6 Things Gun Lovers and Haters Can Agree On

[pablo_marmol]

5. Perfectly honest on most points, extremely dishonest on one.

Regarding his point #4 - that pure fun is an under-reported reason for owning a gun, I agree wholeheartedly. Then he goes off the rails when he gets into defensive gun use - cowardly describing Dr. Gary Kleck as a "breathtakingly shitty criminologist" sans any real evidence supporting his smear:

1) He essentially represented Kleck as standing alone with regard to the proposition of high numbers of defensive gun use, when in fact numerous surveys (over a dozen) support his findings; including that of pro-restriction "scholar" Philip Cook:

https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles/165476.pdf

2) He's also unaware, or covers up the fact that Kleck won the highest award that the American Society of Criminology bestows for his book Point Blank -- largely dedicated to defensive gun use.

3) He cites a lightweight hack like David Hemenway as "evidence" to "debunk" Kleck's work.

Then there's this little gem:

But don't pretend that gun is a guarantee of safety -- gun owners are actually at greater risk of homicide and suicide than the general population.

"But don't pretend that gun is a guarantee of safety......"

Very few do. Strawman -- and a flimsy one at that.

"......gun owners are actually at greater risk of homicide and suicide than the general population."

Trotting out the oft-times eviscerated Kellerman "study". Good job fella.

No wonder one of our illustrious members expressed pride in being the first to rec this thread.