Robert MacNeil’s Axiom

Pierre Lemieux’s excellent post on The Economist‘s dismissal of an argument against gun control reminded me of a line from, I think, one of Robert MacNeil’s books. He said, “It has always been axiomatic to me that easy access to firearms would lead to more crime, in particular, homicide.”

See the problem? It’s not axiomatic. It might be true, but it’s not axiomatic. MacNeil’s claim has to be researched. I remember, when I read that years ago, being so disappointed that a person who made his early living as a reporter would regard such a claim as axiomatic. And because he did, he probably never pursued the evidence.