To give Cal Bahr credit, he's right about frog behavior. MN chain c-stores, not so much.

It's only fair for us to point out a rhetorical strength in House New Republican Cal Bahr's pro-gun-rights rally after chiding the East Bethel lawmaker in Tuesday's post Grammar control: Bahr tells us now "people" just synonym for "bills" needing to be stomped.

At the Forest Lake Times, news editor Ryan Howard reported Tuesday in Bahr draws criticism for statement at gun rally:

 . . .Bahr began speaking about what he saw as governmental overreach in the lives of everyday citizens.

“I read off this long list of infringements on our Second Amendment rights, our rights of personal defense, and some others have mentioned the right of defense against a tyrannical government,” he said. “Some days, you know, you feel like the boiling frog – the frog in the boiling water. Just exactly how long are they gonna just keep notching it up a degree here, a degree here, a degree here until you’ve had enough? That line is for each of us to decide, each on our own terms.”

At this point, someone from the audience shouted, “I’ve already had enough!” . . .

Some readers might be tempted to think that Bahr has fumbled the tale about how frogs don't know they're getting cooked if the chef heats water slowly over time until the water is boiling, while a frog thrown in a boiling pot of water jumps to safety.

Not so, wrote the Atlantic's James Fallows in a 2006 column, The boiled-frog myth: stop the lying now!:

. . . Everyone who has heard a political speech knows this story: You put a frog into a pot of boiling water, and it jumps right out. But if you put it in a pot of nice comfortable water and then turn on the heat, the frog will complacently let himself be boiled. One standard version of the story is here. The reason it's so popular in politics is that it's an easy way to warn about the slow erosion of liberties or any other slow threat you want to talk about.

Here's the problem. It just isn't true. If you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will (unfortunately) be hurt pretty badly before it manages to get out -- if it can. And if you put it into a pot of tepid water and then turn on the heat, it will scramble out as soon as it gets uncomfortably warm.

How do I know? Let's just say that, as with global warming, the scientific evidence is all on one side of this one. Fast Company magazine did an admirable early myth-busting story on the topic in its very first issue, more than a decade ago. The best quote (of many good ones) in the article was from the Curator of Reptiles and Amphibians at the National Museum of Natural History, who when asked about the boiled-frog story said: "Well that's, may I say, bullshit." There is much more to the same effect, eg here.. . .

Bahr's analogy is correct: he urges his audience to jump out of the slowly heating waters that will cook their gun rights.

In all fairness, however, we must point out that a point Bahr makes in an interview with Howard for the article is deeply flawed. Howard reports:

He believes the background check bill could ultimately lead to a government gun registry that could one day result in firearm confiscation, all while not addressing those who would use firearms illegally.

“You are not going to stop two gangbangers from selling firearms around the back of the 7-Eleven with universal background checks,” he said.

Bahr's understanding of national chain C-stores is deeply flawed: there are no 7-11s operating in the state of Minnesota. WCCO's John Lauritson explained in 2013's Good Question: Why Aren’t Some Big Chains In Minnesota?:

Worldwide, 7-Eleven has more than 50,000 stores and used to be big in Minnesota until Brennan says it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Super America took over a lot of 7-Eleven stores in the Twin Cities.

Update: SuperAmerca in its turn was acquired by Speedway. [end update]

The street term "gangbanger" also carries some dog-whistling baggage, so perhaps Bahr might wish to modernize his example of "two gangbangers from selling firearms around the back of the 7-Eleven" to language that better reflects Minnesota's informal firearms retail culture, as well as places where buyers and sellers converge. Perhaps Bahr might cite Minnesota 3 Percenters trading guns in rural Pine County, or Mendota Heights Aryan Liberation Movement members selling weapons to undercover FBI agents.

We certainly don't want anyone trashing the video-monitored property of the many fine Kwik-Trips, Casey's General Stores or SuperAmericas Speedway serving the Loon State. Fluff up your rhetoric, Representative Bahr--if you can be right about frog behavior, you can right about illegal gun sales.

Photo: Cal Bahr speaking about gun control and frogs last Saturday.

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Comments

[Kathi Ruberta Malone]

I find MN Gun Caucus complicit in this guy's call to speak. I calle dhtem out and they got defensive saying that MN Gun Owner's Caucus does not condone violence and that i should take it up with Rep Bahr. They said to me that He doe not speak for them. I have screen shots of it if you are interested.