« Wash. case on sentencing & arms rights | Main | Clayton Cramer on book tour »
Brady equivocates on self-defense
In the Gainesville Times:
"Incidents like last week's shooting "are definitely being played up to justify this slew of fake self-defense laws," said Zach Ragbourn, a spokesman for the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. "I know if this (incident) happened two years ago, the result would have been the same. Police and prosecutors are not evil people bent on trying to put citizens away. A righteous shooting is a righteous shooting."
Ragbourn believes the new laws could serve to provide a defense for a criminal who kills someone in a shootout by claiming he feared for his safety. He said the Brady Campaign has never been opposed to the use of firearms for legitimate self-defense purposes.
"There are absolutely times when you have to defend yourself," Ragbourn said. "We do say that while there is legitimate value to gun ownership, the value doesn't always outweigh the risks."
Guns in homes are 22 times more likely to cause harm to the residents than to be used in defense of those homes, Ragbourn said."
5 Comments | Leave a comment
"Guns in homes are 22 times more likely to cause harm to the residents than to be used in defense of those homes, Ragbourn said."
Argh, not that bull statistic again. They sure get a lot of mileage out of that one.
"Guns in homes are 22 times more likely to cause harm to the residents than to be used in defense of those homes, Ragbourn said."
Have you noticed that the number changes every time you hear it?
That "56 times more likely" or "22 times more likely" number sounds exactly what ol' "Tailgunner" Sen. Joe McCarthy (R-WI) used to do back in the 1950s.
Historians researched how many times he changed the number of Communists working in the State Dept.; it was well over 20 different numbers at different times. Even McCarthy admitted in private he had trouble keeping the number straight.
He just made it up for the early version of a soundbite. He knew no one in the press would check, so he knew he could get away with it.
56, 22--or 300? The Brady Campaign is well on its way to besting the infamous Senator in the use of lies, obfuscation, and outright fabrication of statistics. Who can take these bozos seriously anymore?
Well, I see alot of angry people that like guns. Well with a gun there will always be that gap between excessive force or just enough force.
Most crimes against people can be solved by Non-Lethal means that are legal to have and use. my business sells very effective and non-lethal means of every type. All have been proven effective under many conditions and in many situations.
Check us out.
Hahahahaha. We win, we win! We dont lose, we win!
This would be like Microsoft announcing that Office will be compatible with Linux and stating that they always supported choice of platforms in the marketplace.