I wish Mike “The Gun Guy” Weisser [above] had Internet access. How else can you explain his fact-free huffingtonpost.com column The Gun Lobby’s Own Publications Expose the Fantasy of the ‘Good Guy With a Gun’? Mike’s latest diatribe attempts prove that defensive gun uses (DGUs) are a myth. The main problem: they aren’t. If Mike Googled “defensive gun use,” clicked on the first link (Wikipedia), then clicked on “frequency” he’d have read this . . .
Estimates over the number of defensive gun uses (DGU) vary, depending on the study’s population, criteria, time-period studied, and other factors. Higher end estimates by Kleck and Gertz show between 1 to 2.5 million DGUs in the United States each year. Low end estimates cited by Hemenway show approximately 55,000-80,000 such uses each year. Middle estimates have estimated approximately 1 million DGU incidents in the United States.
I’ve removed the citations, but they’re there. If Weisser doubts that Americans use firearms to defend life and limb at least of 55k times per year he could analyze the data for himself. As if. Mike’s a man on a mission, bound and determined to degrade and destroy Americans’ natural, civil and Constitutionally protected right to keep and bear arms. Facts be damned. Especially the ones he can’t avoid.
Last week the pro-gun gang received a shot in the arm from a story out of Detroit where a legally-armed private citizen yanked out a gun and shot a man who was running away from a bank with a pile of cash. Actually, the armed citizen shot the bank robber in both arms, as well as the leg, shooter and robber doing just fine; the latter in the hospital under arrest, the former no doubt on his way to Fairfax, VA to be congratulated by Wayne-o for reminding us all about the true value of our 2nd Amendment rights.
Question: why is MT Double G sharing a successful defensive gun use in an article written to debunk successful gun uses? Because his head is so far up his anti-gun position that he reckons that any story of anyone shooting anyone for any reason offends anyone who hates guns. Seriously. That’s all I got. But Mike’s full of it . . .
Granted I’m indulging in a bit of hyperbole, but you would think that since groups like Everytown and Brady post interviews with victims of gun violence on their websites, the NRA would want to run stories about citizen-defenders to promote their point of view. In fact, the NRA has been running such stories since 1978. It’s something called the Armed Citizen, which is a monthly collection of press reports about good guys stopping the bad guys; for the current month there are four reports, including the incident in Detroit, which is slightly less than the average 6-7 reports published each month.
Wait a minute! Hold the presses! In a country of 319 million people, in a country where civilians own more than 300 million guns, in a country in which at least 12 million good guys have concealed weapons permits, how in God’s name is it possible that only six or seven people use a gun each month to defend themselves or others from a crime?
Wait a minute! Hold the Internet! In a world where sane people understand that the NRA can’t chronicle 55k defensive gun uses per year (never mind a million), how in God’s name is it possible that an anti-gunner could credibly claim the NRA’s DGU tally is the total tally? In fact, and I warned you they were in short supply, this logic fail is so ridiculous it feels like Mike isn’t even trying.
To try to answer this vexing question, the first thing I did was turn to the Armed Citizen website, which bills itself as the place that “provides you with the news and resources you need to remain informed and active.” One of their latest examples of the work of an armed citizen has the following headline: “Car fleeing from police goes through park, nearly hits children.” So I guess this website collects stories about citizens armed with cars.
Apparently, the fact that thearmedcitizen.com published a story about a car chase discredits the hundreds of posts chronicling successful DGUs. This strange attempt at reductio ad absurdum is, itself, absurd.
. . . I took a look at the latest DGU story out of my neighboring state of Connecticut, and here’s what the website [gunssavelives.net] says: “A woman in Waterbury, Connecticut had to grab a gun in order to capture a naked man who was allegedly raping the woman’s dog in her backyard.”
Here’s the bottom line: If the same bunch which assures us that guns are used to stop crimes “millions” of times each year tries to prove it by publishing stories about cars driving through playgrounds or man rapes dog, then the argument about good guys stopping bad guys bears no relationship to the truth. And maybe it’s time to stop advancing cogent, reasoned and researched arguments against gun fantasists like Gary Kleck and John Lott, and step back to take another look.
And there you have it: proof that Mike “The Gun Guy” Weisser’s lazy logic knows no bounds. He uses two stories from two websites to “prove” that DGUs are a myth.
By his own admission, rational thought evades him. “It’s time to stop advancing cogent, reasoned and researched arguments” against the advantage of widespread gun ownership – because there aren’t any. At least none that Mike can muster. (The study at the link defines defensive gun use as only incidents resulting in proven cases of “justifiable homicide.”)
Take a look, for example, at the marketing message of a company like Glock. Under personal defense products, the website shows a tough, executive-type strapping on his gun: “Defense is personal, and it should be, it’s about invading your space.” Then off he runs to catch the 7:15, armed with his G42 pistol and the Wall Street Journal to confront another harrowing day. Marketing isn’t reality; it’s about merging a product with a fantasy, in this case a lethal weapon which makes you feel that you’ll come out ahead. Sells guns, doesn’t it?
I was fully expecting Mike to finish with a anti-firearms flourish; perhaps an anecdote wherein a gun owner had her own gun used against her (these things happen). Instead M T Double G condemns GLOCK for promoting the idea that personal defense is personal. Huh?
Wait. I get it. Mike believes personal defense isn’t personal. Despite the Supreme Court’s Heller decision, Americans don’t have a personal or individual right to keep and bear arms. More precisely, society (Mike and Co.) has the right to deny or restrict that right for the good of the individual and society.
As long as gun control advocate use “arguments” like that one to make their case, such as it is, I feel pretty confident about gun rights advocates’ chances of extending and defending American gun rights. Carry on, Mike. You’re doing us a favor.