In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings, liberals have been whipping out all sorts of clever analogies to persuade shallow thinkers of their stance:
“If the logic is, it’s useless to regulate guns because criminals will still break the law, then why have traffic laws?”
This was a post on Facebook’s Being Liberal fan page, to which I replied, “I didn’t realize cars were used for self-defense, or that traffic laws prohibit people from owning cars.”
Another Facebook meme declares, “If a preschool child hits another child with a rock, the solution is not for every child to have a rock.” I didn’t know the Newtown shooting had been carried out by a child, or that anyone was advocating arming children to prevent schoolhouse murders.
A third post asks, “So you want to talk about the effects of mental illness associated with gun crime? Let’s start with the paranoid delusion that your handgun is going to help you rise up against a tyrannical government,” to which I would query, “Ever hear of the American Revolution?”
Inane as these arguments are, mainstream news analysts have been using the less subtle tactic of cutting off gun control opponents before they can make their points.
Last week CNN’s Soledad O’Brien interviewed John Lott on his work debunking gun myths. Lott has talked to dozens of victims who regret that they weren’t able to arm themselves. He made the devastating point that virtually all public shootings have occurred in places where guns are banned.
O’Brien interrupted to offer the non sequitur that all public shootings involve people with guns. She concluded by gasping, “Your position completely boggles me, honestly. I just do not understand it.” Maybe if O’Brien let Lott talk instead of interrupting him to tell him gun crimes involve guns, she would get a better sense of where he’s coming from.
Fellow CNN host Piers Morgan was less subdued in a panel discussion, in which he asked Lott to justify fewer gun restrictions. When Lott noted, “Every place that guns have been banned, murder rates have gone up,” Morgan interrupted and said it was a “complete lie,” claiming that gun violence in Great Britain is lower than in the U.S. because of it’s strict gun control laws—a point that has nothing to do with what Lott was talking about.
Christiane Amanpour then stated that Great Britain’s gun crime rate had declined in recent years—to which Lott replied that it had risen sharply after the ban and has started to come down, but it is still higher than it was before the ban.
Conservatives often sigh and say that there’s no point arguing with liberals, that they’re never going to come around and it’s useless to try to persuade them. I’m not sure. I think the human tendency is to get emotional and defensive, not when you’re right, but when you’re wrong and your belief system is vulnerable.
Guns are an emotional topic. Conservatives should keep making the arguments we’re making, even if liberals lash out at us in rage—especially if they lash out at us in rage. It’s a sign we’re getting through.
