End of the day and feeling the need for an emotional kick, so I go to Huffpost. I always say to myself (Why do I read this - it is such BS". But is is always good motivation to write something!
So there's Whats-his-name, the Huffpost "gun guy" with another unintelligible something that makes no sense. Why does Huffpost keep this guy around, except for the fact that he is trying to pass himself off as a gun guy? Obviously on a liberal website, the bar is set pretty low for any knowledge of firearms - I am sure his qualifications are mostly that he is willing to write dumb shit that meets their POV.
well, I'm going to try to write about some of it without blowing chunks, but to be honest, when I got to the end I was not sure what he was trying to say (apparently he wasn't sure either). In the end, it didn't really matter since, even if written intelligibly, it was ignorant. It was the typical liberal approach to an issue - make a lot of assumptions (e.g., your opinion is the only valid one), consider them as evidence, ignore shit that doesn't fit and be absolutely certain you are right. Never question your perspective.
His point - at least the one he seems to want to make although he never really gets there - is that governors in states where there are cities with high murder rates are making it happen by expanding gun rights (see - he's not really a gun guy. But I suppose when white folks can decide they are African-American, anything is possible). But what about the administrations in those cities? What about the falling murder rates in many places, perhaps even within those same states? What about states with similar laws? Can you demonstrate a causal link?
Case in point, he notes that in Ohio (where Cleveland has a 14/100K murder rate):
"In 2011 Kasich signed a bill that allows Ohioans to bring concealed weapons into establishments that served liquor, including nightclubs, restaurants, stadiums, malls and, of course, restaurants. He really believes in the 2nd Amendment."
But, Brain Dead Guy, did the murder rate go up after that? Did you look to see what the historical trajectory looks like? Do you have any evidence, other than you own incredulity, which is not evidence at all, that one causes the other?
Or, let's look at Florida - a state Gun Boy didn't mention - In Florida we have been legally able, for many years, to carry concealed in places that serve alcohol - by law we can't sit in the "bar area" but we can sit in the restaurant and it is not against the law to consume alcohol while carrying (something that is not a good idea - and, oh hell, there will be nightmares and bedwetting from Gun Boy now). Yet somehow we did not get singled out for the honor of space in his incoherent mental meanderings. Why? Our murder rate in 2014 was about 5 per 100K (which is down significantly in the last two decades, despite increases in concealed carry permits). But how can any of that be?
So, of course, Gun Boy has to end with the usual unsubstantiated snark: "When it comes to your 2A rights, you'll have nothing to fear from Kasich, Walker or Chris. As for the cities with gun violence rates through the roof, let's not worry about a few bodies here and there when the Constitution will be defended by all those armed citizens and their guns right to tell a lie protected by the 1st Amendment's defense of free speech."
Can anyone tell me what that last sentence says? This, in both concept and construction, would be a prodigious accomplishment for a second-grader, but in an adult it is simply unintelligible and whiny. What lies? Does he mean the lies he is telling, the less-than-half truths and unsupported impressions?
As with most unsophisticated and biased thinkers, he can only see in one direction - the one that allows him to score what he considers "points". Most such thinkers emerge in this debate but fail miserably by relying on impressions, anecdotal evidence and, at best, correlation to try to prove causal relationships. Without a more in-depth analysis, the "points" the "Gun Guy" makes would get him a failing grade in any of my freshman level courses. It is the type of reasoning that leads to superstitions, false inferences of causality based on illusory correlation.
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