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11/03/2003 Archived Entry: "Seven Myths of Gun Control"

RICHARD POE'S THE SEVEN MYTHS OF GUN CONTROL came out in paperback recently. I missed the hardback, partly because I assumed that Poe, whom I identify with conservative sites like FrontPageMag and NewsMax, would make wussy arguments.

I'm also so OD'd on gun politics that I couldn't imagine anybody having anything new to say.

I was wrong! And I owe Poe an apology for imagining any degree of wussitude.

Poe simply demolishes the seven named myths in clear, vivid language that could reach even your anti-gun Aunt Maud. Since these myths are the most common ones promoted by the disarm-us crowd ("guns increase violent crime," "the Second Amendment is obsolete," "we should license guns the same way we license cars," etc.), the book is especially effective.

The best thing about it, though, is its very long epilogue. You get 2/3 of the way through the book and here it is -- an extended essay called "The End of Manhood." What? I thought when I came to it, Has Poe slipped a cog? After demolishing the gun controllers' favorite myths, is he going to hand them a victory on the 'guns=macho' issue? As I began to read, I also suspected he might be pulling off a 'traditional family values' argument (a real groaner for anybody who still suffers the aftereffects of one of those allegedly "healthy" traditional upbringings).

But I should have figured by then that I could trust him. What he delivers in "The End of Manhood" is an eloquent essay on how the recent attempt to feminize boys -- to drug or socialize all the competitiveness and anger out of them -- actually leads to Columbine-style outbursts of violence (among other consequences). There were moments I wasn't sure this essay belonged in this book. But it's so good in its own right I'd be moved and persuaded by it wherever it appeared.

Read this book. It's worth it.

Posted by Claire @ 09:29 AM CST
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