“Garbage in, garbage out” is an old computer science axiom that describes how flawed, biased or poor-quality input will produce equally flawed, biased or poor-quality output.
Of course, the principle doesn’t only apply to computer science. The entire gun control world often operates on this same premise.
So, consider how unsurprising it truly is that a task force that Democrat Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer created to make policy recommendations to curb violence is urging state lawmakers to ban the possession of so-called “assault weapons” and “large-capacity” magazines.
According to a report at michiganadvance.com, Dr. Natasha Bagdasarian, the state’s chief medical executive and the task force’s chair, said the group used a “public health” approach to addressing “gun violence” in the state.
“There are a lot of issues here that have not historically been thought of as public health issues, and only when we’ve taken this really comprehensive public health approach have we been able to implement real change,” Bagdasarian told the newspaper. “Gun violence is one of those issues.”
It’s easy to immediately see how much garbage went into this project, resulting in the garbage that came out. First, Whitmer tasked the group with finding an answer to the “gun violence” problem. That is, indeed, garbage.
Guns aren’t any more violent than any other inanimate object, and, in fact, are way more often used for legal purposes like hunting, sport shooting and armed self-defense than in the commission of crimes. By calling it a “gun violence” problem instead of what it really is—criminal violence—Gov. Whitmer and other anti-gun advocates are insinuating that guns are “the problem.” Consequently, if guns are “the problem,” it’s not surprising the group she hand-picked for the job would claim banning guns is “the solution.”
The other garbage in is treating a criminal violence problem as a public health issue. First, the whole idea that criminals shooting someone is a public health issue is ridiculous on its face.
Consider that there is no pathogen vector for crime. Criminal activity is a chosen behavior—not a disease. Thus, treating it like a public health issue makes no sense at all.
In fact, just this spring, the Trump Administration’s Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) removed former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy’s 40-page advisory declaring so-called gun violence as a “public health crisis.”
“HHS and the Office of the Surgeon General are complying with President Trump’s Executive Order on Protecting Second Amendment Rights,” HHS spokesman Andrew Nixon said in an email to CNN.
Gov. Whitmer’s task force had other recommendations, too, including requiring licensing and inspections for gun dealers (already happens), barring weapons from government buildings (unconstitutional), banning devices to convert semi-automatic weapons into fully automatic weapons (already a federal felony), and banning ghost guns.