David Frum's recent piece on guns is simply brilliant. He's right. The president does need a Plan B. What should that be?
First: The president can direct the surgeon general to compile a scientific study of the health effect of individual gun ownership.
The second step that might be taken -- again without the need for any congressional vote -- is for the Senate to convene hearings into the practices of the gun industry analogous to those it convened into the tobacco industry in the 1990s.
Agree and agree.
Actually, we need more than just one scientific study on the health effects of guns. As Frum notes in an earlier piece, there's a whole lot of lying going on. And bad social science. This jibes with a recent article from the Christian Science Monitor that illustrates, despite the convoluted bullshit from the Right, there is very little date to support the assertion that guns make us safer.
As a 2012 Congressional Research Service report on gun issues points out, law enforcement agencies do not collect self-defense information as a matter of course, and the available research thus depends on limited numbers of surveys and other self-reported information.
That's why Frum points out the obvious in his comment regarding Gayle Trotter's testimony before Congress.
Thrilling. Also wholly imaginary. Such Rambo-like defenses of home and hearth do not happen in real life, unless the home also happens to contain a meth lab. (The oft-cited statistic that gun owners draw in self-defense 2.5 million times a year is a classic of bad social science.)
Yes, managing a fantasy. These types of situations are pure fantasy but that certainly won't stop the right wing media industrial complex from brainwashing their all to willing followers whose brains are already hard wired for more fear. So, we need to fucking bury them in scientific studies that show the effects that guns have on public health.
The other important step is to unfuck the gun makers.
Gun makers often design their weapons in ways that present no benefit for lawful users but that greatly assist criminals. They don't coordinate the issuance of serial numbers so that each gun can be identified with certainty. They stamp serial numbers in places where they can be effaced.
They reject police requests to etch barrels to uniquely mark each cartridge fired by a particular gun.
They sell bullets that can pierce police armor.
They will not include trigger locks and other child-proofing devices as standard equipment.
They ignore new technology that would render guns inoperable by anyone except their approved purchaser.
Why? Why? And why?
Seriously, WTF, gun manufacturers? I had no idea that any of this was happening.
Frum's piece draws an important comparison with the cigarette industry and I think we may be seeing the nascence of a very effective way to deal with gun violence in this country. If we do to the gun manufacturers what we did the tobacco lobby, we're going to reduce the gun violence in this country. If we combine that with dealing with mental health more effectively, it's going to make for an even further reduction in gun related deaths.
7 comments:
Given the following…
This first part of the 2nd Amendment establishes the intention to repel invasion, suppress insurrection, and locally enforce the law.
— Markadelphia
and this…
10 USC § 311 - Militia: composition and classes
(a) The militia of the United States consists of all able-bodied males at least 17 years of age and, except as provided in section 313 of title 32, under 45 years of age who are, or who have made a declaration of intention to become, citizens of the United States and of female citizens of the United States who are members of the National Guard.
(b) The classes of the militia are—
(1) the organized militia, which consists of the National Guard and the Naval Militia; and
(2) the unorganized militia, which consists of the members of the militia who are not members of the National Guard or the Naval Militia.
… how is the militia supposed to "repel invasion, suppress insurrection" and prevent "representatives of the people [from] betray[ing] their constituents" (Alexander Hamilton, Federalist Paper 28) if you have taken away the weapons they need to succeed at those purposes? (28 days and counting)
Just the facts
Seriously, WTF, gun manufacturers? I had no idea that any of this was happening.
Of course you don't because just like you - Frum's knowledge of guns was learned from watching Elmer Fudd cartoons.
"Gun makers often design their weapons in ways that present no benefit ....serial numbers in places where they can be effaced."
I have no idea what his point is about serial-number coordination. If a recovered crime gun is a Ruger, law enforcement checks with Ruger and then with the gun store that sold it; it’s irrelevant if there’s also a Smith & Wesson with that number. And serial-number filing isn’t very effective; there are forensic techniques that can be used to recover lost numbers.
"They sell bullets that can pierce police armor."
Of course they do: They sell ammo for deer rifles, and deer rifles can pierce police body armor. I know this because I have personally shot through police body armor with a deer rifle — my father was a police officer for many years, and we used to test his old vests when he got new ones. Police vests protect against basic handgun rounds, up to .40-caliber or so. Anything bigger will go through, whether it’s been called “armor-piercing” in the New York Times or not.
"They will not include trigger locks and other child-proofing devices as standard equipment."
Why should people who don’t want trigger locks or already own them need to buy a new one with every gun purchase?
"They ignore new technology that would render guns inoperable by anyone except their approved purchaser."
How many gun buyers want a product they can’t let anyone else use for any reason?
Not to mention on the above - a gun has to be fail safe - not fail to fire.
These types of situations are pure fantasy
You are the one in fantasy world. 2.5 million. Per year. On the low side.
He pretty much blew that number apart in his other piece. Life in the bubble....
Blew it apart with absolutely no empirical evidence..
Nice bubble you got there Mark.
claim: They stamp serial numbers in places where they can be effaced.
Where does he think they should be stamped? Does he know even the first thing about manufacturing? Does he not understand that guns can be disassembled down to component parts? What place would be an ineffaceable location?
claim: They reject police requests to etch barrels to uniquely mark each cartridge fired by a particular gun.
Because it's ineffective. Normal wear changes such patterns, a few minutes work with some fairly basic tools render it meaningless, and finally, replacement barrels are made by many, many manufacturers (because they do wear out).
claim: They sell bullets that can pierce police armor.
As GD pointed out, that's most rifle ammo right out of the box. Now if you're talking real black-tipped military AP ammunition -- no, it's almost impossible to buy. Only police and military can buy. So this is really fucking stupid.
claim: They will not include trigger locks and other child-proofing devices as standard equipment.
Horseshit, at least with Smith & Wesson, Springfield, and most other major manufacturers. Maybe there's some smaller outfits in certain states that don't, but this rates 3 pinocchios, maybe 4.
claim: They ignore new technology that would render guns inoperable by anyone except their approved purchaser.
Just who the hell does he think are developing a lot of this technology, specifically for police departments. The problem is that it doesn't work well and is failure prone. A firearm is a high-shock environment, and a device that "mostly works" will never make a sale. The Egregious Frum hasn't a clue what he's talking about. Again.
Not that that will affect Mark. He'll keep sniffing Frum's ass while imagining (so soulfully) that Frum is sniffing his, too. And as the solitary love-making reaches it's pathetic conclusion, Mark will gasp out, "You're in a bubble! Frum and I have True Understanding (sniff .. sniff), aaaahhhhh. pant, pant." Then he'll go back to spouting nonsense.
Of course M would agree with the retarded conservative.
They don't coordinate the issuance of serial numbers so that each gun can be identified with certainty.
I have to wonder how Frum ties his fucking shoes every morning. Then again, maybe he wears slip-ons.
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