Over the weekend, British subject stucon90 took it upon himself to lecture pro-rights activists on how much better once-Great Britain is than the United States thanks to the former’s draconian gun control, saying:
The US needs to overcome it’s anachronisms. Come join the rest of us with our safe streets and universal healthcare! It’s great!
Curiously, Stuart deleted that particular tweet, but twazzup was able to dig it up again (what is it with anti-rights individuals lacking the courage to defend, or even stand by, their convictions?). Additionally, for the sake of clarification, the "anachronisms" Stuart are referring to are the American notions of allowing law-abiding citizens to peaceably own/carry firearms, and the right to self-defense.
Well, I will try to keep in mind just how "safe" the streets are in once-Great Britain while I read about the devastating, now-multi-day riots in Tottenham, England, and I will try to keep in mind just how "anachronistic" the notion of private ownership of arms is while Kevin reminds of something else that happened in Tottenham over a century ago. [Update] And, as Firehand points out, these riots are in response to the British bobbies shooting and killing an armed criminal while attempting to arrest him for crimes involving firearms, something that is completely impossible on London’s "safe streets" thanks to their comprehensive "gun control". [/Update]
I am positive these riots will do wonders for improving the violent crime rate in once-Great Britain… a violent crime rate that is four times America’s and the highest in the European Union.
Really, how can you even begin to have a meaningful conversation with people like stucon90? When their perceptions of reality are so far divergent from the facts, there really is no point.
(And do not even get me started on how much of a failure the "universal" healthcare is in once-Great Britain…)
Also, please note that the trigger for the current riots and arson was a guy being killed by the police while attempting to arrest him for crimes involving firearms. And he was armed when they killed him. Which is supposed to be impossible on their ‘safe streets’.
They are committed to a course of high-speed social-Lemmingization, and the cliff-side is swiftly approaching. Already the breakdown is accelerating as they double-down on Stupid.
Lets also not forget about the 16 year old boy recent convicted of murder after he beat a 15 year old girls head in with a rock so he could win a bet that involved his friends buying him breakfast. Once upon a time, he’d be dangling from a gallows by now. Puke probably won’t be in jail too long either. Very safe place to be. If you’re a criminal.
I just had a small ‘encounter’ with a UK resident myself. Nice enough guy, generally rather intelligent, or so I thought. He told me “you’re a moron if you genuinely think that” in response to a statement I made regarding the UK having worse crime problems than the US. So I guess that means the violent crime rate being nearly 4.5x higher isn’t a worse problem?! Not to mention nearly every other type of crime other than homicide, how that manages to stay lower I can’t figure out.
Anyway, it resulted in him basically leaving at “not staying to debate this” without providing so much as a single argument to support his argument.
I don’t think I’ll ever really understand people like that… But as long as they continue on like that I don’t think we’ll have any problems at all getting what we want.
@koveras225-
I get that a lot when I try to point that out to my libby friends. They either walk away, or resort to decrying the source. Faux news? You’re facts are false and you’re an idiot!.
In the worst cases, they are willingly blind to another viewpoint. Shortly after Fast and Furious was unveiled, a friend posted on facebook (stuff it- it’s the only way I can talk to him these days) about being in favor of Mexico trying to sue… I dunno, the NRA or the “gun lobby”. I posted in response the link which Linoge here provided and a few others to show that the American civilian gun market is marginal at best in traffic to Mexico, and that the ATF may very well be the single biggest contributor of those arms that do make it down there. His next response was something like “I didn’t know all that, but I still stand by my point.”
In other words, there is evidence that his opinion is wrong, and he willingly acknowledges the facts that prove him wrong, but will still deny that he is wrong.
tl;dr- these kinds of folks don’t seem to be interested in anything other than their utopia, everyone else be damned.
@koveras225
I’ve run in to the same thing with some people. They can’t hang with someone who has a decent grasp of the facts. What is worse facts are unimportant to them. They have their precious preconceptions, and for that type it seems nothing can alter them. It is an unalterable article of faith that guns R bad m’kay. Any discussion that makes them uncomfy leads to a shutdown. “Reasoned discourse” in person.
Arguing with liberals is a waste of time and effort.
“Liberals are very broadminded: they are always willing to give careful consideration to both sides of the same side.”
– Anonymous
@ Firehand: Thanks for the reminder! This situation is full of fail from just about every direction.
@ DirtCrashr: One really cannot argue that this riot is not a product of their social engineering for the past century, if not farther… They have systematically taught their culture that self-defense is wrong, and prosecuted anyone who attempted to exercise it. So, criminals (who are never going to go away, no matter how much we legislate against them) learn/realize that they can operate with impunity… and London burns.
I would say we told them so, but we have been doing so for decades now.
@ Roadkill: Really, the list of court cases and incidents gone completely wrong by any civilized standards would take more time to document than we both have…
@ koveras225: Well, at least we can rest assured that the tactics of anti-rights cultists do not change significantly across the pond – make no attempt to actually counter the facts presented by the pro-rights folks, engage in ad hominem attacks, and, when all that fails, retreat from the scene, as if doing so somehow proves you are right.
Unfortunately, those are the types we do not have to worry about…
@ the Dude: Ahh, the joy of genetic fallacies…
Still, you have to admire (on some twisted level) people who are willing to cling to their faith with a zealous fervor, despite the facts proving that faith wrong…
@ Dave_H: One of the many reasons I love living in TN – one does not run into folks like that terribly often
.
@ BobG: Or, as a previous President said, it is not that liberals are wrong, they just know so many things that are not true.