For all the NRA’s macho posturing, they’re a bunch of cowards.
5 Likes
FWIW, I don’t think that a 19 tonne ten-wheeled cargo truck is what most people are referring to when arguing equivalency between cars and guns- that thing is more like a tank. And it’s certainly not available for general ownership.
6 Likes
Nerf guns. American gladiator style padded staffs. Glitter. Choreographed dance offs.
8 Likes
By calling it a "lone wolf", its a one-off. Nothing could have been done or can be done now. Nothing can be learned from it. No policy or organization or group can be blamed for it.
Now, if the offender had been non-Christian or PoC… then you can toss around all sorts of assumptions, and new policy can be made to combat that ongoing threat.
12 Likes
Also, get on google maps and take a streetview drive around Mandalay Bay. It’s a concert venue. It’s completely enclosed in chain link fencing. In order to have done the same amount of damage with a truck, he would have had to ram through one of the gates to get in there. And then, tons of obstacles everywhere, food trucks, equipment, etc. There’s no way to do the same amount of damage with a vehicle. Firearms, explosives or some way to deliver a poison or gas are the only things available to one guy to wreak that much havoc in such a short amount of time.
5 Likes
3 Likes
Truck. Not truck with bombs.
12 Likes
IMHO No reason to differentiate, though - the same security protocols that would stop a truck ramming people would also, presumably, stop them from ramming people then blowing up, after all. But I don’t doubt for a moment that such a setup would actually be more difficult to do currently than to carry an assault rifle into most buildings or squares with average security.
4 Likes
All you need to rent one is a driver’s license and a credid card.
The guy who did the December 2016 Berlin attack hijacked the truck, though.
1 Like
They are cowards. That one black gentleman that had a license to carry, informed the officer that pulled him over about it and was shot to death by him. And the NRA did not condemn the officer or anything, because it does not fit the NRA narrative of fighting for the rights of their white members.
19 Likes
Oh yeah. It absolutely helps to understand somethings about guns. And disect the marketing.
There’s no reason to be marketing guns specialized in killing people (which your ar series weapons and other assault rifles absolutely are). There’s no reason to be marketing guns as a way to kill people (explicit in the home defense approach which is so fundamental to firearms marketing that it actually originates in firearms marketing).
The trick is in how you present it. Noone’s doing the argument any favors by calling AR series weapons in ~5.56 “high powered rifles”. Because by definition they aren’t. And the specific ways they are not high powered are directly tied to why they’re so deadly and a direct result of being designed to kill humans more effectively.
4 Likes
This is beginning to make my head hurt.
The only reason this man was able to kill almost 60 people and wound more than 500 more in a time span of mere minutes is because he had access to high powered firearms.
He would not have been able to achieve the same amount of damage with a vehicle, or any other weaponized non-explosive objects.
13 Likes
I don’t agree, but I do agree that it would have been much more difficult, which, IMHO, is the point. It’s too easy to acquire weapons capable of mass terrorism and utilize them to such effect.
Of course I also think this overlooks the other issue, mainly that other implements such as vehicles are repurposed for these acts, while assault weapons are, essentially, being used as designed!
11 Likes
1 Like
I don’t know how we got off on this truck tangent. It’s a red herring.
14 Likes
Oh, okay. So when is a good day for you?
14 Likes
Name a plausible scenario where so many people can be killed so easily and so quickly which does not involve the use of firearms, chemical weapons or explosives.
I’ll wait.
There I agree completely; firearms only have one purpose - to make holes in whatever they are aimed at.
6 Likes
Here you go:
1 Like
Planes carrying that much fuel are essentially bombs, and I specifically said no chemical weapons.
I don’t know why you’re so hung up on this aspect but it ain’t helping.
9 Likes
