The anti-gun bigots sometimes accuse us of irrational fears. I can’t immediately think of any cases where there isn’t at least some truth to the fears expressed but I suppose the accusation could be valid in some cases.
However the anti-gun mind is overflowing with fears that are so numerous and totally lacking in a rational basis they are not only laughable but they are being slapped down in court about it:
When Tarrant County College denied a student the right to stage an empty holster protest in April 2008 at the South Campus, officials feared someone would use the event to bring a weapon on campus.
“There was certainly the expectation that someone was going to show up with a gun in a holster,” TCC interim Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley said under cross examination during a trial in federal court Thursday.
School officials had the concern even though they had no evidence that anyone would, and U.S. District Court Judge Terry Means told her — when she couldn’t provide any proof of why she thought someone planned to do so — that free speech cannot be limited on the basis of an “undifferentiated fear.”
“I can’t see any tangible basis for this fear,” Means said.
I am sometimes not nearly so gentle with bigots like this. I insist they inhabit the real world and the leave their lunatic ravings at the funny farm. I say something like, “Facts. It’s what reality is made of. I suggest you check it out.”
I’m glad you say, “I suppose the accusation could be valid in some cases.”
You bet it’s valid in some cases, the accusation that gun people are operating on irrational fears. And as you point out, some gun control folks suffer from the same thing but opposite.
There is one difference though, which might not matter all that much. Gun owners who are motivated by exaggerated fears, you know the guys who live in decent neighborhoods and whose lifestyle practically ensures that they won’t need a gun but who carry anyway, these guys fear the criminal.
The gun control guys who suffer from exaggerated fears, you know the ones who want excessive laws and who get nervous at the sight of a gun, these guys fear both the criminal and you lawful gun owner. And they’re not entirely wrong given the fact that so often it’s one of you guys who makes the news.
MikeB302000,
What a smarmy little weasel you are!!
You owned firearms legally and illegally. What were your fears you little sanctimonious little prig?
It is not irrational to look at a crime map and say that crime could happen to me.
It is not irrational to look at the consequences of a crime and say that I want to take steps to reduce the chance I will be an unarmed victim.
It is not irrational to look at the neighborhood that I live in and realize that it attracts crime because it is a “good neighborhood”.
You focus so much on the news as your source of information because you know the statistics do no support your proposition. You focus on the news because you know you have to sensationalize the few cases were a law abiding gun owner does wrong — because those cases are such a rare event.
Once again — since you’ve been blogging about gun control for –what nearly 2 years now?— I’ll challenge you to present your best case all in one spot and I’ll present my best case all in one spot. We can do this on your blog, my blog, both at the same time.
Present your best argument — emotional, factual, with or without data — as to why gun control is needed. Let’s see if you can build a case beyond “some body might do something bad someday”? (Which is a most irrational argument)
Gun rights advocates oppose both criminals and anti gun rights laws for the same reason. They both violate the rights of others. Criminals violate rights on a small scale while legislation can and does violate rights on a large scale. Fear? Does everything have to be motivated by fear? Do you keep the brakes on your car working out of fear (because you’re a chicken shit) or is it common sense? Do you lock your doors when you’re away because you’re a fraidy cat, because you have paranoid and irrational fears controlling your life, or because it makes sense? Do you fasten your seatbelts out of a pathological fear, because you’re a retarded, mentally defective piece of shit who pisses his pants at the thought of driving in traffic, or because it’s a good idea?
Are police who carry guns doing so out of fear, or as a prudent means of self defense, knowing that while violence is not highly likely, it is possible?
Do most parents keep a close eye out for their kids out of fear and PARANOIA, or do they go about in crowded places with them, in perfect confidence at all times and no worries? Or does it make some sort of sense to watch over the kids?
Mikeb; since you relish basking in the warm glow of attention so much that you’re willing to insult people to get it, I’ll throw you a bone and address you directly. Is there any historic basis for “fear” (realization that something is in fact possible if not highly likely) of rights violations perpetrated by government or criminals? If not, you win, and our Bill of Rights can be dispensed with, being of no practical use since possible abuses are but the paranoid delusions of the extremists who wrote the stupid constitution.
Mikeb if your world was an asshole, you wouldn’t even qualify to be a hemorrhoid, however you might pass through your world as matter of your specific make-up is wont to do.