Wednesday, September 9, 2015

And Cracked isn't even trying anymore...

Ah,  yes nothing brings me back like another bit of Cracked indulging in their inner anti-gun.

We've got another article by their resident anti-gun crank.  Luke McKinney.

A couple months ago he went on a tear about how why even Gun Owners should hate the NRA.

Now keep in mind,  just based on that previous article...  we've got a guy who  thinks gun owners should take advice from someone who considers high-capacity magazines insane, that Intelligent Americans shouldn't see guns as an individual rights,  and wants to ban AR-15's.

Oh, and that Gun owners should hate the NRA for successfully lobbying against gun bans.


Care to guess what his next article on the subject is like?

In standard Cracked fashion the insitu title differes from the URL.
7 Incredibly Biased Arguments Against Gun Control
http://www.cracked.com/blog/the-7-stupidest-arguments-against-gun-control/

Do we even need to go through it?

Well what's interesting is Luke's gotten more insulting where about every other paragraph he has some mockery of gun owners.  Mocking both intelligence and sexuality!

But what's more telling is a scattered lack of focus.  He'll flit around between how the "Constitution is out of date"  and "The constitution can be changed!"

(And yes Luke, the constitution can be changed,  you're welcome to try to get an amendment passed repealing the 2nd.  But if you try that,  we can still call you anti-gun.)

Oh and if you think you're hunting rifle will be safe...   Nope.

Skipping lightly over the part where you find people who say, "I enjoy killing things I don't have to for fun," and responding, "That sounds perfectly sane, have some rifles," I'd like to ask: At what point does one person's hobby overrule another person's survival? 

Yup.

Oh and his scattered reasoning is on great display when he talks about drunk driving. And then blames unjustified police shootings on...  non-police owning guns.   And then there's his aside that he wants to make possession of guns in public completely illegal.


And the next page goes downhill...  with more of his unfocused ranting.  And continuing the idea that because guns are designed to kill... they are completely pointless.

What's interesting is he seems to be in an argument with a gun rights strawman living in his head.

A favored goal of the loudest gun-wielders is the ability to overthrow the government. I'm not sure how many countries are expected to laud nutballs who want to destroy that country, but I'm glad I don't live in one of them. 

Either Luke doesn't live in America... or he doesn't know what the Delcaration of Independence was about or the founder's views on revolution. That's not advocating overthrow of the government,  that's just pointing out how this country was founded.

And it wouldn't be Cracked if Luke didn't indulge himself and say "billionaires spend their billions sabotaging democracy on every conceivable level".  Huh....  hey Luke...  who is the nation's biggest advocate for gun control?

 And going even further back, the ability to violently overthrow the ruling authority stopped working at around the caveperson level. In every age after that workers were slaughtering each other just to swap elite rulers.

Ah...  so revolution only counts if the previous ruler is personally killed?  Pretty dim view of American history there too.  But see what I said about this guy being angry and unfocused?  And then he goes on about how drones will be used to murder American citizens.

Wow.... way to prove that Americans worried about tyranny are just paranoid.


And the last part does show part of the anger.  There's some blatant subtext that he's totally buying into the "there's a mass shooting every week!" line,  and he's getting *angry* at the lack of flashy gun control.

Again compare to his earlier work.  In that he's less (overtly) insulting to gun owners and while he has no understanding, he tries to make some arguments.

Here he's just venting spleen.   Yet another tell is the guy doesn't even bother to provide any "solutions",  oh there's a mention of "high capacity mags" and an oblique reference to purchase requirements,  but Luke's anger seems to be primarily on the mere *existence* of guns in civilian hands.

Though what really makes me laugh is the progression of the post-article footer.

Luke's  June post:
Check out more NRA nutcasery with 3 Reasons It's Time To Stop Taking The NRA Seriously and The 4 Most Meaningless Arguments Against Gun Control. 
Enjoy imaginary worlds where guns make sense with The Strange History Of Terminator Games and The Greatest Video Game Gun Of All Time.
And today's:

Do you want more rootin' tootin' anti-gun argumentin'? Of course you do! We've got more adventures in all-American gunplay right here, with 5 Reasons Even Gun Owners Should Hate The NRA and The 4 Most Meaningless Arguments Against Gun Control.
And don't forget that minigun barrages are entirely reasonable in professional, movie-invented, killer robot and/or generic foreign despot scenarios. That's why Luke gathered The Toughest Action Dads In Movie History and The Most Advanced Terminator Games Ever Made in handy lists, for YOU.

Yup.   Someone's angry.