Thursday, January 27, 2011
Gun Ownership≠Racism
Last week was Fox News and this week is MSNBC, but both involve Democrats, and unique ways of expressing their opinion. The gist of this video is that Michael Moore believes that people who own guns, own the guns based on some sort of racist grounds. This video circulated around a few political blogs I read, and was discussed a lot. Now, to begin I must first say that I am both a Republican and my family owns a gun, so I clearly disagree with Michael Moore's statement. I should also state, that we own a Glock 23, but not for home security. Shooting is something that is challenging and an activity that people can do with other people. When I got to be about 17, my dad and I didn't really do anything together in terms of having a catch or playing sports. However, my dad knew that I wanted to work in law enforcement and would like to try shooting a gun. One day, my dad surprised me and said he had gotten a gun. It kind of just sat hidden in his room, but then one day we finally got a chance to go to the range and we took turns getting used to shooting a gun and even tried trap shooting that day. We keep going because it is a competition between the two of us and it is engaging to keep trying to get better and get closer to the bulls eye as best we can.
Michael Moore, uses a racist argument for basically no reason. It brings attention to his view, but it seems like a poor basis. I think there are plenty of valid arguments against gun ownership, but this really was the first time that I heard racism used as the reason that people own guns. I think almost everyone who uses a gun goes to the range and shoot it to have fun and hone their skill. There is probably barely anyone that keeps their gun locked up in their home, only to be used for the safety of the home.
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I come from a family where everyone has and knows how to use a gun. But the reason my family owns guns is not for protection, but for hunting. Each year, at least 3 people in my family go out to Western Maryland to go hunting. It's family bonding for us. If we manage to get a deer, we'll bring it home, skin it, and eat it. And then the guns go away. My older brother got his first real gun when he was 15, and my younger brother, who is 12, has many BB and pellet guns. Knowing how to handle a gun is a useful life skill, and has absolutely nothing to do with being racist.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how his assertion about race's role in gun ownership was received by his target audience, the mostly liberal MSNBC viewing audience?
ReplyDeleteMy guess is that from their perspective, this is a primary motivation for gun owners. (I'm reminded of President Obama's comment a couple years ago that when things get rough, people in small towns "cling to guns or religion.") Of course, this is a simplistic caricature of gun owners, ignoring other perfectly valid reasons for owning a gun.
Now it's true that those whose primary reason is to protect against home invasions probably overestimate the likelihood of such an event. And, statistically speaking, I'm sure some of them do harbor some racism or classism. But to conflate this with all gun ownership strikes me as poor argumentation.
FYI: You might adjust the color scheme. Once you click on a link, it goes black and you can't see it against the background. (You can edit individual colors for things like links by going to Design --> Template Designer.)
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