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CITIZEN_EXPERT

                                             January   7, 2013
                                             February  7, 2013

An interesting corner of the gun
debate turned up on a discussion
board of the dailykos recently:

An anti-gun person fell into some of the usual traps--
he didn't understand the auto/semiauto distinction or
something like that.

Anti-gun people, almost by definition,
are not not people who are "into guns",
and hence don't actually know that much
them, and they're in the awkward
position of trying to propose regulation
for a technology they don't understand.           And just as bad, they
                                                  typically don't know
                                                  what the existing regs
                                                  are, either.

   This particular person then
   made an interesting move
   (which predictably didn't        The left is going through a
   go over well):                   phase where they're all proud
                                    of themselves for being members
   Why *should* he have to be       of the "reality based community".
   expert on these details?
   How is it possible for              They have a point: they *are* doing
   ordinary citizens to become         better than the right, but still...
   experts on every field in
   need of regulation?


                              EXPERTISE

                              THE_PROFESSIONAL_GOODMAN

   Could it be that it's the business
   of the people to provide a direction,
   an outline of where you want our,
   uh, "leaders" to go, and then it's
   the job of the experts to make it
   happen?

   But there are obvious problems with
   that, our "leaders" don't show much
   sign of being interested in the
   will of the people, beyond keeping
   their butts covered through the next
   election... and that butt covering            A case in point:
   may require Doing Something, but              Obama embaracing a
   doing something effective is another          ban on "assault
   question.                                     weapons", which
                                                 historically has
                                                 meant a requirement
                                                 that guns have a
                                                 nice homey-looking
                                                 polished wood stock.

                                                     Needless to say,
                                                     this seems pretty
                                                     meaningless to a
                                                     lot of us.

                                                         ASSAULT_ON_WEAPONS
   So: are the details our problem?
   No they can't be.  But yes they have to be.

        Unless you can find a proxy you
        can trust, and expert you can use
        as a guide to expertise...




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