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MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,735
1,819
chez moi
Blaming guns and police for the problems resulting from poverty, inequality, social injustice, and an utterly broken education system seems a little shortsighted to me.

Easy to point at, as physical objects and identifiable people, but not really the ultimate issue.

(Largely cross posted from the guns forum)
 

stevew

resident influencer
Sep 21, 2001
41,157
10,096
Blaming guns and police for the problems resulting from poverty, inequality, social injustice, and an utterly broken education system seems a little shortsighted to me.

Easy to point at, as physical objects and identifiable people, but not really the ultimate issue.
and rob someone of the joy of getting butt hurt if they don't agree with you....
 

mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,484
4,212
sw ontario canada
Blaming guns and police for the problems resulting from poverty, inequality, social injustice, and an utterly broken education system seems a little shortsighted to me.

Easy to point at, as physical objects and identifiable people, but not really the ultimate issue.

(Largely cross posted from the guns forum)

Yes, but said physical object can do harm to people who are more than an arms length away.
If said physical object is physically available, is it not more likely to be utilized?
I think we both know the answer to that one.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Blaming guns and police for the problems resulting from poverty, inequality, social injustice, and an utterly broken education system seems a little shortsighted to me.
Let me know when that happens.

In the meantime I'll be throwing rohypnol, and ecstacy tabs on the front porches of frat houses on friday nights. Because really, it's not the fault of the pills. Blaming them would be short sighted.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Legality has little to do with availability.

ORLY?

You saying it's just as easy to find a 9mm pistol in the UK as it is here? Legality begets availability because production and distribution are larger, social acceptability shapes opinions, and much larger culture forms because it can happen in broad daylight.

Yeah you don't need weed to be legal to find it but if you think production hasn't gone up in the places where cultivation is legal, you're deluding yourself.

Think past the first 5 minutes of a law being enacted.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,735
1,819
chez moi
ORLY?

You saying it's just as easy to find a 9mm pistol in the UK as it is here? Legality begets availability because production and distribution are larger, social acceptability shapes opinions, and much larger culture forms because it can happen in broad daylight.

Yeah you don't need weed to be legal to find it but if you think production hasn't gone up in the places where cultivation is legal, you're deluding yourself.

Think past the first 5 minutes of a law being enacted.
Drugs have been illegal for a long time. Still got those. Booze was illegal for a while. All that happened was a spike in consumption and a huge black market. Demand has a lot more to do with availability than legality.

And I bet it was always harder to find a 9mm in Britain than it was in the US regardless of laws.
 
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kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Of all the people to completely miss the point which lies with the nuance, I wouldn't have included you.

No shit all of that stuff is still available. But it's not in a network of corner stores and grocery outlets like whiskey is. (Like weed may be one day?). But legality begets a culture, ready access, and an openness that does not exist if illegal/regulated/handled responsibly. You've got dipshits in the country giving their 10 years olds firearms for their birthdays and then family members getting shot, with zero sense of anything illegal being accomplished up until that point. Because there's a culture that dictates firearms are part of American life, a part of growing up, and rite of passage just as inevitable as puberty. There's no shame, there's no perspective, and there's zero sense of connecting the two everytime you take the extremely obtuse argument that "derp, them gunz ain't killin people" And as far as the 'responsible handling', you damn well know that hasn't occurred in the US. This is not a problem in civilized first world countries. It's a problem here. You can spot the difference. And it's not just in the laws. It's the culture and the level of social acceptability that then begets availability.

There's a reason I used the rufie/fratboy reference. When a large enough percentage of the population can't be relied upon to handle things responsibly, that is literally the role of regulation.......to protect society at large from that shit. No one is saying an inanimate assembly of metal is .........anything other than that. That's not what regulation actually seeks to regulate. It's outcomes.

Trust me, I don't believe this a black and white issue as much as it might seem. It's not lax gun laws I have the biggest problem with. But unfortunately it's against the law for me to shoot stupid people.
 
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jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,058
15,145
Portland, OR
I'm not familiar with that model rack, but hopefully its fully restrained so your AR isn't knocking around the cabin when you're rolling your Vette.
I own neither an FRC (fixed roof coupe) nor an AR-15. There is an entire thread on the best concealed carry setups for a Corvette, but it just makes me laugh. And by laugh, I mean it scares the sh!t out of me to think there are folks like this out there.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Quote:
Originally Posted by BamaJ
Sure glad I don't live in a constant state of paranoia.

That has nothing to do with it at all, It has to do with our rights and then some. I am a strong 2nd supporter and always will.

Yeah he always will strong second supporter!

Or something.

I'm sure he needlessly goes out of his way to exercise all of his rights equally. He's probably moved to another country, denounced his citizenship, and then came here to have a kid with citizenship too. Because rights!

The shit white people tell themselves after watching too many bruce willis movies cracks me up

In life there are sheep, wolves, and the dogs that protect the sheep. If the bad guys are wolves then those who carry are the dogs that protect the sheep. The sheep are the ones that won't or can't protect themselves. I'm proud to say my choice is to be a dog and my family is proud that I'm not a sheep. To those that have chosen to be sheep I'd like to say, "Baaaaaaaad choice!"
 
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mykel

closer to Periwinkle
Apr 19, 2013
5,484
4,212
sw ontario canada

jimmydean

The Official Meat of Ridemonkey
Sep 10, 2001
43,058
15,145
Portland, OR
Thanks - I think...

Not much of a laugh-fest, more like cringe inducing nut-baggery :shocked::panic:
While there may be pockets of sanity, and it is some beautiful country, Texas is officially off of my visit list.
No way no how. :fie:
I told you it was scary. Funny since I live far, but scary to think they exist. I keep my personal feelings to myself on the board. A lot of great help with the car, though. :rofl:
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Exactly what part?

(traveling there for work on Sunday)
Check out the Guadalupe mountains in the northwest corner that's not the northern most northwest corner of the state. Neat area. Austin ain't too bad either. Or big bend national park if you want to drive to the middle of nowhere (IE mexico).


Just make sure you're packin cuz there are a lot of wolves out there and not everyone's a dog. Just make sure you're not a sheep. And if you're a dog, don't be a little bitchy Chihuahua. No one likes those. Actually maybe be a jack Russell. I don't know what kinds of firearms they carry but they're friends with everyone. So bring Jack Russell guns.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,110
10,673
AK
Check out the Guadalupe mountains in the northwest corner that's not the northern most northwest corner of the state. Neat area. Austin ain't too bad either. Or big bend national park if you want to drive to the middle of nowhere (IE mexico).


Just make sure you're packin cuz there are a lot of wolves out there and not everyone's a dog. Just make sure you're not a sheep. And if you're a dog, don't be a little bitchy Chihuahua. No one likes those. Actually maybe be a jack Russell. I don't know what kinds of firearms they carry but they're friends with everyone. So bring Jack Russell guns.
Well that's pretty much New Mexico.
 

MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,735
1,819
chez moi
Of all the people to completely miss the point which lies with the nuance, I wouldn't have included you.
Put a lot of words in my mouth there, woo, and perhaps you missed some nuance yourself.
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Type more words then. :D


Set me straight?

Demand has a lot more to do with availability than legality.
to me sounds like drifting in the direction of thinking availability would be exactly the same if something is outright banned/made illegal to own. I argue it wouldn't be, not in the long haul. Companies don't make things they can't sell openly and legally. And if they do it's not in the same manner and volume they can employ when on the up and up. Drying out a bunch of gasoline soaked cocoa leaves isn't the same as a mechanized assembly line with lots of metal involved. Yeah there are plenty of home based shops making AR bits but it's not friggin smith and Wesson.

Like I keep saying, no one is talking about a complete change in landscape in 24 hours of some more sensible gun laws. Anything productive is going to take a generation at this point. But that doesn't mean it's not worth trying.
 
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MikeD

Leader and Demogogue of the Ridemonkey Satinists
Oct 26, 2001
11,735
1,819
chez moi
One of the reasons I never write much on this subject is that it's beyond polarized; it is two sides arguing against the arguments they want to argue against. Not worth the effort to try anything else.

But I am certainly not saying people will begin crafting ak47s in their garages. (Although lots of 3d printer types would aspire to do so...). Neither can they grow coca leaves under lamps in their basements, but again, not really the point.


Our gun violence problem is overhwlmingly linked to other criminal activity.

Frankly, legalizing drugs would be the best way to solve our gun violence issues.
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
20,110
10,673
AK
One of the reasons I never write much on this subject is that it's beyond polarized; it is two sides arguing against the arguments they want to argue against. Not worth the effort to try anything else.

But I am certainly not saying people will begin crafting ak47s in their garages. (Although lots of 3d printer types would aspire to do so...). Neither can they grow coca leaves under lamps in their basements, but again, not really the point.


Our gun violence problem is overhwlmingly linked to other criminal activity.

Frankly, legalizing drugs would be the best way to solve our gun violence issues.
You are dismissing the part though where people are more apt/tend to commit violent acts when availability is higher. It's getting into a chicken and the egg thing here. You take a cross section of people from any society, place them in an environment where there is greater access to weapons, drugs, etc, you will have a higher rate of violence and crimes.

With no will to try and curb the ridiculous availability, we are guaranteeing the violence and gun-culture will continue.

The reason we don't just make all drugs legal is there are some people that are far more susceptible to addictions and abusing things. Some people can handle it, avoid temptations, etc, some just don't have the brain chemistry and architecture to avoid it. So what do you do with those people? At least by limiting availability you protect some of them and make more "barriers" to achieving and acquiring.

I'm not sure people will ever be as perfect as you want, it would sure be nice though. And don't take that to mean that I think we shouldn't try to help people, revitalize communities, make more jobs, etc, but unless you are willing to address the availability issues you'll still see these things happening at higher rates compared to if you didn't have such widespread availability.
 
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kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
One of the reasons I never write much on this subject is that it's beyond polarized; it is two sides arguing against the arguments they want to argue against. Not worth the effort to try anything else.
Well my mistake then. You're actually someone I'd like to have a conversation with about this because you're not an idiot who recycles horrible arguments as a cover up for all of life's insecurities that just boil down to "owning guns makes me feel tough and empowered."

But you did say 'blaming guns' for the big picture seems short sighted. Of course it's not comprehensive but we live in a place where you can say/proclaim pretty much anything you want......which keeps the mindset going in this country that firearms as just as much a part of american life as bicycles and footballs. Dealing with the product and the means is part of it. Only part, sure but definitely a part.

If I'm projecting, correct me. But I thought I was addressing what you were saying. And I disagree with it. ;)