The freedom of speech may be one of the greatest protected freedoms in the United States of America. While all American’s have the freedom to exercise the first amendment, not everyone does so responsibly.
What is responsible speech? It is the expression of a belief or opinion shared as a structured argument supported by facts and tangible evidence. An uniformed emotional rant is not responsible, nor is it productive.
While many Americans have strong opinions about gun-control and the 2nd Amendment, there are a sad few who express their opinions irresponsibly. Take a look at the people interviewed here.
Each of these strangers is shown an image featuring a Glock 17, an AR-15, a Mini-14, a SH-17 blaster pistol, a A280C blaster rifle, and an A235 blaster rifle.
Three of those are popular firearms for sale in the United States, and the others are fictional laser guns from the Star Wars Universe. The strangers are asked which of these guns they think should be banned. “This one looks pretty dangerous to me,” said one young lady pointing to a blaster rifle.
“But wait,” you may say, “that’s not fair! These people aren’t gun owners, they can’t be expected to know which guns are real and which guns are fake!”
Yes they can, and here’s why.
Gun-control advocates want the power to redefine your freedom. They expect to be heard live at protests, online through social media, and over the airwaves by mass media. They expect and want so much, but so few are willing to educate themselves about the thing they are trying to ban. If they expect to be heard, then they can be expected to be informed. If you want to ban something, you damn well better know what it is.
An argument based on nothing more than fear is irresponsible, and it should be ignored.