{"id":101271,"date":"2017-10-05T11:36:07","date_gmt":"2017-10-05T18:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/?p=101271"},"modified":"2017-10-05T12:21:54","modified_gmt":"2017-10-05T19:21:54","slug":"people-asking-think-leah-libresco-sargeants-piece","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/markshea\/2017\/10\/people-asking-think-leah-libresco-sargeants-piece.html","title":{"rendered":"People are asking what I think of Leah Libresco-Sargeant’s piece"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u2026on gun control<\/a>.\u00a0 She writes:<\/p>\n

Before I started researching gun deaths, gun-control policy used to frustrate me. I wished the National Rifle Association would stop blocking common-sense gun-control reforms such as banning assault weapons, restricting silencers, shrinking magazine sizes and all the other measures that could make guns less deadly.<\/p>\n

Then, my colleagues and I at FiveThirtyEight spent three months analyzing all\u00a033,000<\/a>\u00a0lives ended by guns each year in the United States, and I wound up frustrated in a whole new way. We looked at what interventions might have saved those people, and the case for the policies I\u2019d lobbied for crumbled when I examined the evidence. The best ideas left standing were narrowly tailored interventions to protect subtypes of potential victims, not broad attempts to limit the lethality of guns.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

She then goes on to make a very well-reasoned case, as is her custom, because she is a good and honest person.<\/p>\n

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One reader, typically not grasping my point in addressing gun violence as a prolife issue, thinks I must therefore consign her to \u201cOuter Darkness presumably, as with any who fail to embrace the New Truly True Manichaeism with sufficient gusto!\u201d<\/p>\n

Wrong. What he does not\u00a0get is that my point, all along, has been about will<\/em>, not means. The lies I have critiqued here and elsewhere are told by people whose entire will<\/em> is directed toward making sure the status quo is maintained, no matter how many people die, because their gun fetish means more than human life.<\/p>\n

In contrast, Leah\u2019s research was undertaken, not in order to maintain the status quo, but in order to get at reality and see what can be done<\/em>. In short, she is honest and the Gun Cult is not. The Gun Cult tells lies constantly for one purpose: to maintain the status quo. It is a lie<\/em> to say that the shooter in Vegas could just as easily have harmed 600 with rocks.\u00a0 It is a lie<\/em> to say that all laws are futile since criminals break the law.\u00a0 It is a lie<\/em> to say that only prayer will defeat evil and action is pointless.\u00a0 It is a lie<\/em> to say the second amendment exists so that we can make war on the Constitutional order of which it is a part. These, and many other lies exist for one reason: to make sure that the status quo is maintained and the arms industry is enriched no matter how many innocents die.<\/p>\n

Both Leah and I, unlike the Gun Cult that trades in these lies, would like to see our bought-and-paid-for pols finally authorize the CDC to undertake a methodical study of gun violence and what we can do to curb it. The Gun Cult, hating light, has fought that for years<\/a>, because the goal is not to save lives but to keep lining the pockets of the arms industry. I (and Leah) want truth<\/em> to enlighten action<\/em> in order to save lives<\/em>. The Gun Cult wants money and power and does not give a shit about truth or human life. That\u2019s the difference.<\/p>\n

So I commend Leah for trying to do an honest look and I respect her results. I hope a more thorough study of the problem\u2013and of what we can do about it\u2013is done. The Gun Cult hopes for one thing: obstruction of all thought and action that will in any way change the status quo.<\/p>\n

That said, and because I know Leah respects a good argument, VOX has offered a rebuttal to her piece that is also worth noting.<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2026on gun control.\u00a0 She writes: Before I started researching gun deaths, gun-control policy used to frustrate me. I wished the National Rifle Association would stop blocking common-sense gun-control reforms such as banning assault weapons, restricting silencers, shrinking magazine sizes and all the other measures that could make guns less deadly. 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