Publius
Well-known member
Okay, I'll explain it to you.
How deliciously flawed your meme is! It’s not just flawed; it’s an unmitigated assault on logic, a masterclass in cherry-picking and willful ignorance wrapped in smug arrogance. Let me explain why.
First, the assertion that "Chicago is gun-free" is outright false. Chicago is not, and never has been, “gun-free.” While the city once had stricter handgun bans, they were struck down over a decade ago in McDonald v. Chicago by the Supreme Court. Today, Illinois operates under a system that includes concealed carry permits, subject to background checks and training. Chicago, like any major city, has gun laws that aim to balance regulation with constitutional rights -- but those laws are constantly undermined by the free flow of firearms from states with looser regulations, like Indiana. That’s right -- just hop across the state line and bring back an arsenal. The meme’s failure to account for this glaring fact is not just misleading—it’s deliberately deceptive.
Second, the comparison to Maine. Yes, Maine is the safest state in the union, but attributing this solely to its lack of a concealed carry permit requirement is as simplistic as saying the ocean is salty because you spilled a box of Morton’s into it. Maine’s low crime rate has far more to do with its demographics, socioeconomic conditions, and rural nature than its gun laws. A sparsely populated state with high levels of community cohesion and low poverty doesn’t face the same challenges as a densely packed urban hub grappling with systemic inequality and decades of disinvestment. Comparing Chicago to Maine is comparing apples to AR-15s—absurd on its face.
Finally, let’s tackle the underlying fallacy: the idea that gun control doesn’t “work” because Chicago has gun violence. This is the same lazy logic as saying seatbelts don’t work because some people still die in car crashes. Gun control measures, like universal background checks, waiting periods, and restrictions on high-capacity magazines, are not about eliminating gun violence overnight; they’re about reducing it. Data from countries like Australia and the UK, which implemented strong gun regulations, show massive declines in gun-related deaths. But, of course, this meme isn’t interested in evidence -- because evidence is kryptonite to its flimsy premise.
So, to the creators of this meme, I say this: If you want to debate gun control, at least start with facts. Until then, this argument isn’t just flawed -- it’s a failure of both intellect and integrity.
Ah, but let us now dive even deeper into the quagmire of this meme’s absurdity by addressing an inconvenient truth: gun control on fully automatic weapons in the United States is a stunning example of how federal regulation does work. And yet, those who screech about the ineffectiveness of gun laws seem to conveniently forget this fact, or worse, they deliberately ignore it.
Let me spell it out for you. Fully automatic weapons -- those capable of unleashing a torrent of bullets with a single pull of the trigger -- are heavily regulated under the National Firearms Act (NFA) of 1934 and the Firearm Owners' Protection Act of 1986. Since then, it has been virtually impossible for the average citizen to legally acquire a new fully automatic weapon. The existing, heavily regulated ones are required to be registered, taxed, and meticulously tracked.
And the result? Crimes involving fully automatic weapons are so rare that they barely register in FBI statistics. In fact, you're more likely to be struck by lightning than to be the victim of a crime involving a legally owned automatic weapon. Why? Because the regulatory framework works. Federal oversight, strict licensing, and comprehensive background checks make it nearly impossible for these weapons to end up in the wrong hands.
Contrast that with semi-automatic weapons -- like the AR-15 -- that remain loosely regulated, and the consequences are stark. These weapons, which are devastatingly efficient in mass shootings, have flooded the market because there is no federal law with comparable teeth to the NFA. Instead, we rely on a patchwork of state laws, which criminals and straw purchasers easily sidestep by crossing state lines. In other words, the difference between the lethality of fully automatic and semi-automatic weapons isn’t just mechanical -- it’s regulatory.
And here’s where we drive the final nail into the coffin of this meme’s argument. If federal gun control laws on fully automatic weapons have been extraordinarily effective at preventing their misuse, then why wouldn’t a similar national approach work for semi-automatic rifles, universal background checks, or high-capacity magazines? The answer is, of course, that it would. But acknowledging that would strip away the threadbare excuse that "gun control doesn’t work," and the purveyors of this meme can’t allow that to happen, can they?
So, the next time someone smugly holds up Maine and Chicago as a false dichotomy to dismiss gun control, remind them that the success of federal regulations on fully automatic weapons is the ultimate rebuttal. Gun control works -- when done right, when done comprehensively, and when done nationally. The meme’s creators, however, aren’t interested in what works. They’re interested in peddling a narrative that lets them cling to their arsenal of excuses. And for that, they deserve nothing but ridicule.
