“You take guns away from our civilians, police officers won’t need to have guns,” rapper 21 Savage opines. I don’t have to tell TTAG’s Armed Intelligentsia that Mr. Joseph’s “answer” to officer-involved shootings is about as well thought-out as Mr. Obama’s answer to rising health care costs.

Despite Mr. Joesph’s personal experience with firearms — the Atlanta native claims he was kicked out of sixth grade for gun possession — he’s hardly alone in his inability to think rationally about policing or “gun violence.” I spend a good part of my day fisking the inane, ill-informed anti-gun animus generated by college-educated writers in the mainstream media.

desantis-blue-logo-no-back-4-smallThese are, perhaps, the two extremes: uneducated Americans incapable of rational analysis and over-educated Americans who ignore reality to suit their agenda. What about the middle? How dumb are average Americans when it comes to gun rights? Do they know why our Founding Fathers created the Second Amendment? Do they know what the Constitution is? I reckon the degradation and destruction of gun rights in urban centers can be directly linked to the consistent failures of union/government-controlled public education systems. Am I wrong?

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69 COMMENTS

  1. The fail is strong with this one……. The police are jumpy because of the illegally armed street thugs. ‘Taking away’ guns from civilians will not change that situation even 1%.

  2. He’s named after a shotgun. (Savage Model 21) How poetic. 21 Doofus is forgetting about all the knives out there I guess? Who are these people?

    • Don’t be silly, he doesn’t care about the knives, because he is the only one who is smart enough to keep his gun when everybody else gives theirs up! Can’t you tell, just looking at him, how brilliant he is?

  3. I have relatives who absolutely do not know what the Constitution is, believe that whatever they themselves decide should be considered law, without any oversight at all, they are that incredibly smart and well informed. And I have talked with others who seemed no more informed on the subject of their own importance.

  4. England did away with the vast majority of private gun ownership and the next day there was no homicide, rape, abuse, and other violent acts (please note there is sarcasm intended in my comment).

    • Understanding the sarcasm, but it might be close to the truth for that one day, but the d after that criminals using guns went wild because neither the people nor the police had guns.

      Today, according to law enforcement in the UK, while guns have been banned, they are used daily by criminals to rob mom and pop stores as well as upscale stores. They are easy to get. More often than not, the weapon used is a handgun or a replica of one. Of course we can not ignore the official who was hacked to death with machetes wielded by Muslims. In Australia, when guns were banned, they experienced a tremendous increase in person and property crimes which law enforcement attributes to criminals no longer having fear of being hurt while committing a crime. Law Enforcement officers are increasingly receiving firearms training and more are either armed or have access to arms. The numbers of what we would call SWAT teams is being increased. Guns are still in the hands of criminals and used regularly between rival gangs and drug dealers. Molotov cocktails are regularly used to scare shopkeepers into paying protection.

  5. So the police have never beat a suspect into incoherence or death? Nah that’s never happened. Just the gun’s fault, the sword’s fault, the stick’s fault, the rock’s fault. Maybe eventually we can get the the fact that it’s the hand’s fault, and I can have all my toys back?

    I think people are just dumb; the bell curve of intelligence is most assuredly skewed. On top of that, the bell curve of the ability to apply that intelligence, is even far more skewed.

  6. Well…
    Thinking for yourself is hard. For those not used to it, it gives them a headache. It’s much easier to zone out and watch some football on the tube. With beer and chips….

    • There is no expedient to which a man will not resort to avoid the real labour of thinking.*

      – Sir Joshua Reynolds

      *Including, on occasion, borrowing another man’s words in place of composing an original comment. Mea Culpa.

    • I spend all day thinking. Tonight at 825 I’ll be watching the Patriots whoop the Texans. Then I’ll go back to thinking for a living.

  7. “How dumb are average Americans when it comes to gun rights?”
    answer: pretty darned

    “Do they know why our Founding Fathers created the Second Amendment?”
    answer: by and large, no

    “Do they know what the Constitution is?”
    answer: they know of the Constitution.
    Sadly most people do not know its true purpose much less its text.

    “I reckon the degradation and destruction of gun rights in urban centers can be directly linked to the consistent failures of union/government-controlled public education systems.”
    answer: affirmative

    • Ever since modern medicine surpassed natural selection and Darwinism, our species has been doomed to cater to the lowest common denominator because that’s how the rich stay rich.

      Self perpetuating stupidity fueled by greed.

      • You’re almost right. Catering to the LCD is how the government grows and perpetuates itself. Except, the government doesn’t generate wealth. The rich do. The problem is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.

  9. And I wonder how many firearms this gentleman and his friends have… and knowing the ilk involved in the national rap community… how many are prohibited persons.

  10. “There are, perhaps, the two extremes: uneducated Americans incapable of rational analysis and over-educated Americans who ignore reality to suit their agenda.”

    The forming being the intended marks of the latter.

  13. Enough about the blessed Constitution. What about the Declaration of Independence?

    It begins:

    “IN CONGRESS, July 4, 1776.

    The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

    When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

    We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”http://www.archives.gov/exhibits/charters/declaration_transcript.html

    TELL ME THAT DOESN’T REQUIRE “ARMS”, THAT YOU DON’T NEED YOUR ASSHOLE NEIGHBOR’S PERMISSION TO OBTAIN.

  16. The electorate is dominated by degraded low information voters across the political spectrum. That is why we get people like Clinton and Trump as potential Presidents.

    Most voters, including so-called Constitutional Conservatives, couldn’t pass an open book Constitution test.

    And yes, you can infringe on the Second Amendment rights of convicted felons because rights can be deprived with due process of law.

  18. Generally speaking once baseline laws are established (eg murder) anytime someone is referring to a law aimed at the public rather than restrictions government and says “There should be a law…” they’re on the wrong track.

    Laws don’t prevent behavior they assign a punishment for getting caught exhibiting that behavior. Actually preventing bad behavior is done via education in school and at home.

  19. In their mythical world without guns (or any weapons, I presume), the big, the strong, and the better trained will dominate. So I find it laughable that wispy chic-lit majors, sunken chested punks, and pajama boys want to do away with them.

  20. I wouldn’t take political advice from an eleven year old, so I’m not taking advice from somebody with the reasoning skills, education and reading level, of an eleven year old either.

  22. Mr. Savage, pray tell, who exactly will be taking the guns away from everyone and how will you make them comply if they refuse?

  25. To paraphrase Silly Savage: “Don’t start nothin’ won’t be nothin’.”

    Street culture at its most wise and articulate.

  27. Tell me again why the opinion of some dumbshit with a tattoo on the middle of his face is important? When this fool can discuss societal decay and examine the root causes of our American thug culture problem a little bit further, well talk.

    Guess he hasnt read anything about the saracens terrorizing Europe in recent memory…

    Theres a TTAG quote file I save stuff in occasionally, gotta find the quote but basically it is “Those who wish for the removal of firearms are begging for a return to rule where the biggest meanest animals were automatically “right” “.

  28. People in the middle of uneducated or over-educated? I think there is a lack of understanding of history and human behavior. Most people forget about history after high school or maybe maintain a casual interest, probably in the Civil War or WWII. Most in the middle are shoveled garbage history (how many car flipping shows on the History channel now?). I think by and large, many in our society live such comfortable, decadent, self-centered lives that they don’t possibly think that anything could ever happen that would change that. And they think that if something does happen there will be people there to protect them and solve the problem.

    History clearly refutes these ideas. Every empire falls, every country falls prey to civil unrest (it’s already happened one really big time here, but even that is considered ancient), every country is eventually invaded, every government eventually changes (and turns on it’s citizens). Maybe those changes are good (fall of Communism) or maybe they are bad (rise of IS). Every country eventually has famines or spirals into economic depression.

    When that happens the worst (and sometimes the best) come out in people by and large. Those of us who understand this and recognize that potential as being ever-present even if far off, understand the need for self-defense and the ability to take care of oneself. Hell it isn’t even self-defense at that point, it’s self-preservation. As long as people live these comfortable lifestyles, where they never challenge themselves physically, mentally and intellectually, those “middle” people will always be stupid regarding gun rights.

    And if/when something does happen, the whaling and gnashing of teeth will commence, even though there was plenty of foreshadowing that was ignored.

  30. Many of the “over-educated Americans,” especially those with degrees in such subjects as psychology, journalism, and underwater basket weaving, are quite as incapable of rational analysis as young Mr. Shayaa Joseph.

  32. Very stupid.

    The spectrum can go both ways. They either think there are no gun laws and everything is legal with zero control OR that certain guns are banned (AR’s, AK’s, etc. but that also depends on your state of residence too) and every gun requires a permit and/or registration (again also state/locale dependent).

    Those are the two spectrums I dealt with when dealing with the gun ignorant.

  33. Non gun owners are clueless.
    They believe every state registers all guns to their owners in a master list
    They think you need a licence to buy anything.
    They think you can buy a full auto machine gun cheap , instantly, and at Walmart.
    They think guns are toys like in the movies without much noise or recoil.
    They think you can just pop someone for any reason at all.
    They are pretty clueless alright.
    And it’s our job to set an example and educate anyone we know who is curious about firearms. We need to dispell the misinformation and make sure they understand self defense is what the 2nd is about, not deer hunting or plinking.

  34. Well, that young man should wade in, and have at it.

    There is a way to change the constitution. The thing at issue is called “the second amendment.” Because the constitution’s been amended — changed — at least twice, to get to the number 2. (Of 33 proposed, 27 ratified, including one that un-does a prior amendment, the infamous prohibition of alcohol.)

    The amendment process is the opposite of midnight regulation with a pen and a phone. (Or “passing” something that won’t pass normally through some form of procedural shenanigans.) The point of the amendment process is to *have the conversation* about the issue.

    So, Mr. Joseph should have at the process. Make his case.

    The point is, you don’t get to redefine the scope and goals of the US federal government just because that’s what you want. You need to get a bunch of the other impacted parties to agree with you. (Seems fair, right?)

    So, Mr. Joseph should have at it.

  36. I think stupid is the wrong word. Ignorant is more correct.

    I think you got it right, though. That’s how you convince people that guns are bad, you teach them exactly one thing about them. They hurt people. Then you can just wait for the logical conclusion.

    We have to do better than that, otherwise it’ll be a self-fulfilling prophecy.

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