In the pantheon of American professional sports, soccer ranks somewhere between lacrosse and tag. While it does have its fans, it’s not exactly in the running to become America’s pastime by any stretch of the imagination.

In fact, if pressed to name one American soccer player, most could stumble trying to come up with a name. Others might remember some of the more outspoken women’s national team players but from an American professional league, it just won’t happen.

So when a Major League Soccer player popped off recently about gun control, it’s unlikely few noticed. Now that we know about it, though, his comments are interesting.

They’re interesting because, well, they’re rather vapid.

My friend Brad Polumbo, writing at the Washington Examiner noted:

When celebrities enter the political realm, more often than not, it results in cringeworthy pandering and kindergarten-level logic. The latest gun-control collaboration between U.S. soccer star Alejandro Bedoya and Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) is no exception.

Non-soccer fans probably haven’t heard of Bedoya. But the 35-year-old midfielder is one of the more prominent faces of American soccer, having played for major European club teams overseas, played for the U.S. national team at major international tournaments, and captained the Major League Soccer team Philadelphia Union for many years. He’s also something of an anti-gun activist.

…

The player’s latest foray into gun control activism came this week as Sen. Chris Murphy, a prominent gun control champion, promoted a video of Bedoya calling for more gun restrictions made in collaboration with his office.

In the video, Bedoya offers such intellectual insights as: “I mean, all you have to do is be a human being to realize that politics does matter in all of our daily lives, and these things matter. And gun violence is one of those that is affecting our communities, and my neighbors, my friends, my teammates, my classmates — all of that.”

“The fact that this gun violence continues to happen, it just ruins so many things for so many families, so many people out there,” Bedoya poetically observed. “And it’s not a society that I think people would want to partake in.”

I mean, go read the whole thing, but Bedoya’s comments don’t get much better from there.

You see, Bedoya is like a lot of other gun control “activists.” He knows how he feels about the issue, but he can’t actually present an argument.

I mean, no one disputes that violent crime ruins things for people, families, and for our communities. That’s like taking a position that puppies and kittens are adorable. It’s a non-controversial point to make, as is the claim that people would prefer to live in a society where that simply doesn’t happen.

But that’s also not remotely realistic.

Even if guns vanished in an instant, our homicide rate would still be higher than most of Europe’s. Gun control simply won’t make the negative impact of violence go away.

Bedoya made these comments, but plenty of others have spouted a similar level of nonsense over the years. They just know guns are bad, but can’t tell you precisely why or how.

To be sure, there are certainly flaws in more knowledgeable gun control arguments. We know that the studies those folks mention are questionable at best, but at least it looks like they are at least trying to understand the issue.

But folks like Bedoya are emotional and driven by nothing but emotion.

Now, that’s fine, but an anti-gun United States Senator pushed a video of Bedoya’s vapid comments as if they matter. There’s no argument there. There’s not even a good plea. It’s a D-list athlete–he may be huge to soccer fans, but it’s not like he’s David Beckham famous–making the kinds of arguments you might expect a middle school activist to make.

That’s the best gun control can do?