The 12 Most Common Fallacious Gun Arguments (and How to Refute Them)

[ehrnst]

These are addressed at the link:

#1 If guns are outlawed then only outlaws will have guns.

#2 I need a gun to protect myself from my corrupt government.

#3 Well knives and cars kill people! Do you want to outlaw knives and cars too?

#4 Guns don’t kill people. People kill people.

#5 The only thing that stops a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun.

#6 Gun control doesn’t work. Chicago has incredibly strict gun control laws and they have a huge gun violence problem.

#7 What about Switzerland? They are required to own guns and they don’t have a gun violence problem.

#8 What about Hitler? He took away all the guns and look what happened there.

#9 Well, drugs are illegal and yet we still have a drug problem in America.

#10 Gun prohibition would never work. With 300 million guns already owned in America, you could never collect them all. I sure as hell wouldn’t give mine up!!

#11 You can’t take away my right to own a gun!! It’s in The Constitution!!

#12 Okay, you made some great points, but now is not the time to discuss gun control. It’s wrong of you to politicize a tragedy.

https://theindependentthinker2016.wordpress.com/2017/10/05/the-12-most-common-fallacious-gun-arguments-and-how-to-refute-them/

[Ohiogal]

1. I can't thank you enough for this.

Am saving for the next time I get in a "discussion" with a gun nut. Thank you!

[Squinch]

2. One other observation: their first tactic is always to try to get you tangled in minutia.

This is why you will ALWAYS see them ask questions like: "exactly which gun control measures are you endorsing?" or "so if you don't want to take away ALL guns, which ones DO you want to take away?" or "You think ALL gun owners are evil or just some of them, and exactly which ones are not?"

This is a tactic. It is always a way for them to get to one of the arguments listed above. Or to dismiss you as someone who doesn't know enough about guns to have the conversation. (The old "It's not a clip, it's a magazine." "it's not a magazine, it's a clip" bullshit.)

Here's the fact: there are multiple gun control measures that are supported by everyone in this country with the exception of a small, vocal, trollish minority. We all know what they are. They have been discussed and listed ad nauseam. I recommend that when they start asking you to list things, you point out that this is an NRA tactic and they should go and google those measures that are supported by more than 75% of American citizens.

They have a script. They are lost without their script, and when you don't follow their script, it is fun to watch them panic and repeat themselves because they can't think of anything to say.

Don't let them use their script.

[ehrnst]

3. Yep, the smokescreen - also known as the Gish Gallop.

Saw that same thing lot when people were trying to "prove" Hillary was a lying corporate shill.

Same lack of logic, and same desperate vomiting of various half truths and questions when cornered on how bad their information was.

Always ended with "Go get your paycheck from Correct the Record, shill!" or "Or go get your paycheck from Soros!"

[StarlightGold]

4. I'm done discussing

this with gun-humpers. We're done. I now simply ignore them and am now concentrating on the momentum those wonderful kids have started. Let's just concentrate on creating the Blue Tsunami in November.

[Squinch]

5. Yes, this exactly. Our mistake was trying in good faith to engage them in discussion.

Here on DU and everywhere else.