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Showing Original Post only (View all)How (not) to convince people to support gun control. [View all]
My impression is that a lot of the posts on DU advocating gun control are based on a fairly fundamental misconception about the people who oppose it.
There seems to be a widely-held attitude that opponents of gun control know that it would save lives, and oppose it even so.
That is true of only a small minority, I suspect.
If you want to convince people who *disagree* with you to *change their minds* - as opposed to just preaching to the choir, which is - lets face it - what most posters on DU are interested in, then you need to present convincing evidence that gun control will result in a reduction in the number of total deaths per year (*not* just "a reduction in the number of gun deaths per year).
Don't malign their motivation; accept that they love their kids as much as you do, and that the reason they want gun ownership to be unregulated is not because of bizarre sexual fetishism but because they believe that it will make them safer; and set about refuting that belief, politely.
One obvious place to start is with comparison with other countries. A scatter plot of *all* nations of gun ownership vs murder rate doesn't exhibit much correlation (a lot of poor countries have few guns but lots of murders), but if you only include countries with high human development indexes (which is to say, countries comparable to the USA) then I believe (although I should stress I'm just quoting, I haven't checked these numbers myself) that you get clear correlation.
Another thing worth doing if you have more time and easier access to the numbers than I do would be debunking the statistics the NRA produce about defensive firearm use - I remember seeing a post on DU a while back in which a more reliable source put out much lower numbers, but I can't remember the details, I'm afraid.
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Of course, you said it exactly right when saying, "If you want to convince people".
AnotherMcIntosh
Apr 2013
#1
No this is a republic with laws that can override a popular sentiment or vote
ProgressiveProfessor
Apr 2013
#7
I have only posted once in this thread point out the contrary polling
ProgressiveProfessor
Apr 2013
#65
If your goal is to save lives then AR-15s are the least of your worries when it come to guns.
hack89
Apr 2013
#38
I call that being a control freak. And how would you find out what guns they owned
The Straight Story
Apr 2013
#67
We need to draw a line somewhere? Then draw it between criminals and noncriminals.
AnotherMcIntosh
Apr 2013
#30
I've been subject to the same treatment, but that's not the part that bugs me.
friendly_iconoclast
Apr 2013
#75
Stupid bigoted gun nuts who don't care if children die aren't going to listen to logic regardless.
DanTex
Apr 2013
#60
I presume you can see the circularity of your own argument without my needing to point it out? N.T.
Donald Ian Rankin
Apr 2013
#81