Gun myths

[pandemic]

I've been dinking around on the myth busters site. God, the level of knowledge on that site sucks anus. Anyway, I'm curious, what gun myths are there that you've not seen on myth busters?

[ReconLdr]

I'm curious, what gun myths are there that you've not seen on myth busters?

The 1911 has a fatal flaw...

[RaisedByWolves]

The sound of a shotgun racking will.........


.

[Curmudgeon]

Link: http://www.michaelzwilliamson.com/ra...ac9cf80ce937e3


Here's a partial list...

It's amazing what one has to believe
to believe in gun control

by Michael Z. Williamson


That incidents where people shoot criminals in self defense are very rare, and shouldn't be used as excuses to own guns, just as incidents where presidential press secretaries are shot are very rare, and shouldn't be used as excuses to ban guns.

That guns are the real cause of crime, but we will blame and jail the owner of said gun for the crime, even if the owner wasn't the person involved.

That a mugger will kill you in the half-second it takes to draw from the holster, but won't harm you while you dial 911 on your cell phone, talk to the dispatcher and wait half an hour for the cops to arrive.

That gun control works, which is why there are no illegal weapons in Northern Ireland or Beirut.

That the Second Amendment only applies to flintlocks, just as the First Amendment only applies to quills and lead type.

That the proper response to an attack is to call the police, but only unarmed police, because "Violence never settles anything."

That it's wrong to make snide, sexist comments about women, unless the comments are about women who own guns.

That a gun with an 11 round magazine is dangerous, but a gun with fifteen 10 round magazines is much safer.

That we should rehabilitate criminals and treat them as people, but never let them own guns, even if their crime was nonviolent.

That a hijacker could easily take a gun away from a pilot, but the hundreds of passengers aboard would then be unable to take the gun away from the hijacker.

That if there'd been a gun aboard American Airlines Flight 93, someone could have been hurt.

That pilots have enough to do in the cockpit, without having to worry about distractions like firearms to stop hijackers and fire extinguishers to stop fires, and these activities should be left to "trained professionals."

That such "trained professionals" will only be available on one flight in five.

That rather than have the pilot risk human life by shooting at a hijacker, we should simply have the Air Force shoot down the plane, thus preserving life.

That rapists prefer to attack armed women so they can take the guns and use them against the victims.

That 1 firearm owner in 10,000 will commit an act of violence in his or her lifetime, and this is far more frightening than the 25% of drivers who will cause a serious or fatal accident.

That you should rely on police in lieu of your gun, just as you should rely on a dentist in lieu of your toothbrush.

That the press reporting a shooting is "responsible," but failing to report that the shooter was stopped by an armed citizen is an attempt to prevent the "glamorization of guns."

That car keys, umbrellas and hairspray are good tools for self-defense, despite the fact that police continue to carry guns.

That Washington DC's low murder rate of 80.6 per 100,000 is due to strict gun control, but Arlington, Virginia's high murder rate of 1.6 per 100,000 is attributable to the lack of gun control.

That the depressed and emotionally disturbed should not be allowed to own guns that shoot bullets with 250 ft-lbs of energy, but should be allowed to own 4000 lb cars with 1,136,000 ft-lbs of energy (at 65 mph).

That "assault weapons" are "very powerful" but big game hunters oddly prefer .30-06s and .375 H&Hs.

That assault rifles are "underpowered" for hunting, but can "punch through police body armor." More powerful hunting rifles, however, cannot.

That we should outlaw bullet proof vests so criminals can't use them, and private citizens should be then proud to be killed in the crossfire, knowing they are doing their part for society.

That we don't need the Second Amendment or arms to protect our Constitution, but should instead use the courts and the government system, just as we did in 1776.

That the lack of mention of guns in wills in colonial American cities proves that most Americans didn't own them, just as the lack of mention of outhouses proves that most people squatted in the yard.

That this alleged lack of ownership is as relevant to the Second Amendment as the lack of interest in newspapers at the time was relevant to the First Amendment.

That among the hundreds of documented cases against anti-gun freaks we note that: the press secretary of Handgun Control was arrested in DC for discharging an illegal handgun, a ranking regional officer of the Million Moron March was convicted of felony assault, and other Million Morons in Colorado have been arrested for attacking firearm dealers and activists, but "gun nuts" are "obsessed with violence."

That the laws against specifically named weapons have been found unconstitutional, that the laws against "types" of weapons have been considered vague, that the laws against cosmetic features are easy to comply with and still produce the identical mechanism, and that laws against particular mechanisms are unconstitutional is an indication of the "obsessiveness" of firearms enthusiasts to do what they enjoy doing, against the wishes of the narrow minded prudes who wish to stop them, and not an indication of the obsessiveness of the ignorant paranoids who fear them.

That NASA, the military, physiologists, anatomists and trainers all agree and Olympic scores confirm that men on average have tremendously more upper body strength than women, but women should try to defend themselves with martial arts and not a gun.

That according to investigative reports, alarm systems are expensive, often easily defeated, and the alarm company may not respond for three hours, even then only driving by rather than stopping, but an alarm system is a more reliable means of protecting the home than a firearm.

That less guns in an altercation is a good thing, so you should not be armed against a criminal to keep yourself safe.

That rather than spend a few hundred dollars on a firearm and an afternoon learning how to use it, one should instead spend thousands of dollars and several years learning a martial art, so you'll be well-prepared to fight anyone, as long as they're in your gender division and weight class.

That it's terrible when police officers plant weapons on a suspect to enable them to make an arrest, but we should have tougher laws against weapons and trust the police not to abuse them in this way.

That police arriving at 80mph are a better way to stop criminals than bullets arriving at 800mph.

That because of the bombing at Oklahoma City and the knife-point hijacking on September 11, we should take guns away from people who weren't involved.

That a police officer under 21 shouldn't be able to buy a gun for off duty use, because his competence depends on that blue jacket.

That Hitler and Stalin didn't disarm citizens, only Jews, Gypsies, gays, unionists and other "undesirables." (Yes, a liberal member of the MMM actually said this in the Washington Post, quoting www.potomac-inc.org.)

That to properly understand Nazi gun control, one must consider the "legitimate fears" they had of the Jewish population. (This was another self-proclaimed liberal. I'm beginning to wonder.)

That families with children should not be allowed to own guns for safety reasons, just as they aren't allowed to own dogs, power tools, or toxic chemicals.

That it's wrong to destroy someone's life over an administrative crime by jailing them and impoverishing their family, unless that crime is owning a gun.

That a law that allows someone to keep doing "X" that has been legal for years, in the face of another, badly written law that says they can't do "Y", is a "loophole."

That it's wrong to politicize that the World Trade Center attackers didn't need guns to hijack a plane, but okay to politicize that the Columbine killers bought guns…illegally.

That when someone dies because they couldn't get a drug the government won't approve, it's tragic, but when someone dies because they couldn't defend themselves with a gun the government won't approve, that's just life.

That a criminal is somehow more of a threat to a cop than to a regular person, so police need guns and regular citizens don't.

That guns are a symbol of white male oppression, and we should address this by banning inexpensive guns that are available to poor minorities, guns with less than 6 lbs trigger pull which are useable by females and smaller men, require special storage and licensing fees to stop "those people" from affording them, require proof of "need" such as political connections or large acreage or the money to go on expensive safaris, and all this will stop those evil white males.

That governments should maintain the "legitimate monopoly of force," because the American Revolutionaries, the Maquissards, the Israelis in Palestine and the Northern Alliance in Afghanistan were "illegitimate," but Hitler, Mao, Pot, Mussolini and Stalin were "legitimate."

That the "Reasonable" uses for guns are hunting and target shooting, but not self-defense. In other words, it's acceptable to use them as toys but not as lifesaving devices.

That .50 caliber rifles are both "very rare" and "selling like hotcakes."

That the fact that .50 caliber rifles are very rare justifies banning them, just as the rarity of Lamborghinis and other high-performance cars justifies banning them.

That one has the moral obligation to make a citizen's arrest when one sees a felony in progress, and that it should be accomplished by yelling at the perpetrator, "Stop! Or I'll yell 'stop' again!" rather than by drawing a weapon.

That intelligent people should support gun control because they realize they are too stupid to be trusted with guns.

That a gun is merely an inadequate substitute for a penis, so when attacked by a mugger one should pull out a…

That a gun is a symbolic penis…what this has to do with defending one's life I have no idea. It simply serves to prove that anti-defense psychiatrists clearly have Freudian issues that THEY need to address.

That if honest people give up their weapons, the criminals and dictators will give up theirs, as Chicago street gangs and Hitler have demonstrated.

That only the government should control guns, just as only the government should control broadcasting, and only the government should control religion.

That an actor from Hollywood who points a gun at friend and foe without discrimination, who keeps the finger on the trigger with no target, who fires a handgun on its side, who fires two guns akimbo, who tries to shoot a single-action pistol with a lowered hammer, and who fires 60 shots from a 30-round magazine, should be taken as an expert on the subject.

That "reasonable licensing fees" will stop casual ownership of guns, but anyone who would jump through hoops to own a gun is obsessive.

That outlawing the carrying of guns will stop people from doing so, just as lowering the speed limit stops reckless driving.

That we should deal with the problem of criminals using illegal weapons by taking lawful weapons away from honest people.

That we should ban guns-if it saves even one life, it's worth it, just as we should ban assemblies where people might be trampled to death-if it saves just one life, it's worth it, and we should ban speech by groups who offend public order-if it saves just one life, it's worth it, and we should ban unhealthy foods-if it saves just one life, it's worth it, and…

That anyone convicted of domestic violence should not be allowed to handle guns, unless that criminal is "Marky" Mark Wahlberg handling guns in "Planet of the Apes."

That rifles are useless in a world of fighter planes and nukes, just as automobiles are useless in a world of 747s.

That sky marshalls, who are present on less than 10% of all flights, are a good solution to hijacking, but armed pilots, who would be present on every flight, are not.

That a pilot might accidentally shoot a .38 caliber hole in a plane, thus somehow mysteriously causing 10,000 cubic feet of air to disappear in a moment, or hitting a vital electrical wire that was somehow not safely duplicated by another, despite federal requirements to that effect, but a "Trained Air Marshall" won't do this even when in the stress of battle against a hijacker.

That pilots might accidentally shoot a hole in the skin of an airliner (see above), so shouldn't have guns, and if the terrorists start banging away, we'll just have to hope for the best.

That pilots shouldn't be armed because they aren't trained for use of weapons, but may use violent maneuvers that they aren't trained for to somehow magically secure a hijacker they can't see in his seat.

That a .38 caliber bullet might destroy an airliner, but violent maneuvers won't rip the wings off.

That a pilot shooting through a small cockpit door at an incoming hijacker migh somehow fail to put any bullets into him, but a 110 lb flight attendant will easily get close enough to tackle a hijacker and use a stun gun.

That a terrorist might masquerade as a "Trusted Traveler," hoping to be the only such person aboard with a firearm, but would never be able to impersonate a law enforcement official or get a job as a pilot.

That a pilot is not trained in dealing with terrorists, so should stay in the cockpit. Instead, it's up to the flight attendants and passengers to deal with the situation. After all, they ARE trained professionals.

That it's just a matter of time until another hijacking takes place, and there's nothing we can do about it, and no, you can't carry a gun.

That many "supporters of Second Amendment rights" endorse "reasonable gun control," just like many "supporters of First Amendment rights" endorse "reasonable media control."

That keeping a gun for self-defense implies a desire to shoot someone, just as keeping matches and having homeowner's insurance implies a desire to be an arsonist.

That a punk wakes up one morning, and thinks, "Gee, instead of robbing, raping, sodomizing and killing a young woman, why don't I turn my $400 gun in for $20 and a pizza and go work at McDonald's?"

That the more helpless you are, the safer you are from criminals.

That you should give a mugger your wallet, because he doesn't really want to shoot you and he'll let you go, but that you should give him your wallet, because he'll shoot you if you don't.

That despite all the outrage about Corporate America's cavalier treatment of employees, Domino's Pizza's demand that employees be unarmed is an altruistic effort to stop them from hurting themselves, and not a calculated financial bid to avoid having a lawsuit filed by a dead robber's family.

That gun owners are "potential terrorists," because they have all the necessary equipment, just like Sarah Brady is a "potential hooker," because she has all the necessary equipment.

That one can sue a store for having a slick floor, falling ceilings, and sharp corners, but if they refuse to let you bring a gun in and you get shot by a criminal, they aren't liable for enforcing that rule with others.

That there is no right of self defense, and the police are not legally obligated to respond to my cries for help when disarmed, but you can sue them if they take too long to get to a traffic accident.

That arming police just "escalates the violence," so to be really effective, we should ban the use of nightsticks by the police. In fact, we should ban the police. If they didn't exist, the criminals wouldn't need to be armed. In fact, we shouldn't have locks on doors, because that just encourages forcible entry.

That assault rifles are far too powerful to hunt deer and elk, and too dangerous for private citizens to own, but are too impotent for modern warfare, too weak to reliably kill soldiers, and have no place in the concept of a citizen reserve.

That there's no incongruity in claiming the preferred weapon of a drug dealer is a $25 .22 caliber pocket pistol, and claiming the preferred weapon of a drug dealer is a $2000 machinegun in the same piece of propaganda.

That any cheap weapon is a "Saturday night special," and any expensive weapon is an "assault weapon."

That "Cops" and other shows are edited to show the boring encounters with traffic stops and the occasional drunken fool with a revolver in his pocket, and never show the millions of cases where the cops are gunned down in droves by machinegun toting drug dealers.

That an intruder will be incapacitated by tear gas or oven spray, but if shot with a .44 Magnum will get angry over your retaliation and kill you.

That firearms in the hands of private citizens are the gravest threat to world peace, and China, Pakistan and Korea can be trusted with nuclear weapons.

That Charlton Heston as president of the NRA is a shill who should be ignored, but Michael Douglas as a representative of Handgun Control, Inc. is an ambassador for peace who is entitled to an audience at the UN arms control summit.

That ordinary people, in the presence of guns, turn into slaughtering butchers, and revert to normal when the weapon is removed.

That someone who fails to clear his weapon, fails to point it in a safe direction, pulls the trigger without checking the chamber, and blows his foot off is an example of how even a "trained professional" can be a "victim" of a diabolical gun, but people in the military who clean weapons millions of times a year without getting hurt are "dumb grunts."

That the New England Journal of Medicine is filled with expert advice about guns, just as Guns and Ammo has some excellent treatises on heart surgery.

That one should consult an automotive engineer for safer seatbelts, a civil engineer for a better bridge, a neurosurgeon for spinal paralysis, a computer programmer for Y2K problems, and Sarah Brady for firearms expertise.

That modern design firearms contain features such as box magazines and fiberglass stocks, which were designed for military use and shouldn't be available to civilians, just as modern design automobiles contain features such as rack and pinion steering and McPherson struts, which were designed for the race track and shouldn't be available to civilians.

That rifles such as AR-15s, AK-47s and L1-A1s were designed for military shooting and shouldn't be available to civilians, just as vehicles like Chevrolet Suburbans, Jeeps, and Land Rovers were designed as weapons platforms and military utility and shouldn't be available to civilians.

That the best way to avoid an accidental shooting is to stay completely ignorant of guns and never go near them, just like the safest way to avoid an accidental drowning is to stay completely ignorant of swimming and never go near water.

That the best thing our kids can do to bullies and drug dealers is "just say no," and fight back, and the best thing we can do to muggers and thugs is to give them $50 and wait for them to go away.

That it's outrageous that the Milwaukee police took 45 minutes to respond to reports of Jeffrey Dahmer's last victim running around naked in the cold, then returned him to his attacker without checking ID, but the best thing a citizen can do in an emergency is dial 911.

That the "right of the people peaceably to assemble," the "right of the people to be secure in their homes," "the enumeration herein of certain rights shall not be construed to disparage others retained by the people," "The powers not delegated herein are reserved to the states respectively, and to the people," refer to individuals, but "the right of the people to keep and bear arms" refers to the states.

<snip> There is a lot more in the link above!

[Wild Bill Klinton]

GUNS KILL PEOPLE

[ReconLdr]

The sound of a shotgun racking will.........


.

LOL I like that one too.

[1861]

The 1911 has a fatal flaw...

My favorite .

[Lone Wolf]

If you OC, you are just looking for trouble.

[JCWohlschlag]

It’s not safe to carry with one in the chamber.

[imperialism2024]

They could have a whole season devoted to dispelling shotgun myths. Like...
-Birdshot will penetrate 6" or more of human tissue and bone in order to stop a threat, but will not penetrate 1" of drywall.
-At home defense distances, shot patterns are tight enough to ensure that enough shot hits the target to incapacitate it, but they're also loose enough that you don't actually have to aim a shotgun, just point it in the general direction of a threat.
-For someone who is inexperienced with guns and wants something for home defense, it is better for him/her to get a gun that requires him/her to be responsible for dozens or hundreds of projectiles, instead of just one.
-When you wake up in the middle of the night, it's easier to negotiate the narrow hallways of the typical middle class home wielding a 3-foot-long shotgun that you rarely ever fire, than to use the 6-inch-long handgun that you carry and practice with regularly.

One special episode (or three) could be devoted to pump-action shotgun myths:
-It's faster to cycle a gun by hand than to let a gas-powered mechanism do it for you.
-The sound of a shotgun being pumped is scarier than the report of a handgun.
-When woken up in the middle of the night to defend oneself, one is too disoriented to aim and fire a handgun by merely pulling the trigger and repeating as necessary, but one is coherent enough to fetch a shotgun, chamber a round (as most shotguns do not have provisions making it safe to keep a round chambered), aim the gun, pull the trigger, turn off the safety, re-aim the gun, pull the trigger, pump the shotgun because you short-cycled it last time, re-aim the gun, pull the trigger, realize the safety was off initially, turn safety off, re-aim the gun, pull the trigger, realize that your first shot somehow missed the target even though you aimed within 270 degrees of where he was standing, realize that you're blind and deaf, pump the shotgun, re-aim the gun, pull the trigger, realize you short-cycled it again because you're deaf and blind, pump it, re-aim the gun, realize that the BG has started running out of your house, chase him, shoot him in the back as he's running down the street away from you because you're so pissed off at your poor choice of a home defense gun, get arrested, go to jail, and become Bubba's bitch.

And you get the idea...