TTAG Employs the SGT Schultz Defense

Fresh from a self-proclaimed thrashing of a high school student, the intrepid authors of The Truth About Guns took time from high-fiving, fist pounding, and chest bumping each other to take umbrage at a comment I made on their blog.

TTAG Contributer Wm. C. Montgomery elected to carry his blog's standard into battle.

Needless to say his response was...underwhelming. Basically, his thesis is that he's never seen any of the behavior described. Well, here's my response (X-posted at TTAG):

I see Mr. M has employed the Captain Renault gambit. " I'm shocked, shocked to find that gambling is going on in here! "

He claims not to know of "anyone that believes that gun control leads to totalitarianism any more than gun control leads to crime. It is correct, however, to point out that gun control leaves nations and individuals vulnerable to exploitation by tyrants and criminals."

Hmmm. Sounds like a non-denial denial to my ears. But I'm sure Mr. M has possibly heard of gunloon groups such as JFPO whose major theme is gun control leads to genocide. I'm equally certain Mr. M. has heard rumor of Don Kates who, until being shamed by the Anti-Defamation League, used to claim the Holocaust was due to gun control. It's really not difficult to find gunloon agitprop equating gun control to the Holocaust, Armenian genocide, or the killing fields of Cambodia.

Mr. M has never heard of guns being a "God-given right?" Gosh, sounds like he doesn't get around much. There's this thing called "google," a truly wonderous contraption; when we plug in "guns god given right," we discover instances of folks like Chris Cox asserting same. Why, during the confirmation hearings of Elena Kagan, Sen. Charles Grassley (R-Corn Subsidies) wanted to know if she, too, believed God gave us the right to bear arms.

Re international comparisons, gunloons are always quick to point at Switzerland and Israel. But they always seem to neglect certain, well, inconvenient truths. Such as the fact both countries have gun control features such as registration and test requirements and limits on gun ownership that US gunloons would find abhorrent.

Despite this, Switzerland still has significantly higher gun homicide rates compared to its European neighbors.

I see Mr. M. has borrowed heavily from Halbrook's laughable treatise on Nazi Germany and gun control.

Funnier still, is Mr.M's assertion that gunloons "embrace" statistics--especially from John Lott. This akin to saying one loves gourmet fare--especially from the dollar menu at McDonalds. Lott's problems and frauds are well-documented and his career deathspiral has taken him from an endowed chair at the University of Chicago to relying on the kindness of a friend to get get him an associate professorship in the nether regions of the University of Maryland.

No, Mr. M., this isn't a gunfight. But you've not refuted my argument so much as claim that you see nothing. Perhaps comparing you to the wily Captain Renault of Casablanca was an overstatement on my part. You're much closer to SGT Schultz of Stalag 13.

Updated to add linky.