A new video, published yesterday, Oct.20, on the NRA News YouTube channel, says that the odds of anyone needing a gun to protect their life is basically miniscule. Almost impossible really. One has to wonder why they would even put out a video that makes that claim. It is like they are shooting themselves in the foot by claiming those odds. Pun intended.
The way this all came about was by a little skit that NRA News commentator, Colion Noir, did for their YouTube channel. Acting as a magician called Colion the Great, Noir recreates the order of a previously laid out “random” deck of cards. Once he recreates the order, his assistant holds up a card with the odds printed on it. Noir then says:
“This was not supposed to happen, and yet it did.”
The video then cuts to Noir in the audience where he explains:
“There are 300 and 18.9-million American citizens. The odds of you and me needing a gun to protect our lives, is not that much better than Colion the Incredible putting these cards back in the exact order. However, the odds of one person needing a gun to protect their life with, is 100-percent. How can anyone tell somebody they shouldn’t have a firearm in their 100-percent moment? What kind of special arrogance do you have, to think that you have a right to tell someone that they don’t have a right to do something? Because you feel safe. Because you don’t like guns.”
Noir is basically making the point that someone is not likely to need a gun, but a situation will arise where they will need one. Which is totally counter-intuitive to the NRA’s position that if everyone was armed, there would be less gun violence. Noir himself just said that the odds were against someone needing a gun in the first place. Making sense yet?
He then goes to the NRA’s fear tactics arsenal to imply that people are trying to tell gun owners they can’t have their guns. The remainder of the video has Noir posing what-if scenarios to different people. As Media Matters points out:
“Despite admitting the rarity of defensive gun uses, the NRA commentary video did not admit the logical conclusion of that fact, which is that guns do not typically make people safer.”
In fact, the Journal of Preventive Medicine argues that owning a gun does not make you safer. Which is basically what Noir is saying. Once again: Why would they even put out a video like this?
With all of the school shootings over the past decade or so, many politicians have repeatedly called for more in-depth gun legislation. These laws would try to prevent firearms from falling into the wrong hands. With the admittedly low odds represented in this video, wouldn’t it make it even safer for the public if common-sense legislation was passed? Besides, the NRA says the odds are in our favor.
While the entire video is 18:04, the skit, and commentary, takes place in the first 3:10.
