I didn’t see this earlier comment, but people who are fighting for gun rights are also fighting for the gun rights of black men. Many gun control ideas from white liberals either purposefully or accidentally propose schemes that are out right racist, or ripe for racist application of the laws. As much as some people want to characterize the NRA as racist (and I concede that some member probably are) the organization hasn’t support laws in the past 40 some years that unfairly target minorities. One could argue some of the gun control act law in 1968 were passed, with NRA support, due to heightened racial tensions (though, honestly, when you read the laws I doubt one will have much problem with them). But the leadership coup in the 70s changed their direction and they wouldn’t have supported all of that bill today.
You’re repeating yourself from every other thread on this we’ve had.
I totally get it, I was just trying to offer the counterpoint that you can live in TX and never see any dangerous wildlife and even if you did you can manage just fine without a gun. The only reason I spotted the things I did is because I was actively going out in habitats where you could find them. Scorpions are pretty easy to find if you go out in the sticks and flip over big rocks (which I’ve done - bark scorpions are really cool), but there’s a lot of places you could live in TX and never encounter one. Alligators live in a very small range on the coast in swampy spots you’d never be in unless you chose to go into those places.
I actually got bit by a rattler once. I was 10, was flipping over boards to try to find baby snakes and then actually picked it up, put it in a jar, and then later played with it at which point it bit me. This was in Iowa. I don’t know how I survived my childhood. But the point is that there are plenty of places in the US that have as many dangerous species as TX (except AZ which is way worse) and you’re probably doing pretty dumb things to really be at risk.
I have to understand what a “dependent clause” is and how it is used in the English language. Not exactly “gymnastics”.
Which doesn’t prove that the amendment limits anything to militias, but it does force us to consider why such a clause would be inserted in the statute when leaving it out would have made the statute less ambiguous if your interpretation was the correct one.
It suggests to me that the intent of the statute was not so simple as to just allow everyone to have a firearm (again, it could be phrased much less ambiguously if that was the case). It also suggests to me that the statute is a compromise between people who were sure they wanted everyone to be allowed to have guns and other people who weren’t quite so sure. (This is not very unusual in law, and is usually the best explanation for why any particular statute would be worded ambiguously.)
The upshot is that we’re better off interpreting it in light of modern conditions rather than trying to hold a seance to figure out the intention of people whose knowledge of firearms included mainly muskets, barrel-loaded artillery, and flintlock pistols.
I taught my kids this, and then a big ol’ papermaker wasp flew down out of a clear blue sky and stung my daughter about two millimeters from her eye, which is the most painful place to be stung, apparently. You’re actually much better off getting stung directly on the eyeball according to my beekeeper acquaintances. The damn thing flew at least 30 feet in order to sting her, with no provocation at all. We watched it happen.
Now whenever I dispense some old-timey Dad advice she side-eyes me and says “yeah, right, and if you don’t bother them they won’t bother you. Sure, Dad.”
Stupid wasp really undermined my parental authority, I can tell you! 
Then quit making the same tired crap arguments.
It is interesting they gave a sort of reasoning for it. But it wasn’t the only reason for the amendment.
I have said one could argue that SOME of the reasoning for it could be considered out dated. We no longer use a militia system, but have one of the largest standing armies in the world. But it is clear it is meant to be a personal right. And I still stand behind the concept - there isn’t any reason to restrict a law abiding person access to a personal weapon - be it firearm, bow and arrow, knife, sword, etc.
Thanks for bringing up it was fairly common for the rich to have explosive shelled cannon in personal possession to loan out during wars. Ironically, none of those items are currently regulated, except for explosive shells. Regular canons, canon balls, and black powder rifles (which are way more modern now) don’t require any background checks or anything. Lots of restrictions on what the ATF classifies as “fire arms”, however.
Wasps are dicks. I use Spectracide and giggle like Cobra Command as their writhe and spasm to death.
ETA - They paralyze and have their babies eat spiders alive.
The repetitive post by you was in response to a picture that I sent in reply to someone else. I didn’t make any arguments to you at all as I know better. Kindly return the favor.
Ah - and here we have the “I’ll just leave this snarky gif here with out comment.” problem. That way you can say what you want to say with out saying it, and have the plausible deniability that you weren’t actually saying that, but saying something else.
I’m not the one saying the same thing in every gun thread and, when called on it, going, “buuuut you’re doing it too.” I don’t and didn’t. Thanks though.
In Texas. When I lived in Georgia, I mailed away a state form, then showed up at the county seat with my driver’s license, and walked out with a CCW. Some nominal fee was involved, too, but that was the extent of it. And despite that happening in the 90’s, I have zero expectation that it’s any different today.
thanks!!!
Wasps*, venomous centipedes, mosquitos, and fire ants are on the exclude list for the general rule of “If ya don’t harass them, they don’t harass you.” Those are on the enemy list.
*Some wasp species are actually quite beneficial, and many are peaceful, but nuance isn’t called for here.
Seconded
Thirded. They are not things with which you should fuck.
If you blow them up with a claymore, how do you eat them afterwards?
The one time I quickly took a trip to the hardware store and chemical poisoned the hell out of some form of wasp or yellow jacket was when they started swarming out of the ground I freshly mowed over. Happily the lawn mower was a more attractive heat source. I normally do not bother them but this was a case of you are in a bad area for my environment and it won’t be me that goes.
Bruh. You just got to play with, and fire, a claymore, and you’re worried about dinner???
Also, gun nuts are nuts:
Well, not all bad ideas:
I like wasps! I handle them and their active nests and they generally don’t sting me. Of course I always warn them: “Looky here you wasps if you stay cool I’m just going to move your nest around while I work up in these soffits but if you sting me I WILL BURN YOUR HOUSE AND BABIES AND I HAVE THE CAN OF SPRAY DEATH RIGHT HERE NOW.” Apparently they understand threats.
I know people who hunt wild hogs illegally with spears. Totally not kidding!
generally…
I like wasps too, and leave them alone unless they build nests in the wrong spots. Paper wasps are great for gardens, they eat all kinds of bugs that are bad for your plants. I’ve gotten pretty close to get macro shots and never got stung:
The big red paper wasps are really cool too:
Mud daubers will take care of black widows (though they also eat jumping spiders, which I really like). But I also fear the bigger species since they’re unpredictable with their stinging, and if they build nests near doors they have to die. Also yellow-jackets are immediate enemies.
People who hunt wild hogs with spears - lunatics.
Well, maybe… read on! I think it depends on where you live.
If they were actually yellowjackets, then you did the right thing! Those things are a plague, and can be extremely aggressive.
But my lawn has solitary miner bees, which boil out of the ground when I mow, and cicada killers, which do the same, and during mowing season I have hundreds of scarab hunting wasps hunting for Japanese beetle grubs in the soil. Sometimes I’m basically mowing in a cloud of wasps and bees, which are mostly very beneficial to my garden and trees. They sometimes land on me, and occasionally a hornet will mistake the pupil of my eye for a fly (which is somewhat unnerving the first time it happens) but they’ve never stung me. The little miners won’t even sting me if I’m rolling around on top of their nests.
