http://www.americas1stfreedom.org/articles/2015/4/15/how-to-win-a-debate-with-an-anti-gunner/
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First of all, do not debate.
For the Too long/don't want to read crowd:
Try it the next time someone starts to "discuss" you and your gun.
stay safe.
If the link is giving you trouble, right-click on it and copy nto your browser.
First of all, do not debate.
The confrontations always begin the same way: Someone asks what I do, I tell them, and if they aren’t for the U.S. Bill of Rights as written, I see battalions of “I’m-more-enlightened-than-you” thoughts assembling behind their politically correct eyes. Soon, they’re firing anti-gun sentiments at me.
Until I learned a better way, I’d counterattack with shock troops of facts. Before long there would be gaping wounds in their logic, and their ignorance would be bleeding all over them.
Those debates were always a lot of fun—especially when the people were from England—but over time I noticed that my opponents were mostly leaving angry. I was winning debates, but I wasn’t helping to change views. They’d soon use pride, and quite possibly conceit, as tourniquets for their hemorrhaging self-esteem. They’d hate me, and would be consoled by others who share their viewpoint. Soon, the facts I’d used to attack their unfounded convictions would fade, and they’d go back to feeling morally superior.
I was winning debates, but I wasn’t helping to change views. All of that changed one evening ....
For the Too long/don't want to read crowd:
Using this strategy, here’s how I respond to four common types of people I’ve encountered over the years.
#1 - [person] who thinks he or she is on the moral high ground when telling you guns should be banned and that gun- free zones work.
I ask, “Why do you feel gun-free zones save lives?”
They typically respond with a generality, such as that they feel there are too many guns in society. They don’t have any experience with guns and are afraid of firearms.
I like to tell them about my conversations with Evan Todd, a young man who had a gun held to his head by one of the Columbine killers, but who now has spoken at hundreds of schools and in other places about how he wishes a good guy with a gun had gotten on the scene sooner. Then it’s easy to calmly point out that mass murderers have a habit of taking guns into “gun-free zones.”
Finally, I give teachers a way out by telling them they can attain an educated opinion by taking a local gun-safety course. The NRA lists these and other courses at findnra.nra.org.
#2 - Those who naively think disarming law-abiding citizens will make them safer.
I ask, “Why would disarming your neighbor make you feel safer?”
After they answer, I ask if they know their neighbors. This humanizes the point. I then ask why they feel average Americans can’t be trusted. Now that I’ve broadened the point, I explain that the nation’s violent crime rate hit an all-time high in 1991 and thereafter declined in 18 of the next 20 years—49 percent overall, to a 41-year low in 2011. This decline includes a 52-percent decrease in the nation’s murder rate.
All this happened even as the number of privately owned firearms and the number of states with right-to-carry laws rose to all-time highs.
Now it’s easy to explain that many people don’t know this because newspapers find more profit in printing bad news. Then I can end the discussion by asking them to be neighborly and tolerant (they love that word), and by showing them how to learn more about their freedom.
#3 - The well-meaning, but startingly ignorant, types who just want to be safe.
I ask, “How would you feel if you were trapped in a public place with some madman who was assassinating people?”
After they answer, I ask, “Now, in that state of helplessness, would you like it if an average American gun owner was there with a chance of stopping the killer, or would you prefer to wait for the police?”
Most reasonable people will stop and ponder that. Maybe they finally say they just want all those military-style arms taken away from people. Maybe they flounder about for another false premise. Either way, they’re looking for answers.
It’s easy to explain that just about every type of firearm has been used by the military and u.s. citizens, and about how, in a free country, the two are necessarily linked. You can explain all about semi-automatic firearms, and how this century-plus-old technology represents the most commonly owned firearm type today.
Wherever the conversation goes, just be sure to let them know that it’s okay they don’t know these things, as schools rarely teach this information. Then tell them about your favorite books or articles on these topics, and offer to share them.
#4 - The committed anti-gun zealot who truly hates you.
I like to ask, “What makes you feel so cruel toward women and the elderly?”
They usually respond with shock, as they gasp, “What?!!” After they’ve had their say, I explain that it’s cruel to prevent, for example, an elderly man or woman from having the one tool that we know can stop a bad guy from badly injuring or killing them.
I point out that anti-Second Amendment policies empower thugs and murderers. This is a cruel thing to do to good, law-abiding people. Depending on the particular person and the context of the opportunity, you can easily let their egos off the hook by explaining that they probably just haven’t had the opportunity to hear this side of the argument before. If they have any reasonableness left in them, you can then begin to help them see past their bias.
Note that with all these types of people, if you ask the right questions you can at least make them start considering more seriously the real truth about gun ownership.
Try it the next time someone starts to "discuss" you and your gun.
stay safe.
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