How to Debate Gun Control or Confiscation
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By: Doug Kunkel, October 3, 2024
- Gun Grabber: We need common sense gun control laws.
Response: Ask what specific gun control laws they want. Don’t allow them to get away with the ridiculously vague phrase “common sense gun control”. That’s meaningless. Demand that they provide the specific laws they want added to the books. If they continue to repeat that phrase turn the tables and start talking about common sense border control and common sense tax cuts without any details.
If you successfully direct a gun grabber to provide specific gun control laws they want they’ll likely describe laws that ALREADY EXIST. Definitely bring that to their attention when this occurs. Point out that cities like Chicago and Washington DC that have the most gun control laws also have some of the highest shooting and murder rates.
- Gun Grabber: Only the police and military should have guns.
Response: Tell them that you saw a movie documenting the very utopia they desire…..it was called “Schindler’s List”. Seriously, their idea is a recipe for tyranny. Point out that the second amendment is the amendment that protects all of our other rights. The bill of rights (much like a restraining order) is just a piece of paper without the ability of a citizen to protect themselves from criminals and from a tyrannical government.
Also, remind them that there has been pressure to defund the police and in many leftist jurisdictions this has already occurred. In addition, in leftist cities police are routinely ordered to stand down when violent riots and other are perpetrated by one of the many violent leftist groups such as Antifa and BLM. Without police protection from these leftist brownshirts citizens must be able to defend themselves, their families, and their property.
- Gun Grabber: We need more gun free zones.
Response: Point out that schools and many other places where mass shootings occur are gun free zones, which means that only criminals will have guns at these locations and the bad guys have little fear of a legal gun owner or police officer (especially since defunding) from stopping them. Don’t allow the gun grabber to claim that a crime has never been stopped by a good guy with a gun. This is a ridiculous claim that is easily refuted by presenting statistical data on the defensive use of a gun. John Lott has a great book, “More Guns, Less Crime” that presents crime statistics that prove criminals are less likely to commit crimes if they fear armed resistance. - Gun Grabber: They should reinstate the “assault weapons ban”.
Response: Point out that there was an assault weapons ban under Bill Clinton and crime statistics proved it didn’t have any conclusive effect. In addition, ask them to define what an “assault weapon’ is. You’re going to get some ignorant answers. There are some incorrect definitions for assault weapon on the internet, including “a gun that LOOKS LIKE an assault weapon” so here’s the correct information you can use when debating with a gun grabber. Please note that both of these features must be present to constitute an assault rifle:
a. A rifle that is capable of semi-automatic and fully automatic operation (i.e. select fire). Note that AR-15s sold to civilians are not capable of fully automatic operation and is therefore not an assault weapon.
b. The cartridge for an assault rifle is of intermediate size (larger than pistol ammunition but smaller than rifle ammunition). Examples of intermediate cartridges are 5.56×45, 5.45×39, and 7.62×39.
- Gun Grabber: If they still insist that an AR-15 is an “assault rifle by claiming that “the AR in AR-15 stands for Assault Rifle”
Response: Please educate them. The AR stands for the Armalite company, which is the manufacturer that first developed and built the innovative rifle platform designed by Eugene Stoner in the 1950s. - Gun Grabber: The AR-15 is a weapon of war.
Response: The AR-15s sold to civilians look similar to the M-16 or, more currently, the M-4 used by our military. However, civilian versions of various military rifles (e.g., FN FAL, Steyr AUG, AK-47, Tavor, UZI, FN SCAR, etc.) are semi-automatic (one pull of the trigger fires one bullet). They are not select fire like the military and law enforcement versions and are not capable of fully automatic fire without highly illegal modifications to the fire control components. Our military would be ill equipped if they were provided with the civilian versions of their current small arms. - Gun Grabber: High-capacity magazines should be illegal.
Response: Some states including CA and WA have banned supposed high-capacity magazines. Many original issue standard capacity magazines hold more than the maximum number of rounds dictated by the ridiculous high-capacity bans (commonly limited to 10 rounds). The result of this nonsense ban is that hundreds of thousands of firearms owners now own banned magazines. In WA state if someone owned those banned magazines prior to the ban they may keep them………for now. If that provision is removed, those law-abiding gun owners will automatically become criminals. In addition, how do you prove that you purchased the high-capacity magazine prior to the ban? Magazines don’t have serial numbers and the purchaser likely didn’t save any of their purchase paperwork.
It’s also important to note that the big 100-round or more aftermarket drum magazines that some people buy for their firearms are ridiculous in my opinion but I don’t support a ban on them. They are unwieldy and make the firearm much more difficult to conceal. In addition, those huge magazines are generally unreliable causing jams and failure to feed issues.
The big drum magazines don’t provide any real advantage to a shooter because reliable standard capacity magazines can easily be changed in 1-2 seconds or less with a bit of practice making the capacity issue a moot point. With practice a shooter can even shoot a lot of rounds very fast with a revolver. Professional shooter Jerry Miculek used a 6-shot revolver to shoot 12 rounds on target (6 shots, reload, 6 more shots) in under 3 seconds. See this feat of speed and skill here.