, though truthful, would be cause for his immediate removal from office (not that that’s very likely, though).
That seems to be a very good question to ask as well. The only disadvantage I can see is that they can say, “Yes.”, “Yes, but not with a gun.”, or “Yes, but guns only make the situation worse.” And you are left with having to justify the use of a firearm for task of self-defense. My question forces them defend their desire to impose restrictions on firearms. In nearly all situations it’s better to make your opponent defend rather than for you to defend against them.
As I write this I see Bruce has posted on this “Just One Question” topic with the request “So…what would your “one question” be?” in the context of being able to ask some politician a question in a public forum.
The exercise is pointless. You’ll NEVER pin a politician down to a binary answer. He’ll say, “That’s a very good question. As you know, I firmly support the efforts of our fine police force and am working with community leaders, blah blah blah blah…..”
I’ve mentioned it before:
“So, the drug war costs billions and billions and billions of dollars. Many innocent, peaceable citizens have been needlessly killed by a police force that has been essentially militarized. People are not secure in their homes because of no knock warrants and search warrants issued based on the frequently false testimony of criminals. Property is taken and lives are destroyed over a few minuscule amounts of drugs. Is it worth that price to confiscate an infinitesimally small fraction of a percent of the drug supply in this country?”
http://www.saysuncle.com/archives/2004/10/07/well_i_have_to_blog_it/
One of my alternate potential questions centers around Menino’s recent “Blame New hampshire” tactic, where he blames Boston’s rising homicide rate on the lax gun laws of our neighbor states (NH, VT, ME).
Mr. Mayor,
When Boston had “only” 31 homicides back in 1999, that statistic was held up as incontrovertible evidence that the “most effective gun laws in the nation” were working, despite the accompanying fact that neighboring states such as New Hampshire, Maine, and Vermont had pretty much the same, if not looser, restrictions on gun ownership in place that they do today.
But, now that the murder rate in Boston is back up to its highest level in ten years, why is it suddenly our neighboring states’ fault for allegedly flooding our streets with guns, as you would sincerely like the people of Boston to believe?