Washington Free Beacon
March 9, 2018
A pair of left-leaning reporters complained in an op-ed and on social media that gun-rights activists are wrong to demand that they learn gun terminology before opining on gun policy.
Writing for the Washington Post this week, journalist Adam Weinstein complainedthat “The NRA and its allies use jargon to bully gun-control supporters.”
“While debating the merits of various gun-control proposals, Second Amendment enthusiasts often diminish, or outright dismiss their views if they use imprecise firearms terminology,” Weinstein wrote.
Saying you need to understand gun terminology to have opinions on gun policy is the equivalent of saying you need to understand the biology of a heroin overdose to have an opinion on the drug war
— Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp) March 6, 2018
It’s not just terminology. When people say things like, “The AR-15 can fire 700 rounds a minute” or say handguns “are too slow” to stop a school shooter, they speak from a position of total ignorance. Why should we listen to them? https://t.co/OeYtwdLGJN
— Jay Caruso (@JayCaruso) March 8, 2018
This analogy aside, we should always demand intellectual rigor and specificity from folks commenting with any authority on public affairs. And we do. https://t.co/Ud2VpcAnW4
— Noah Rothman (@NoahCRothman) March 8, 2018
Isn’t it your job to explain things? https://t.co/6IcGtMkHZ5
— Stephen Miller (@redsteeze) March 8, 2018
This article was posted: Friday, March 9, 2018 at 8:29 am