Comments on: A Not-So-Skeptical Look at Gun Control

By: Alrenous

Alrenous — Wed, 21 Oct 2015 06:48:56 +0000

My rough estimate of America’s white murder rate is 1.1 per 100,000. Switzerland, where by law every household has an automatic rifle and someone trained in its use, rates at 0.6.

By: Slovenian Guest

Slovenian Guest — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 13:55:29 +0000

All this gun control hype is even funnier knowing that the homicide rate declined by nearly half since 1992, despite multiple surges in gun purchases! There is also the denial, as Karl Denninger correctly points out, that "Nearly all of the rage-monster mass-murdering homicides over the last couple of decades have been committed by people either on, or withdrawing from, psychotropic medications that have a black-box warning against exactly that risk in the age group to which they belong!" And to quote The Z Man once again: "Gun control has always been a proxy-debate that is more signalling than a debate. Good whites from Yankeedom see guns as a stand in for southerners in particular, but all bad whites in general. After these shootings, the good whites get to have their day for acts of public piety. It’s why they say the same things over and over. Rituals are like that. Facts and reason have no impact on the believers, the statistics of crime have been explained for half a century. The illogic of gun control has been detailed for as long as I have been alive. Yet, the true believers belied ever more intensely."

By: Lucklucky

Lucklucky — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 02:28:40 +0000

If guns are so bad, how is it so many guns have never killed anyone in the US?

By: T M

T M — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 01:41:17 +0000

Shermer has never been excessively honest. As Dan Kurt asks, why would anyone who knows his track record put any credence to his claims?

By: HammerHead

HammerHead — Tue, 20 Oct 2015 00:32:55 +0000

Somewhat off topic, but the allegation in the link in Dan Kurt's comment is discussed in David Stein's book Republican Party Animal. I don't know how reliable Stein is, but he claims that Michael Shermer has a long-standing pattern of dishonest behavior as well.

By: Ross

Ross — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 22:04:50 +0000

Philip Tetlock's next book, Superconfounders, will certainly feature Shermer prominently.

By: Bob Sykes

Bob Sykes — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 22:02:06 +0000

The old moat-beam problem. America does not have a gun problem; it has a black problem. Most gun crime, violent crime, and hate crime is committed by young black males. Throw in young Hispanic males and you account for nearly all of it.

No one cares about this crime, because it is mostly black-on-black and brown-on-brown, and it occurs in the underclass ghettos. It is also un-PC to point out the massively dysfunctional behavior of blacks and browns.

By: Dan Kurt

Dan Kurt — Mon, 19 Oct 2015 21:59:02 +0000

Why put any credence in Michael Shermer? I will not damn him with direct insults or faint praise, but I have followed him peripherally for years and consider him to be less than honest. Check out this strange blog.