This is where you start to confuse gun owners. If an “assault weapon” being owned by civilians is “flimsy”, the same principles can quickly provide the same argument for all long guns and shotguns being banned. There isn’t that much of a difference between the classifications.
Such classes and testing won’t achieve the ends you want, and are not necessary to.
People who want to act conscientiously and attain competency do, those who don’t won’t.
The minimum standards for something like driving or to purchase a rifle or pistol (in California, yes, we all have to take a test now unless exempt) are not enough to ensure any lasting amount of safe handling in the future.
Brandishing or disorderly conduct via brandishing is already illegal in many or most places, not sure what you are driving at there, much of what you describe is already in place.
If you’re not aware? If you do understand? Those are some fucking big ‘ifs’. Who checks, challenges and verifies that people are aware and do understand that before they sell them a firearm?
And ‘manipulation’? ‘Tragedy-whoring’? Give me a fuckin’ break. I’m sure you’re just as diligent about taking down the NRA when it ‘manipulates’ people into thinking they need a gun, or they won’t be able to defend themselves against some imaginary, future, highly-unlikely ‘tragedy’.
Well, I would argue that the ability to question and evaluate our place in the universe is also something that makes us human. Now, I’m not a hunter yet (but I do fish quite a bit), but it’s a goal of mine to make a pot of chili from scratch- by which I mean to literally kill, skin, and butcher the meat; plant, tend, and harvest the veggies and spices; cut the wood to build the fire to cook it on. As a Pagan (and someone who’s lived on a working farm), I consider my position in the ecosystem/ food web as a sacred cog in the universe: I kill and eat things which eat plants, and someday I will be eaten by worms and rot to become fertile earth for more plants. It’s not like I’m poaching endangered big game to prove my manhood- I just think it’s more respectful and honorable to look my food in the eye and thank it before I do what every other living thing does.
As far as my chances of building a working firearm without incident? I’d give it 95%-98% given access to modern tools, mid 80s without. Adjust +/- accounting for pressures of time or working conditions. We’re talking a muzzle-loading flintlock, mind you, not a TEC-9 or anything. I’d put my odds at “very good”.
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I’m next door in NH. Thanks for Bernie Sanders, BTW.
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I’m trying to come up with something reasonable and workable. I’m open to suggestions*.
Clearly, we have an issue with gun violence in this country, and something needs to be done. At the same time, the right to bear arms exists to maintain the democratization of power: Because the ruling class should not be trusted with all the guns any more than it should be trusted with all the money or all the media distribution channels.
Fixing wealth inequality would go a long way towards ending the pressures, feelings of powerlessness, and desperation that causes most of our gun violence. Improving our education system and quality of life would go a long way towards ending gun accidents and suicides.
In between, we also need some other reforms that address the problem in a way that doesn’t restrict individual liberties or put more power into the hands of those who already have enough power to begin with. I think the license program I’ve described is a good, solid step. If you have any better ideas, I’d love to hear them*.
*Just to clarify, I mean that in a literal, non-snarky way.
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Ha, cool man. I hope you come back to share your chili pot experience here On BB. IRT our ability to understand our place in the universe, that is also not something that is necessarily the sole ability of humans. Personally I think we’re animals, just animals that have the leetest skillz of any other animals we’ve met yet.
Also, there is one part of US gun law that I am somewhat jealous of: the legal right to manufacture guns provided they are not transferred to others or sold under any circumstances.
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Apart from the name? How about this, gunfan: no automatic or semiautomatic weapons. Next you’re gonna tell me that non-auto guns can be easily adapted to be automatic and I’m gonna say that’s cool, you can easily turn cold medication into meth. Just because something is possible doesn’t mean making to illegal will have no influence.
No civilian has any need for an automatic or semi-automatic weapon.
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Guns have legit uses but are attractive nuisances. Require liability insurance, training, and licensing exams. Make the training and license more difficult in high population density areas and for handguns. Ammunition needs trackable codes that get left at shooting sites.
The insurance requirement will drive people to buy and use the least dangerous gun for their purpose and get discounts for securing properly.
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I´m sad that this tread got so many comments and yet so little has being achieved in terms of mutual understanding…
Cant you guys have a civilized, relaxed and informed discussion like this one?
Seriously, every single time the same, yet nobody changes his mind. I would substitute the comments section on gun related articles with just a poll:
a) Right
b)Wrong
c)Meh
d)Internet cats
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I’d also be curious if THEY followed all relevant New York State and Federal laws in setting up the gun shop.
Good God, no - unless they were using pieces from the NYPD evidence locker, with cooperation with the NYPD, they’re in possession of a whole lot of illegal rifles, the the least.
This is an emotional hit piece - and I actually think the concept is a good idea. I have a Nagant revolver in my collection - made in 1920. Most likely used during the Russian Civil War. Probably to execute dissidents. It’s something I bring out when I am introducing people to firearms - although I love shooting, and am getting back to competition form, it is really important to remember that they are weapons, and have a long and bloody history.
That being said, I think the number of suicides and accidental shootings in this country are too damn high - and a less “let’s use mass shootings to scare people away” and more “look, if you don’t respect this, you may have to bury your own child”…
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I’ll take d), Alex.
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Which is to say it’s painfully obvious that the “customers” nor the person behind the counter is at all serious about gun safety.
I’ve only handled a gun 2x ever in my life. Even I know you don’t put your finger near the trigger unless you’re going to shoot the damn thing.
Speaking as a person who supports near-universal access to deadly weapons I think this was a really well made video and an excellent educational effort. Without the wide dissemination of the video it probably would not be a particularly cost-effective means of education, but it’s not up to me to regulate how anti-gun gun fetishists spend their money. In any case it’s a fine piece and (assuming that the customers weren’t just actors) it got some people to take a closer look at their own values and motivations. Congratulations to the producers!
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Indeed you would be making an ass of you and me. I am quite American, but perhaps fall a little short of the sort of nationalism that sees you putting a flag on the hood of your trans am.
I’m well aware that many of the Swiss’ policies are a tough sell here. Compulsory military service could actually do a lot of great things for our society, if we could find a way to turn in the World Police badge.
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Turnabout is fair play. I strongly disapprove of the pregnancy crisis centers on principle (being both an honest person and pro-choice humanist), but the slight shift in tactics–by telling them truth once they walked in the door, and nothing but the truth, that makes a significant difference in the approach. The “crisis” centers lie from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you leave. This place uses a slight lie to get people in the door, and then uses truth once they’re in.
Haha, I fall very short of being proud of our nation, and despair at American capitalism infecting the rest of the planet. I would absolutely love the polices you described, but the reality is that the government we currently have is broken and we fall incredibly short of being the great nation everyone remembers. Kind of like that high school football star quarterback you end up seeing at a reunion. Still living in the glory days ignoring the fact that they are currently a fat, balding used cars salesman at a failing dealership.
Well, hopefully you’re one of the guys who is going to turn that around. It’s not too late to break the shackles of King Oil and regain our national pride.
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It’s a plain old propaganda – misleading by presenting an exception as a rule…
It is a nice thought, but honestly I am too selfish/lazy/apathetic to be one of those people. I could change at some point, but being lazy is soooooo much easier.
