In a recent op-ed in Time Magazine, two of the top gun control activists in the U.S. Congress continued their tired drumbeat for laws that would have no impact on the safety of our communities.
U.S. Senators Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Dianne Feinstein of California, both Democrats, once again took the easy path toward their long-standing anti-gun rhetoric. Instead of basing their arguments on evidence and facts, they take the emotional-low road.
Punish the Law-Abiding
Anyone reading their piece (assuming anyone does read op-eds in Time), would read the list of tragic shooting incidents that have happened over the past decades, and feel the pull of their emotions. Anger, frustration, sadness… no one wants these to occur.
But then these elected officials pivot from tragedy to call for new laws. What they fail to do is to show that the laws would have prevented any of these tragedies. Why is that? Why do these senators with multiple offices full of staffers dedicated to conducting exactly this kind of research fail to make this connection between emotion and proposals?
Well, the evidence simply does not exist. Law-abiding citizens qualified to own firearms follow the laws. Criminals and those mentally ill who seek to harm others do not. Enacting more laws will not change that.
Selling False Promises
Just last week we pointed out the flaws with their calls for a federal universal background check bill. But Sens. Feinstein and Murphy don’t stop there. They also want to ban modern sporting rifles and limit the capacity of magazines, following New Zealand’s example.
What they don’t mention is that out of the estimated 1.2 million guns in New Zealand, a whopping 37 have been surrendered since the ban was enacted. This is likely because gun owners know that they are not the problem, and criminals do not abide by the law.
The ignorance of these senators goes further. According to the op-ed, “Guns like the AR-15 aren’t used for hunting and they’re not viable for home protection.” Again, false. Modern sporting rifles, including those on the AR platform, are among the most popular firearms being sold today. They are widely used for everything from sport shooting, to hunting, to home defense.
The firearms and ammunition industry shares the concern about the criminal misuse of firearms. That’s why we voluntarily run programs that target the real sources of crime and unauthorized access to firearms. They may not be as well-covered in the media as the emotionally popular soundbites, but these programs are working to help make our communities safer.
Larry Keane is SVP for Government and Public Affairs, Assistant Secretary and General Counsel at National Shooting Sports Foundation.
426 words with five links to other articles that also need to be read and assessed. Way, way TL;DR for 95% of people out there.
Go back, come up with something half this long, make it emotional and lose the links. You’ll get better results with the people you actually need to convince of your position.
Will this work?
“If you take our guns, many baby bunnies will cry.”
– Short
– Emotional
– No links
– Baby bunny! Who doesn’t like a baby bunny?
“Who doesn’t like a baby bunny?”
Farmers, landowners, people with gardens, those with allergies, people with leporiphobia, those who found Bambi and Bambi II annoying… the list goes on.
Anya
Hey, you wanna make a connection, go for the pop culture reference.
Man, don’t dangle bait like that under Strych’s nose! 😉
For the record I like bunnies…
That said, your post is more effective than much of what we, the POTG are doing.
What if we relentlessly push rape survivors who used a firearm to defend themselves, DV victims alive today because of their gun, and how an unarmed society would rapidly be over run by the stronger and more numerous bands of criminals ?
What if we pushed the truth that the current gun control proposals only benefit criminals and use the ample, bloody examples to drive to point home?
We aren’t doing well in the culture war, and it is because we fail to recognize that just because emotional appeals don’t work on us, they do work on a significant portion of the population.
Or, as we’ve discussed before on TTAG, start asking uncomfortable questions.
Take the people who die heroically sacrificing themselves for others during a mass shooting, like that coach in Parkland and just ask the antis “Why can’t he have the best tool available for the job he’s already bound and determined to do that job? Why are you so dead-set on denying such a person life-saving equipment?”.
Instead we get bogged down on “teachers carrying guns” when the antis make it sound like we’re drafting every teacher into the Rangers whether they like it or not. Then they argue that teachers shouldn’t be forced to carry as if that was ever a suggestion.
Fuck that, make them defend their position rather than letting them relentlessly attack ours. Use the Left’s own logic on something like abortion or birth control (“Why are you denying her a choice!?”) against them.
This shit really isn’t that hard. It effectively sells everything from cars to beer and political positions from socialized medicine to free college. We can do that too.
Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross motherfuckers. Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross.
Libitards aren’t only ignorant. They are natural born liars too.
Tell your uneducated constituent the same bullshit over and over and in their simple ignorant minds. They will obediently and blindly believe.
Sheeple are very easy to lead. They will stick their collective noses up their leaders butt and follow them blindly seemingly anywhere.
Even into a freight train on the tracks. Or a car on the highway.
That’s how dumb sheeple are and they show it every day in thought and speech.
A useless bunch if their ever were any.
Just 37 turned in?
Is anyone down there planning to ask some embarrassing questions in a very public forum?
That’s a video I would *love* to see.
(Pray for me, TTAG. I’m in NY state for the next two days…)
As civilan disarmament jihadist’s don’t have facts and truth on their side all they are left with is Lies,the Marxist left has turned Lying into a art form.
If every firearm in the nation was rounded up, criminals would still have them….somehow. Coconuts on the other had, would simply use other means to wreak havoc and mayhem. Imagine what a panel truck with 8 fifty five gallon drums filled with plan old unleaded regular gasoline could do if it somehow crashed and caught fire.
Where there’s a will, there’s always a way.
I find it interesting that the crowd who wants to end legal firearm sales also pushes for open borders. Cartels would be richer and more powerful than ever if they owned the firearm black market here.
Remember Leland Ye? So imagine we outlaw and confiscate all previously lawfully held firearms. The G*d D*mn Democrats have been caught, and will continue running guns to the gangs!
They aren’t interested in solving anything. They find more value in having a problem they can campaign on, while stoking the flames of said problem to ensure it mobilizes their base.
I’m confident I’ll read Feinsteins obit one day, just as I read Teddy kennedy’s.
And we’ll still have the ARs.
Larry Keane and the other gun writers fail to tell Mr and Mrs America that the Communists only rant about gun crime, and lost lives from gun violance for one reason. That reason is not to save lives and reduce crime. No no no. The Communists want our guns because they have more abmbitious plans after we surrender our weapons. And they will not be able to accomplish their plans for a Communist America with an armed population. Its not likely that every gun owner will defy and resist registration and confiscation orders by a Federal Gestapo. But the Communists in Congress must be convinced by credible persons that should the Communists go through with their schemes to take our weapons that they will pay a very very heavy cost, and set forth a movement that will rival that of the Colonies resistance to British Tyranny. The Communists must be made to understand they are playing with fire.
Feinstein : Turn them all in for destruction, Mr. & Mrs. American.
Hitler : Turn them all in for destruction, Herr & Fraulein Deutschlander.
American and German Nazis speak the same language. Times change, Fascism remains the same.
And that’s exactly the reason why they go after semi automatic rifles first. It doesn’t matter if the modern rifle is used for hunting or self defense. It is well suited for service in militia in case the commies go ahead with their plans.
#Enough, Yeah Enough of listening to this shit. Leave my guns alone, go after the crazy people instead.
I got as far as Dianne Fienstien., , , , , There certainly is a hullabaloo over gunms here lately. There is a bunch of people out there probably ought not have a gunm. Like the guy who shot his girlfriend over child custody. What was he thinking? But since there is a bunch of people out there that ought not have a gunm and do, I’m carrying one too. A possum would be an idiot not to.
I’ve had quite #Enough_of_Feinstein
“..Gun Control Advocates Continue to Their Fact-Free Anti-Gun Jihad”
And the sun still rises in the east, the sky is still blue, and water is still wet.
After the commercial break we’ll here some more from Captain Obvious about things that are never really going to change.