Browsing the long list of websites I visit every day, I am continually outraged by the amazing volume and variety of skewed statistics, logical fallacies and outright lies used by the anti-gun crowd. (In case you're wondering why I visit some of these sites at all... "Know thy enemy") What I find even more disheartening however, is to see the same breeds of BS being used by people who's stated aim is to support and protect the 2nd amendment. With a long list of airtight, fallacy free arguments in our favor, why some choose to resort to the same type of irresponsible crap-slinging is beyond me. It only gives the anti's more fuel for argument. Let's be honest here, I don't expect any kind of sound, rational argument to persuade any of the Brady Bunch to see the light. But the reason they spend so much money on propaganda is that most Americans don't really know or care much about the issue. These "undecideds" are who we're trying to inform, who they're trying to frighten and misinform. Because they don't know much about the issue, or don't hold strong opinions one way or another, doesn't mean they're stupid, or unwilling to do a little fact checking. For most people it only takes one lie or distortion to lose trust in a source. Let's leave that to the anti's.
One glaring example that I run across with alarming frequency is a quote - "This year will go down in History. For the first time, a civilized nation has full gun registration. Our streets will be safer, our police more efficient, and the world will follow our lead into the future" - attributed to Adolph Hitler, 1935. First, as far as anyone has been able to prove, Hitler never said that. A quick google search turns up hundreds of references to this quote, used almost exclusively by supporters of the 2nd amendment, this despite the fact that no one has been able to turn up any actual documentation or recording to verify this quote. While there's no question that the German Weapons Law of 1938 aided Hitler in committing the Holocaust, the above quote is bogus. Second, even if he had said it, it would be a fallacious point in the gun control argument, the idea that the quote is intended to form in the mind is roughly "Hitler was bad, he supported gun control; therefore gun control is bad". It's a logical fallacy called "Guilt by association". While I believe gun control is a bad idea (putting it nicely there) the point above makes as much sense as saying "Hitler loved dogs, so dogs must be evil".
So for anyone who writes opinion pieces supporting RKBA, or runs a website(s) or even buys bumper stickers or argues/discusses the matter with others on a 1 to 1 basis, please, please watch out for fallacious logic & misinformation, stay away from statistics and "studies" by "experts" (few trust stats and studies anyway, numbers are too easily tweaked) and for Heavens sake, if you're gonna use a quote, make sure the person you're attributing it to actually said it.
If anyone is interested, there's a great list of logical fallacies and examples thereof here:
http://www.nizkor.org/features/fallacies/
