Lowest IQ: The criminal or the anti-gunner who believes criminals are dumb?
By Ken Hanson
I am not one of those people who go around using Forest Gumpisms, though I did enjoy the movie. “Stupid is as stupid does,” in a more literal sense, means that if you act stupid, you are stupid, regardless of your relative intelligence. I think this is a particularly accurate label for all of the anti-gun arguments that begin with “Do you really believe a criminal is smart enough to...”
As is clearly illustrated by a rash of crimes against National Basketball Association (NBA) players, it is the person who dismisses the criminal as dumb who is in fact dumb.
Consider NBA Commissioner David Stern’s wisdom on pro-basketball players carrying guns. Stern, apparently also moonlighting as Personal Safety Consultant and Expert, has said “I don't think it's necessary to walk the streets packing a gun. I think it's dangerous for our players. It's a pretty widely accepted statistic that if you carry a gun, your chances of being shot by one increase dramatically. We think this is an alarming subject, that although you'll read players saying how they feel safer with guns, in fact those guns actually make them less safe. And it's a real issue."
Apparently, the criminals did not get Stern’s memo.
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The Associated Press (AP) is reporting that NBA stars are apparently being targeted for crimes. Criminals have apparently thought about it, and figured out that if you are going to rob someone, it might as well be someone who makes a very comfortable living. As bank robber Willy Sutton once famously remarked, “’Cause that’s where the money is.” Makes sense, right?
Apparently not. In addition to Stern’s sage advice, none other than NRA Board Member Karl Malone has similarly chastised his colleagues for feeling that they needed to carry a gun.
“Now why do these guys carry guns? Is that the 'cool' thing to do? Well 'cool' gets you dead!" Malone said. Malone went on to blame the victims (sound familiar?) and their choice of lifestyles. “You can enjoy yourself in nice places, but we're talking about gun stuff. We need to talk more about where we are going, what we are doing, and who we are hanging out with that lead up to these confrontations.”
Taking this mission to heart, I looked at the story and some of the crimes the players are suffering:
Wow, clearly these folks should not have been in their own homes or driving their own cars. They were practically begging to be victims! I am sure the players are relieved to read the AP report and see that the league security office will be contacting players to cover any questions and concerns they have about security, especially since the NBA security policy this office administers prohibits even properly licensed players from carrying a gun to or from a game or practice, and further provides that players cannot even take guns with them on team planes when traveling to a strange city with an arena in a particularly blighted part of town.
Removing tongue from cheek for a moment, this story is clearly illustrative of a very dangerous mindset: underestimating the enemy. Public officials, newspaper editors and anti-gun advocates routinely dismiss as fantasy the idea that criminals would use lists or rosters of gun owners, or NBA players, to pick their victims, despite repeated, real-life lessons that criminals do, in fact, use these resources. By dismissing the criminals as stupid, those “powers that be” are committing a greater act of stupidity. Stupid is as stupid does.
Please do not assume that those that would target you or your family are stupid. That is the worst form of Condition White thinking you can engage in.
Coming next in the “Stupid is as stupid does” series: FBI study finds that cop killers have more firearms experience and are better prepared to use deadly force than the police officers they kill.
Attorney Ken Hanson is Buckeye Firearms Association Legislative Chair and author of The Ohio Guide to Firearm Laws.
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