Are you into Christmas this year?
Dec 3, 2015 12:29:19 GMT -7
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ronin and nomorewirehanger like this
Post by smokinghorse on Dec 3, 2015 12:29:19 GMT -7
I saw it, Hangers, but it's another in a long line of topics I can't get involved in. Because statistics, common sense, and the reassurance that no one wants to "take away all your guns" is no match for the 2nd amendment. But if I did post, here's what I would say (getting it off my chest, and bound to be long - sorry):
/rant
What about my right to walk around in my country without getting shot? When your right to carry a weapon infringes on my right to be alive, fuck your guns.
My dad was a wildlife biologist. We ate a lot of game. I personally killed a lot of game. I get it. For some people, hunting is critical to keep food on the table. No gun control bill has ever proposed taking away firearms used in hunting. None.
Handguns. OK, if people insist that it enhances their sense of personal safety, I understand the desire, but they're misguided. Families with a gun in their home are 12 times more likely to be victims of gun violence. And those are disproportionately women and children, many of whom are victims of domestic violence.
2012 numbers (from the FBI):
Justifiable defensive homicides: 258
Criminal homicides: 8855
But if, knowing that, and knowing that a civilian armed with a handgun has never, EVER stopped a mass shooting, rarely stopped a homicide, and leads people to behave in ways (bravado) that makes them more aggressive and more likely to get shot (10x more people are shot during an argument than by civilians trying to stop a crime), they still want a handgun for safety, I can't rule out the possibility that it's a Darwinian thing.
Guns don't make people safer. They make people feel safer. And the NRA lobby uses fear, and cites studies that are written by sympathizers, never peer-reviewed, and intended to promote fear. They base a lot of their statistics on a 1995 study by Gary Kleck that has been discredited by study after study.
Some day someone is going to sue the NRA. Mark my words. For lobbying against automatic weapons legislation that would have prevented one of these mass murders. And for knowing damn well their statitics are bogus. Just like the tobacco companies knew cigarettes killed people. Even if it's a civil suit, it's the only thing that has a chance of stopping this absolutely unfathomable degree of gun violence.
Or possibly if someone walked into an NRA rally with their perfectly legal rapid-fire assault weapon and opened fire. Now that your hand is cold and dead, I'll be taking your gun.
/end rant
/rant
What about my right to walk around in my country without getting shot? When your right to carry a weapon infringes on my right to be alive, fuck your guns.
My dad was a wildlife biologist. We ate a lot of game. I personally killed a lot of game. I get it. For some people, hunting is critical to keep food on the table. No gun control bill has ever proposed taking away firearms used in hunting. None.
Handguns. OK, if people insist that it enhances their sense of personal safety, I understand the desire, but they're misguided. Families with a gun in their home are 12 times more likely to be victims of gun violence. And those are disproportionately women and children, many of whom are victims of domestic violence.
2012 numbers (from the FBI):
Justifiable defensive homicides: 258
Criminal homicides: 8855
But if, knowing that, and knowing that a civilian armed with a handgun has never, EVER stopped a mass shooting, rarely stopped a homicide, and leads people to behave in ways (bravado) that makes them more aggressive and more likely to get shot (10x more people are shot during an argument than by civilians trying to stop a crime), they still want a handgun for safety, I can't rule out the possibility that it's a Darwinian thing.
Guns don't make people safer. They make people feel safer. And the NRA lobby uses fear, and cites studies that are written by sympathizers, never peer-reviewed, and intended to promote fear. They base a lot of their statistics on a 1995 study by Gary Kleck that has been discredited by study after study.
Some day someone is going to sue the NRA. Mark my words. For lobbying against automatic weapons legislation that would have prevented one of these mass murders. And for knowing damn well their statitics are bogus. Just like the tobacco companies knew cigarettes killed people. Even if it's a civil suit, it's the only thing that has a chance of stopping this absolutely unfathomable degree of gun violence.
Or possibly if someone walked into an NRA rally with their perfectly legal rapid-fire assault weapon and opened fire. Now that your hand is cold and dead, I'll be taking your gun.
/end rant
as possible 
