When people want to believe something, they tend to fit the data to their pre-conceived ideas. This is known in scientific circles as confirmation bias. Others may call it rationalization.
It is on full display in an article written by Katie O'Conner in the Virgina Mercury. The article is piece promoting more restrictive gun laws in Virginia, in advance of the special session called by Democrat Governor Ralph Northam. The article is premised on false assumptions and the irrational attribution of volition to inanimate objects. From nbc12.com:
As state lawmakers prepare to reassemble in Richmond for a special session on gun control after the Virginia Beach shooting, this statistic will likely be repeated often: In Virginia, more than 1,000 people die due to gun violence every year.
That equates to almost three people every day. Guns take more lives than car crashes.
And nearly two-thirds of those gun-related deaths in Virginia are suicides.
It is a short article that illustrates the illogic of hoplophobes. .....
As usual, like in Virginia, talk of more restrictive gun laws is based on false assumptions, statistical misinformation, as well as lack of logic. Hoplophobes make a common claim that if there were no guns then suicides as well as overall "gun violence" would somehow magically cease - just how naive can anyone get, but it is typical of the mindset.