Posted on 12/04/2018 1:07:46 PM PST by 2ndDivisionVet
Tom Arnold isn’t someone you go to for intelligent conversation. The man is best known for being married to Roseanne Barr and has had precisely one decent movie role where he was Arnold Schwarzenegger’s partner in True Lies. That’s the entirety of why he’s famous.
But, he is famous, and because of that, he has a big platform on social media.
It’s a platform where he utters the most completely brain-dead things possible. Stuff like this:
(TWEETS)
Of course, Arnold never provided a citation for that claim.
And Arnold can’t provide a citation for that claim, because it’s complete and total BS.
Keep in mind that Americans own somewhere in the neighborhood of 400 million guns. If 80 percent of us were shooting ourselves or family members, I’m pretty sure there would be news reports on this. The anti-gun media would latch onto this and pound it like a nail that doesn’t want to be driven down. They’d never give up on this position, and why would they? In reality, it would probably be effective.
But they don’t, because it’s a made up number created by a bizarre mind so filled with hate for the Second Amendment that he can’t even see reality.
Do negligent discharges happen? Yes.
When they happen, are they tragic? Absolutely.
But they are nowhere near the epidemic Arnold claims. Not even close. After all, most of us don’t even know anyone who has shot themselves or a family member. If it were even close to that number, we’d probably all know someone it happened to, but most of us don’t. A few do, mind you, but those are tragic anomalies. They’re not the norm.
So what led to Arnold’s nonsense? It’s probably a case of pulling that percentage out of thin air but believing it’s probably accurate because of the flawed claim that guns in the home increase the odds of someone in the household being shot. That study failed to differentiate between lawful gun owners and unlawful owners. Unlawful owners are often involved in other crimes, and that was why people in the household were shot, not because there was a gun there.
Of course, that’s being charitable to Arnold, a consideration I have no doubt he would refuse me if our roles were reversed.
The truth of the matter is, no matter where it came from, it’s wrong. It’s horribly, blatantly wrong.
Then, to make matters worse, some will accept that claim at face value and try and share it as fact.
Luckily, Arnold was ratioed all to hell and back, meaning fewer people liked and retweeted it than who commented to tell him he was a freaking idiot. That’s a truly good sign.
But we all know that someone else is going to use that “statistic” and claim it as fact. They’ll probably even present it, then yell about how you won’t face facts.
Well, you can. You just don’t want to face made-up facts with no basis in reality.
And really, who can blame you?
I am 100% sure that tom is an idiot and beyond redemption.
But is a master of meth.
Cocaine’s a hulluva drug.
There are approximately 100 million firearms owners in the US. If 80% shot themselves or a family member that'd be 80 million shootings. A rule of thumb is that 1 in 7 people shot with a handgun die, while 6 out of 7 survive. Odds with a rifle or shotgun are worse, but let's use handgun numbers. So that means about 11.4 million deaths!
Now I didn't bother to read Tom's drivel, so I don't know if he had a timeframe for these alleged 11.4 million deaths. However, we do know that there are on average about 31,000 firearms related deaths per year in the US. Yes, many of them are justified and only a fraction accidental or intentional domestic violence but lets just use the whole 31K - it really isn't going to make a difference.
So, to get 11.4 million deaths at only 31K a year it will take us 367 years and change. Hmm, well past the average lifetime of any firearm owner. Now, I was going to look up realistic numbers - how many accidental shootings of family members there are as well as how many intentional shootings (ie. domestic violence). I figured I'd use that along with a life expectancy for gun owners and come up with a more realistic number. Almost certainly a tiny fraction of Tom's lie/guess. Funny thing is, the first few sites that come up on the searches I did for domestic violence and guns all report percentages, not numbers. Now, the cynical math guy in me thinks they are using the percentages because they are more impressive/sensational numbers (with small total numbers, even small numbers in a subset tend to generate large percentages). Funny, but not unexpected when they have to lie to sensationalize their position.
Well Tom’s it’s not to late!
What drugs is Tom Arnold abusing? The man seriously needs rehab followed by true education.
Just think: The high point of this guys life was being married to Rosanne. It has been all downhill since then.
He must have gone to the same school as Ocasio Cortez.
Three trillion children die from gun injuries every day.
Yeh sure Tom snort some more crack.
Speaking of negligent discharges, how many kids does he have?
LOL...I have no idea...
Wow! Wow!!
I, my family, and my friends have all - all - beaten these virtually insuperable odds!
80 million gunshot wounds would boost a lot of doctors’ hospitals’ bottom lines....and be covered front to back in every media available.
I shoot myself.
I don’t let anyone shoot for me.
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