Dr. Neil DeGrasse Tyson take on guns and violence

a reply to: blupblup

Far more people die from prescription drug overdose than firearms. No one seems ready to ban doctors.

a reply to: blupblup

I don't disagree, which is why I said tired debate gets tired response.

I disagree with painting pro-2nd folks as ignorant morons. All the more so when they hardly have a lock on repeating the same thing over and over again.

Keep giving away our freedoms especially this one and soon we have none left.
They are hard at work to curb our 1st amendment rights as well.
I have mine for defensive reasons, I sleep good at night.

NDT once again proving that fancy degrees are not substitute for common sense. It is always amazing how otherwise intelligent people do such shoddy analyses of facts and figures as well as gloss over the real issues in the gun control debate.

Before any real discussion of the gun violence can even begin, both sides really need to agree on the data set and the type of violence they are trying to prevent.

1) Suicides
2) Accidental shootings
3) Intentional violence a la one thug shooting another thug, domestic violence, etc
4) Mass shootings

Second, types of firearms used.

1) Handguns
2) Rifles
3) Legal
4) Illegal

Third, victims and perpetrators
1) Ethnicity
2) Location
3) Male vs Female
4) Prior Criminal records

This data is readily available and when one really parses it down to its components, you will find that pretty much the vast majority of gun violence is committed by young black males with previous criminal records in urban cities using illegally obtained firearms to shoot other young black black males who also have previous criminal records.

In other words, no amount of laws placed on law abiding citizens will do anything to stop the current violence. Mass shootings aren't even statistically relevant in the discussion. Neither are so called assault rifles. Suicides don't even belong in the discussion.

So do we have a gun problem or a fatherless black male problem? To be honest about this discussion of gun control, you cannot separate these facts.

originally posted by: machineintelligence
a reply to: Iamnotadoctor

A psychopath can kill more people with a can of gas than a gun with a 75 round magazine. Seriously a well placed fire bomb can trap and kill far more people but you can not restrict petrol so no one brings it up.

Yes, In your fantasy world psychopaths constantly kill 20+ people with their 'special' can of gas far more than psychopaths with a gun full of bullets don't they!

originally posted by: Shamrock6

originally posted by: Iamnotadoctor
a reply to: Tjoran

Wow. What a profoundly logical concept!
You're right! I think we'd all prefer mass murderers to be able to have a gun full of bullets rather than a knife or a baseball bat wouldn't we.
Because they can do so much more damage with either of the latter, can't they!

And therein is the crux of ignorance on the issue.

"We need to ban guns so mass murderers can't use them to kill people! But not knives, because a mass murderer can't kill as many people with a knife so we're not going to worry about them."

And yet, the one common denominator is "mass murderer" and it's completely ignored.

How telling.

You've really got it all stitched up haven't you. I bet you sit and ponder why the world can't wake up and come on board with your thought process on it all....

a reply to: SuperFrog

Does Mr. Tyson EVER use a security team carrying a sidearm? Yes. I sat at one of his lectures and he was carefully escorted into the back area by 2 men who had barely visible holsters.

When ALL members of our 3 branches of government, past or present dismiss their firearm carrying security details, then they can initiate conversation with us about gun grabbing.

a reply to: SuperFrog

I used to really like and look up to NDT, before he became a left wing hack.

originally posted by: Tjoran
a reply to: SuperFrog

So, what you're saying is, Ban guns? All that's going to do is change a word from gun's to knives, Or other weapons. People kill people, Who cares what tool's they use. Humans are violent.

THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!!

The ONLY person I've ever known in my life, that was killed, was killed IN THE UK...where guns are illegal. And guess what was used to kill him?


A cinder block.


#BANCINDERBLOCKS!!!!

This thread is a joke.

NDT should stick to Science shows for children and young adults and not try to Bill Nye himself into liberal oblivion.

We get it, Reddit likes you, that doesn't make your opinion any more valid than anyone elses. He didn't say anything anybody couldn't have found online. Way to use that scientific method to tell us the same thing we've heard 1000 times before..

a reply to: Iamnotadoctor

No need to try and get personal, bub.

Then again, since you can't refute what I said, I'm not surprised.

Just as I've said - ignorance (in large quantity) on display...

Firstly, Dr. Tyson did not make any statements, he just pointed to simple facts, as he very often do.

Secondly, he is not suggesting gun control or anything like that, but pointing to a problem.

If terrorism attacj got us going so bad 14 years ago, why fact that the same number of people die every 5-6 weeks does not?!

And for all those 'knife', 'pool' and gasoline comparison, sure, prove with statistic that is worst then terrorist attack.

Fact are facts, and this goes well with other fact, that more gun does not make us safer, on contrary, you are more likely to be killed. That is fact as well.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

So please, if you have not anything smart to say, please try not to troll...

Also, keep in mind, motto of the site is - deny ignorance.

a reply to: SuperFrog
Wow, you seem pretty touchy.... to blame others for going overboard.
I simply made an observation about pools.
More in depth, you could fill in every swimming pool in the US with concrete and the end result would be that fewer people would die of drowning.... a lot of them children.
Think of the children!


Why do you want more children to die?

a reply to: SuperFrog

We could start denying ignorance by not pretending that somehow all guns will disappear.

Ergo, gun crime will not disappear.

Deny ignorance indeed.

a reply to: SuperFrog

I thought this guy was an astronomer or physicist or something.

Totally unaware he was a sociologist/criminologist.

Of course he is always entitled to his opinion and free to speak it. If he were commenting on Mars or asteroids his 'facts' may be cemented in a more disciplined context. As is, pure evocative number flinging is always tasty in the Kool Aid.

Oh, more pool trolling, and btw, only one reacting touchy on those little tweets are the guys with guns, as you can see on this topic.

@ Abnarty and rest questioning Dr. Tyson credentials in this matter - he never told he has solution or what to do, but merely points to the facts and that status quo is not working and cost us many lives.

@ Shamrock6 - ignorance is pretending that current circle of violence by guns that brings more guns and in end causes more violence and repetition of circle... is just not working... that argument is proven statistically false, and guns are not making us more safe, but more likely to use them or die from them...

a reply to: SuperFrog

I never said more guns make us safer. I said pretending that you can make all the guns disappear is stupid. And pointless.

"If there were no guns there would be no gun crime."

What a revelation that is! I hope you've written your congressman with that amazing concept!

originally posted by: Shamrock6
a reply to: SuperFrog

I never said more guns make us safer. I said pretending that you can make all the guns disappear is stupid. And pointless.

"If there were no guns there would be no gun crime."

What a revelation that is! I hope you've written your congressman with that amazing concept!

Can you please point where did Dr. Tyson or I pretend that guns can disappear?

I don't find 'pointing to a problem' pointless. Sooner we acknowledge that problem exist - better.

a reply to: SuperFrog

Oh so you're pointing to a problem.

The problem being that guns are used in gun violence.

Again, how revelatory.

a reply to: SuperFrog

* 1.4 Million: Americans who died in all Wars fought since 1776. 1.4 Million: Americans who died via household Guns since 1968— Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) November 9, 2015

Over a MILLION deaths by guns since 1968?

Wow.