Michael Beard, president of the Coalition To Stop Gun Violence -- formerly the National Coalition To Ban Handguns -- says one of the responses to the murderous terrorism of September 11 is "troubling." So, what's bugging Beard? Well, what's bugging Beard is what's always bugging Beard. And that is the fact that a lot of Americans are exercising their Constitutionally-protected right to keep and bear arms.
In a statement commenting on reports from around the country that there has been an increase in gun sales for self-defense, Beard says this is "troubling," that Americans should "think twice" before bringing a gun into their homes. Why? Because, he says, falsely, that "research" has "clearly shown" that "a gun in the home is far more likely to be involved in an unintended tragedy than in self-protection."
OK. So, what should Americans be doing? Well, Beard says that "real protection" consists of not arming every family but, instead, "ensuring that people who should not have guns cannot get them -- that means strong gun laws."
Amazing, no? On September 11, thousands are murdered by terrorists because, in part, none of the pilots or passengers on the crashed planes had guns to defend themselves. And Beard thinks we should have more gun control!
Truly, Michael Beard is a know-nothing, a man who, in no way, ever let's anything like facts confuse him or alter his absurd position, as was revealed in an interview.
The headline on Beard's anti-gun statement distributed by the U.S. Newswire (10/2/2001) reads: "Desire For Protection Understandable, But Buying More Guns Won't Make Us Safer." So, we began our interview by asking him: "Why do you say guns won't make us safer when one study by Gary Kleck has shown that more than 2,000,000 Americans annually defend themselves with guns?"
Well, Beard says he just doesn't think this study is accurate.
Q: "So, how many people do you think defend themselves annually with guns?"
A: "I have no idea. Obviously, you can't judge something that doesn't happen. A lot of this is based on public opinion studies."
Q: "So, what's wrong with public opinion surveys?"
A: "Well, many people lie on those kinds of surveys."
We point out to Beard that one of the most prominent pro-gun control criminologists, Marvin Wolfgang, called Gary Kleck's guns-and-self-defense research "an almost clear-cut case of methodologically sound research in support of something I have theoretically opposed for years, namely, the use of a gun in defense against a criminal perpetrator.... I have to admit my admiration for the care and caution expressed in... this research. It is hard to challenge the data collected. We do not have contrary evidence."
But, know-nothing Beard is admitting -- well, that he knows nothing. In response to what Wolfgang said, Beard says: "I'm just not a social science researcher so I just have to pick the studies that I look at."
Q: "So, are all the studies which show that, yearly, anywhere from 100,000 or so to millions of us defend ourselves with guns, wrong?"
Well, no, Beard says. But, still, he's "not convinced that those people are legitimately using guns to defend themselves." See what I mean? Beard is a man who is, in no way, interested in the facts about guns and self-defense.
In this interview, Beard repeatedly mentions only those who are killed yearly by guns -- as if all killing by guns is wrong. He says: "I just look at all those cases where husbands use guns to abuse their wives."
Q: "But, what about all those husbands who use guns to defend their wives and families?! Do you care about this? Is there no point where you will admit that the use of a gun is a good thing?!"
Beard says he can't give "an honest intellectual answer" to these questions. But, he guesses there must be "some point" where he would admit this.
When Beard is told that he cannot say, honestly, and simultaneously, as he has, that he has "no idea" how many people annually defend themselves with guns, but guns won't make us safer, he replies: "I guess that's accurate."
Returning to the subject of public opinion polls, we tell Beard that George Gallup took a poll (May, 2000) which showed that 14.3 million Americans say they have used a gun in self-defense.
Q: "By the way, how do you know people lie to pollsters? What's your evidence to support this statement?"
Beard says the only evidence he has are "personal examples" where people have told him of self-defense cases that he thinks were "fake."
Beard admits, when pressed, that there are "good uses" of guns such as "hunting and sports."
Q: "But, what about self-defense? Isn't it an advantage against a criminal to have a gun in the house and to know how to use it?"
A: "I have not seen any evidence that that's an advantage. The studies I have seen are exactly the opposite, that you're seven to 44 times (!) more likely to use that gun to kill somebody than -- "
Q: "But, this data has to do with guns that are fired!"
A: "Right."
Q: "The studies showing millions of Americans using guns in self-defense annually have to do with an overwhelming majority who never fire their guns. They only brandish them or say they have them."
A: "I just do not see the evidence."
Of course Beard does not see this evidence. Because he does not want to see this evidence!
Q: "Do you still think handguns should be banned?"
A: "We still have that as our goal though this is not politically realistic."
Finally, it is pointed out to Beard that the name of his organization is ridiculous because it implies that all gun violence is bad -- which is not true. To which he replies: "I hate to say I never thought of that."
Alas, this is only one of many things Michael Beard has never thought about. As I say, he is truly thoughtless -- and dangerously so -- on the subject of guns, a real know-nothing who has, obviously, learned nothing from the murderous terrorist attacks of September 11.