Gun Control and Unicorns

Gun Control and Unicorns

So I was driving home from work and heard a sound bite of the President talking about gun control.  He said “If there is a step we can take that will save even one child from what happened in Newtown, we should.”  (Click here for the clip)

I’ll agree what happened in Newtown was a tragedy.  I wish it hadn’t happened.  That being said, the Presidents sound bite is typical of most things liberals say.  It sounds really, really good.  The problem is most of it isn’t grounded in reality.  They are just “foo foo” words which mean nothing, like “We saved or created a gazillion jobs.”  How do you measure a job that was “saved”?  How can you measure if a policy saved a child in a tragedy like Sandy Hook?  I’ll give you a hint:  Ya can’t.

On Tuesday, January 15 Toure’ on MSNBC said, “[We] need the president to save us from the gun epidemic.”  Gun epidemic?  Really, an epidemic?  I don’t think America has a “gun” epidemic, America has a “whiny little bitch” epidemic.

But “foo foo” words help the uninformed liberal feel better, that someone is doing something.  Of course not being informed is what keeps most liberals liberal.

You know how much I hate to cloud the issue with facts (see link for article) but someone has to.  The President wants to prevent things like what happened in Sandy Hook.  He wants to prevent mass public shootings.  So does every American.  If only there was a study that looked at public shootings and compared the various laws and frequency of the shootings.  Ohhhh, wouldn’t it be cool if such a study existed and concluded what the single best deterrent of public shootings is?

Oh look!!!  There was one.  You can download the study here.

Several years ago William Landes, of the University of Chicago and John Lott, of Yale, conducted a study of multiple victim public shootings in the United States.  The study looked at mass shootings between 1977 and 1995 and compared how the different legal changes affected their frequency and death toll in the various states.  They examined several of the policies being proposed now: waiting periods and background checks for guns.  They also examined the death penalty and increased penalties for committing a crime with a gun.

Guess what they came up with?  Only one variable was shown to be effective in reducing the death rate in these crimes.  Any guesses what that is?   If you guessed concealed-carry laws you would be correct.

Now if I was a crazy person, and I was thinking about going and shooting a bunch of innocent people where would I go?  Well if history is an indication I wouldn’t plan my mass shooting at a gun show, or police station.  In fact when was the last time you even heard about a gun store being held up?  It doesn’t happen.  Why?  Because people who commit these crimes are crazy – not stupid.

They go to “gun free zones.”  Schools, churches, movie theaters.

Why does the media suppress the stories where armed citizens stop mass shooters?  Easy.  Those stories don’t fit the narrative that guns are bad.

Three examples:

I remember watching the news when the Portland mall shootings were taking place during the busy Christmas season.  I was grateful and amazed to learn the killer only killed two people.  Gratefully, concealed weapon owner Nick Meli didn’t notice the mall he was in was a gun-free zone and he had his gun with him.  As the murderer paused to reload Meli pointed his gun at the killer (he didn’t shoot because there were people behind the shooter).  The killer saw Meli, and turned his gun on himself.

The shooter in Aurora Colorado had seven movie theaters showing the Dark Knight within twenty minutes away from his apartment.  One theater was 1.2 miles away (three minutes).  Of the seven theaters only one didn’t allow concealed handguns into the theater (they only allow illegal handguns).  Any guesses which theater the killer chose?  I’ll give you a hint.  12 are dead and 58 are wounded, arguably because of the ban enforced on law abiding citizens.

On December 18, 2012, shortly after the Sandy Hook shooting, Jesus Manuel Garcia arrived at the Mayan Palace Theater, in San Antonio, Texas guns blazing as he shoots at the movie theater, a police car and bystanders.  As he entered the movie theater he was shot to death by an off-duty officer.   The only death was his own.  Good thing she, the off-duty officer, had a gun.

Harvard University concluded where gun ownership increases, violence and murder decrease, and the Landes-Lott study kind of concluded the same thing. Of course “foo foo words,” butterflies and unicorns are important too. That is if you don’t mind more mass killings.

LIFEZILLA:  Just because you have boobs doesn’t mean you’re better than I am.  Unless you’re a woman.