Popehat's Ken White Talks About Guns The Way I Want To

[RickMycroft]

Unspeakable math: Killing an enemy puts them out of action. Nasty wounding an enemy puts them out of action, and as many other enemies as are willing to try to save them and get them to a medic.

[Wanderfound]

@Max_Blancke

It is a compromise, a round that is fairly inexpensive and light, but pretty fast. Not much penetration or stopping power.

But plenty enough to kill fifty people and seriously damage the lives of fifty more.

[MikeTheBard]

@ActionAbe

Then we call it “bipartisan” and immediately switch off our brains and our consciouses.

Bipartisanship- If the crazy party thinks it’s a good idea and the stupid party thinks it’s a good idea, that idea is probably both crazy and stupid.[quote=“jamesnsc, post:16, topic:79781”]
trade in the right to an AR-15 for the cessation of the War on Drugs?
[/quote]

If we ended the war on drugs and dumped that money into the social safety net, we wouldn’t need to worry about gun control. As I’ve said many times, the problem isn’t gun violence, it’s the number of angry, desperate, hopeless people with nothing left to lose, looking to lash out. Fix that, the shooting problem will evaporate on its own. Continue to ignore it, and nothing you do will ever help.

[Max_Blancke]

I agree on the horror of the event. I was speaking to the idea that the .223 and AR rifles are particularly lethal. But he was in there for three hours.

[hydroxide]

@Max_Blancke

I have always enjoyed Mr. White’s writings. There are few people who can explain the First Amendment as clearly and concisely. And his gun article makes some excellent points. Especially about the idea of people who want to talk about enacting restrictions should have a reasonable knowledge of the subject of their proposed laws.

See, but that reasonable knowledge is consistently lacking with gun defenders. They may have some knowledge on the technicalities of guns, but they routinely lack knowledge on the consequences of their prevalence on a population level. Up to the point where the NRA forged supposed data on Australia, triggering a diplomatic incident.

I have always believed that if you have to lie or exaggerate the facts in order to make your points, you need a different position.

The gun owners need a different position urgently. Because the notion of a benefit through defensive use is a pipe dream and has repeatedly been debunked. Anecdotes do not prove that more people live than die. Cf. also http://www.sascv.org/ijcjs/pdfs/Lemieuxijcjs2014vol9issue1.pdf
We also constantly hear “But Switzerland…” in evident ignorance of the fact that Switzerland has some of the strictest gun regulations on the planet and that the only way you can carry a loaded weapon in public there legally is by demonstrating a specific need, such as being a bodyguard or someone in need of heightened protection such as a jeweler. These days, ammunition for militia weapons is not even kept in homes, except for members of fast response units - and they have it in a sealed container.

Guns facilitate killing - yourself or others. And the more people have direct access to guns, the more people will die - voluntarily or involuntarily, by their own hand or someone elses.

[anon50609448]

@hydroxide

We also constantly hear “But Switzerland…” in evident ignorance of the fact that Switzerland has some of the strictest gun regulations on the planet and that the only way you can carry a loaded weapon in public there legally is by demonstrating a specific need, such as being a bodyguard or someone in need of heightened protection such as a jeweler. These days, ammunition for militia weapons is not even kept in homes, except for members of fast response units - and they have it in a sealed container.

The difference between viewing guns as a responsibility rather than as a right is pretty staggering. Comparing Switzerland to the US on guns is like comparing a virus research lab to a subway. They are both full of viruses, but in one people recognize there are dangerous things and take proper precautions. In the other people do whatever the fuck they want.