JACOB SULLUM: At Sandy Hook Memorial, Obama Showcases the Magical Thinking of Gun Controllers.

I think it’s not so much that the gun controllers themselves engage in magical thinking, as that they exploit it.

SO IF WE’RE GOING TO HAVE A “NATIONAL CONVERSATION ON GUNS,” HERE ARE SOME OPENERS:

Why do people who favor gun-control call people who disagree with them murderers or accomplices to murder? Is that constructive?

Would any of the various proposals have actually prevented the tragedy that is the supposed reason for them?

When you say you hope that this event will finally change the debate, do you really mean that you hope you can use emotionalism and blood-libel-bullying to get your way on political issues that were losers in the past?

If you’re a media member or politician, do you have armed security? Do you have a permit for a gun yourself? (I’m asking you Dianne Feinstein!) If so, what makes your life more valuable than other people’s?

Do you know the difference between an automatic weapon and a semi-automatic weapon? Do your public statements reflect that difference?

If guns cause murder, why have murder rates fallen as gun sales have skyrocketed?

Have you talked about “Fast and Furious?” Do you even know what it is? Do you care less when brown people die?

When you say that “we” need to change, how are you planning to change? Does your change involve any actual sacrifice on your part?

Let me know when you’re ready to talk about these things. We’ll have a conversation.

UPDATE: John Lucas emails:

Joe Scarborough, who claims to be a “proud NRA member” just said there is no reason to allow someone to have an “assault weapon” that shoots “30 rounds a second.”

The ignorance is appalling.

Well, yes. It’s MSNBC. But it is interesting that Scarborough — like Mark Shields and Rupert Murdoch — seems entirely ignorant of actual gun law. But to be fair, the National Firearms Act has only been around since 1934.

PEJMAN YOUSEFZADEH: Paul Krugman’s Right: Build The Death Star To Stimulate The Economy!

CHEAT ON YOUR TAXES, TAKE OVER THE FEDERAL RESERVE? Smart Money Is on Geithner to Replace Bernanke.

ED DRISCOLL: Racism And The Memory Hole at MSNBC.

TOM BLUMER: Cory Booker’s Food Stamp Falsehoods.

THE FACTS ABOUT MASS SHOOTINGS:

Mass shootings are no more common than they have been in past decades, despite the impression given by the media.

In fact, the high point for mass killings in the U.S. was 1929, according to criminologist Grant Duwe of the Minnesota Department of Corrections. . . .

With just one single exception, the attack on congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords in Tucson in 2011, every public shooting since at least 1950 in the U.S. in which more than three people have been killed has taken place where citizens are not allowed to carry guns.

Read the whole thing.

FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY: Schools Should Consider Arming Employees.

Reportedly, some schools already are.

IT’S ALMOST LIKE OBAMA DOESN’T WANT A DEAL: Boehner Offered Millionaire Tax Hike.

ANN ALTHOUSE: “Funny the way the word ‘control’ troubles the proponents of gun control!”

It’s the “control,” of course, that they’re after. Hey, Mayor Bloomberg: What kind of guns does your security detail carry?

THE OPPORTUNITY MARS ROVER JUST KEEPS GOING AND GOING. “Opportunity landed on Mars in January 2004, for what was supposed to be a three-month mission. Yet the rover continues operating in good condition.”

GERARD DEPARDIEU GOES GALT: “I am leaving because you believe that success, creation, talent, anything different must be sanctioned.”

JOHN HINDERAKER ON PROSPERITY: “For the first time in history, the average Canadian is wealthier than the average American. Canada has a conservative government, and they have passed us like we are standing still. Which we are, at best. . . . Do Barack Obama and his minions want America to be one of the world’s ten most prosperous countries? If you believe, as I do, that actions speak louder than words, the answer is No.”

AT AMAZON, Top Holiday Deals. New deals every day, fresh “lightning deals” every hour.

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BITTER CLINGER: As freedom in Egypt slips, Thomas Friedman clings to delusions about the Muslim Brotherhood.

ED DRISCOLL: Obama Passes Conservative Blogosphere Full Employment Act. “If true, as I wrote the other day, the sixties are now complete: A president supported by an ex-Weatherman and the New Black Panthers might as well have a Winter Soldier in his cabinet for the complete Radical Chic Meets Geritol experience. If only Leonard Bernstein was still around to savor the moment.”

LOOKING FOR YEAR-END CHARITABLE DONATIONS? Consider supporting The Foresight Institute, which addresses all sorts of interesting nanotechnology issues.

I also recommend the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education, and the Lifeboat Foundation. And don’t forget the Cato Institute, and the Institute for Justice.

TWEET OF THE WEEK: To all the celebrities who’ll surely be ramping up pro gun control rhetoric,how about u tell ur bodyguards to disarm,as a show of faith.

ON ADVICE GODDESS RADIO, Amy Alkon talks to Mark Sanborn about entrepreneurialism in business, life, and love. Starting in just a minute.

IMPROVEMENTS IN DATA VISUALIZATION.

AT AMAZON, markdowns on bestsellers in Headphones & Earbuds.

Also, markdowns on Monty Python and Mr. Bean.

WHAT CONSTRUCTIVE ACTION LOOKS LIKE: Texas School District Will Let Teachers Carry Guns.

UPDATE: Texas school where teachers carry guns prepared to protect students.

ER. . . . ‘We’re not federal employees,’ says federal spokesperson for secret Colorado lab.

NICK GILLESPIE: 4 Awful Reactions to Sandy Hook School Shooting – And Thoughts on a Better Response.

NEWS YOU CAN USE: Disappearing Products: What To Hoard Now.