Sam Harris Stuns Liberals with Blog Post on Gun Control

[indymike]

For those of you not familiar with him, Sam Harris is co-founder of Project Reason, probably the most well-known atheism/agnosticism advocacy group.

He did a blog post last week and for those that follow him on Twitter and read his blog comments, they know he took an insane beating on this article by his traditional readers and fans of his books and other works....who tend to be very liberal.

I especially love the article because it uses pure math and logic to form conclusions.

The Riddle of the Gun : Sam Harris

and here is his response to his loyalists who criticized the hell out of him:

FAQ on Violence : Sam Harris


Lastly, this was posted a few weeks ago here at INGO but I just read it recently and think it deserves to be posted again. A brilliant primer on self-defense:

The Truth about Violence : 3 Principles of Self-Defense : Sam Harris

 

[ghuns]

Wow, dis guy's good
Not the die-hard 2nd Amendment supporter that most around here prefer, but a damn good writer and thinker. Thanks for sharing.

 

[T.Lex]

Wow - a blog with footnotes! I like!

 

[Denny347]

I've read several of his books and he is an excellent author.

 

[OneShotFOGE]

Very interesting article. Its refreshing to hear someone take a logical approach rather than find that obscure stat that portrays their own agenda and mislead people.

"We still have more guns and more gun violence than any other developed country, but the correlation between guns and violence in the United States is far from straightforward. Thirty percent of urban households have at least one firearm. This figure increases to 42 percent in the suburbs and 60 percent in the countryside. As one moves away from cities, therefore, the rate of gun ownership doubles. And yet gun violence is primarily a problem in cities. It is the people of Detroit, Oakland, Memphis, Little Rock, and Stockton who are at the greatest risk of being killed by guns."

I think that paragraph says everything to let people see the correlation between guns and violence... or the lack thereof rather.

 

[Solitaire]

Hard to argue with reason and logic. That certainly doesn't stop some people, though.

 

[Que]

This guy has the ability to take the emotion out of the discussion that I have failed to achieve in many conversations on this subject. I very much appreciate his singular position of "self defense" that doesn't get lost in the side conversations of rights, Constitution, liberals, etc.

 

[K_W]

Love him or hate him, Sam Harris is one of the smartest people currently living. I'm not surprised at all to hear this from him.

 

[eric001]

I have to say I firmly disagree with him on his interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, but as for his stance on self defense and how to put violence in perspective, Sam Harris seems to have hit the nail dead center on the head.

 

[indymike]

Love him or hate him, Sam Harris is one of the smartest people currently living. I'm not surprised at all to hear this from him.

Wholeheartedly agree. And not just smart as in intelligence with regard to very specialized fields, ie, theoretical physicists, molecular biologists etc. His open mind combined with a very well-tuned critical thinking and analytical skillset make him an excellent author in a very broad range of domains. I think his biography partially explains how his somewhat unique abilities developed. I didn't think "renaissance men" could still exist in this era of hyper-specialization but Harris comes close.

 

[lucky4034]

Good article... thanks for sharing!

 

[crispy]

Should be required reading for every single American. Makes too much sense.

 

[VikingWarlord]

He's able to articulate some things better than anyone I've ever seen. In addition to the self defense discussion, I like the bits about swimming pools and automobiles vs guns. This is the first time I've seen it brought up where it wasn't being used as a distraction or deflection.

I was not minimizing the threat of guns or suggesting an “either/or choice” as “a rhetorical trick.” I was putting the threat in context. If we want to keep our children safe, we should generally be guided by real probabilities. Thus, anyone who lies awake at night worrying about the prospects of another mass shooting, but reads email on his smartphone while driving his kids to school, has something to learn about relative risk. And anyone who wants to put a swimming pool in his backyard should consider the safety implications—which are analogous to those of owning a gun. The fact that guns are “designed to kill people,” while swimming pools aren’t, is beside the point. Such word games can be played both ways: A gun is designed to save your life when no other tool will do the job. Swimming pools are just for fun. As far as I can see, statements of this kind have no ethical content.

Gun violence is a subset of public safety issues and so talking about other components of public safety isn't always appropriate or necessary. Unless the discussion you're specifically having is about the larger topic of public safety issues, then pointing these things out is just trying to change the subject from the focused topic of gun violence to a less focused topic of public safety. The two aren't interchangeable.

 

[Tsigos]

Very interesting article. Its refreshing to hear someone take a logical approach rather than find that obscure stat that portrays their own agenda and mislead people.

"We still have more guns and more gun violence than any other developed country, but the correlation between guns and violence in the United States is far from straightforward. Thirty percent of urban households have at least one firearm. This figure increases to 42 percent in the suburbs and 60 percent in the countryside. As one moves away from cities, therefore, the rate of gun ownership doubles. And yet gun violence is primarily a problem in cities. It is the people of Detroit, Oakland, Memphis, Little Rock, and Stockton who are at the greatest risk of being killed by guns."

I think that paragraph says everything to let people see the correlation between guns and violence... or the lack thereof rather.

I agree. Nice to see a rational take on the issue. Regarding his quote about this being a problem in cities, I would take that a step further and say this is a problem in certain select neighborhoods within those cities. Remove gang-related murders (which are generally confined certain neighborhoods not traveled by most visitors) from the statistics and a city like Chicago would appear relatively safe.

Just like everything, gun control is a placebo to make people feel like their politicians are doing something. It allows people to put off addressing the real problems contributing to the city violence stats like gangs, poverty, poor education etc.

 

[lester]

Love him or hate him, Sam Harris is one of the smartest people currently living. I'm not surprised at all to hear this from him.

Sam Harris does not understand the power of the armed citizenry. Most of that article is useful. The conclusion is useful. The fact that it comes from a professed gun-control advocate makes it even more useful. His one paragraph about the second amendment, however, was mocking it, at best. An Armed citizenry is a deterrent force against tyranny, even in the 21st century, even if he doesn't understand or agree.

 

[OneShotFOGE]

I agree. Nice to see a rational take on the issue. Regarding his quote about this being a problem in cities, I would take that a step further and say this is a problem in certain select neighborhoods within those cities. Remove gang-related murders (which are generally confined certain neighborhoods not traveled by most visitors) from the statistics and a city like Chicago would appear relatively safe.

Just like everything, gun control is a placebo to make people feel like their politicians are doing something. It allows people to put off addressing the real problems contributing to the city violence stats like gangs, poverty, poor education etc.

I agree on the neighborhoods part. I still visit Chicago fairly regularly and feel very safe walking around Wrigleyville and down Michigan avenue. But there are neighborhoods you simply avoid.

 

[jdhaines]

Big fan of Sam Harris. Don't have time to read it now, but I'll read it soon. His other books, articles, etc are very well cited and written.

 

[iChokePeople]

Buried in that FAQ on violence piece is a great insight on a topic that comes up frequently here, dealing with urban attacks, whether against a group, or a guy with a weapon.

 

[rpsthirteen]

Sam Harris is great. I have a couple of his books.

 

[ghuns]

Boy, somebody is pissed...
Why Does Anyone Take Sam Harris Seriously?
Did you all know that it is common knowledge that more guns=more murders? Huh, I have to say that I was unaware of that little gem. I'd love for him to cite his source for this info. Oops, missed the link. It's from Harvard so it has to be right. Never mind that FBI data show the murder rate dropping to levels not seen since the 60's while firearms ownership rises.