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Spoons and guns? Water and marriage? Equations that don't add up

Have you ever been in an argument when the person you’re speaking with makes some bizarre comparison to justify their side of the debate?

Have you ever been in an argument when the person you’re speaking with makes some bizarre comparison to justify their side of the debate?

It happened this weekend during a gun-control debate on ABC’s “This Week.” Spoiler alert: guns and flatware are not all that different.

You may have heard some on the pro-gun side of the debate make the argument that criminals will get their hands on a gun, regardless of any new gun policies that are put in place. Well, Pennsylvania Republican Congressman Lou Barletta went that extra step during an appearance on ABC’s “This Week” panel yesterday.

“As a former mayor, I know people will get guns no matter what laws we pass,” he said. "Would banning spoons stop obesity?"

So... banning guns would be just as silly as banning spoons?

Well, as Chris Matthews pointed out, “Do speed limits slow traffic?”

With his spoons-and-firearms analogy, Barletta entered the ranks of Republicans with a history of conversation-stopping comparisons. Remember Rick Santorum on the issue of gay marriage? Over the course of his presidential campaign, Santorum equated the issue of marriage with things like napkins, paper towels, water, beer, tea, and even basketballs.

There’s also Iowa Congressman Steve King, who has been sounding off on the issue of illegal immigration. This past May, King compared immigrants to dogs. Later,  doubling down on the argument, King asserted that his remarks were in fact meant to be a “compliment.”

Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia suggested that the individual mandate in President Obama’s Affordable Care Act was comparable to coercing people to buy broccoli.

And it will be tough to forget the blackout that put a slight damper on the Super Bowl. But if you happened to be following Donald Trump’s twitter feed during the time out, you would have been treated to this: “The Country is being run just like the stadium.”Check out the Hardball Sideshow for those comparisons and more!