Apr 23
Amnt commented on Thank Seattle's Corporate Overlords for This Year's Fireworks.
Amnt commented on Thank Seattle's Corporate Overlords for This Year's Fireworks.
The back and forth is getting pretty old, but I'm glad Seattle will have fireworks this year.
I'm very curious what company will be doing the show. Pyro Spectaculars has handled it in the past and is probably the largest and most experienced company on the west coast. It'll be interesting to see if the show is noticeably scaled back or not.
I'm very curious what company will be doing the show. Pyro Spectaculars has handled it in the past and is probably the largest and most experienced company on the west coast. It'll be interesting to see if the show is noticeably scaled back or not.
Feb 5
Amnt commented on So If a Classroom Filled With First Graders Had All Pulled Out Their Guns and Pointed Them at Adam Lanza....
Amnt commented on So If a Classroom Filled With First Graders Had All Pulled Out Their Guns and Pointed Them at Adam Lanza....
Correction: "Either way the principal likely would NOT have have been able to stop the armed student from leaving if he wasn't armed himself. "
Feb 5
Amnt commented on So If a Classroom Filled With First Graders Had All Pulled Out Their Guns and Pointed Them at Adam Lanza....
Amnt commented on So If a Classroom Filled With First Graders Had All Pulled Out Their Guns and Pointed Them at Adam Lanza....
@9 - Thanks for the clarification on that incident. As I acknowledged in my original post, anecdotes don't have a lot of value. That said, maybe he was done shooting, maybe he wasn't, some versions of the story suggest the student may have intended to go to a different location and possible target others. Either way the principal likely would have have been able to stop the armed student from leaving if he wasn't armed himself.
I fully support gun owners having a substantially higher level of training. The ones that do are not the ones you generally hear about, but there are certainly a lot of people who have guns that make no effort at training and being responsible. Mass shootings are statistical outliers and it's difficult at best to find meaningful data. I have never argued that civilian concealed carry is a cure-all for mass shootings because they are so rare that the chances of somebody carrying will be in a position to help is very unlikely. Not to mention mass shootings usually happen where people are legally prohibited from carrying, keeping the law abiding gun owners out. That said, responsible concealed carry has other benefits and may help in some very limited situations.
Mandatory training is a difficult proposition because it is a barrier to a constitutional right. I certainly took a few classes when I purchased my first gun and would tell others to do the same. But if a training requirement is designed to be intentionally cumbersome and difficult, it becomes akin to a poll tax or other obstacle to exercising rights. If it could be done properly I might be able to support something like a drivers license requiring a test for guns, but in the past such programs have been intentionally overbearing. This is one reason I would support teaching gun safety in high school, but most anti-gun folks seem to take the just say no/abstinence only approach there.
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I fully support gun owners having a substantially higher level of training. The ones that do are not the ones you generally hear about, but there are certainly a lot of people who have guns that make no effort at training and being responsible. Mass shootings are statistical outliers and it's difficult at best to find meaningful data. I have never argued that civilian concealed carry is a cure-all for mass shootings because they are so rare that the chances of somebody carrying will be in a position to help is very unlikely. Not to mention mass shootings usually happen where people are legally prohibited from carrying, keeping the law abiding gun owners out. That said, responsible concealed carry has other benefits and may help in some very limited situations.
Mandatory training is a difficult proposition because it is a barrier to a constitutional right. I certainly took a few classes when I purchased my first gun and would tell others to do the same. But if a training requirement is designed to be intentionally cumbersome and difficult, it becomes akin to a poll tax or other obstacle to exercising rights. If it could be done properly I might be able to support something like a drivers license requiring a test for guns, but in the past such programs have been intentionally overbearing. This is one reason I would support teaching gun safety in high school, but most anti-gun folks seem to take the just say no/abstinence only approach there.
Feb 5
Amnt commented on So If a Classroom Filled With First Graders Had All Pulled Out Their Guns and Pointed Them at Adam Lanza....
Amnt commented on So If a Classroom Filled With First Graders Had All Pulled Out Their Guns and Pointed Them at Adam Lanza....
Fact: Beck and his idiot guests are representative of all gun owners in the US.
As long as we are throwing around anecdotes, here is a case of a principal stopping a school shooting with his own gun:
http://lubbockonline.com/news/101297/LA0…
The NRA generally does a terrible job speaking out for gun rights, and their handling of the tragedy in Newtown was extremely poorly handled. That said, they are right when they say that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. It's so obvious it sounds dumb, but it's true. Why would you call the cops in response to a shooting? They are the good guys and they have guns. Any talk by somebody like Beck or his guests about armed kids is purely idiotic, but it doesn't change the fact that force must be met with force.
Yes, Lanza killed himself, as most spree shooters do (there are a few notable exceptions however). They generally do so when confronted by the reality of law enforcement closing in, which is what happened in VA Tech. But the sooner you can meet the shooter with an opposing force, the sooner you can bring the situation to an end, likely saving lives. Saying that Lanza killed himself so there is no point in considering ways to stop him sooner is a stupid response to a stupid point from Beck.
More...
As long as we are throwing around anecdotes, here is a case of a principal stopping a school shooting with his own gun:
http://lubbockonline.com/news/101297/LA0…
The NRA generally does a terrible job speaking out for gun rights, and their handling of the tragedy in Newtown was extremely poorly handled. That said, they are right when they say that the only way to stop a bad guy with a gun is a good guy with a gun. It's so obvious it sounds dumb, but it's true. Why would you call the cops in response to a shooting? They are the good guys and they have guns. Any talk by somebody like Beck or his guests about armed kids is purely idiotic, but it doesn't change the fact that force must be met with force.
Yes, Lanza killed himself, as most spree shooters do (there are a few notable exceptions however). They generally do so when confronted by the reality of law enforcement closing in, which is what happened in VA Tech. But the sooner you can meet the shooter with an opposing force, the sooner you can bring the situation to an end, likely saving lives. Saying that Lanza killed himself so there is no point in considering ways to stop him sooner is a stupid response to a stupid point from Beck.
Feb 4
Amnt commented on The Greatest American Sniper Saw Guns in Schools As a Business Opportunity.
Amnt commented on The Greatest American Sniper Saw Guns in Schools As a Business Opportunity.
@18 - Yep, it's pretty pathetic to see people cheering his murder because they disagree with him on gun issues. I mean the guy does sound like kind of an ass, but as @12 put so well, he did a job few could, ultimately at the orders of his civilian superiors under a representative democracy.
But yeah, he was murdered trying to help somebody. So let's all slap each other on the back and count it as a point for the anti-gun folks.
But yeah, he was murdered trying to help somebody. So let's all slap each other on the back and count it as a point for the anti-gun folks.
Jan 28
Amnt commented on How Did Someone in Seattle Come to Own a Stinger Surface-to-Air Missile Launcher?.
Amnt commented on How Did Someone in Seattle Come to Own a Stinger Surface-to-Air Missile Launcher?.
@1 Yeah, but isn't it more fun to be scared of an empty tube and lay down on our fainting couch?
Jan 21
Amnt commented on Gun Nuts: The Total Gun Appreciation Day Toll.
Amnt commented on Gun Nuts: The Total Gun Appreciation Day Toll.
@1 It could also be called the Confirmation Bias thread.
Do bad things sometimes happen involving guns? Of course, any any gun owner would be stupid to deny that. It's a bit country with a lot of people, a lot of guns, and a pretty good number of people who shouldn't have guns for reasons of criminality or stupidity.
We can reduce the negative effects through focusing on the root causes of violence and emphasizing safety to reduce accidents. I would actually be in favor of a mandatory gun safety class/test if it were properly implemented.
Or would could use the Slog model of abstinence only/just say no.
Do bad things sometimes happen involving guns? Of course, any any gun owner would be stupid to deny that. It's a bit country with a lot of people, a lot of guns, and a pretty good number of people who shouldn't have guns for reasons of criminality or stupidity.
We can reduce the negative effects through focusing on the root causes of violence and emphasizing safety to reduce accidents. I would actually be in favor of a mandatory gun safety class/test if it were properly implemented.
Or would could use the Slog model of abstinence only/just say no.
Jan 20
Amnt commented on The Planet of the Gun Nuts.
Amnt commented on The Planet of the Gun Nuts.
Some gun owners are stupid, some make mistakes, sometimes they combine in dangerous and unfortunate ways. This is not news, though it does feed into the popular narrative here on slog.
Some words from the Big Dog:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/bi…
Some words from the Big Dog:
http://www.politico.com/story/2013/01/bi…
Jan 16
Amnt commented on Obama's Gun Control Plan.
Amnt commented on Obama's Gun Control Plan.
Obviously it depends on how they are implemented, but I don't see any major issues with the executive actions being discussed. A number of them deal with improving the existing background check system and improving mental health, both are things that I have encouraged in the past. One action that stood out:
18. "Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers."
School resource officers in many cases are police, which would be the same thing the NRA suggested (in their poorly handled and presented way). Curious to see what they mean on this one.
The assault weapon ban and limiting magazine size is essentially useless in reducing crime and is extremely unlikely to pass in the House (the only thing I consider the Republicans any use for). The armor piercing ammunition thing is a complete non-issue. It isn't a real threat now and any round suitable for hunting medium size game will penetrate most vests anyway.
18. "Provide incentives for schools to hire school resource officers."
School resource officers in many cases are police, which would be the same thing the NRA suggested (in their poorly handled and presented way). Curious to see what they mean on this one.
The assault weapon ban and limiting magazine size is essentially useless in reducing crime and is extremely unlikely to pass in the House (the only thing I consider the Republicans any use for). The armor piercing ammunition thing is a complete non-issue. It isn't a real threat now and any round suitable for hunting medium size game will penetrate most vests anyway.
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Did they do something stupid? Possibly, who knows how accurate the story is. Should they have been more responsible in their handling? It certainly looks like it, guns don't just go off without somebody pulling the trigger.
That said, it's pretty pathetic to see Slog posting these mocking "haha, told you so!" articles every time somebody gets killed or hurt. We get it, you don't like guns. But try not to act so happy every time somebody dies.