A cracked post I missed!

Thanks to Oddball,   and the vagaries of RSS feeds I have a cracked article talking about guns that I missed.

It came out in September and for reference was between an article where they admit  the futility and massive damage gun confiscation in the us would cause.

And one where they take gun control advocates to task for doing counterproductive things and  declare that gun control is a lost cause.

This was shortly followed by an article where they actually decided to talk to people who worked at gun shops to get their perspective.

Annnnnd then a two months later they went back to form with an article on why the NRA is bad for gun owners  Including such reasons as the NRA can occasionally defeat a gun ban.

But the article we're talking about, that I missed  was in that brief window when Cracked was at least talking about the problems of implementing gun control,  the counter productive actions of gun control advocates, and the difficulties they have in making their case.


In a somewhat dark article about why the Marvel Universe would be a nightmare to live in...
They mention gun rights.  As #1.  Specifically with regard to self defense.

Yes there is the obligatory, boilerplate opening swipes of "Mass shootings are happening all the time in the US" and "Gun companies profit off of mass shootings"

But after that....    they go onto:

• People would want guns, not for glory of awesomeness... but just to protect their families.  
• (With the unspoken admission that the goverment would not be able to protect everyone)
• That even in the Marvel universe, guns would be pretty effective for self defense against most villains.
• That gun bans would be a political dead letter given that the citizenry would want to defend themselves against the sundry threats.
• Broaches the subject of if people with super-powers would be treated like those with CCW permits.  Including issues of duty to inform.
• Where is the line drawn between super-powers,  innate skill, and gadgets 
• Annd the difficulty the goverment would have on regulating new and weapons technology.

All in all a pretty sober assessment and a fair explanation as to why gun rights people want to have the rights they agitate for.


So, it's interesting to go back to the brief window when Cracked actually questioned the gun control dogma.

I'll admit...

I don't really watch the Cracked videos.

It's a mix of due to their stylistic choices being annoying and for a video you're attention is more captured.  Where for an article (especially their short articles) you can read it and be done with it.

Now when their vids do address gun control, that'll get my interest enough to mock them.
Like when they had a vid about how "nobody wants to take your guns" put up right after a vid about how great  Australia's gun control was.

Or when they tried to mock gun owners not trusting the state... right when they had an article admitting that militia folk are right not ot trust the goverment. 

Yeah, so when I see a new vid with this byline:

You know what.  Maybe Trump is after banning all the abortions (or restricting it to just the rich and connected via an expensive onerous permitting regime.   Maybe his court pics will overturn Roe V Wade.  (I have my doubts, and even if they did it wouldn't yet be a ban on abortion, but it would open up a massive can of worms on the state and federal level).

And the whole gun issue seems to be secondary.  As none of the comment-folk (youtube or Cracked) are (at this writing) mentioning guns.  At all.  Which is funny because normally when Cracked goes anti-gun it stirs up a predictable response (kinda like this.)


But you know what's really, really funny?    Cracked repeatedly does the "We don't want to take your guns,  you're just being paranoid." I mean yesterday they had an article saying that.

But today?  That little byline admits that they see the issue as binary choice between gun rights and reproductive rights.

I mean if one looks at the context of SCOTUS and fears that it's guns versus abortions...

then doesn't that mean that Second Amendment people's concerns of overturning a landmark pro-rights case and ushering in prohibitionist laws are just as legitimate of Reproduction rights people's concerns of overturning a landmark pro-rights case and ushering in prohibitionist laws?

Cracked: City Living Turns you Liberal

Today they have 6 Big Differences That Turn City Dwellers Into Liberals
Or alternatively  6-ways-big-cities-turn-you-liberal-converts-perspective

Just... guess what number 1 is.
(That I'm writing this post should be a large hint).

Now, some the points are largely true... some are due to just having more people together requires more organization,  others are more artifacts of how urban people see themselves even to "outsourcing" compassion.

#6. Traffic Is A Nightmare
#5. Sick, Desperate People Ask You For Help Every Day
#4. Around A Quarter Of Your Neighbors, Coworkers, And Friends Are Probably Immigrants
#3. Minimum Wage Is A Ticket To Homelessness
#2. The Impact Of Good Government Is Easier To See

Of course number one is gun control

Take the rural perspective in the article itself;  Guns are used for practical reasons like food gathering, pest control, self defense until the cops show up, or plinking fun.   And gun control seems to by and large be because the goverment "they have something shady up their sleeve".  The most negative of the article is some "southern stereotyping" and normalizing drinking and plinking.

Now note:  This is the same Cracked that has been skeptical of police powers and highlighted how easy it is to abuse them many times in the past, has made a cottage industry of writing genuine articles about the villainy of the US goverment against the poor and oppressed.  And is currently talking about the dangers of Trump.

So keep that in mind when the article goes to the urban perspective:  Guns are for criminals killing people.  And the only time city folk see guns is when bad stuff is gonna happen.

Here's the funny part, it's those very gun control laws that have tried to directly or indirectly ban gun ownership in said areas.  DC and Chicago had complete handgun bans.  Many cities did everything they could to get rid of run ranges, and through May Issue made it so that common people couldn't legally carry guns.

All things to make it so that the only guns a normal person saw... were in the hands of a criminal.
How...  convenient.  (Well guns are also in the hands of the cops, the rich, and the connected. Which Cracked has also railed against)


And I'll just put in the whole ending paragraph:

So when the topic of gun control comes up, you start thinking maybe guys who've been in prison plotting revenge for the last five years shouldn't be able to buy a semi-automatic online their first day out of the big house. You had to take driver's ed in high school and pass a driving test -- maybe it's not so crazy to make people do the same thing before they can own a gun. If absolutely nothing else, at least they'd learn not to hold it sideways so they'd hit their target instead of innocent bystanders. Once you get on board with any kind of gun control, you're pretty much a card-carrying liberal.

At least the rural folks in this article aren't stereotyped as being ignorant scolds.  Yes that is a link to The Trace.  Yes it is freaking out over the non existent Online Loophole.   The article also omits that gun control advocates (including Cracked itself)  don't simply want those "loopholes" closed.

And that they don't object to any existing gun control laws, no matter how racist in origin or practice.
(If Voter ID is racist then how about letting NYPD, that paragon of race relations, decide who can and cannot get a pistol permit?)

And yes a publication that most recently freaked out about gun training (even the limited if you see a gun run and call an authority figure) is now presenting training as "common sense"