Propaganda is insidious!

Reader Daryl writes in to say the following about the CBC gun article I just posted:

Daryl: Let's assume for one second the numbers are within an order of magnitude of correct. Outlawing all guns in the world changes the numbers not a whit.

Kudos to Daryl for this comment. Now I'm going to rip it apart. Because it made me think, and I think this is worth talking about.

First, Daryl is 100% right.

The CBC propaganda says:

The total came to $3.1 billion, or about $93 for every person in the country, says the study, completed last year by two federal researchers.

Outlawing all the guns in the world will not reduce the cost numbers from the CBC article. Why? Because the cost is from guns used in crime, by people who are already banned from having guns. Banning guns even harder will not effect the people using the guns in crime. At all. They will still be doing crimes, and they will still have guns.

However, because this is propaganda we're only talking about half the story. Because that's how the argument is framed, and that's what the CBC wants you thinking. In the cost-only half, the worst that can happen from banning all guns everywhere is -nothing-.

Second, Daryl is 100% wrong.

That's the insidious, evil part of the anti-gun lie. Nothing is not the worst that can happen.

Outlawing all the guns in the world doesn't disarm criminals, but it does disarm everybody else.

What is the cost of disarming everybody else? Are we going to hear about those costs? No we're not, because the CBC doesn't want you thinking about that. They want you emotionally invested in banning guns, not thinking about what will happen afterward.

Lets' think about history for a second.

When you ban guns from a country or a city you don't get idyllic peace with zero crime. You get Mexico. You get Jamaica. You get Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, New York City. Toronto.

What you actually get from a gun ban is a permanent crime wave, where punks shoot it out with the cops and with each other every night and all weekend. That's what happens with a functioning democracy still in place.

History shows us of course that a permanent crime wave isn't the worst thing that can happen. Its just the first thing that happens. The worst is the Armenian Genocide. Or Stalin's efforts in the Ukraine. Or Mao's Great Leap Forward.

So next time somebody starts braying about the Cost To Society of XYZ, ask them about the other side of the ledger. That's where the interesting info will be.

The Phantom