At Fox News: “March for Our Lives: Gun control ideas sound good, but are deeply flawed and won’t save lives”

Mar 24, 2018 | Featured

Dr. John Lott has a new piece up at Fox News on the “March for Our Lives” demonstration.  The new piece starts this way.

America continues to mourn the 17 people killed in a mass shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Florida last month. There is an understandable emotional desire to “do something” in response – but without evaluating what the “something” will actually accomplish. This is the driving force behind the March for Our Lives taking place Saturday in Washington.

The motivations of many people taking part in the Washington event and other demonstrations around the country are sincere. But before we “do something,” we need to stop and think: what is the most sensible thing we should do? What will actually save lives and make us safer?

It’s important to understand that the debate isn’t between those who want to end violence and those who support gun rights. Both sides want to end violence. The debate is simply over how best to keep Americans safe.

Supporting gun control is now the “in thing.” Stars such as Taylor Swift and Miley Cyrus tweet their support. Time and Teen Vogue magazines run cover stories glorifying people working to put stricter controls on guns and ban some weapons. The New England Patriots used their team plane to fly students and families from Parkland, Florida, to Washington for Saturday’s gun control rally.

You would be unlikely to know it from the media coverage of the Washington demonstration, but only 47 percent of Americans between 13 and 17 believe that more gun control could reduce mass public shootings.

The rest of the piece is available here.

johnrlott

1 Comment

  1. Tim Kern

    Rational arguments rarely make any headway against hysterical emotion.
    First, calm them down. “How do you think this happened?”
    Then, ask for their solution, and why it would work. This makes them think. If they disengage, they’re beyond all reason. If they think and come up with something, ask how that would help, and (if they’re really thinking) how it would be constitutional.
    Then take some nugget of their solution that may work (e.g., hardening the schools), and ask how we can all work to make it happen. Getting one good idea through is better than yelling at each other through tons of prejudice, right? “Who would you see as opposing this idea?” (Hint: school boards) “Okay, let’s start there.” Etc.

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