Rich Lowry's "Gun Controller" Straw Man

[SecularMotion]

Last week, teenage mother Sarah McKinley used a shotgun to shoot and kill a home intruder in defense of her infant son. The case made national news after the media obtained the audio of her call to 911, in which she asked the operator for permission to fire.

It didn't take long for the National Rifle Association supporters in the right-wing media to deploy her harrowing experience as a cudgel against their political foes. Here's National Review editor Rich Lowry in his latest column:

Instances of self-defense are the anecdotes that gun controllers never want to hear. The NRA keeps a running list of them on its website: attempted armed robberies, home invasions, and other attacks rebuffed every month by the would-be victims. Surely, Sarah McKinley's assailants thought the young, slender, widowed mother was an easy mark. Her shotgun meant they were wrong. Who would have it any other way? Otherwise, the intruder has the knife and she has nothing except a cellphone and the wan hope that someone armed with a gun makes it to her in time.

Lowry's question is revealing, largely because he doesn't bother to attempt to name any of the "gun controllers" who wouldn't want McKinley to be able to defend herself.

http://mediamatters.org/blog/201201090003

[gejohnston]

1. I don't know about Lowry's list

but whoever wrote DC's gun laws would be a good start.

[Remmah2]

2. Read the discussion at the bottom of the article.

Seems the article falls apart fast. Those supporting the article seem to run on emotion rather than defent their position with facts and logic. The article has an excessive amount to blanket statements without references.

[gejohnston]

3. I was more amazed at the number of

posters that don't seem to know much about current federal laws.

[Hoyt]

9. "Facts and Logic?" -- what is logical about having to strap a gun on before walking down street?

[Glassunion]

10. Facts and Logic (corrected)

Last edited Fri Jan 27, 2012, 11:26 AM - Edit history (1)

Fact... 18% of violent crime occurs inside the home.
Logic would dictate that one stands a greater chance of being a victim walking down the street than in their own home.

[DanTex]

11. I don't know if that statistic is correct or not...

But if 18% of violent crime occurs outside the home, that seems to imply that most violent crime (i.e. 82%) occurs inside the home. Am I missing something?

[Glassunion]

12. Thanks I messed that post up.

I meant that only 18% of violent crime occurs inside the home. 82% of violent crime occurs out in public.

Good catch. Sorry for the confusion.

[liberal_biker]

13. Who said anything about having to?

I do so because I choose to, not because I am under any obligation to do so. I'm just as free to leave it at home.

[Atypical Liberal]

4. All you have to do is read some posts here.

Lowry's question is revealing, largely because he doesn't bother to attempt to name any of the "gun controllers" who wouldn't want McKinley to be able to defend herself.

Really? Just spend some time around here. You'll find plenty of people who think that you should just use some Judo on your attacker. Or just give them what they want, especially if it is "only property".

[X_Digger]

6. Here's one..

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x216487#216745
[div class='excerpt']I do believe people have the right to self-defense, of course, but not the right to own a gun.

[AtheistCrusader]

8. Don't forget your bottle of bleach and water solution!

That'll definitely stop a pack of pissed off pit bulls.

[X_Digger]

5. More mediamatters / joyce funding wasted..

That $400,000 should buy Joyce a few more articles.

All Lowry would have had to do is quote someone like the Chicago councilman who said something like, "We're going to make it as hard as the court will allow to own a firearm in Chicago."

[TPaine7]

7. How about the government of D.C., supported by the Brady Campaign?

As I explain in detail here?:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=118x402356#402844

Those are the gun controllers "who wouldn't want McKinley to be able to defend herself."

[SteveW]

14. Years and years of gun-controller/prohibitionist police blotter stuff and you're upset?

My goodness, Secular! Check out the archives and find the wads and wads of gun-controller/prohibitionist postings showing "gun crimes" without any narrative or explanation, just an association of all the mayhem with pro-2A positions.

Now you complain when it doesn't go your way? You are so bald about this, you know that.

You can read all you want about Lowry (I don't check him out), but since you brought him up, he is right about this:

"Instances of self-defense are the anecdotes that gun controllers never want to hear."

Ain't it the case, Secular, ain't it the case? BTW, where are gun-controller/prohibitionists getting their "...running list of gun crimes?"