NPR: does carrying a pistol make you safer?

[MillCreek]

http://www.npr.org/2016/04/12/473391286/does-carrying-a-pistol-make-you-safer?utm_medium=RSS&utm_campaign=news

This segment was on NPR's 'Morning Edition' this morning.  Not the sort of article most people would expect from NPR.

[MechAg94]

Not a bad article.  Mostly decent comments and quotes from people who own or carry. 

This quote is at the tail end.

"One of my concerns about the [Michigan] state requirements for getting a CPL is they don't really include the tactics and the strategy that one will need to win or prevail in an actual gun situation," Cortis says. "A hostile attack by a violent criminal is a fight."

Not only are most handgun carriers in America totally unprepared for a gunfight, but gun-control activists hasten to point out that more guns lead to more suicides and accidental shootings.

I get concerned about comments like this.  I agree that training is important as long as no one is saying they want the government to mandate it.  It takes a trivial amount of to learn to use a gun.  Learning to use it well takes more effort.
As to the last one, very few are really "prepared" for a gun fight, but that makes it sound like military training.  As I heard Tom Gresham say, "if someone invited me to a gun fight, I wouldn't go." 

[Perd Hapley]

Par for the course, really. "Military-grade bullets," and puzzlement over why people would be carrying more guns, even though crime is down. I mean, how do you not at least point out that the drop in crime is coincident with the very phenomenon you're writing about? Not that I'm expecting them to make a causal connection, but...

Also,

Not only are most handgun carriers in America totally unprepared for a gunfight...

Yeah, 'cause that conclusion is totally warranted from the scant evidence you've presented.

[AJ Dual]

[Perd Hapley]

Not a bad article.  Mostly decent comments and quotes from people who own or carry. 

Not really. The comments are hand-picked to make us sound paranoid and bigoted. "Stereotype people." 

[MillCreek]

Not really. The comments are hand-picked to make us sound paranoid and bigoted. "Stereotype people." 

Uh, having made many the comment on the NPR site, I am not aware of NPR censoring the comments except for those violating the Terms of Service.  Do you have any proof of your assertion?

[Boomhauer]

Uh, having made many the comment on the NPR site, I am not aware of NPR censoring the comments except for those violating the Terms of Service.  Do you have any proof of your assertion?

Fistful is talking about the quotes in the article, not the f*expletive deleted*tards in the comments section.

[MillCreek]

Fistful is talking about the quotes in the article, not the *expletive deleted*tards in the comments section

Oh, Ok!  Yes, those responses in the comments section are pretty par for the course.  I liked the one about handguns substituting for Viagra/Cialis, although that makes me wonder all the more why I get those spam emails offering to sell the drugs to me.  Don't the spammers know I own lots of guns?

[RevDisk]

Virtually everyone is unprepared for a gunfight. Joking aside, even ultra tactical Recon Ranger Delta Team Six occasionally lose a fight against illiterate goat herders with near antique Soviet gear maintained with a rock. It is axiomatic that one cannot be prepared for everything in life. One has to accept a reasonable amount of training or preparation and call it good enough.

While I am a strong supporter of training, problem with mandating that it be required runs into the same issues with poll taxes or literacy tests. It can't and won't survive any impartial courtroom that actually follows the law.

[grampster]

Most of the most rabid anti gun people I run across wouldn't know which end to pick one up. 

[MechAg94]

I guess I was surprised that the article was not as anti-gun as I thought.  Aside from that comment where they can't seem to connect less gun violence with more people carrying guns.  Yeah, it wasn't necessarily pro-gun either.  I am used to seeing a bunch of quotes from people who are scared of guns.  Instead, it was quotes from people who were positive about gun ownership and self defense.

[Perd Hapley]

While I am a strong supporter of training, problem with mandating that it be required runs into the same issues with poll taxes or literacy tests. It can't and won't survive any impartial courtroom that actually follows the law.

They have those now?

[charby]

Not the sort of article most people would expect from NPR.

You don't listen to NPR much do you? They cover a wide range of topics, always interesting that both sides are usually present and they aren't shouting over each other like on cable news shows.

I have listened to public radio for years, you can tell when one side doesn't show up or let's the village idiot/dimwit speak for them.

[Perd Hapley]

He said not what "most people" would expect.

I don't find the article at all surprising from NPR, or any other "mainstream" outlet. Just more of the usual, "Who are these weird Americans? What makes them so disturbingly American?"

[MillCreek]

You don't listen to NPR much do you? They cover a wide range of topics, always interesting that both sides are usually present and they aren't shouting over each other like on cable news shows.

I have listened to public radio for years, you can tell when one side doesn't show up or let's the village idiot/dimwit speak for them.

Actually, I listen to NPR several hours per week and read their online site daily.  Most people think that NPR has a liberal bias and they would be surprised that the article did not condemn the concept of defensive handgun use.

[mtnbkr]

They cover a wide range of topics, always interesting that both sides are usually present and they aren't shouting over each other like on cable news shows.

Yup.  I much prefer NPR to most of the talking head news shows.  They actually discuss rather than shout talking points or insults.

Chris

[Mannlicher]

NPR could not produce an unbiased report if their lives depended upon it.  A pox on their leftist, liberal approach to life in America.

[Hawkmoon]

Most of the most rabid anti gun people I run across wouldn't know which end to pick one up. 

Everyone knows you grab it by the shoulder thing that goes up.

[Perd Hapley]

Yup.  I much prefer NPR to most of the talking head news shows.  They actually discuss rather than shout talking points or insults.

Chris

That has also been my experience. Be that as it may, this article might have been written by any of the major newspapers. The legacy media do occasionally try to portray us sympathetically, but they never really connect the dots.

[K Frame]

Most of the most rabid anti gun people I run across wouldn't know which end to pick one up. 

One of the most rabidly anti-gun people I've ever met was an exceptionally good shot.

He was very much into the shotgun sports, was very wealthy (doctor or lawyer, or something like that), and was of the opinion that no one should have guns.

Except for him. Because his shotgun (a Perazzi or Krieghoff, probably) wasn't a gun, it was a fine sporting implement.

He was a mouth breathing *expletive deleted*tard of monumental proportions.

[KD5NRH]

Oh, Ok!  Yes, those responses in the comments section are pretty par for the course.  I liked the one about handguns substituting for Viagra/Cialis,

I'm fairly certain I've never been erect enough to kill a 200lb wild boar from 50 yards away, nor would any amount of Viagra ever get me to that point.

[brimic]

I'm fairly certain I've never been erect enough to kill a 200lb wild boar from 50 yards away, nor would any amount of Viagra ever get me to that point.

Sounds like a personal problem....

[BlueStarLizzard]

Anti gunners are super sexist.

[charby]

NPR could not produce an unbiased report if their lives depended upon it.  A pox on their leftist, liberal approach to life in America.

Really?

[RevDisk]

NPR could not produce an unbiased report if their lives depended upon it.  A pox on their leftist, liberal approach to life in America.

I actually listen to NPR most mornings. Yes, they are biased as hell. A lot of it is more subconscious than they realize. They legitimately do try to be unbiased and bring in differing POVs, they had the guy who runs Citizens United on the other day. They just have a huge amount of subconscious bias they don't/can't correct because they tend to live in a very insulated environment. I've known plenty of conservatives with the same issue. Not everyone has ultra lefty and ultra righty friends.

Heck, APS can be an echo chamber quite often. Certainly moreso than NPR.