Of course. The schadenfreude is deep and satisfying. I’ve edited my post to show that those are not my words, merely the words I am savoring and rolling around in my mouth to see how good it tastes.
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We have that. The problem is, even podunk counties who get a budget can make their own Tactical Team. I don’t blame them, fun toys are fun.
People like this are trying to be provocative, seems like they’re succeeding in provoking a reaction.
Tough shit for them if the reaction is mostly “piss off you jerk, take your money elsewhere”.
I’m not sure I’d think they wanted to shoot someone, but I’d definitely think they’d welcome an opportunity to escalate an issue.
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Maybe you need to go back and read my post again.
I’ll add a little context… @anon67050589 is a very nice lady who lives in Chicago, where humans carrying guns are a plague upon the citizenry, and people would probably be better off if guns didn’t exist (particularly when it comes to cops carrying guns, in my opinion). It seemed to me, perhaps incorrectly, that she was not considering the differences between where she lives and Texas. In Texas, there are dangerous animals, I’ve heard, and livestock that needs to be protected.
If you google image-search the phrase “dangerous animals in Texas” Google will attempt to show you things that you believe are dangerous (because it’s a relative concept) that are found in Texas. The algorithm is not quite so tidy as the previous sentence implies, but it’s generally how it works - it tries to show you what you are looking for, based on what you asked it. I don’t know why in your case that seems to be things I personally don’t consider highly dangerous - perhaps Google is not infallible, eh?
I have dangerous animals in my own yard periodically, although I don’t live in Texas. I will probably end up killing at least two of them eventually, because they are aggressive towards humans including small children. (The mountain lion isn’t a problem, it feeds on the deer.) I am unlikely to use a gun, but only because I don’t carry one. I don’t really like weapons that leave the hand.
But you haven’t answered my question. Why do you think it’s a good idea to scoff at the idea that Texans want guns because they have dangerous wildlife there? Is it because you don’t like me, or don’t like Texans, or something else?
You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to, obviously.
This explains why everyone in Australia is dead since they passed gun control legislation.
finally! the true explanation behind declining gun deaths in australia: everyone there has been eaten alive. it’d be zero, except the kangaroos have taken up arms.
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Yes, that is the type of “in your face” that goes viral. I don’t think they are helping things. Though typically it is just some guy in cargo pants with a pistol. Saw one at the Ren Fair when I was in Wichita. Though I was open carrying a Rapier, Main Gauche, and a Polish Forester’s knife. My nephew had my Damascus steel dagger.
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Right there with ya, but boy howdy, are you in the wrong country for that to happen.
Interestingly, the recent militarization of LEO’s was spurred by exactly that line of reasoning - to have a specially trained force (SWAT, the S indeed for special) that can be called to the scene of hostage situations (initially).
Problem is, as it always is, is that no one can keep a genie in a bottle. Similarly, Tasers were supposed to be a “less than lethal alternative to the gun” - but in practice, it turns out they use it as a form of “aggressive diplomacy” whenever someone wants to speak to an officer that doesn’t want to be spoken to. If you count the use of a Taser as a “justified shooting”, then police shootings have gone up some 5000% since they were introduced. With the NRA now successfully forcing some police departments to sell their confiscated weapons back into their population - at some point you have to start considering that all of this is intentional.
Bottom line is: this is a cause that was lost a long time ago - we’re just trying desperately to mitigate the damage at this point.
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Lose != Loose
Godamn it! That one really grinds my gears!
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This reminds me of an apocryphal story…
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Well, I don’t think that would work, and I agree with @popobawa4u about the danger of arming a privileged class, but honestly I think you’re taking a far more realistic and humane position than that of most gun control advocates - most of them seem to think that the thing to do is prevent anyone who has been proven responsible (like law-abiding private gun owners) from obtaining weapons, while doing nothing about the guns of those who have proven irresponsibly murderous (like criminals and cops).
Personally I liked President Obama’s call for “common sense gun control” which included stuff like funding for mental health programs, and requirements for states to let each other know which citizens they’ve determined are too crazy to be permitted weapons.
We need more of these kind of individually considered statements and positions and less chanting of pro-gun and anti-gun talking points.
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Don’t lose your way by letting the extra oh get loose!
Sheesh, the grammer of some people!
You’re absolutely right, and I apologize for misrepresenting you in a public forum. Very sorry, my fault entirely.
I should not try to multitask so much; I end up doing dumb stuff like that.
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I believe we will move in a direction like you suggest – where people proven responsible can responsibly own and use firearms for an intended purpose. Today they are too easy to get and the bar is far too low as to what responsible is.
Sadly, I also believe we’ve let this problem reach epidemic status in the US, where people who are not responsible have weapons and do some really nasty things. I am not sure we can cure this, at this late date, without a drastic change. Every lunatic seems to have an arms locker.
I also think arming our police has worked against us. It may have been necessary in prior era, but now it is creating an environment where law enforcement protect each other and kill our citizens. Also, while highly trained in the use of the fire arms, I am not certain our police are proving responsible. We’ve heard for years that police in cities are vastly out gunned, what is the point? Call in the team with guns if you need it. Seems to work in other places.
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I grew up in Colorado, with its own share of chili, ranchers, hunting, and cowboy culture, and there used to be a saying “Are you from Texas with one S or two?”.
Basically it was the opinion among the working ranchers in Colorado that folks from Texas came in two flavors, the hard working real rancher who was no fuss no muss and got stuff done, and the loudmouth showboat who was pretending to play cowboy. I think it is the pretend cowboys that we have to worry about with the guns. 
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This. A thousand times this.
As I’ve said many times, I’m a firm believer in the second amendment for all those same reasons the gun nuts cite- But most of them are people I wouldn’t trust with a potato peeler, let alone a firearm.
And such is the paradox of realizing rights and responsibilities are inseparable, even when fewer people are capable of the latter than are entitled to the former.
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They are whining that it is causing other people to exercise their own property rights and not allow guns as they “might” post a “no concealed carry” sign if they are going to the trouble of posting a “no open carry” sign. waaaahhhh. boo hoo. hypocrites. What it does is bring the issue out in the open so they will no longer be able to carry their guns onto other peoples private property who never wanted them to and never would have allowed it in the first place. They, gasp, will have to respect the rights of others just as much as they expect their right to be be respected.
That is the answer!!!
Instead of all these guns in the US we need more rattles.
“Back off man! ~rattle~ ~rattle~ ~rattle~!”
“This is OUR turf! ~rattle~ ~rattle~ ~rattle~!”
Nature is so smart!
Gangs face off in percussion battles…the west street shakers square off against the east side maracas.
I’ve seen the Bear Bells, and am sure they do alert the bears, but I can’t help but think that the mountain lions will chase down and destroy anything covered in bells the same way my house cat does! Run faster the bells aren’t working!!! LOL!
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That’s every bit based in historic fact as some other books, only this was conceived of more recently - in 2,000 years, there will be The Church of the Tank Girl and Latter Day Roos, just wait n see.
Okay, admittedly, I just want to see the world burn, but…
What would happen if a business posted a sign saying “No guns allowed: Employees are armed and will assume anyone entering with a weapon to be attempting a robbery”?
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Because it is unnecessary. All those “dangerous animals” can be managed safely without the need for casual gun-toting.
We can disagree without being disagreeable, but if someone posts a link to “dangerous animals”, and that link returns an ant and an anteater, well, that’s pretty comical.
But why would you rely on an algorithm that is specific to MY perception of danger, anyway? What if I thought Texas termites and Texas jellyfish were dangerous? They’re not problems to solve with a gun. Remember, YOU posted it as a reference, knowing the shortcomings.
And no, I don’t dislike you. Even though you impugned my herpetological identification skills, knowing (from your knowledge of the search algorithm), that I would be seeing a different (and unknown to you) set of “dangerous animals”.
