Posted on 12/18/2012 5:46:26 PM PST by SeekAndFind
Mass shootings in the United States have at least one thing in common: they all happen in in gun free zones. Yesterday economist and author of More Guns Less Crime John Lott went on CNN with anchor Soledad O'Brien to discuss why mass shootings occur in gun free zones. O'Brien as usual, wasn't interested in factual data Lott was presenting and continually cut him off as he was making his points.
John Lott, the gun advocate who recently had a heated encounter with Piers Morgan, spoke to Soledad O'Brien on Monday morning — continuing to make his pro-gun argument. O'Brien had a hard time stomaching Lott's perspective, telling him she simply does not understand it.
The common feature across such attacks, Lott said, is that, with few exceptions, they've occurred where guns have been banned. "But there's more than one thing in common, right?" O'Brien asked, adding that they're armed, often with semi-automatic weapons.
The point, Lott underlined, is that these "gun-free" pockets are the ones that are targeted. Specifically, he spoke about the gunman who chose the movie theater in Aurora, as opposed to other nearby theaters. O'Brien countered that Lott hasn't spoken to him and has no way of knowing the gunman's thought process. "How do you know that?" she asked. "You don't know that."
"Why is your takeaway from all of this to get rid of gun laws — and your takeaway is not to say, 'There are people who should not have access to certain types of weapons,'" O'Brien questioned.In this instance, she said, we know the gunman used a semi-automatic rifle to breaking into the building, rendering their security useless. "Why would you not say that's exactly the kind of weapon that someone should not be able to easily get their hands on?"
Lott said that Germany had three of the five worst public shootings in the world. And Germany has extremely strict gun control laws. "Yet they've had a worse record," Lott said.
"I don't argue Second Amendment, I argue crime," Lott said.
Like most liberal media personalities, O'Brien is ignorant about how guns actually work. It is also clear throughout the interview she doesn't understand the difference between automatic and semi-automatic weapons.
O’Brien’s further ignorance of this topic is revealed when, after dismissing Lott’s citation of Germany, which has essentially banned semi-automatic weapons but has a terrible record of school shootings, she again claims that “a rational person could say that having access to a high-powered, semi-automatic rifle is inappropriate, that there’s no reason to go deer-hunting with that.” The “assault weapon” used in Newtown, however, as in Colorado, was actually not a legal deer rifle because it is actually not “high powered,” it’s too weak to safely kill a deer.
O'Brien, who is supposed to be an objective news anchor, not only exposed her own agenda yesterday but the agenda of mainstream media outlets everywhere. After all, CNN's Don Lemon said yesterday that "it doesn't matter" gun crime is down all over the country, incorrectly stated that automatic weapons are roaming the streets and implied anyone who owns a semi-automatic weapon wants to hunt kids. Both O'Brien and Lemon work in a building in New York City protected by security guards armed with semi-automatic weapons.
During her interview with Lott, O'Brien said his positions on the issue "boggled her mind," and yet as Megan McArdle points out today, there really isn't much we could have done to prevent the horrific massacre last week.
What Lanza shows us is the limits of the obvious policy responses. He had all the mental health resources he needed--and he did it anyway. The law stopped him from buying a gun--and he did it anyway. The school had an intercom system aimed at stopping unauthorized entry--and he did it anyway. Any practical, easy-to-implement solution to school shootings that you could propose, along with several that were not at all easy to implement, was already in place. Somehow, Lanza blew through them all.
In the end, none of this will comfort the families of those whose children were killed last week however, moving forward it is important to keep factual and logical arguments in mind to prevent turning even more people into "gun free zone" victims.
Affirmative action, maybe?
Massacres by the govt don’t count though/s
Soledad O’Brien is the very epitome of a “progressive” airhead.
That was not a report, it was an opinion of the reporter with no information on her side and facts directly opposite to her feelings.
Simply pitiful.
Huh? I watched it.
These numbers are just for the hunters who’ve applied for hunters licences! Imagine how many more gun owners are out there! (Warms the cockles of me heart.)
This may be why the regime has been timid to take on gun owners directly, especially before the election - ahahah How ya gonn take that many guna away from a free poople?
Sorry - I mistakenly responded to your response. Nevermind. Wish this site had some way to edit posts.
At the very end she states “I just completely do not understand it”...that about sums up Soledud nO’Brain on pretty much any issue.
Oh! Stop it!...Does anyone know the theory of why .223 M-16 replaced 7.62 (long round) M-14 in Viet Nam??
jafojeffsurf~: “ That was not a report, it was an opinion of the reporter with no information on her side and facts directly opposite to her feelings.
Simply pitiful. “
Exactly so !!
Another talking head Bimbo
Demorats ‘feel’ and have emotion ; Pubs think and argue with FACTS
Most Mainstreamedia newsreports are now opinion pages , devoid of FACTS !
At the rates they charge there is no compelling reason to flunk anyone!
Lott needs to argue that if the teachers or staff was allowed to be armed, the killer could have been stop. Current laws do not allow teachers or staff to have guns on gun free zone schools.
Arguing that an AR-15 is no different from a hunting rifle (technically correct) is a PR disaster because the uninformed do not know that. Lott should point out that the US cannot ban semi autos because it is the best gun to have in self defense (bad economy and fear of crime would understand that). Second he should point out that guns are used 160,000 times annually to thwart off crime which can potentially resulted in rape, death or serious injuries to an unarmed victim. Crazy people, criminals and terrorists will get the semi auto no matter what the laws are. Banning these guns from law abiding armed citizens will endanger their ability to defend themselves against better armed attackers. There is no perfect law to prevent that crazies from getting guns absolutely. Current laws stop most of the unlawful buying of guns, but a few will get thru. When that happens how will liberals deal with that. Gun bans will make it worst for the law abiding citizen, but allowing law abiding citizens to be armed makes better sense. In summary, these types of killers in the first place want to commit suicide and take out as many people in the process to get headlines. Notice they never try this at bars frequent by bikers or off duty cops.
Finally the problem is not institutionalizing mentally violent people who are incapable of taking meds on time. They wander the streets causing violence on the rest of society until they snap and commit murder/mayhem. The US does not need more gun control, they need mental people control.
I’ll raise you your “airhead” and call her a liberal dip-$hit. She’s amazing to listen to, there’s nothing that will change her opinion and she’s happy to let everyone know how righteous she is. CNN’s got a real bimbo on their hands. Simply remarkable. There, that’s my opinion.
I really don’t want to give anyone any ideas, BUT, it sure is surprising that MSDNC, CNN etal do not have a trespass order against the likes of someone such as John Lott.
He is not one of these airheads that all of a sudden ‘pops up’ to be a ‘specialist’ on the issue de jour but is well, read, schooled, knows what he is talking about, and knows how to express himself and hold the idiots at bay etc etc.
How they can put their ‘featherweights’ up against him is really surprising....
Shows just how smart those idiots are....
Yeah, Lanza had roughly 660 seconds from the time he entered the school to when he killed himself. It’s difficult to imagine any gun made in the past 100 years that wouldn’t have allowed him to kill 28 defenseless people in all that time.
Of course, she is convinced that she is Lott's moral superior and that his profound expertise should be ignored.
All together now, let's sing the liberals' theme song:
FEELINGS...
GUSHING FORTH WITH FEELINGS...
democrats and liberals feel that writing a law solves a problems when they are ignorant of what the problem really is....thay got no brain cells that work...
I’ll second that. She is just an amazing woman. And I mean that, of course, in a very negative way.
I would not have been so kind. I would have told her that obviously her mind is boggled since she wants to disarm even more American citizens and make them helpless before violent criminals.
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