Continuing from Part 1, this article addresses the remainder of Everytown’s Thanksgiving “Guide.”
Claimed Myth: Arming teachers will keep our kids safer in schools.
Alleged Fact: Arming teachers ignores research that shows the presence of a gun increases the risks posed to children and teachers. School safety experts and law enforcement oppose arming teachers.
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Armed teachers and staff can respond faster to a school shooter. Disarming teachers by law makes them sitting ducks. Several states allow concealed carry by school staff and on college campuses. How many incidents of crime have happened?
This reminds me of the debate over allowing pilots to be armed on planes after 9/11. Those opposed claimed that a pilot could commit a shooting. They apparently forgot that a pilot could weaponize an airplane just like the Jihadis did on 9/11. One of the theories of the missing Malaysian Airlines Flight 370 is that the pilot crashed it into the Indian Ocean.
Claimed Myth: We don’t own guns, so I don’t need to worry about my kids getting hold of one.
Alleged Fact: 4.6 million U.S. children live in a household with at least one loaded, unsecured gun. Children and teens access guns in homes other than their own.
Everytown is insulting the intelligence of its gun control supporters. The American people have lots of guns. It’s prudent to teach children how to react if they accidentally stumble upon a gun. But Everytown doesn’t like the NRA’s Eddie Eagle program, even though there’s research suggesting that having children watch a simple minute-long video on gun safety can have benefits.
Claimed Myth: Having a gun for self-defense makes individuals and their families safer.
Alleged Fact: Guns in the home increase the risk that anyone in the house, including children, will die by firearm suicide or unintentional injuries. And, domestic abusers with access to a gun are 5 times more likely to kill their female victims.
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Attorney Kostas Moros talks about a flawed Kellerman study that forms the basis of these claims. I think this is similar to sexual risk; yes, being sexually active increases your risk of contracting an STD, but the risks aren’t evenly distributed across the population. A prostitute will have a much higher risk than a monogamous housewife.
Claimed Myth: Everyone already has to get a background check when buying a gun.
Alleged Fact: Federal law only requires licensed dealers to perform background checks. That means that millions of guns are bought and sold by unlicensed sellers each year without one—often online or at gun shows.
Federal law can only require licensed dealers to perform background checks because they can’t control what happens intrastate (ahem). Everytown is again exaggerating and deceiving. You can’t buy a gun online and get it shipped to your doorstep; it must be shipped to a licensed seller (FFL) who will run a background check first. A complete Panopticon background check system cannot be enforced without a full gun and owner registry. Everytown wants to take baby steps towards a registry.
Claimed Myth: Red Flag laws take guns from people without due process.
Alleged Fact: Red Flag laws, which authorize courts to issue orders to temporarily remove firearms from someone who is determined to be a danger to themselves or others, protect due process. Final orders can only be issued after the person is given notice and an opportunity to be heard.
Red flag laws range from pastel pink to maroon. Everytown is making a universal claim, and as Kostas says, they shouldn’t. The catch about any red or yellow flag law is enforcement, and as both the Lewiston, ME and Buffalo, NY showed, government incompetence is the failure point.
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Claimed Myth: Shoot First laws provide everyone an equal right to self-defense.
Alleged Fact: Shoot First laws, which allow a person to use deadly force even when they can safely walk away, disproportionately impact Black Americans. In Shoot First states, homicides in which white shooters kill Black victims are deemed justifiable 5x more often than when the situation is reversed.
There is no such thing as a “Shoot First” law. Everytown is lying. The only people “shooting first” are criminals, and Everytown-allied Democrats have been working hard to decarcerate them and put them back out into the streets.
Claimed Myth: Gun violence affects Black and white people in the U.S. equally.
Alleged Fact: Black people in the U.S. are disproportionately impacted by various forms of gun violence. They experience more than 12 times the gun homicides, 18 times the gun assault injuries, and nearly 3 times the fatal police shootings of white Americans.
Another strawman argument. This isn’t a myth. It’s been known for decades, if not longer. White Americans have a much higher rate of gun ownership than Black Americans, so Everytown should be asking why the violence rates differ so much.
Claimed Myth: Active shooter drills make students and school staff more safe in the case of an active shooter.
Alleged Fact: There is no evidence to show student participation in active shooter drills saves lives and data shows they do cause trauma and anxiety. The best way to protect schools from school shootings are proven threat assessment programs and gun safety laws.
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I’d like to know which voices are whispering these myths into Everytown staffers’ ears. As for threat assessment programs, you can thank people like our own Ryan Petty, who have been advocating for behavioral threat assessments and taking precautions based on those. Lumping in gun “safety” laws along with behavioral threat assessments is how Everytown pollutes the discourse and makes it harder to take constructive actions.
To borrow a line I heard somewhere, Everytown is a pyromaniac in a field of strawmen.
I still think it’s best to just avoid arguing with preachy gun control ninnies during Thanksgiving. But if you must, or if you want to counter their regurgitated points at a later date, I hope this article helps you out.
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