Yes, the facts will surprise you. That’s why you should embrace them.
William Saletan
August 24, 2014
Rethinking Gun Control Surprising findings from a comprehensive report on gun violence.
[It’s a fairly decent article but I think he was stretching for something clever to say for those last two sentences. You don’t embrace the facts because they “surprise you”. You embrace the facts because that is reality. To reject the facts is to reject reality.—Joe]
I find it interesting that the “most important” facts don’t include US trends compared to international trends, crime and violence rate differences between ethnic groups living under the same state and local gun laws. or any details on how often DGUs result in nobody getting hurt, or even shots fired.
I think he’s writing to leftists, for whom the facts and truth are not high priorities for basing behavior on.
“These conclusions don’t line up perfectly with either side’s agenda. That’s a good reason to take them seriously…”
Ah, the old “let’s meet halfway” ruse. The piece is Junior high school level trash.
Note the total lack of mention of principles, human rights, or the fact that the places where most of the crime happens tend to be the most heavily controlled by political leftist/statist/Progressives.
Facts only surprise you when you’re disconnected from reality.
Neither facts nor lies surprise you when you’re paying attention to reality, and you can recognize the difference, but why would you want to do that? Why not live in a fantasy that makes you look better or feel better, or distracts you from your fears and frustrations? Surely someone else can handle the discrepancies, so you can ignore them just a little longer.
The article is simply a rehash of the CDC report, which is in itself an update of their previous report on gun violence. The only real difference this time is that the researchers had enough confidence to assign a benefit to the restraining order laws, with a 7% effectiveness rate, which I expect anti-rights cultists to use as prima facia proof that “gun control works!eleven!!”
A seven percent effectiveness rating. That means 93 times out of 100, the restraining order has the effectiveness of a realtor’s sales circular hung on your front door.
That’s effective for leftists, which is part of the reason communist regimes were such paragons of industry and morality.
Well, 7% has clearly saved at least one life, therefore worth it.
Why the sexist qualifier of this measurement on “female partner homicide”? The scenario of a female partner initiating a game of “lets you and him fight” isn’t exactly unheard of, often with alleged domestic violence as a motivator to new boyfriend.
Of course, boyfriend and ex aren’t exactly domestic partners, so won’t even be classified as domestic violence.