Nightline on Obama, gun control

[unixronin]

Nightline broadcast a good and pretty balanced segment last night, discussing Barak Obama's gun control position and the massive gun buying rush that's going on across the US now by people concerned that if they don't buy them now, they won't be able to.

Particular points to note:

• The customer who keeps repeating to the reporter, "Never mind Obama's words, look at his actions."¹
• The gunshop owner reporting Obama supporters coming into his store wearing their Obama buttons, who just voted for him but are still afraid he'll ban guns.

[1]  You might have seen me say this once or twice.  Assuming you've been paying attention.

Comments

Re: (kind of) slipery slope

[perspicuity.livejournal.com]

knives, sticks/pans/rocks, and broken bottles are more likely (at a guess statistically too) to be used than a gun - instantly at hand, and used widely - also deadly. even a car. road rage. bad stuff.

some angry person i recall from months ago killed some and hurts dozens of people because he threw his car, on purpose into a crowd. that's murder with a deadly weapon. let's ban cars. more recently, a feeble old man "lost it" and just drove through a street fair. oops. licensed driver.

if more people had been armed, that guy might have gotten off fewer shots before being killed himself by a licensed holder. was the shooter licensed? sober? insane? mmm. the devil in the details. let's say he didn't have a semi-automatic, just a revolver. ideally, he could've shot 6 people before going for a reload. the type of gun, once again, shouldn't matter. it's the crime, not the tool.

police have to have more training, because statistically, they're more likly to shoot themselves, or others, than the bad guy, so they need to document this for the lawyers ;) no. it's not a joke. a lot of private citizens are BETTER than (most of) the police at shooting, because they WANT to do it, pay for it with their own time and money. sure, there's a couple few cops who are sharpshooters, but not most of them.

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Re: (kind of) slipery slope

[unixronin.livejournal.com]

The reason NYPD changed its rules to forbid officers from attempting to shoot fleeing felons was because of a study of NYPD shootings in the 60s-70s. the study found the typical level of NYPD marksmanship to be so bad that on average, an NYPD officer shooting at a fleeing felon was something like 60% more likely to hit an innocent bystander than to hit his target.

perspicuity's point about your recent local shooting is on the mark, too. As I recall, the drunk fired five shots. The fact he used a semi-automatic is irrelevant; he could have done the same with any revolver in the world without having to stop to reload.

The real tragedy of the shooting is that he was such a wretched shot he couldn't even hit his target at arms' length, and the woman he actually killed did nothing but be in the wrong place at the wrong time. I have a friend who is a shooting and personal protection instructor in Los Angeles, who has on several occasions seriously suggested offering free training to gangbangers, on the principle that if they could actually shoot, they might kill more of each other and less innocent bystanders.