Posts here have been in short supply as I have been living life and trying to get a campaign off the ground. But "11 questions to see if Libertarians are hypocrites" by R. J. Eskrow, picked up at Salon , was just so freaking lame that I spent half an hour answering them. In the end (but I'll leave it to your judgment), it is not that Libertarians or Libertarian theory looks hypocritical, but that the best that can be said for Mr. Eskrow is that he doesn't have the faintest clue what he's talking about. That's ok, because even ill-informed attacks by people like this make an important point: Libertarian ideas (as opposed to Conservative ideas, which are completely different) are making a comeback as the dynamic counterpoint to "politics as usual," and so every hack you can imagine must be dragged out to refute them. Ergo: Mr. Eskrow's 11 questions, with answers: 1. Are unions, political parties, elections, and ...
Comments
99% of gun owners are responsible and whose main interests lie in hunting, sport or collecting. The overwhelming minority are the ones that are the issue. Last year about 8500 murders were committed using a gun. I would venture to say most of them are gang related. So lets ban guns!
Last year nearly 10,000 people were killed in drunk driving accidents. Most of those not gang related. Where is the outcry to ban alcohol? Why isnt the vast majority yelling to ban alcohol to prevent these deaths? We preach responsibilty and moderation.
Does this seem like an extreme case where everyone will yell at me for such a foolish comment? Im sure they will.
But the fact is, if you take gun into a school or movie theatre or place of work and murder people you are doing it fully aware of what you are planning. That is the same thing if you are out drinking and get behind the wheel of a car. Both people know what they are doing and choose to do it. The gun on the shelf is as letal as the bottle of liquor sitting on the shelf. Up there both are benign pieces of mnufacturing. But when they are taken off the shelf they become much more serious. So until the hypocrites start calling for a ban on anything that can be used to murder someone, we have to look to the actual individuals who are at the root cause. The majority o gun owners are responsible. The majority of pit bull owners are responsible. But we continually look to punish those who continue to do the right thing and maintain personal responsibility for those few who choose not to.
go ahead flame away.
Anonymous,
Until Mrs. Lanza's son killed 26 people, she was what you and the NRA would have considered of the "99% of gun owners are responsible and whose main interests lie in hunting, sport or collecting."
The problem is always identifying the 1%.
Ironically, we can't stop and search Muslims at airports even though only Muslims bombed us on 9/11, because that would be discrimination and over-reaction based on the actions of a tiny minority of people . . .
. . . while at the same time it is acceptable to lump pretty much all gun owners in the same category and discriminate there . . .
and little timmy was a nice kid till he bullied a classmate on the internet and the classmate committed suicide.
and marge down the street was a nice lady til she had one too many and hilled a family of 4 when she crossed the median.
what other anomalies do you want to throw a blanket statement on? of these examples what is the cause and what should be banned - the guns, the internet, the booze or the INDIVIDUAL who caused such havoc.
No. The problem is, as "Anonymous" states", "Last year about 8500 murders were committed using a gun."
"Ironically, we can't stop and search Muslims at airports even though only Muslims bombed us on 9/11,"
Wrong. Ever boarded a plane at any airport in the past 10 years? Everyone is stopped and searched at airports.
About 24 Americans die every year from terrorism ( and that is in addition to the man years lost).
So DC, how is it a good thing that everyone is searched?
"Last year about 8,500 murders were committed using a gun."
Anonymous,
8,500 ain't no anomaly, that's 23 a day, almost 1 an hour. That's an epidemic.
So .... You're OK with airline passengers packing heat. Right ?
"So .... You're OK with airline passengers packing heat. Right ?"
"Well 10,000 people were killed in drunk driving accidents last year. And we learn taht(sic) alcoholism is a disease, so to follow your logic, cars are their weapon of choice in this epidemic so we must ban cars!"
Anonymous,
Figure out whether you're OK with packing heat before you drink and drive to catch your next flight. Trust me. The TSA's opinion counts for more than yours.