Guns, Lies and Statistics

"There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics."
Mark Twain

The gun debate rages on. What a waste of time. It was settled over two hundred years ago. One would wonder what else is going on in the world where we need to focus on such a divisive issue. What's going on that the powers that be need us paying attention to this issue, yelling and screaming at each other, rather than something of real importance? What issue are they trying to hide from us while our focus lies with the gun issue? I don't know. I know the economy is bad. Some say it's about to implode. I know the Federal Reserve continues its fraudulent practices. Is something about to happen on that front? Are they finally going to arrest the bankster criminals? Are we about to see rampant hyper inflation? Is World War III about to be launched? Are they getting ready to unleash hell upon this world? I hope not. Still, I think this debate might be some kind of distraction.

Why would I say that? Well, for one thing, the mainstream media allowed Alex Jones to go on live television with Piers Morgan. That's right, we all got to see AJ have a meltdown on national TV, scream and yell, and challenge Piers Morgan to a fight. It wasn't the prettiest sight to see and the gun grabbers that saw his performance can now make the argument that by his example gun owners are all violent, mentally unstable people.

Of course, you and I know that's not true. Anyone who listens to AJ knows his schtick. He gets passionate about his rights and he's willing to fight for them. I guess I can't really blame him for that. But those people are the choir. People listening to Alex Jones already likely understand the principles of freedom and why we need to exercise our rights. Alex had a chance to get on the TV and win over some hearts and minds. I respect Alex for the work he's done, but in my opinion he failed miserably with his performance the other night. I doubt very much that he changed one anti 2nd amendment person's mind with his performance, and he may have even shifted some people who were on the fence over to their side.

Now, I think Alex had the right idea, but his presentation was less than stellar. Piers, with his statistics and his calm demeanor, was trying to frame the debate in such a way that he couldn't loose. Alex wanted the debate framed differently. But when Piers asks the question about the number of gun murders in Great Britain and Wales, to come back with a question about monkeys dancing on the head of a pin just made Alex sound nonsensical and cartoonish. Then his ranting and raving solidified his appearance of being insane. He should have calmed down. I think he could have been better prepared.

Now, I can't say that I would do any better, it's easy to be critical sitting at home, but I'll tell you one thing, I would always try to answer any question about statistics with the above quote by Mark Twain. What would have made it even better in this case is that Mark Twain attributed it to British Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli, so Piers Morgan should have respect for him to. I would go on to say that statistics are oft times manipulated, used bolster weak arguments and used to divert attention away from the real issue, in this case the issue of what the founders intentions were when they included the 2nd amendment in the Bill of Rights and whether or not people have the right to self defense regardless of what the government says or whether or not there even is a 2nd amendment. There is a larger, more philosophical argument here of whether or not we own ourselves and whether or not we can make our own decisions on how to protect ourselves and our families.

Then, after finding out how many gun murders there were in the UK last year, Piers says there was 35 but other sources say 59, I would have asked Piers how many lives were saved by guns last year? How many children's lives were saved by guns last year? I don't know the answer to those questions. I doubt that he would have known the answer to those questions. I would have told him I don't even know if they keep those statistics. I don't even think there is a way to keep those statistics because there's no way of knowing how many lives were saved when a killer is stopped. How many others would a killer have killed if the person with the gun didn't stop them when he or she did? But I would bet that there were more lives saved in the United States last year because of guns than there were killed by guns in the UK.

That's a statistic you don't hear much about. As it turns out, according to Ben Swann of Reality Check, there was 260 justifiable gun homicides by private citizens last year. That's at least 260 lives saved. But we don't really know how many lives were truly saved because we don't know how many others would have fallen victim to the now dead criminal. And that's not counting the criminals who were stopped by guns but not killed and were later jailed. How many lives were saved because they were taken off the streets? How many rapes were stopped? How many other violent crimes were stopped? And how many crimes weren't even committed because criminals were afraid their would be victims might have guns? The numbers keep growing. Where are the statistics for those situations?

Now here's where I put the final nail in Piers Morgan's arguments. Oft time those who wish to force social order upon everyone through force of law make the claim that the law is worth it if just one child's life is saved. It's worth having laws forcing people to wear seatbelts if just one child's life is saved. It's worth going through airport porno scanners or having a TSA agent sexually assault you if it prevents just one terrorist attack or saves the life of just one child. Well then, isn't it worth preventing the government from violating our 2nd amendment right if such a prevention will save the life of just one child? Think about it. It might not matter to Piers Morgan, but it will matter to that child.

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