Re: [GUNS] a comment

mark@unicorn.com
Fri, 4 Jun 1999 06:12:46 -0700 (PDT)

Eliezer S. Yudkowsky [sentience@pobox.com] wrote:
>I'm curious. Have you ever once converted an anti-gun person to
>pro-gun?

Yes. I've had people mail me after discussions on mailing lists to say that they've looked up the facts and studies I've pointed out and that's changed their opinion on the issue. I can't think of any occasion when one of the people participating in such a thread has changed their mind, but several lurkers have. Nor can I think of an occasion when someone's admitted to starting out pro-gun and being convinced by the anti-gun arguments.

The big problem with this idea that the pro-gun folks on the list should be nice, reasonable people and refuse to respond to irrational, unreasonable anti-gun posts is that when people who've never seen the pro-gun arguments continue to not see them because us nice, reasonable people refuse to point them out, they continue to believe the anti-gun arguments; you don't convince people by keeping your mouth shut. The correct response by those who don't like gun debates is for them to jump on the anti-gun posters as soon as they try to start one, not to complain about us when we respond; I can't think of any occasion when a pro-gun poster has started one of these debates.

Mark