Dr. John Lott has a new piece at Fox News on the most recent uproar about Donald Trump’s comments and guns.
Was Donald Trump inciting violence against Hillary Clinton when he spoke last Friday about disarming her bodyguards? Tim Kaine, Hillary Clinton’s vice presidential running mate, says so.
The media was hysterical. According to Martha Raddatz, host of ABC News’ “This Week”: “The message sounds a lot like a threat or encouraging violence.” On NBC’s Meet the Press, Chuck Todd claimed: “Trump again raised the specter of violence against Hillary Clinton.” Over the weekend, news show after news show made similar claims.
So what was Donald Trump’s supposedly threatening statement?
“She’s [Clinton’s] very much against the 2nd Amendment… I think that her bodyguards should drop all weapons. They should disarm, right?… Take their guns away. She doesn’t want guns. Take their — and let’s see what happens to her. Take their guns away. OK? It would be very dangerous.”
Trump’s comment was obviously rhetorical. He was not actually advocating that her bodyguards be disarmed. He was pointing out that doing so would be absurd and “very dangerous.”
By making Americans consider Clinton’s need for security, he is making the point that Americans should by extension have a right to their own (personal) armed security. . . .
The rest of the piece is available here.
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