This week on the show I discussed the disingenuousness of Mayor Bloomberg as he says in the video below that because of loose gun laws he is concerned for the safety of his family, while he is widely quoted as having said in November that “I have my own army in the NYPD, which is the seventh biggest army in the world….I have my own State Department.” But what galls me is that he and others are using the Trayvon Martin killing to set the stage for a new push to further curtail our Second Amendment rights. Although I’m not a gunslinger myself (yet), I do believe that the Second Amendment is what stands between us and complete tyranny. Below the video are a couple of links I think may be of interest in defense of gun rights.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EOZy1I7MXlU]
Here’s a book I haven’t read yet but looks promising: More Guns, Less Crime, by John Lott. In addition, on the show I read a few statistics from this short article supporting the argument that not only is the Second Amendment essential for long run protection against the over-reaching state, gun rights actually result in fewer deaths each year since they are such a powerful deterrent to crime: Nine Myths of Gun Control. I liken the benefits of gun rights to quitting smoking: I would have done it so I could live longer even if it didn’t make me feel better every day, but I feel SO much better every day that alone made it worth it! Gun rights not only keep the government at bay in the long run, they save lives every day.
But beyond my irritation that gun control advocates rely on anecdotal and emotional arguments over statistics, facts and fundamental principles of liberty, and typically exploit tragedies such as the Trayvon Martin case, it further aggravates me that such noise diverts people’s attention from the fact that thousands and thousands of lives are taken each year–mostly black and Hispanic–in the Drug War. I just finished reading Drug Crazy, by Mike Gray, and will review it soon on this website, but I recommend it for a page-turner overview of the origins and impact of the Drug War. For more on the structural barriers to ever overcoming racial injustice without systemic change, I am eager to read The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, by Michelle Alexander. And for a quick read, here is a short essay I recommended on the show How the War on Drugs is Destroying Black America, by John McWhorter, a linguistics professor at Berkeley whose book Authentically Black I found very interesting. Finally, I read a quote from the following video of Walter Williams (author of The State Against Blacks) discussing his new book Race and Economics on Stossel.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWp02zFT004]
I hope you enjoyed the show! For podcasts, video and other info about the show, check out my page at wsbradio.com.
8 thoughts on “Trayvon Martin, Gun Control & the Drug War: On & About This Week's Show”
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Did you see the column by Walter Williams I referenced in my last post?
http://charleneoldham.com/2012/03/30/walking-a-mile-in-trayvons-shoes/
Interesting thoughts.
Thank you for that–great article by Williams. He notes the higher rate of crime in certain black neighborhoods and the rationality behind certain types of profiling. I would say that we should look to WHY crime continues to plague inner city neighborhoods and minorities disproportionately. I would look to massive government programs and policies like the Drug War, the Welfare State and compulsory education as the reasons these communities have incentives to make good money in the black market or find themselves unready to function in the cookie cutter mainstream of the American middle class. I would further argue with the notion of unintended consequences. It’s almost impossible for me to believe that such drastic, predictable and lasting consequences of programs providing disincentives to achieve and be free have the unintended consequences of creating a permanent underclass. I would classify this as “conspiranoid” but for such historical evidence of intentionally racist policies masked as public services, specifically Planned Parenthood which was founded by an avowed eugenecist, Margaret Sanger, who attended at least one Klan meeting and a dozen more similar meetings promoting her notion of using abortion to control the black population. Milton Friedman, in his book Capitalism, makes a great argument for how capitalism destroys discrimination. Racism as a form of prejudice or prejudging would go away if it were irrational–in order to keep us pitted against each other there has to be something to support the stereotypes. This is why I won’t believe black leaders like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton are really working for black people until I see them lead million man marches on Washington to legalize drugs–until that day, until they call attention to the real problem, until they stop diverting our attention away from the real problem, I will consider them part of the manipulation.
Yes, history is replete with racist policies and people. It’s a rare public figure, however, who will point out the progress we have made away from racial prejudice in this country. That’s a political non-starter and will not keep the populous fearful, as we must be in order to be easily manipulated. A citizenry preoccupied with real or perceived racism, real or perceived terrorism, etc., will not be alert to the continual stratagems of the political class to fleece Americans and involve us in unending war.
Regarding Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, I think they took the blue pill and believe that drugs are the problem, not American drug policy. Jesse and Al, TAKE THE RED PILL!
More Guns surely don’t mean less crime. when we talk about macro economics or human psychology, we’r not talking on perfect science like physics, and need to be careful when we talk about total gun equilibrium, complete free markets or anarco capitalism. these “concepts” expect high moral values(in case of capitalism) and mental sanity and logical thinking (in case of Gun freedom) for them to work effectively. Sadly we are human beings, we are not built like machines and cannot control our desires, of greed, of hate, of anger…for us to function in such concepts of complete free markets and gun equilibrium we need to display divine powers of self control and honesty which we as human beings are NOT capable of.
I am not saying we would have no violence or no poverty with more guns and more economic freedom, I am saying we would have far less violence and far less poverty and this is why: The coercive state is by far the most violent, dangerous entity that ever existed. Estimates range from 80 million to 169 million of people killed BY THEIR OWN GOVERNMENTS in the 20th Century–not including those killed by enemy combatants in wars (which are per force between governments). Furthermore, the coercive state has one central purpose and that is to convey privileges to some at the expense of others–this reduces overall wealth and increases wealth inequality. I don’t think an armed and free citizenry will result in a utopia of peace and harmony, just a far superior system through which violence and inequality can be met with some resistance and not remain inherent features of the system.
I believe we ARE capable of such self control. Have you considered the case of Switzerland? According to Wikipedia, Switzerland has one of the highest gun ownership rates in the world, yet their murder rate is very low.
Am with you on the coercive states, their violence and evil, and there are no two opinions about it, but at the same time, just wanted to highlight the other side of the coin. the sight of guns hanging out of everyone is not pretty as well, and there needs to be a balance between authority of state and decentralization of power. And on the Trayvon Martin murder case, there is NO doubt that it was a result of an IDIOT being armed with a gun. An idiot who couldn’t rationalize the logical threats posed by a 17 year old kid. And i feel sorry to see Americans beating around the bush and hiding behind “self defense” and “gun control laws” instead of pressing charges and prosecuting the murderer.
Switzerland is a bad comparison to the situation in US. their youths go through mandatory basic military training at the are of 20, All of them, do we? I don’t think so.