Those of you who want to live in places like Australia, Ireland, etc where guns are completely outlawed - Be my guest!!!! I enjoy shooting (don't even have a "machine gun"!!!!!) and I'll be d*mned if I live in such a pussified country as the ones you describe. I was just on vacation in Peru with a family from Australia. Mother was an armorer in their Air Force. She hates that Australia has outlawed firearms. She was telling us how the gangs in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne operate with no fear now, since they are armed and citizens are not! You can own a .22 pistol or rifle, only if you belong to a sporting club, and it takes forever to get one. Can't own knives that aren't tiny. F*ck that shit! She was oooooing and ahhhing out over my Spyderco Military folder I had on me, like she had seen a Unicorn in the flesh! You are nothing more than an unarmed helpless victim if something goes down. I laugh at the "Bobbies" in London, coming after crooks with those funny hats and little batons. Hahahaha! USELESS. The Islamic Jihadists that are currently INFESTING parts of the UK and France? They don't give a flying f*ck about the pacifist anti-gun laws, as they are sporting full-auto AK-47's!!!!!! Good luck with the batons, you freakin' Sheeple! When those Jihadists activate their cells and start Holy Wars against you, what are you going to do? Who are you going to call? Ask Israeli citizens if they think giving up their weapons is going to keep the peace. We in America don't have the right to posses firearms to kill each other, we have the right to own them to keep armed terrorists and other conquerors from taking over. WE THE PEOPLE, comprise what is written into our Constitution as "a well-armed Militia." Don't like how we operate? Don't like our laws? Then don't come crying to us every time you have problems, begging for military support and financial aide. I gotta love how much money flows out of our country, and yet none of the moocher counties seem to give a dime back? Any time there's a natural disaster in the world, US funds and aide and aircraft carriers are there. When we have natural disasters and such, where is your countries Red Cross, etc? The West Coast of USA is burning, where are YOUR firefighters?
VA shooting suspect was raised a JW! He mentions it on his Twitter account
by WingCommander 324 Replies latest jw friends
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cappytan
WingCommander: wow. You me and FMF need to have a bourbon together someday.
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Billyblobber
@Billyblobber
Both Dylan Roof and this latest nutcase could have sought help. They chose not to.
Lots of people, sane or otherwise, get fired from their jobs.
Even mentally ill people must take at least some responsibility for their actions.
"Responsibility for their actions" does nothing to fix the core problems. Focusing on punishment is basically a religious/Bible viewpoint that takes any pressure for helping to fix the issues in the world out of the individual while placing wrongdoers in a separate "other" category that removes any relation to them. "The evil must be punished for being evil, don't worry about anything else, God will fix all the problems in the world in the end" is what many people were brought up, and it translates now into them focusing on retribution instead of solving.
A big part of Root's issue was that his particular brand of issues found a nurturing environment in extreme right wing and racist communities and ideology that festers among the Internet. This one is tied into the media glorification and focus on spree killers. Both of these things can actually be addressed and mitigated to a degree to lower the chances of similar things happening in the future. We can also address the lack of mental health system, help people to recognize possible issues before they crop out, and lower the stigmatism around mental health problems. It would be NICE to also be able to address the gun society in America, but, unfortunately, that has become so politicized that anything realistic happening is practically impossible at this point. Those are the things you focus on if you actually want to help fix the situation as opposed to making oneself feel better, which is all things like "pay for their actions" accomplishes.
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LoveUniHateExams
Focusing on punishment is basically a religious/Bible viewpoint - no. Punishment is part of justice. Everyone has a sense of justice, including the irreligious/atheists.
I agree with you that working to fix the core problems helps in the long term but this must certainly not be at the expense of justice.
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Frazzled UBM
cappytanto Wing Commander: "You me and FMF need to have a bourbon together someday." Maybe then you could discuss whose phallic symbol is bigger. Unnecessary loss of human life doesn't matter just so long as you can play with your toys. -
WingCommander
Frazzled: Your right to cower under your table at a restaurant when some Jihadist walks in with an AK and you can do NOTHING, doesn't impede upon my right to whip out my .45 ACP 1911 (AKA: phallic symbol), blow away the terrorist, and save your hide.
The first action of a dictatorship or oppressive society, is to disarm the population and imprison the intellectuals. No thanks! I'll be keeping my Right to Bear Arms. You can cower in fear. You, and others holier than thou attitudes and intellectual snobbery mean ZILCH to criminals, thugs, and terrorists bent on having their way. Ask the (surviving) Jews how being disarmed by the Nazis worked out? Ask the Israelis if they are going to throw down arms? How about the peace-loving Swiss? Every Swiss Citizen serves a stint in the military, and also has a sidearm in their home. When is the last time anyone messed with that country?
Just keep on "baaaaaaaaaa-ing".
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Billyblobber
Actually, owning a gun makes you much, much more likely to be killed by a gun, as the vast majority of gun deaths in the U.S. are domestic or self inflicted. Fantasy "protect myself from those evil people" scenarios almost never happen, and it's more often that it results in friendly fire. But, whatever makes one feel safer to themselves, I guess. -
Simon
How many people were killed in the WTC / Pentagon etc attacks? How many guns were involved in that?
Food for thought.Thanks for another example of "control" working - certain things are no longer allowed on planes and procedures were changed in response to stop it happening again. Has it happened again since? Yes, food for thought.
Something happens: respond to it and make necessary changes to prevent it.
It's called LEARNING.
Again, there is a lot of shifting of the argument by the gun zombies to the problem being "mental health" but no amount of mental health changes would have affected this or many other cases because these people did not have mental health issues.
They had emotional / attitude problems. Are you suggesting we round people up, strap them down and electro-shock the fuck out of people to change their thinking?
And the hypocrisy - at the same time people cling to the "constitution can't be changed" argument the same group are cheering the Urangutang that thinks he can just rip up parts of it to suit him.
The problem is NOT mental health. It's society promoting "me first", it's attitudes, it's intolerance, it's dumb people who've been fed a false narrative and it's most importantly, easy access to dangerous weapons. Lots of things feed into the issue, the least of which is mental health.
People all over the world get mad about things and imagine acting out revenge. The reason these don't often end up in the news is they lack the means - it's hard enough to get guns that the moments of madness pass for all but the most extreme.
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cappytan
...owning a gun makes you much, much more likely to be killed by a gun...
For the United States, that's true.But you also have to take into account that people who think someone might try to rob or shoot them are very likely to buy guns. Which creates a strong selection bias effect to the statistic.
Among gun owners who are more likely to be shot are people whose store has been robbed or burglarized, former police officers and prosecuting attorneys who are the targets of criminals they arrested and convicted, people who transport or sell high value items like jewelry (wholesale jewelry salespeople who travel are a favorite target), musical equipment (musicians and roadies), etc.
Self-inflicted gunshots are also more likely if you own a gun, because if you own a gun, you're likely to choose that method if you decide to take your own life. That doesn't mean owning a gun increases the risk of suicide. It just increases the likelihood that should you decide to commit suicide, you'll choose that option.
Selection bias, again.
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Simon
The other funny thing in all this. Every time we hear the gun zombies claim they need guns and the 2nd amendment to stand up against the government.
But the same group is now applauding the idea that the government should be able to boot down the doors of 11 million Americans (probably affecting 40+ million families), lock them up without trial and then dump them in a foreign country they have never even been to.
That's one stop short of what the nazis did. And yet our self-proposed "protectors from the government" are the ones cheering it.
You know why? Because most people who need guns to feel brave are cowards. Paranoid fools who are afraid of shadows and afraid to stand up to anyone with nothing but their minds and souls.
The idea that more people carrying guns would stop situations is laughable. Instead of 1 person shooting in a dark cinema, imagine 20 people all shooting at anyone and everyone. It would be a bloodbath every time there is an incident. All someone will need to do is fire one shot or leave a banger before sneaking out and boom, 50 people dead.
The reality that they are afraid to speak is that everyone feels safer if everyone is checked before they go in - if you know the cinema has no one with a gun in it. Yes, gun control is what makes people feel safe, not more guns - NO guns.
