Friday, May 28, 2010

Those stats aren't that hard to find.

...or, Ignorant and self-righteous is no way to go through life.

A letter to the editor, in this morning's Chronicle:

Concealed-handgun permit holders are some of the most law-abiding and responsible citizens around. As a group, concealed-handgun permit holders have an extremely low average of committing crime — much less than the average citizen.
A commenter:
What are the sources for your claiming that "concealed handgun" carriers are "low average" perpetrators of crime? And what crime? (Do you mean only gun crime? Only violent crime?) And, how about accidental injuries and death?
BAM! Here are your stats, dude. (PDF ALERT!) Rendered with maybe two minutes on Google. Unless you're one of those who thinks hot-check writers and speeders shouldn't be able to defend themselves, in which case you're just an authoritarian asshole. Accidental deaths of kids here, courtesy of the Centers for Disease Control. Accidental deaths from 2000 through 2005, for all age groups from 0-19 combined are in the low double digits. Why the emphasis on kids here? Well, that wasn't all the above-mentioned authoritarian asshole commenter said:
Maybe the deaths of innocent children is a price we have to pay for the Second Amendment.
But do not you dare go around and pretend you are a good person when you kill children with your selfishness. You legal ground is solid for now. Your moral ground is in Hell.
What do you say to that? "Kill children with your selfishness"? What the hell? That's about the most disgusting thing I've seen these cretins say yet. And moral ground in hell? Wow, what a judgmental asshole.