I don’t understand this line of thinking. Regardless of other sources of black market guns publishing this list increases the number of stolen guns. At best it accomplishes nothing.

You misunderstand my statement. I was answering your question, not arguing that the leak was good.

I don't subscribe to the argument that firearms serve as an effective deterrent to robbery, so it almost certainly can't help.

But you asked where the black market gets it's merchandise. Theft, smuggling, and straw purchases immediately spring to mind. It would be interesting to see data comparing the effectiveness of each.

> I’m surprised, seems more likely they would buy off the black market.

Reads to me as:

“I’m surprised [criminals steal guns] seems more likely they would buy [stolen guns] off the black market.”

The suggestion guns are sourced from a black market is not a compelling argument against those items being stolen. Invoking the black market itself establishes the incentive to steal.

You seem to have responded to me in error. I didn't make the statement you quoted.

I merely responded to the question regarding where else the black market could have acquired those guns.

I made no error. You seem to have lost track of the context in this thread. I replied to a comment (not yours) that essentially said guns come from the black market instead of being stolen. I pointed out through a rhetorical device the possibility that the black market sells stolen products and so both are true. You then replied to that rhetorical.

I haven't lost track of anything. You asked a question and I replied to that.

As far as your rhetorical device, I'm sorry but theft isn't the only way firearms get into that market.

You're trying to attribute arguments to me that I never made, and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop.

Thanks.

> You're trying to attribute arguments to me that I never made, and I'd appreciate it if you'd stop.

I explicitly did the exact opposite of that.

You are clearly confused but at this point I don’t think I can help you.

No. You did exactly that. I'm asking you politely to please stop that and the condescension. It's ineffective and rude.

You’re clearly still confused and I think that’s why you are being defensive.

I replied to sha256sum’s (not you!) comment at https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31912312 with a rhetorical question. You then answered it as if it were an actual question. Since that wasn’t the reason for the question I then explained my interpretation of the original post (that again, you did not make).

Since that point you seem to believe I claimed sha256sum’s post was yours but in fact I did no such thing and actually disclaimed it specifically.

No. I'm clearly not confused. I know who you replied to. I'm not responding to them.

I'm tired of the disingenuous way you've approached this conversation, and your awful attitude.

As I said in my last comment, you need to cut it out.

By "a lot of opinions" you seem to mean that I gave two suggestions of possible sources of firearms, and then openly admitted I don't know how they compare to theft.

Would you rather I have simply stated those two sources and omitted the part about not having the data to compare the quantity of firearms obtained through those sources?

Do you have access to data we could use to make this comparison?