Nor-Eastern jurisdictions that seem oblivious to any other realities than their own.
I continue to be amused, though not in much of a good way regarding the cloud of gun ignorance blowing in from a few Nor-Eastern jurisdictions that seem oblivious to any other realities than their own. The winds are being fanned mostly by media spokesmen, pundits, and journalists from NYC and other historically anti-gun area of the United States. I have been amazed at the obvious lack of practical knowledge exhibited by this bunch. Even those who may be broadly identified as Conservatives, or perhaps have shown ideological support for the Second Amendment and general gun rights show a painful lack of real understanding regarding the issues, the facts, the arguments, and most especially the ability to think outside the canned Liberal arguments in which they have been steeped.
On Fox, which theoretically poses a "fair and balanced" approach, with purported leanings toward Conservative values, there has been a show of solidarity, for the most part, with the rest of their Eastern born and schooled pals, in calling for a ban on so-called assault weapons and high-capacity magazines and a variety of other gun-ban points for protest. These people seem to be completely blind to the fact that any of these proposed arguments will have no affect on the gun violence whatsoever. Please reread that last part if it is lost on you. This is not some ideological point of debate. It is a real fact. it is precisely at this point that they all seem to depart from the truth.
When this point is made, they seem to automatically regurgitate a rash of tired old gun-ban arguments upon which they whet their teeth and have been been taught from cradle to graduation form Liberal Eastern Universities and private colleges. So let me make the point again. The facts do not support their arguments. Period. This is not some trumped-up quasi-argument of the likes which they are accustomed to debating in the news or political arena. It is what truly a fact. If I had a better word to express what it is, I would use it. Facts n their world, are apparently viewpoints, rather than the old-time definition of facts. Facts can be twisted and presented and skewed and redefined, but what I am talking about are not debatable points. They are, well, facts. And in this paradigm fact are facts.
It is a fact that the currently proposed gun-ban steps and models for litigation, will make no difference in controlling the types of gun violence that we have witnessed recently. Zero, zilch, nada, none. There are some reasonable steps that could plausibly make a difference, but these steps are being ignored. It is as if the the emperor has no clothes, as my wife enjoys invoking to illustrate the absurdness of people ignoring the obvious for whatever reasons. Personally, I don't have any idea of why this phenomenon is happening. I have generally considered most modern Americans to be rationale in their thinking. But I have obviously been too kind in this view. Obviously, some people behave emotionally regarding many issues.
And emotions are fairly easily shaped by nameable techniques or propaganda. The gun debate is very emotional. People want someone to pay for the bad things that have happened recently. Some folks are sincere in thinking that the NRA or gun-owners, or so-called assault weapons, or handguns, or high-capacity magazines are to blame for these incidents. Others are merely using these events as a pretext, to push forward an ideological Liberal agenda. But in both events, the reality is that if they honestly believe that a proliferation of these types of weapons is to blame, even partially, their hysteria and vengeful threats against gun-owners is not only doing nothing to curb gun ownership--it is actually proliferating gun ownership.
Let me repeat that point too, because it is a lot more tangible and far-reaching than most of them realize. The emotional reflexive action by gun-haters, or even those a little-bit in favor of conceding that these emotional gun-ban steps are actually helping their cause, of supporting these propose measures while thumbing their noses at measures that have at least some basis in reality, ARE ACTUALLY PROLIFERATION GUN OWNERSHIP IN AMERICA, INCLUDING THEIR OWN COMMUNITIES.
A recent Headline declared, Guns Kill Children Daily in America. To this I must say,
NO! Guns never kill kids. Guns are as cold and impersonal as are hammers. It takes some wrong, ignorant, or evil-thinking monster to consciously pick a gun up, load it, aim it, and pull a trigger. It never happens in a vaccuum. Even in the case of a child accidently killing himself or a playmate--someone else had to prepare the gun and leave it where it could be found. Even working any safety mechanisms and pulling the trigger is NOTvery intuitive. The true Old West story is told of gunfighter Tom Horne, who nearly escaped prosecution for suspician of killing a young mman for hire, was foiled in this escape attempt when he could not figure out how to fire the newfangled weapon--which was not nearly as sophisticated as the guns pictured. No. Guns still do not kill people. Crazy, unhappy, disaffected, spoiled, mean, evil, misguided people choose guns from a whole littany of other availble methods of killing to improperly and illegally use them to kill kids.
NONE OF THE PROPOSED MEASURES ARE ANYTHING OTHER THAN TOKEN OR SYMBOLIC MEASURES. To make this point more pointed, may I say that these proposed measures are completely bogus. If you will not eject from this post at the suggestion of this, I will tell you why, which may be, your first true understanding regarding these points. I don't expect someone who is emotionally vested in being against guns to change their viewpoint, but if you truly understand the points that I am making, you may actually become a more effective gun-ban advocate. More importantly, you may actually learn some alternate steps that will make an honest difference toward decreasing gun violence--if that is your desired result.
So here is the substance that makes my notions more than mere notions, but rather, facts. Let me start with part of the basic premise that I started with. News comentators on the major news media outlets are mostly from the North-Eastern area that have strict gun-control. Being raised and schooled in these areas--coupled with the general journalistic media culture in which they are emersed, these people, who are in positions to influence public opinion, trend toward liberalism with regards to guns.
To be continued in next post
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