Help Me Save My Son

[rwsmith]

My comments were aimed..

My comments were aimed at Neil Degrasse Tyson and those like him, not at convincing somebody that they should have guns if they don't want them. I don't have anything against people that don't want to own guns, just those that tell me that owning guns is stupid and wrong.

 

[the ringo kid]

Please note the choice of words used - "often," rather than "all."


My personal experience with post-secondary education was one of acquiring skillsets, rather than indoctrination. I had enough of that growing up in a Socialist Democrat country, where as an American, I was the enemy.

Critical independent thinking was encouraged over blind allegiance to ANY particular political bent at the institutions I attended.

To pretend that the reverse-snobbery toward education (and often the educated) on forums such as these doesn't exist is a bit silly, IMO.

Maybe its as you say in your area? but not 85 - 90% elsewhere. I'm friends with teachers and at least one who is a Principal, they will all fundamentally disagree with you.

Lets say we can agree to disagree. As for being a snob? your the first ever in my 48 years to use that as a vague reference to my personality. Again, you knoith not what your talking about. Ask many here if they think I'm a snob? I don't think you will find any takers? However, ask them if I'm a ***? and you may have a few dozen speak up. At least I can admit to my faults.

Good day.

 

[caleb4387]

Sounds like he's gone. I'm sorry for your loss.

 

[eyegots2no]

We have no way to determine the numbers of non deaths due to the prevalence of guns in our society.

Much less injuries, property lost, dis-intergration of our society, tyranny, etc.

Those numbers Tyson has mean nothing.

 

[shouldazagged]

Unlike so many kids receiving cookie-cutter, one-size-fits-few education today, my kids learned to think critically and make their own decisions and their own lives.

My son will soon be 49, but has always loved guns and has taught his three sons to respect, appreciate and enjoy firearms.

My daughter, soon to be 51, has never had the slightest interest in guns or shooting, and is raising her children accordingly.

Neither position is any of my business. They've been adults for a long time.

The fact is that by the time a child turns two and plants his little feet and says, "NO, Daddy!", you have begun to lose control and he has begun making his own decisions. You can train him only so far; and if he decides to turn away from your views you aren't going to "save" him.

That's what growing up is, though it may frustrate and hurt a parent to watch.

 

[WuzzFuzz]

Maybe its as you say in your area? but not 85 - 90% elsewhere. I'm friends with teachers and at least one who is a Principal, they will all fundamentally disagree with you.

Lets say we can agree to disagree. As for being a snob? your the first ever in my 48 years to use that as a vague reference to my personality. Again, you knoith not what your talking about. Ask many here if they think I'm a snob? I don't think you will find any takers? However, ask them if I'm a ***? and you may have a few dozen speak up. At least I can admit to my faults.

Good day.

A snob is easy to spot.....They're the ones that go around with their nose in the air, like their feet smell.



WuzzFuzz

 

[oldRoger]

To directly answer the OP;
First the Tyson bio;
"Tyson became interested in astronomy at the age of nine after a visit to the Hayden Planetarium. After graduating from the Bronx High School of Science, where he was editor-in-chief of the Physical Science Journal, he completed a bachelor's degree in physics at Harvard University in 1980. After receiving a master's degree in astronomy at the University of Texas at Austin in 1983, he earned his M.Phil. (1989) and Ph.D. (1991) in astrophysics at Columbia University. For the next three years, he was a postdoctoral research associate at Princeton University."

Tyson is obviously well educated in the field of Astrophysics which is of course a highly specialized area of physics.
He is not a particle physicist, a high energy physicist nor is he a brain surgeon, a chemist, or indeed a Ballistician.

He can speak with (earned) authority in his specialized field which is probably a narrow part of the narrow field of Astrophysics. We would have to study his peer reviewed publications to determine his fields of interest.

However he uses his prestige and celebrity to speak about everything from global warming to gun control as a so called "public intellectual". We should respect his right to say whatever he pleases (1st Amendment) but we don't have to credit him with any special authority or knowledge.

The MSM gives him a platform to state his views, but when he speaks about a subject outside of his field he has exactly as much authority as any man on the street or a journalist.

The MSM clothes his comments on gun control with authority that he does not have in the field and allows him, in fact encourages him, to selectively quote statistics which support his politically correct "feelings".

So I suggest that you give your son some information from real academic authorities such as Lott and Malcolm.

 

[flintsghost]

There are some discussions you can't have. Arguing with your son over firearms is one of them. You will not convert a zealot and he will not convert you. Call it a draw and either agree to not discuss it further in your house and when you are together or tell him not to let the door hit him in the *** on the way out. That's a hard nose view. I count myself lucky that my son and I agree on most things. I was fortunate to spend a lot of time with him as he grew up. His first recollections of shooting were with a Thompson 1928A1 that a local Sheriff's deputy brought to the range for him to try when he was 8. I had to help him hold it up. He slapped the trigger and he was sold on the fun side. Now in his mid 30's with two SF MOS's and combat tours in Afghanistan behind him and in Pre-med in College he's still siding with me.

But no amount of time can overcome a zealot's easily found cause when he didn't have all that development time with you growing up. There is no easy fix. Unfortunately, the only way he will convert is when someone either mugs him or tries to hurt him and he survives. But the street can be cruel and often a person learns too late the error of his ways.

 

[oldRoger]

The point I was trying to make to the OP; uglide, is that he cannot persuade his son of much about this controversial subject.
There is little point in other posters or me here picking apart Tyson's cherry picked data, because his son will not accept us as authorities.

He can however; explain that Tyson, the POTUS, and various journalists are not authorities and do have an agenda.
And he can direct his son to real authorities.

We all know here that gun control is not about controlling the gun, an inanimate object; it is about controlling people, in this case law abiding people. The misuse of firearms is already illegal and subject to severe criminal penalties. So should we abandon our legal principles of innocent until proven guilty by making it more difficult for the innocent to have and bear arms?
The various real authorities mentioned in other posts have shown that restrictive gun laws do not reduce violent crime because criminals do not obey laws.
The fact that gangs in the South Side of Chicago kill each other (472 YTD) would not change if they had no guns; they would revert to knives, rocks, or bare hands and on occasion do exactly that.
The favored tool for the terrorist in Israel is the knife, but for the most part it is the suicide bomb, 9/11 had no guns involved.