One of the things he discusses is that he doesn't think the response should be to clamp down on guns. Unfortunately, this is already the response of some people. I wouldn't go as far as saying they're being opportunistic because I think these gun control advocates are sincere. But it's still the wrong response. He discusses airport security after 9-11 too.
Jonathan Catalan had a well-regarded post on Mises.org (fifth most read) this year on the "culture of fear" that drives a lot of government action that I think fits this message perfectly. I didn't like a lot of the points Jonathan made at the time. I think he went, far, far too far - identifying a lot of policies as the product of fear that I wouldn't have at all, but the basic dynamic he highlights clearly rings true.Monday, January 10, 2011
Liberty and Tragedy
Andrew Sullivan points to this moving interview of the father of the 9 year old girl that was killed:
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"We are going to live forever. We must believe that; otherwise we would not rise up in spontaneous outrage whenever a stuck accelerator causes a car to crash or a surgical procedure goes awry. Science and technology have made our world not only foolproof but death-proof, or at least they would have, were it not for unscrupulous manufacturers and diabolical white males who roam the world seeking the ruin of bodies. Every natural disaster, human error, or manifestation of Original Sin is an occasion not just for an exercise in national breast-beating but for some piece of sweeping legislation that will eliminate risk or eradicate evil." - Thomas J. Fleming
ReplyDeleteI think the odd thing about calling gun control advocates opportunistic here is that it entirely ignores the whole argument for tighter gun control... advocates have said, "Loose gun laws will lead to tragic, violent incidents", and then once one of these incidents occurs, they're expected to not tie it to gun control issues? It's not as if they're engaging in some sort of post hoc analysis. They told us ahead of time that something like this would happen.
ReplyDeleteNow, they may still be wrong about lax gun laws causing an event like this, but then we should simply argue that they're wrong (as you have here, rather than accusing them of opportunism). If someone who has consistently said "guns will kill, guns will kill" can't say "see, this is what happens" once guns do kill without being accused of opportunism, then what's the point of even having a debate? We've censored the case for gun control from the beginning.
No that's true, which is why I said I wouldn't call them opportunistic.
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