Moms Demand Action: Emotion Wins Debates

By Dean Weingarten

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Guns save between 800,000 and 2.5 million lives annually. That’s 2,100 to 6,800 people every day who successfully use firearms to defend themselves, or prevent a criminal attack.
Dean Weingarten
Dean Weingarten

Arizona – -(Ammoland.com)- A hat tip to joehuffman.org for pointing out the absurd in this article from ABCnews.   It quotes Shannon Watts as saying the following:

“I think the NRA should be very afraid of Americans, who’ve had enough of the gun violence in this country and in particular moms,” Shannon Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action and a board member for Everytown for Gun Safety, said. “Moms are afraid our children will be taken away and in the end, I think that’s the emotion that will win the debate.”

So Ms. Watts believes that debates are about  emotion, and apparently, questions of law should be decided by the fears of mothers rather than by facts, thought, rational consideration of reality and reasonably expected consequences.   Not that we shouldn’t be afraid of Ms. Watts and the power of the anti-second amendment media and politicians behind her.

Relying on the power of emotion over fact and logic is a standard ploy for sophists whose facts and logic do not make the grade.   It is standard fare for those who believe that people are too stupid to control their own lives, so they have to be lied to in order to bring their “betters” into power to take care of them.    It is the mainstay of the nanny state.

The danger is that emotions can win debates, when those emotions are backed up by threats of violence.   An inflamed mob or majority can kill you.  If you inflame the ignorant enough, you can get them to go along with disarming and killing those whom they are told are the danger.   You can use emotion to concentrate the power in the hands of the government to kill off the educated, as in Cambodia, or the Jews, as in the Holocaust.

My colleague, John Jay Ray, has studied the motivations of political leftists, and they are founded in strong negative emotions.

It is worthwhile to note that Shannon Watts finds her strongest card in emotion, and not fact.

That is what you do when the facts, the culture, and the Constitution are all against you.

c2014 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included. Link to Gun Watch

About Dean Weingarten;

Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.

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Mike11C

There is something that my parents ingrained in me during my childhood and, it holds true to this day: “Don’t let your heart rule your head.” That’s why I’m not a “demonrat” today.

Russ

Well JJ, if you would take a moment and pull your head out of where the sun don’t shine, you will be able to see what most everyone see’s who pay attention to the news and use common sense and intellect to discern the information. As for emotion, I don’t think the liberals and anti-gunners have a lock on that. I’m sure for those who’ve had the misfortune of having to use a gun for self-defense didn’t do it light heartedly.

Paul

This moms demand action just does not get it, the rights that they want to get rid of go all the way back to Biblical times. Even Jesus said if you do not have a sword sell your cloak and buy one. The rights that are encased in the 2nd amendment are GOD given rights, they are not given by the government. If that shannon watts wants to get rid of the guns then she better start going after the gangs, and that is something that they have refused to do for how long. The law enforcement has done nothing… Read more »

pepe

JJ, “numch of looney wackos.”??? I guess name calling to start an emotional debate works for some one of low intelligence. What the hell is a numch? LOL!

BHirsh

Fortunately, the SCOTUS must rely on facts and not emotion.

No matter who “wins” the so-called “debate”, the Constitution is the Constitution, our rights are our rights, and the SCOTUS is the SCOTUS.

With D.C. v. Heller and McDonald v. City, that hoss done left th’ barn.

JJ

On a somewhat different topic, about the term “communist” to refer to President Obama and the Obama Administration. It would be difficult for a rational person to look at the United States under Obama objectively and actually believe that the U.S. has actually be heading towards Marxist-Leninism. I always thought the “Obama is a communist” crowd were just a numch of looney wackos.