Mike,
Anytime you’re called-out on your extremist views (i.e. every time you call gun owners names), you reply “I didn’t mean YOU. I’m just railing against the bad apples.” We agree that there are many such rotten fruit. Well, I agree that there are many in absolute terms. As both our blogs illustrate, there are plenty of media stories about gunloons gone bad. But you see these gunloons as statistically significant minority—or a majority depending on your whim—of all legal gun owners. I’ve seen you peg the percentage of dangerous gun guys and gals at 10 percent. And 30 percent. I find that odd. You’re basing your credibility on . . . what? A gut feeling? Where’s the data?
You reject a simple comparison between the total population of gun owners and confirmed examples of gunlunacy (or even ALL murders). I get that. In your world view, society must screen against potential gunlunacy. From that point-of-view, confining your statistical condemnation to confirmed cases would be illustrative—but misleading.
Which leaves us where? As far as I know, no one’s ever surveyed gun owners for the “symptoms” of gunlunacy that you regularly decry—now including racism, homophobia and misogyny. So let’s do it! Let’s survey at least 100 gun owners for their potential gunlunacy quotient.
Obviously, we want this survey to be as credible as possible. No matter what we do, it will be attacked by both sides of the gun control debate. To give it some power on either side of the great divide, let’s BOTH devise the questions.
Before submitting the survey to an independent third party to implement, I’ll run the proposed questions by TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia. They’ll screen for any inherent bias, helping us find mutually acceptable language to put to the survey takers. Your readers can do the same.
This will not be definitive nor particularly cheap. But I’m tired of your sarcastic libelous remarks about gun owners, and subsequent weaseling when called on your prejudice. OK, I like the sarcasm. But you’ve made it personal, calling all (many? most? some?) gun bloggers racist homophobes. Including me. So it’s time to put up or shut up.
I’d be honored if you could write-in your proposed questions below. Let me know if you want me to begin the process. That would be a real challenge, as I’m not seeing what you’re seeing. But if it’s the truth, I want to look at it with both eyes open. Your move.