There's Nothing Quite So Entertaining...

There's Nothing Quite So Entertaining...

As watching a Brit suffer from cognitive dissonance over guns. Chris Ayres is the Los Angeles correspondent for the Times of London. This April 8, 2009 article, as usual, suggests that Americans are somewhat crazy because we allow ordinary people to own guns--and that safe gun ownership requires knowledge and skills far above that of a mere reporter:

The day that my US Green Card arrived in the post, I remember thinking to myself: “Oh cool, now I can go out and buy a high-powered semi-automatic assault weapon.”
Approximately two millionths of a second later, I had another thought - actually it's probably best if I don't go out and buy a high-powered semi-automatic assault weapon, or any other kind of weapon for that matter.
Knowing me, I would almost certainly shoot myself in the groin while loading it. Or my two-year-old son would get hold of it and execute his play date.
Or someone would break into our house and I would scramble for the gun. but hesitate before pulling the trigger and then the intruder, being more experienced in such matters, would grab it off me. And by that time he'd be angry.
Or I'd kill the intruder and then a blood spatter expert would declare at my trial that I'd shot him as he was turned away from me and I'd spend the rest of my life on Death Row.

Where's the cognitive dissonance? A bit later in the article:

If anything, the recent shootings have inspired more Americans to buy guns, recession or no recession.
In fact, all over the country they are stocking up on as many pistols, rifles, and shotguns as possible before the Obama Administration bans or taxes them.
According to the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the FBI carried out more than 4.2 million background checks on behalf of gundealers from November to January (a check is required with every sale), up 31 per cent on the same period in the previous year.
Interestingly, however, violent crime rates have at the same time been falling in Los Angeles, New York and other big American cities The experts are at loss as to explain why this should be happening.
I have my own theory: people are buying so many guns that the criminals are simply running out of bullets. Or as one firing instructor explained to the Columbus Dispatch newspaper: “The ammo is being snapped up as soon as it comes in. People are in a frenzy. It's kind of like that run on Elmo dolls.”

The prospect that criminals are scared witless of armed victims doesn't occur to him. Instead, he ascribes the fall in gun crime in big cities to criminals not being able to buy bullets? Talk about looking for the most bizarre explanation, rather than the most obvious one.