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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2012 10:33:07 GMT
My relatives in Canada have guns for hunting - which is the only thing they do and have ever done with it. I can understand that people who are allowed to and like to hunt want to be able to have the guns they need for that. But I think a lot of Americans who own guns don't go hunting.
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Post by Alvamiga on Dec 16, 2012 13:41:07 GMT
I understand hunting for food, clothing and so on, but as a sport I cannot comprehend it, especially with our weaponry these days being very much "Point at target and press button for them to die". It starts to reek of God-complex in my mind.
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Post by charliebrown on Dec 16, 2012 15:09:02 GMT
I agree. I'd love to see a world where arms are carried only by people in duty, soldiers, police etc; and as a sport, only shooting at dumb targets.
I know the reason why I am following this news is because my kids are 6 and 11; I can't bear to see the photos of those young kids who are murdered, they are around the age of my Andrzej.
I feel so sad for the parents who lost their kids.
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Post by Moose on Dec 16, 2012 17:39:31 GMT
Yes. Of course it does not wholly stop gun massacres - there was one here a cpl years ago - but hopefully makes them more difficult for the would be perp
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Post by Alvamiga on Dec 16, 2012 19:24:25 GMT
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2012 19:25:29 GMT
I understand hunting for food, clothing and so on, but as a sport I cannot comprehend it, especially with our weaponry these days being very much "Point at target and press button for them to die". It starts to reek of God-complex in my mind. Well, I think my relatives have been doing it for the food. Saves money. |
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Post by Moose on Dec 16, 2012 19:53:50 GMT
Well that's okay. If you're gonna eat it then fine... and free range venison or pheasant or whatever likely lived a much better life than battery chicken. Just don't kill it for the thrill of going 'bang' and seeing something die
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2012 22:22:49 GMT
I don't think my relatives ever did or would ever do that. I find it scary that there are so many people who do!
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Post by Shake on Dec 18, 2012 4:18:34 GMT
The 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution:
What the vast majority of the gun nuts here seem to forget, is that this "right ... to keep and bear arms," was supposed to be limited to well-regulated militias. The need for the local militias is long since past in our (relative to you Europeans) short history. I have seen multiple times already the claim that having the teachers/staff being armed would have saved lives. I've also seen claims that the idea of a ban on assault weapons would do no good since the shooter primarily used handguns. Still others have said that this is not a gun problem, but rather, "a culture/violence problem." The last of these, I replied to saying, "Yes a gun culture/gun violence problem!" Oh, still others have said that the citizenry almost needs to be armed to protect themselves against the government.
I have read many articles offering different thoughts on the whole thing lately. A very long one dealt with the 3 main issues at hand: gun control, the treatment and availability of mental health, and the media handling of such situations. The author claimed that media was handling this all wrong, saying that all but the barest of details should have been reported outside the local area; that this shouldn't turn into a 24/7 media event; and other things like not talking much about the killer. The point was that all of this coverage tends to help fuel the copycats. There were copycat attempts after the Columbine tragedy and I'm sure others.
I was shocked to read in another article that the US is #1 in gun ownership per 100 people, at 88.8! If you can't figure it out, that's nearly 1 gun per person! Not per adult, per person! This was in stark contrast to Japan, with 0.6 guns per 100 people ... and of course they had nearly no fatalities from firearms.
I know how to handle firearms responsibly, but I do not own any. This is also not because I am afraid of them, because I'm not. I have enjoyed target shooting in the past, and it's an activity which I wouldn't object to doing again in the future. However, I'm not a hunter and I've done my time in the military, so there's no real reason for me to do it. Plus, the wife is really not a fan of guns at all.
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Post by Alvamiga on Dec 18, 2012 9:15:56 GMT
I agree with that, I have been clay-pigeon shooting in the past and it was fun. I still don't feel the need to have a personal gun though.
As far as I am concerned, someone who has to take time to get a gun and use it on someone has time to think about what they are doing or go off the idea.
The worst problem is the "they have guns, so I need one" that you get stuck in to once things get past a certain point. It takes a lot of concerted effort to come back from there and I don't think people in general want it enough to make it happen.
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Post by tangent on Dec 18, 2012 10:11:28 GMT
I have seen attempts to shift attention away from owning guns and onto mental health. The US currently spends $200 billion on mental health and drug related disorders. I suspect most of this is on treatment of the mentally ill. How much more would be needed to treat people who might be mentally ill before they use a gun who do not have health insurance or whose insurance does not adequately cover mental health. Would the Republican party be prepared to pay for it? If not, what's the point in suggesting it?
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Post by Miisa on Dec 18, 2012 14:54:45 GMT
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Post by Kye on Dec 18, 2012 15:33:47 GMT
That's... unbelievable...  |
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Post by Miisa on Dec 18, 2012 16:03:37 GMT
People are afraid, and then they tend to stockpile what they fear will be in short supply soon. But yeah, shame seems to be in even shorter supply; I know I would have a hard time going in to a shop like that right now for even other business.
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Post by tangent on Dec 18, 2012 16:38:06 GMT
Fear does terrible things to a person.
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Post by Moose on Dec 18, 2012 17:27:30 GMT
Good heavens. You've got to wonder about the human race sometimes.
Still, we'll all be dead in 72 hours.
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Post by Alvamiga on Dec 18, 2012 19:26:14 GMT
Well, no-one said when on the day it'd end. Any particular day lasts for 48 hours at some point on the planet. What if their leap-year adjustments are different and we've got it all a day out? We won't be able to relax until about this time next week. I propose we all have some kind of global celebration next Tuesday when it's all over!
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Post by tangent on Dec 18, 2012 19:31:41 GMT
Meanwhile, 100 police and firefighters are guarding the French village of Bugarach and a local mountain, Pic de Bugarach, limiting access to potential visitors. Apparently, mystic believers think it is the ideal location to weather the transformative events of 2012, believing it is 'un garage à ovnis' .
In 2011, the local mayor, Jean-Pierre Delord, began voicing fears to the international press that the small town would be overwhelmed by an influx of thousands of visitors in 2012, even suggesting he may call in the army. "We've seen a huge rise in visitors", Delord told The Independent in March 2012. "Already this year more than 20,000 people have climbed right to the top, and last year we had 10,000 hikers, which was a significant rise on the previous 12 months. |
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Post by Alvamiga on Dec 18, 2012 19:45:13 GMT
I honestly wish the aliens would turn up, take these people away and not come back!  |
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Post by Shake on Dec 18, 2012 23:06:59 GMT
That's... unbelievable... Unfortunately, it's not. People now believe they need to protect themselves, and they feel the best way to do so is to arm themselves. |
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Post by Kye on Dec 18, 2012 23:13:29 GMT
You'd think there'd be a run on bullet-proof jackets.
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Post by Moose on Dec 18, 2012 23:24:33 GMT
I read an article yesterday about underground shelters. What part of 'end of the world' do these people not get? Either the world ends or it does not. If it ends, it's gonna end whether you're on the edge of the Empire State Building waving your willy over the side and shouting 'come and have a go if you think you're hard enough' or if you're twenty foot underground in some godforsaken part of Minnesota.
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Post by tangent on Dec 19, 2012 0:21:07 GMT
Yes, that's just about it.
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Post by Miisa on Dec 19, 2012 7:20:04 GMT
Even the term "post-apocalyptic" is very much a modern thing, as supposedly the apocalypse is pretty much the end traditionally. But now it just refers to any sort of drastic social change for the worse, and the "post-apocalyptic time" to the times after. I do think a lot of people just like fantasizing about that time and how they could manage in such conditions, but I think the hobby has likely gone a little out of hand when they devote their lives to it and don't see it as separate from reality. Just compare doomsday preppers and their interests to trekkies. The number of sci-fi fans that think it is real and project that image to the rest of the world is tiny.
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Post by Alvamiga on Dec 19, 2012 8:52:21 GMT
Trekkies lives have already come to an end... |
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Post by Moose on Dec 19, 2012 20:24:22 GMT
You'll be murdered for that if the wrong person reads it  |
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