Affirmative Gun Control Quotes

Charles Taber and Milton Lodge gave participants a variety of arguments on controversial issues, such as gun control or affirmative action, and asked them to list their thoughts relative to the arguments.29 They divided the participants into two groups: those with low and those with high knowledge of political issues. The low-knowledge group exhibited a solid confirmation bias: they listed twice as many thoughts supporting their side of the issue than thoughts going the other way. But knowledge did not protect the participants from bias. The participants in the high-knowledge group found so many thoughts supporting their favorite position that they gave none going the other way. Greater political knowledge only amplified their confirmation bias.

Liberals and conservatives actually move further apart when they read about research on whether the death penalty deters crime, or when they rate the quality of arguments made by candidates in a presidential debate, or when they evaluate arguments about affirmative action or gun control.39

When, and why, do the rights of the individual take precedence over the greater good? Every major moral issue—abortion, affirmative action, higher versus lower taxes, killing civilians in war, sending people to fight in war, rationing resources in healthcare, gun control, the death penalty—was in some way about the (real or alleged) rights of some individuals versus the (real or alleged) greater good.