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

[milktree.livejournal.com]

Obviously if you take any statement to an extreme it falls apart.

But the studies I remember reading actually compare gun laws to violent crime separately from gun ownership. There's a correlation between the laws and crime, but not ownership rates and crime.

In any case, you can't make laws that give people guns, you can only make laws that give people access to guns. (and rightly so!)

The point is that no individual has to have their own gun to benefit from the crime reducing effects of more liberal gun laws.