Category Archives: Gun Rights

Mental problems of anti-gun people

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As I mentioned earlier today JPFO has a booklet—Do Gun Prohibitionists Have a Mental Problem?  Here are some of the mental problems mentioned in the booklet:

  1. Projection–A person cannot accept their own feelings because they are bad, wrong, or forbidden so they project them onto others.  A typical anti-gun person that uses this mechanism might have feelings of unconscious rage toward gun owners, project them onto the gun owners, then have a conscious fear of gun owners.
  2. Denial–A person refuses to accept reality because that reality is too emotionally painful.  A typical anti-gun person that uses this mechanism might believe that the police are all anyone really needs to protect them from attack by criminals or that a tyrannical government could never happen here.
  3. Reaction formation–A person turns an unacceptable feeling or desire into its complete opposite.  A typical anti-gun person that uses this mechanism might have a murderous rage toward his fellow humans and then claim to be a pacifist and believe they are “superior” to “less civilized” people who engage in “violent behavior” such as hunting or target shooting.

The booklet goes on say that pointing out the mental problems to the anti-gun person isn’t going to be very productive.  What you need to do is:

  1. Make the person feel safe, then provide experiences and information to help him understand the positive aspects of gun ownership.
  2. Be gentle.  Defense mechanism protect people from feelings they cannot handle.  If you take that protection away, you can cause serious psychological harm.  And because defense mechanisms operate unconsciously, it won’t do any good to point out to the anti-gun person that he or she is using a defense mechanism.
  3. Use the mirror technique.  Feed back what the anti-gun person is telling you, in a neutral inquisitive way.  If someone says that people shouldn’t own guns because they don’t want to be killed if their neighbor had a bad day, you might respond, “So you fear if your neighbors had guns, they would use them to murder you.  What makes you think that?“  It’s important to ask “open-ended“ questions that require an answer other than “yes“ or “no“.  Such questions require he anti-gun person to actually think about what he is saying.
  4. Don’t try to “win“ the argument.  If you are arrogant, hurtful or rude to the anti-gun person, you will only convince him that gun owners are arrogant, hurtful and rude people–who shouldn’t be trusted with guns.
  5. Respond sympathetically to the plight of the anti-gun person.  If they believe they are surrounded by people that want to kill them and their family if only those people had a gun and they could do nothing but wait for the inevitable they lead a terrified life.  Invoke your own compassion for their situation.
  6. Provide corrective experiences.  Corrective experiences are experiences that allow a person to learn that his ideas about gun owners and guns are incorrect in a safe and non-threatening way.

There is a lot more material in booklet.  Many of the JPFO “Gran’pa Jack” booklets are for giving to anti-gun people.  This one probably is better utilized by distributing it to pro-gun people.  Although I haven’t done that with this one I have purchased a few hundred of their booklets and let the local sporting goods store give them away.  I’ve also given them away at Boomershoot events and local IPSC matches.

Update: See also the more complete version here: Raging Against Self Defense.

Update October 22, 2010: See also Peterson Syndrome.

Their warped view of reality

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Maryland just initiated a state program to license retired police officers to carry concealed handguns, making Maryland one of the first states to implement new federal laws expanding gun rights for retired and off-duty officers.  Idaho (YEAH!) and Arizona were ahead of them as might be expected.  The governor, Robert Ehrlich, was a supporter of the change and said this:

 “This is good public policy that will make a safer state, which is why I am very proud Maryland has led.”

But a barking moonbat gun control advocate had this to say:

     Leah Barrett, executive director of the gun-control group CeaseFire Maryland Inc., said allowing officers to carry a gun anywhere at any time is “essentially dangerous.”
    “We have too many guns in this country and too many people carrying them,” she said. “Accidents happen.”

While cleaning out my room in Richland yesterday (I’m all moved back to Idaho now) I found my copy of the JPFO booklet Do Gun Prohibitionists Have a Mental Problem?  Of course Ms. Barrett is a walking, talking example of a mental problem but I’ll post a few items from the booklet later today to help you identify the specific problems you see in these fruitcakes.

Quote of the day–Robert Kerrigan

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I know the business community considers us a bunch of vultures who just got done with one corpse and are looking for another, but the truth is that tobacco had to pay in no small measure because of what we did.

Robert Kerrigan
Referring to plans concerning legal action against gun makers.
From http://www1.jointogether.org/gv/wire/news/reader.jtml?Object_ID=256867
As of 1/5/98

Quote of the day–Thomas Jefferson

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The strongest reason for people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government.

Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson Papers
334 (C.J.Boyd, Ed., 1950)
[Update 10/28/2012: This is probably a bogus quote. See here.–Joe]

Quote of the day–Krusty the Clown

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Guns are for self-defense, hunting dangerous and delicious animals, and keeping the king of England out of your face.

Krusty the Clown

Quote of the day–Eugene Goodrich

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My bill will crack down on gun shows and illegal gun trafficking, ban violent juveniles from ever being able to buy a gun and close the loophole that lets juveniles own assault rifles.

From Clinton’s weekly radio address, the transcript of which I encountered at http://abcnews.go.com/sections/us/DailyNews/Clintonradio_littleton99044.html

Please note that apparently there is a loophole that lets juveniles own select-fire carbines.

Seriously, though, this is an important step forward.  If juveniles had not been allowed to own assault rifles (or even semi-automatic centerfire rifles with a black anodized coating), the two teens in Littleton would not have made pipe bombs or shot a bunch of people at their school with shotguns and pistols.

Eugene Goodrich
(Member of the Microsoft Gun Club)
Sat 4/24/99

Quote of the day–Greg Hamilton

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Think of the handgun as a behavior modifier.  If someone is threatening you, you can use the handgun to modify their behavior…

This is the universal hand signal for GO AWAY!  (Holds handgun in firing position.)

Ninety times out of a hundred it will work.  If not, then you may have to give them the universal hand signal for LIE DOWN!  (Holds handgun in firing position and repeatedly pulls trigger.)

Greg Hamilton
Self Defense Instructor
Nov. 19, 1995

Quote of the day–Richard Roberts

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What’s the difference between the person who hits you and the person who ties your hands so that someone else can hit you? Whoever takes away your ability to defend yourself needs to be defended against.

Richard Roberts

Quote of the day–Charles Schumer

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We’re here to tell the NRA their nightmare is true!. We’re going to hammer guns on the anvil of relentless legislative strategy! We’re going to beat guns into submission!

U.S. Rep. Charles Schumer
November 30, 1993
NBC Nightly News

I thought it would stop with knives

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Brought to my attention by The Smallest Minority who has a somewhat different viewpoint.  In an effort to “banish street crime“ they are banning certain types of clothes in England now.  And I thought banning knives was so low the only way they could go was up.  I was wrong:

The United Kingdom is the most-monitored nation in the world, with more than 4 million closed-circuit television cameras operating around the country. But culprits frequently evade Big Brother’s watchful eye by concealing their identities with the ubiquitous head wear.

“I think the fact you go around with these hats and these covers… I mean, it is a uniform, in a sense,” Prescott said last week.

As a result, a large shopping center in southeast England offered a new tact by implementing a “code of conduct” that includes a ban on the wearing of “hoodies.”

…

“I think it’s marvelous,” Bluewater shopper Jill Hopper said of the initiative this week.

…

Cropper, a doorman, and Thomas, a bar manager, both added that they would like to see a complete ban on caps and hoods in city centers.

What will it take for them to realize the problem isn’t that they don’t have enough laws but they have too many?  If a few potential vicitims emptied a couple of 15 round magazines of jacketed hollowpoints into a gang of thugs attempting a violent crime two things would happen:

  1. Thugs would be less inclined commit crimes.
  2. There would be fewer repeat offenders.

But that won’t happen.  I can’t imagine what will be next but I’m certain they will think of something else to ban.

Quote of the day–Dianne Feinstein

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Banning guns addresses a fundamental right of all Americans to feel safe.

U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein
November 18, 1993
Associated Press
[A reminder of how far we have come in the past few years.]

Quote of the day–Joseph Biden

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Banning guns is an idea whose time has come.

U.S. Sen. Joseph Biden
November 18, 1993
Associated Press
[A reminder of how far we have come in the last few years.]

Quote of the day–Charles E. Schumer

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What is sad is that this Congress is in danger of becoming irrelevant. We are on the verge of ceding responsibility from the legislative branch to the judicial branch because we cannot stand up to [the] gun lobby. It is ironic and fitting that our inability to act in any way that satisfies the American people has spawned a series of lawsuits that could ultimately impose penalties on the gun industry far more severe than even the most ardent gun control supporters in Congress hope to achieve.

Charles E. Schumer
November 4, 1999
http://schumer.senate.gov/SchumerWebsite/pressroom/press_releases/PR00067.html
[Could this have been the turning point?  The instant when we held the line and our attackers directed their attention to a perceived weakness in our flank?]

Quote of the day–Bill Clinton

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I think, as I said, what Governor Florio did and what Governor Wilder did, I think will contribute to Americans facing this and trying to reconcile our absolute obligation under the Constitution to give people the right to handle a firearm responsibly and our obligation to try to preserve peace and keep these kids alive in our cities.

Bill Clinton
March 1, 1993
Remarks in discussion with National Service Volunteers

[Florio banned the sale and severely restricting the possession of semi-automatic rifles and pistols in New Jersey.  Wilder implemented gun rationing in Virginia.  Notice that Clinton talks about “giving a right“?  If something is “given“ then it isn’t a right, it’s a privilege.  And then just seven months later he talks about doing weapons sweeps.  A reminder of how far we have come in recent years.]

Quote of the day–Bill Clinton

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And we should — then every community in the country could then start doing major weapon sweeps and then destroying the weapons, not selling them.

Bill Clinton
October 1, 1993
[A reminder of how far we have come in the past few years.]

Quote of the day–Joseph P. Tartaro

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Rep. Charles Schumer (D-NY), Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Sen. John Chafee (R-RI) made their big anti-gun push after Terry and Florio lost. They are all going to be back in the 104th Congress and they have said nothing to indicate that they will not keep pushing. Schumer and Feinstein got only part of what they wanted. Chafee didn’t get his bill to ban all handguns in the last Congress, so he can be expected to file it again.

Schumer’s agenda still calls for passage of Brady II, which would require, among other things, that all handguns be licensed by the states along federal guidelines on a “needs” basis, that the licenses would have to be shown to buy handgun ammunition for the particular licensed guns, that the licenses would be renewable every two years at high cost, that people who own more than 20 firearms (rifles, shotguns and/or handguns) or 1,000 rounds of ammunition or one box of primers would have to pay for an expensive arsenal license and be subject to home inspection by the police. Brady II will be filed again, in part because Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA), who was re-elected also, called for its passage during his election campaign.

Hindsight from The New Gun Week Dec. 9, 1994
Nov. 8 Election Commentaries
by Joseph P. Tartaro
http://www.ccrkba.org/pub/rkba/hindsight/hs941209.txt
[A reminder of how far we have come in the last few years.]

Quote of the day–Bill Clinton

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I think — you know, we can’t be so fixated on our desire to preserve the rights of ordinary Americans to legitimately own handguns and rifles…

Bill Clinton
March 1, 1993
A reminder of how far we have come in the past few years.

As I have been saying

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We have won the gun control debate at the political and intellectual level.  There’s still lots of work to do but there are no serious obstacles in our path.  The ‘enemy’ will continue to resist but the best they can do is mount a delaying action.  Read this article for further thoughts along this line of thinking then let’s get to work and politically exterminate the bigots.  Some excerpts:

When the Department of Justice issues a public statement that the Second Amendment protects an individual right to own a gun, when 35 states pass nondiscretionary carry permit laws, when New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof declares that “gun control is dead,” you know the gun debate is over.

…

Here’s what gun control supporters must do to have any hope of being heard on the national level again:

Stop trying to destroy the gun culture. There are more than 250 million guns in public circulation in the U.S. They cannot be wished away. Even if the U.S. government banned gun ownership and stopped all gun manufacturing and importation, it would still need to confiscate all those weapons. Doing so would require wholesale violations of Fourth Amendment rights. The probability of getting rid of guns in America, therefore, is practically zero.

…

The ultimate goal of the anti-gun movement precludes any compromise. Gun control advocates disingenuously ridicule gun owners for fighting regulation of guns similar to what they readily accept for cars. But drivers too would adamantly oppose controls if they were promoted by people who believed that automobiles are evil instruments no decent person would want to have and that anyone who does desire them must be warped sexually, intellectually, educationally, and ethically. Car registration and driver licensing would be adamantly opposed if advocated on the ground that cars should be made increasingly unavailable to ordinary people and eventually denied to all but the military, police, and the influence peddlers and other “special” individuals whom the military or police select to receive permits.

…

Abigail Kohn clearly has come to a nuanced understanding of gun owners. That would be unremarkable for the majority of Americans who already understand gun owners (because they are, or are closely related to, gun owners). The fact that Kohn finds her understanding noteworthy is an indication of the ignorance that prevails among those who have a negative attitude toward guns, among whom I assume Kohn once counted herself. In that sense, her essay reads much like an article urging people not to fear the Jews because they don’t really drink the blood of Christian babies: Reading it makes one sad that it’s needed, but perhaps it will do some good.

…

…shooters are unlikely to consider any form of gun control: They don’t need to consider it. For the most part, at least on the national level, they now hold the winning hand. Why tinker with success?

Quote of the day–James Bovard

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Gun bans in response to high crime rates mean closing the barn door after the horse has escaped.  The higher the crime rate, the less right the government has to restrict or impede people’s ability to defend themselves.  According to gun ban advocates, government has a specific, concrete obligation to disarm each citizen, but only an abstract obligation to defend the citizen.

James Bovard
Lost Rights
ISBN 0-312-12333-7
Copyright 1994, 1995

Quote of the day–William Burroughs

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After a shooting spree, they always want to take the guns away from the people who didn’t do it.  I sure as hell wouldn’t want to live in a society where the only people allowed guns are the police and the military.

William Burroughs
(b. 1914)
U.S. author. “The War Universe,”
taped conversation (published in Grand Street, no. 37;
repr. in Painting and Guns, 1992, in a slightly different form.