Ask An Anti

[Treo]

In two weeks my english comp class will be delivering our "persuasive essay" to the class. One of my classmates is doing pro gun control as her argument. The teacher says I can't debate the issue W/ her , but I can ask "pointed "questions. I don't know exactly what tack she'll take on her paper , but I'm sure she'll hit stricter laws, or an outright ban.

I need help coming up W/ intelligent questions to ask her. Give me some ideas please, this class is for the most part very anti gun & I want to make them think.

 

[DiN_BLiX]

Ask her somthing like "so how can stricter gun laws prevent tradgedy like the (insert school, college, etc shooting here) when these places are ALREADY illegal to carry guns in" if she takes the bait and says something like "well only a criminal would carry a gun in such a place" you have her trapped now, go in for the kill with something like "so more gun laws wont help avert crime or mass shootings because criminals will just ignore the law?" if it all goes down right you'll have totally distroyed the entire agument for gun control.

 

[bogie]

How can disabled, or partially disabled folks, such as myself, defend ourselves against youthful ruffians? It's a little too late for me to dedicate my life to the study of kung fu.

 

[R127]

If she's clever she'll counter with "the criminal was able to get a gun somewhere that there wasn't strong enough gun control."

Then you could ask,

"Crack and other similar drugs are illegal everywhere but still commonly available. Why would guns be any different?"

Then she'll say something like "in my utopian dreamworld there would be no guns anywhere in existance."

To which you can reply,

"Then wouldn't it be easy for the murderer to use some other weapon against this defenseless world like a machete, molotov cocktail or whatever?"

Then she'll be fuming mad and you'll probably be expelled for making sense in a place a learning. If you're not you could follow up with,

"Isn't the real problem evil intent? Is there really anything you can even ban to eliminate the will to do evil someone will always have?"

At that point her circuits will start smoking and if you could see through her eyes you'd see a head's up display going "bzzt! error! error!" at which point she'll go circular and say "that's why we need to ban all weapons!" And she'll think she's won.

 

[Guitargod1985]

All of the suggestions so far are great. Another thing I might make mention of is the fact that (percentage-wise) cause less deaths than [insert doctors, cars, etc. here].

Another good point is that there is an inverse statistical correlation between a person's status as a concealed weapon license holder and the commission of crimes, violent or otherwise. I don't remember the source off the top of my head, but I recall that CWL holders are something like six times less likely to commit a crime than a member of the general population taken at random and (I believe) even far more unlikely to commit a violent crime.

It is also important to recognize that there are a myriad of factors which contribute to violence in any given society. The mere presence of guns seems not to be one of them. In Switzerland, for example, where guns are quite pervasive and readily available, the murder rate is pretty low - likewise in Israel. Countries such as Japan, however, also have a significantly lower (reported) incidence of homicide than the U.S. and guns are not readily available by any reasonable means. In short, one must take into account a country's various sociological and economic factors in order to come even close to an accurate assessment.

 

[230RN]

Then she'll be fuming mad and you'll probably be expelled for making sense in a place a learning.

Hahahahahahaaaaa!

You're wicked, R127. Wicked, I tells ya!

Good logical progressions throughout this thread. Fortunately, "Know thy enemy" comes easy (broken record click) easy (broken record click) easy (broken record click) with respect to antis.

 

[TCB in TN]

Ask if she feels that all men/women are truly created equal. And when she responds in the affirmative have the largest, meanest looking person you can find, challenge her to a (insert your violent physical interaction of choice) for the contents of her wallet or pocketbook, car keys, etc., then for the right to determine who's "right" it is to decide her fate. Her's or his.

 

[Starship1st]

Ask her to explain how taking guns away from responsible citizens in England has led to more dangerous crimes?

 

[cassandrasdaddy]

ask her to show you an example of a place where gun control has worked. and be prepared to cite stats on places like dc where it hasn't or baltimore md as another example

 

[Floppy_D]

Ask her if she's comfortable fist-fighting an assailant.

If she uses anything silly like "that's what the police are for," counter "would you never own a fire extinguisher? Because that's what the fire dep't is for."

If she suggests OC, point out that most LE/military are quallified by being OC'd and then running some form of obstacle course. If they can still run the course, then they can beat you as well.

And if she says "Yes, I'm comfortable with a fist-fight," then give her the benefit of the doubt and punch her.

 

[sm]

http://www.thehighroad.org/showthread.php?p=332597#post332597

 

[antsi]

If gun control is really effective, why has violent crime - including crimes committed with guns - increased in England every year since 1998 when they passed one of the most draconian gun bans anywhere in the world?

 

[RP88]

things to poise at her, without general retorts or defenses:

-how would a federal gun ban work if there are so many stolen and illegal guns already on the streets?

-how would a state ban or city ban work if guns are easily available just out of those borders?

-do you really think criminals just wont use different weapons or items?

-are you aware of how little gun crime occurs to how many times guns save a life?

-if gun bans worked in places like DC, etc., then why do they still have such a high crime rate?

-Do you really think criminals who dont obey other laws would obey gun laws?

-would you support police--whom are civilians like us--being exempt from laws? (good way to point out hypocrisy and bias)

 

[Sergeant Sabre]

According to a British Parliamentary Inquiry in 2000, the supply of illegal firearms in Great Britain has doubled since the year 1990. How would this be different here?

How would a ban (or more restrictive regulation) on firearms succeed where similar regulation against all manner of substances and items has failed miserably?

If she brings up "the collective" argument:

Throughout the entire Bill of Rights, never once does "the People" seem to refer to anything but the individual citizens of the Union. When States are mentioned, the framers used the term "the State(s)". Why would "the People" mean individual citizens in the 1st Amendment (and others), but the States in the 2nd?
Also, if "the People" has a collective meaning and guns are only allowed through State armories / militias, then shouldn't we only have freedom of press and speech through official State-owned media outlets, and freedom only to follow State-approved religions?

If her paper is heavy on mass shootings, such as the VT massacre:

Throughout all of 2007, under 100 people were killed in mass shootings. In the same year 50,000 (I'd have to find the exact number) people were killed in motor-vehicle crashes, many of those alcohol-related. Shouldn't our priorities lie with having an effect on the bigger killer, even if it's less emotionally-drawing? Aren't mass-shootings, although tragic and sensational, really a minor issue from a statistical standpoint?

Update us when it's over so we know how it went.

 

[rainbowbob]

You'd see a head's up display going "bzzt! error! error!" at which point she'll go circular and say "that's why we need to ban all weapons!" And she'll think she's won.

I haven't read the rest of the posts yet - but I think you pretty much covered it R127.

 

[Treo]

Thanks guys keep them coming I'm actually planning to have this thread open as a referencewhile she's doing her presentation

 

[Jdoc]

Can't help with......

any suggestions. But I know I would love to be there to see how this goes down should be interesting. Let us know how it goes will ya.

 

[Maplicito]

You could ask her "If guns are at fault for deaths, does that mean that any errors in your essay are the fault of your pen? Should we not then take away pens from the schools as they are a cause of student error?"

 

[Andrewsky]

Ask her if she would tell a Jew living in Germany in 1938 that he couldn't have a gun.

 

[frogomatic]

just like drugs, banning guns doesn't reduce the demand for them, and so long as there is a demand for somthing, there WILL be people making money supplying that demand regardless of the legality of doing so, be it guns, drugs, or whatever.

In the case of the drugs, the demand is high, the supply is tightly restricted and as a result the drug trade can be highly profitable. Where there are high profits to be made, there will be ruthless individuals willing to do anything to make those profits.

It's a simple matter of supply and demand, and the demand for the weapon of the day will never diminsh. Making it (or anything in high demand for that matter) illegal acomplishes nothing but attracting the criminally inclined into that buisness.

 

[nicki]

Adding to your argument.

I am coming from an emotional side, please bear with me.

Consider the following question and comment.

Start of with a comment.

I'm aware of gun violence and as such I view that there needs to be a balance between personal rights and legitimate public safety concerns.

The end result of the government's record when enacting restrictions on anything for public safety, wheter it is alcohol, drugs, prostitution, gambling, guns or anything else over the last 100 or so years shows that the government prohibition policies create far more problems than they solve.

Make a statement that crack, meth, and other highly addictive and destructive drugs which are destroying communities all across America would probably have never been created by Organized Crime if the government didn't create the markets for their products.

Say to her, Let's pretend that all guns, legal and illegal were collected, how would she stop organized crime from setting up illegal gun factories and supplying street criminals with untracable and untractable full auto assault rifles, pistols and shotguns.

She will probably come up with, well, you don't need a assault rifle to hunt a deer or something like that.

You come up with something like the following: In a free country you don't have to justify your actions, it is up to the government to justify restrictions.

Follow up with, I have no issues with background checks, have no problem with restricting guns from criminals or people with serious mental issues.

You say the following, the only thing I'm guilty of is not being active enough in getting politicians out of office who continue to promote government programs that are destroying many communities and create climates that encourage violence all across this nation.

I don't know if my comments will help, but hopefully you will have fun.

Nicki

 

[RedLion]

Ask her if she believes that people are any less capable of murder without gun. Ask her why you should pay for crimes of others. Ask her why one amendment is less necessary than the others. Ask her why prisons are so dangerous. Ask her why terrorists prefer bombs instead of guns. Ask her how many verboten assault rifles were used during the two largest attacks on Americans in history. Ask her why no one worried about banning fertilizer even after the Oklahoma City bombing. Ask her if she wants to go door to door and take the right and guns away from law abiding citizens.

Sorry guys. Kinda had a bad day. Needed to vent.

 

[guntotinguy]

Hows about:"How and what is the method under such a 'gun ban',would it be proposed to get all the unknown guns (still out there) away from all the BAD people,before I have to stop carrying mine?"


Hows about:"Why is it that certain political influences doesnt 'trust' the American people,who ARE the Government,BTW,to self regulate their own handgun and rifle ownerships?"

 

[Right Wing Wacko]

Liquor Control sure worked during Prohibition didn't it?

Drug Control sure works now doesn't it?

 

[bogie]

Consider this... If you can get her to go into brainlock, that's a good thing.

Looping is good.

sm's locked up fire extinguisher is an excellent teaching tool.

"Why are healthy white males more deserving of self-defense than elderly minority women?"

Stuff like that. If you get their brain in a logic loop, it melts.