Penn and Teller: Gun Control BS

[Yosemite Sam]

Here's the whole episode in one video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XrNzE39J8E

 

[Midnight Oil]

Thanks Yosemite! didn't know how to embed vids....

 

[Cesiumsponge]

He (and Teller) will speak out against organized religion, but on another show (or even the same one) they'll come out strongly for everyones' freedom to practice their own faith. What they oppose is the imposition of rules and "faith" on people who disagree, and the ultimate expression of your freedom is your ability to say "No, thanks."

Look at his personal views on drugs and alcohol. He has never dabbled in any of it but he has been an outspoken critic on the War on Drugs and government restrictions. You can believe in removing government from imposing it's will on an activity or product without having to partake in that activity or product. The concept of getting government out of your lives and letting you make your own decisions (and reap the consequences of your decisions) was the spirit this country was built upon. Penn Jilette doesn't care much for owning guns himself. He clearly said so in a November 2, 2007 interview with Glenn Beck. He said:

JILLETTE: And although I use guns in our show, I hate being around them. You know, my feeling about gun control is that everyone in the country should have a gun except me, because I hate to carry things...But if everybody else had a gun, you`re OK because the overwhelming majority of people are good. And so if they all have guns, the bad guys are outnumbered automatically.

Penn Jilette is known for several things. He is an illusionist. He can be very obnoxious. He is an Atheist. He is a Libertarian. He is consistent. Much more than I can say of other entertainers or outspoken quasi-famous people. He wrote a short paper in Cato titled "Arm the Chicks".

This column is not some “Modest Proposal.” (I didn’t know Jonathan Swift, and I’m no Jonathan Swift.) This is not satire. This is a gedanken — a thought experiment. Here’s the idea: To cut down on violence against women, we give a handgun to every woman in the United States. You like it? I don’t care how we’d pay for this; either charity or government money would be fine. To encourage liberals to come on board, let’s have the government raise taxes to pay for it. Free guns and higher taxes – that, my friends, is bipartisan. In 2000, there were 100 million women in America between the ages of 20 and 84. (That's just my taste in women; if you want the numbers for 18-95, do your own research.) With the price of an inexpensive pistol at $245, it would cost $24.5 billion to arm all those women. (Of course, when the government buys in bulk, it’s gonna cost a lot more.)

Now, $24.5 billion is pretty pricey, even for a government spending other people’s money. But we could spread that out by phasing the program in slowly. We’ll start by giving guns to women who just turned 20 – that way they’ll be fully strapped at their coming out. That means that we’d only hand out about 1.8 million guns a year, at a cost of $449 million. That’s chump change for government protection – state and local cops cost about $56 billion a year. And think of how much sexier, I mean safer, the country would be.

 

[BullfrogKen]

Jillette is a libertarian. He believes in liberty and that government is a greater threat to it than any individual.


He may not like guns personally. That's fine.

There are plenty of freedoms I will defend that I don't partake of.


I think it's a great episode.

 

[hq]

What's really special about Jillette is that he's very outspoken for liberties that don't really concern him on a personal level. That's a rare trait, even when it happens in the name of TV entertainment. Even as an atheist he has utmost respect for those who have faith, which seems to be quite rare.

I've followed Jillette's video blog for quite some time, mainly because one of my hobbies is mentalism and magic, but also because I really like his view on politics and how the society should work. All the way to libertarianism. He has authored some books, too.

 

[Cesiumsponge]

Even as an atheist he has utmost respect for those who have faith, which seems to be quite rare.

There was a vlog where he talks about a friend giving him a Bible and his great appreciation for that act of kindness. He creates a loud-mouthed persona for entertainment but he is genuinely a nice guy. Like many have stated, he is solid Libertarian.

 

[JBrady555]

I think that video of the wendy show is the video I created a thread about right after the sandy hook tragedy. The lady on the right actually says that if the shooter only had hand guns and not the "assault" rifle that he would have only been able to shoot two children and not 20. What a lunatic.

 

[Midnight Oil]

I think that video of the wendy show is the video I created a thread about right after the sandy hook tragedy. The lady on the right actually says that if the shooter only had hand guns and not the "assault" rifle that he would have only been able to shoot two children and not 20. What a lunatic.

her ignorance is astounding