So I’m getting ready to head to DC for my appearance on Al Jazeera when their producer calls me; apparently there was a change of plans, and I’d be appearing opposite someone else.
He asked if I’d ever heard of Rebecca Peters. Duh! I laughed and said yeah, she’s the queen bee of the enemy. Bring her on!
(She’s not particularly well informed or even all that bright from what I’ve read of her work and seen of her debates with Wayne LaPierre, but needless to say that’s a bit more imposing an opponent than the Illinois campus gun banner kid I was supposed to square off with.)
Pretty wild…millions of people in the Arab world were going to watch me debate the head of IANSA. No pressure or anything, heh.
I guess I did…ok. The format was frustrating, I went first, Rebecca would make an outlandish statement (the usual collection of falsehoods, outright lies, and disinformation, including the old “the US is the most violent industrialized nation”, which isn’t even close to true, and the usual “more guns = more crime” nonsense, despite her not having any sort of rebuttal for my point about Baltimore and DC being dangerous despite our tough gun control laws), and then the host would move along. If we’d had more time and it was an open ended debate, I would have really smashed her.
The host wanted to talk about the old NRA=big corporate money canard; I think this was my best moment. I pointed out that the NRA was powerful because it had 4 million members, and 30 million+ who either thought they were members or were members at one point. Rebecca thought she was crafty by pointing out that 4mil is a small fraction of the US population, and thus gun rights supporters were some outlandish small minority. I unloaded on, vehemently pointing out that close to 70% of the US population believed that the 2A was an individual right and that close to half of the nation’s households own guns; if we’re a small minority, what the HELL does that make the anti gun movement, with numbers perhaps one tenth of ours or less?
The host ended the convo at that point.
I’ll see if I can get a link.
So, you gonna change your street name to “Big Time” or something?
Comment by Matt — March 19, 2008 @ 2:58 pm
I’d love to see that video!
Comment by Yuri Orlov — March 19, 2008 @ 3:14 pm
Ha! Yeah I’m now the most famous person who lives in Pigtown. Worship me!
Jadedouche must really hate me. He went like a month without a post and now he’s back on the hating my guts thing. Must mean I’m doing something right.
Comment by Administrator — March 19, 2008 @ 8:46 pm
You better come through with that vid! Sounds like a great watch.
“The host ended the convo at that point.”
zing!
Comment by Michael Hawkins — March 20, 2008 @ 4:33 am
Uh oh, did I get trapped by the screen again with my earlier?
Comment by Matt — March 20, 2008 @ 7:15 am
Ha! Yeah I’m now the most famous person who lives in Pigtown. Worship me!
Uh oh, just thought of that…you’re on the TV in the Arab world, and you’re from pigtown. I wonder how that went over?
Comment by Matt — March 20, 2008 @ 7:16 am
[…] I almost missed this due to all the Heller buzz, but the other Sebastian actually debated Rebecca Peters, Queen of the International gun control movement, on Al-Jazeera. You can see video of it here. Good show! […]
Pingback by Snowflakes in Hell » Blog Archive » Pro-Gun Progressive vs. Rebecca Peters — March 20, 2008 @ 4:30 pm
WTG, Sebastian.
Comment by Rustmeister — March 20, 2008 @ 5:23 pm
Excellent. Good job.
Comment by SayUncle — March 20, 2008 @ 7:24 pm
Excellent job, Sass. The moderator asked good questions and your responses were spot on.
Comment by Don Pollock — March 20, 2008 @ 8:55 pm
You done good, Seb.
Comment by Pete — March 20, 2008 @ 11:02 pm
the old “the US is the most violent industrialized nation,� which isn’t even close to true
Yep, just about every country in the former Soviet Union (including the ones that are now EU members) has higher rates of violent crime (including homicide) than the US, and I’d be scornful of any claim that those countries aren’t industrialized. But if you mean rich countries, most of north-western Europe (and Great Britain in particular) is more violent than the US in every category of violent crime except homicide.
Okay, now to watch those YouTube clips.
Comment by Jurjen S. — March 20, 2008 @ 11:27 pm
[…] Pro Gun Progressive was on Al Jazeera debating Rebecca Peters, direct of International Action Network on Small Arms. He has a report here. Video of the debate is here and part 2 is here. Rebecca Peters is not the sharpest tool in the shed and, basically, reiterated various falsehoods (like the US is the most violent nation on earth; more guns = more crime; and the US is the largest exporter of illegal weapons). And Sebastian pretty much served her ass like John McEnroe. […]
Pingback by SayUncle » Debates — March 21, 2008 @ 10:08 am
Bravo Sebastian! Well done indeed-calm,well presented,just the facts.Blessings, E
Comment by Elle — March 21, 2008 @ 11:02 am
Good job, Sebastian! I don’t know if I’d have been able to restrain myself from saying, “Rebecca, you ignorant slut!”
Kudos on your self-restraint!
Comment by Kevin Baker — March 21, 2008 @ 9:06 pm
[…] Sebastian v. Rebecca Peters Sebastian from Pro-Gun Progressive recently was involved in a debate on Al Jazeera opposite IANSA queen Rebecca Peters.  Check out  his take on the debate herePart 1 of the debate hereand part 2 here Standard tired old arguments that more guns equal more crime, America has the highest crime rate, blah blah blah.  Even if we give her, for the sake of argument, that America is more violent than other industrialized nations (which I take serious issue with), let’s look at trending for a moment. America - Violent crime has been going down a while now, while gun rights are going up on average (CCW, Castle doctrine, etc), or at least have remained fairly even. England - Most guns are banned, and the violent crime rate is rising dramatically.  Australia - much the same.  She also makes a comment about citizens of other countries trusting their governments more than Americans. I see it the other way. I am glad to live in country where the government trusts it’s citizens more than most other governments do. […]
Pingback by Sebastian v. Rebecca Peters « Firearms & Freedom — March 21, 2008 @ 11:30 pm