Education vs Fear

Self Admitted anti-gun nut reporter Edith Brady-Lunny has written a series of surprisingly well balanced articles on Illinois, CCW and firearms. This comes after she took a training course to educate herself. Here's the key phrase:

I actually did a fair job of hitting the targets once I got the hang of the process. I kept the paper evidence — proof that I had indeed overcome a fear I never intended to face.

But once she did face it, her opinion started to change. Amazing how that works, eh? But the levels of ignorance are still out there. From Laurie Bergner, VP of programs for the McLean County League of Women Voters:

“Nowhere in the Second Amendment does it refer to concealed guns. Having a right doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do,” said Bergner, who argues the founding fathers did not intend for citizens to be uniformly armed.

Ignoring the logical fallacies, let's paraphrase that, shall we?

“Nowhere in the First Amendment does it refer to computers. Having a right doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do,” said Bergner, who argues the founding fathers did not intend for citizens to be uniformly online.

There's a few other things that aren't directly referred to in the BOR, privacy for example, but I'ld bet Ms. Bergner is a big fan of that.

Once an individual educates themselves on an issue, often the fear goes away. For others, though, they choose to either deliberately revel in their ignorance and fear because it's easier or more comfortable than facing them. Those kinds of individuals cannot be reasoned with. The first type we need to encourage.