First off, that’s not Dan Baum in the picture. But I am NOT running that pic of him in the hat again. OK, so, when Mr. Baum first started lurking around TTAG, he ruffled more than a few feathers. Before alighting here, the seemingly oxymoronic liberal gun owner had pissed off the AR-15 forum but good; posting a request for interviews about secret arms caches. When the flames started licking his eyebrows, Dan flamed the flamers for flaming. (Home carry Dan, home carry.) Over here, over time, TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia began to consider the often bombastic Baum one of its own. And now we can begin to see Baum’s utility to the cause. The Huffington Post—the house organ of the VPC, The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and any pro-gun control whack job with a WP—has published a version of an anti-gun control article that appeared here. Imagine that . . .
For some reason, the HuffPo didn’t go with our headline: Dan Baum to Hi-Cap Mag Banners: “Calm the Fuck Down”. Instead, they went with After Tucson: Stricter Gun Laws Aren’t the Answer. How . . . prosaic.
As TTAG readers don’t need to know much more about Dan’s piece than the title, I draw your attention to the comments section. After all, the “former staff writer for The New Yorker” (i.e. HE’S ONE OF US!) is preaching to the unconverted. Except for the long-suffering HuffPo readers who do, indeed, get it. And have jumped in like hot kids into a Georgia swimming hole.
Unique viewers like HUFFPOST SNIPER USER: “This is the first reasonable article on the topic on this website.” Oh wait, that was HUFFPOST SUPER USER. My bad. Needless to say, Dan’s now pissing off an entirely new group of folks, like Jex Pat
Well Mr. Baum, like most Americans you’re simply ill informed on this issue. Whether that stems from cultural bias or laziness only you can say, but Australia’s gun reforms have indeed saved lives- thousands of them, as has been demonstrated more than once in peer reviewed epidemiological literature.
That said, firearms proliferation is probably yet another intractable problem that your nation will just have to accept the repeated and appalling consequences of.
Up with which we should not put, presumably. Meanwhile, say hello to GUN BANNER:
As an advocate for creating completely safe streets by eliminating gun violence, I know that the NRA has made Tea Party insurrectionists buy guns and accessories online in record number and that has caused the drop in the crime rate to be artificially deflated as a per gun owner statistics because these gun owners only had them to compensate for other shortcomings and didn’t get a chance to use them against people who stole their parking spot or cut them off in traffic. A complete ban on all guns is the only method to prevent these people from forfeiting their families, careers, and lives to settle a wild west duel that will happen at a rally and to stop criminals by making them feel sorry for unarmed people and not rob them and find someone challenging that they can work with.
Never mind. Dan’s never been afraid of making people angry. (Home carry Dan, home carry.) It’s only a matter of time before he gets into a pissing match with his new friends here at TTAG. Meanwhile, unfortunately, Stray123 sees the flaw in Dan’s plan to be the liberal’s man’s gun guy.
Ah yes….the subject is slowly dying. This time last week, this author’s post would have already had 1,000 comments. Oh well, back to minding my own business with my assault rifle, enjoyin my right to have an awesome gun.
That is one lucky gunner.
That is fantastic, good for Dan.
You know, it’s a common assumption that all or most gun owners are conservatives, but it’s just not true. My dad and brother are both about as liberal/progressive as they come, and both are gun owners and hunters.
I think one reason that perception exists is because there is a huge population of gun owners who are not “gun activists.” IOW, they don’t immerse themselves in the gun control debate, they aren’t members of gun clubs or otherwise affiliated with gun owner political groups (which ARE overwhelminlgy conservative.)
Chew on this for a moment: It’s been estimated that there are between 60 and 80 million gun owners in the US (depending on whose wild-ass guess you want to believe.) Yet the NRA, which considers itself the representative of all gun owners in the country, has circa 4 million members. So, even the big, barrel-chested 800lb gorilla of the gun owners in the US can only attract somewhere between 5 and 8 percent of the gun owners in the country.
There really is a lot more “diversity” among gun owners than either the gun rights groups or the gun banners would care to admit.
That is very true. The majority of my gun loving friends would not label themselves as conservatives and neither would I.
Almost everyone I know, left, right, center, radical, reactionary, all of them own at least one gun. Bonus-shockingly not one of them has accidentally or deliberately shot anyone (except for the LEOs and vets).
Count me in that bunch too. Part of the problem with the NRA being the flagship of gun rights is that it appears to be little more that a tentacle of the GOP to non-conservatives.
FWIW, Prof Reynolds just linked to Dan’s HuffPo article.
Liberal gun owner here. Not just one gun either. Love collecting, shooting, talking about, and reading about guns. I attribute my initial interest to awesome 80’s action movies and Miami Vice ( I so want a VLTOR Bren-Ten). My first purchase I attribute to a fear of actual local crime. That purchase induced an immediate sense of safety and well being. I live in a nicer neighborhood now but own more guns, because I like them. It pains me when I hear Liberal anti-gun talk. There are so many more pressing issues to be worked upon, that I believe would genuinely help people, than fighting over gun control.