Ok Ok......I will...I like noogies. I take it ALL back!
*gumby scratches his head and looks up the word noogies in the dictionary*
Gumby
Why are Americans always shooting themselves?
by Zep 48 Replies latest social current
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Satanus
Moore is wrong about canadians having as many guns as americans. Most people here don't have handguns. Why? Because we know that bullets can't hurt us. Kidding. I'm not sure why. Maybe we trust our govt more.
I hope you realise that it has propaganda heavily biased against gun owners. It makes heston out to be a provocateur.
SS
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AlanF
I don't think Americans are any more paranoid than many other cultures. They simply have relatively easy access to guns compared to other paranoid cultures like the Brits, who kill each other with knives and bludgeons.
Michael Moore, by the way, staged some of the stuff in "Bowling for Columbine" (like the bank giving out guns real easy), so don't think for one minute that he produced a valid documentary. Moore has simply found an easy way to make a name for himself, by exaggerating certain problems in American culture and getting a following from a minority.
AlanF
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wednesday
the united states is a VERY big country. I really don't know for sure, but do we really have more crime than another country that size?
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jelly
Moore has lost a couple of court cases after getting sued about previous videos he made. If you search on the internet you can find out about them. Also, many of the things brought up in his video were factually inaccurate. America does have a problem with gun violence but not for any of the reasons moore brings out.
I personally think it has more to do with the criminilization of drugs and the drug culture that surronds it. Add in gangs, crazy white kids, crazy black kids, crazy latino kids, high school teachers that allow bullies to exist, parents that dont watch what their kids are doing, cheap beer, you get gun violnece.
I have never seen a study but I believe a huge coralation (sp?) between drugs and gun violence exist.
Terry
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AlanF
: I have never seen a study but I believe a huge coralation (sp?) between drugs and gun violence exist.
I pretty much agree with all of your comments, Jelly. I think there's a huge correlation between drugs and gun violence. A great deal of violence -- period -- comes from rival drug lords shooting it out, like the LA gangs. Easy access to guns just makes it easy to do drive-by shootings. The violence would still exist, but it's a lot more effort to kill a rival drug peddler with a knife than a gun.
I think that at least 50% of violence in the U.S. would be gone if drugs were legalized and distributed in an orderly way. The mystique would gradually go away and instead of being "cool", drugs would largely become passé, because anything that the government gets involved in distributing quickly becomes uncool. I think that the U.S. keeps drugs illegal mainly to keep giving a number of key and powerful, but behind-the-scenes movers, a stream of income.
AlanF
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Zep
jelly,
"America does have a problem with gun violence but not for any of the reasons moore brings out."
I'm not sure what Moore is saying. He seems to meader around the topic, make a few points, and take satirical look at things, and then move on. I dont know. It is true that some of his documentary is inacurrate, but I still think some of the points he makes a pretty valid in general.
Is it really easy access to guns thats the problem, like some people say. Up and till recently down here in Australia I could get just about anything, just like America, but we still never had the amout of gun deaths per capita you guys had. Then when Martin Bryant went bonkers at Port Arthur (not too far from where I live) and killed 36 people they brought in some tougher gun laws and initiated a gun by back. That was in '96. But the hilarious thing was that they only banned rifles. I could apparently still go and get a handgun with ease, and semi automatic too. But no-one did. In fact Gun deaths went down from 96. I think people just got fed up with guns, even though they could still get them if they really wanted.
In America it seems to be a God given right to own a gun, a necessity almost, enshrined in the constitution to protect Americans from a Government that might go bad. We just dont have that culture. We just dont seem to like them as much, or feel like we need them as much to protect life and property. We aint as PARANOID???
Seriously, I dont fully know. I think its a culture thingy at the moment.
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Simon
I don't think you can blame the beer, however cheap it is ... it's just so, well ... weak !
And before anyone says "Guns don't kill people, people kill people" just remember, this is incorrect - technically it's bullets that kill people.
The size of the country doesn't matter Wednesday, most crime stats are based on head of population (eg. per 100,000) so figures can be compared. There are lots of sites that have official stats on gun crime etc... so the fact that gun crime exists is not in question. What is in debate is the reason for it and I don't think simply saying "they have more guns" really explains why they are used so often.
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Euphemism
You know, I thought this thread was going to be about suicide. Shouldn't the title actually be "Why are Americans always shooting each other?"
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AlanF
Don't be pedantic, Euphemism.
AlanF