Today in Moronic Memes

 

I generally don't like internet memes.  On a good day memes can be clever and maybe point out irony, but more often they reduce nuanced ideas down to a couple of sentences to appease the intellectually lazy.  The above is one such meme with which I'd like to point out the following flaws:

• First,"heroine" is a female hero; "heroin" is a drug derived from opium.
• This baby is engaging in a logical fallacy known as the "straw man argument" that is misrepresenting the argument of your opponent.  As far as I can tell no serious person holding office, has suggested that we ban all guns and I am unaware of any legislation that has been introduced.  Furthermore, assuming for a second that those conditions I am unaware of exist, they certainly don't represent the vast majority of those whom support gun control.
• There is a long history of humans doing drugs.  In fact, it's all of human history in every society in the world.  Demand for drugs is largely inelastic meaning most people will continue to buy them regardless of the price.  The demand for guns is likely fairly elastic meaning that beyond a certain point, most people won't be willing to spend that much money on them.  I don't think it's a stretch to say that the demand for drugs is far more widespread than the demand for guns.
• Estimates for opium consumed globally per year are around 3,700 tons (United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime).  This number is most likely flawed do to the difficult nature of estimating a black market; however, given the concentrated nature of heroin you could probably meet American demand for heroin with one tractor-trailer truck of pure heroin.  Based on size it would be much easier to meet demand for guns rather than heroin.
• Expanding on the idea of supply and demand, nearly all guns in the United States have legal origins, manufactured in large factories 100% legally, often within our own borders.  It's much harder to manufacture guns on a massive scale than it is to manufacture drugs.  Maybe that will change as 3D printing becomes more prevalent, but as of right now the argument doesn't hold water.
• If your argument is that guns should be legal because illegal goods like heroin and meth are prevalent, then logic follows that you support the idea that heroin and meth should be legal.  I'm not saying that this is necessarily the worst idea, but that is what you are arguing...
• Many countries with strict gun control have succeeded in reducing the number of guns and raising the street price of illegal guns.  Australia, which had a similar gun culture to ours, instituted strict gun control after a massacre and now the price of a pistol in Sydney averages around $15,000 (The Australian).

You might be able to convince me gun control is a waste of time, but you'll need to do better than a baby meme.

Sources:
United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime http://www.unodc.org/documents/data-and-analysis/Afghanistan/Afghan_Opium_Trade_2009_web.pdf

The Austrailian http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/gun-smuggling-linked-to-criminal-gangs/story-e6frg6nf-1226499388180