Stancliff Taking Heat
As I would of expected, our very own Dave Stancliff is taking some heat over his commentary advocating more gun control laws in today's paper. Well deserved, I should think, as he did spread a great deal of misinformation. Not unexpected, though, as his commentary is typical of those proposing more gun control- just one example being that it's neither easy or inexpensive to buy fully automatic weapons anywhere in this country.
I expect we'll see some letters to the editor in rebuttal.
Addendum: I've been trying to find a news article I read a few weeks ago but I've been unsuccessful. That article was about Washington D.C. being on track to having its lowest murder rate in decades- this, after their nearly complete gun ban was ruled unconstitutional. Instead, here's an old 2005 commentary I found on D.C.'s gun ban.
posted by Fred Mangels @ 9:28 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
I think the gun control advocates live in some kind of world of oblivion.
I used to live near a gun store that was under major pressure from local busybodies for selling certain types of weapons that could be easily modified into more effective weapons. They claimed that the local murder rate was somehow related to this gun store. I don't think any of the letter to the editor authors ever stepped foot in said gun store. Every time I walked in to get some new gloves or a hammer extension or what have you, all I saw was a bunch of normal-looking dudes. The only troublesome young kids in there were cops.
In any case, the reality of the situation was that the local gangbangers weren't buying any weapons from this gun store. You can't buy a M-16 or an AK-47 banana clip at a gun store (in California) and even if you could, no criminal would want to pay full price. The gangbangers were all buying smuggled El Salvadorian civil war weapons at a severe discount. Of course, none of the busybodies opposed to normal people owning weapons wanted to admit that the actions of their own imperialist government had created the environment for intense weapons smuggling deals via paramilitary organizations in Central America (not to mention cocaine). I suppose it is much more comforting to think your local gun store has some influence as that is a tangible problem that can be "solved."
In any case, that gun store is still open and the crime in that area dropped off rapidly when upscale business pushed out all the pawn shops, liquor stores, and check cashing spots. Really all the neighborhood needed was some sustainable businesses, who woulda thunk?
Statistics support the sentiment that gun control has negligible effect on homicide. Take the state of New Jersey which has strict gun control laws... and consider, are you less afraid of being shot New Jersey? Myself, I reckon if you want to randomly get shot, you might want to go Newark, Irvington, etc.
About time I got a little help dealing with that troll. Or should I say, the Times-Standards number one sycophant?
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