A time of national tragedy is a time to come together as Americans, a time to heal, a time to put aside partisan differences and seek common ground. For instance, it is a time to remember that no man is an island, that we are all connected by bonds of community and love, and that one madman's meticulously planned killing rampage may well have its roots in the Supreme Court's decisions in
Good point Chet...and it puts a finer point on things. Folks are all, OMG death in a movie theater...what will we do about Aurora, but kind of meh about the mayhem in Chicago (unless you live there or someone points it out to you). If I think about it, the "meh" part might bother most of all.
Well, this may piss you off, too, but the fact is that gunfire massacrees are a pretty small component of the overall death rate in the US. I looked at the CDC tables for cause of death (for 2008, the latest released). Deaths by firearm are just about the same (30,000) as deaths by motor vehicle accident. One distinctive thing is that more than half the gun deaths were suicide.
There were about 13,000 gun-related homicides per year, or about 36 per day. I am not, honestly, trying to minimize the horror of the Aurora theatre shooting, but statistically it was just a biggish blip. <i>Every day</i>, three times as many people are shot to death in the United States.
We pay more attention to wholesale gun deaths than to retail ones. This is because a mass shooting makes us realize, intensely, that <b>we</b> could actually be victims. Nevertheless, homicide by gun is somewhere around the thirtieth or fiftieth probable cause of death for USAmericans.
/Snark off, if it wasn&#039;t already. I support making extended magazines illegal (what is the fucking point?). I support making hollow-point bullets illegal (the point of hollow-points is to kill human beings more efficiently). I support measures that would prevent individuals from purchasing 6,000 rounds of ammo on the internet in less than, say, six years.
I grant you that there will be other mass shootings. Restricting magazines and ammo could reduce their impact, but I don&#039;t expect that. My point is that it will be a fucking long time before the occasional wholesale shootings outscore the day-to-day retail shootings. (I think I was supposed to turn the snark back on somewhere).
Wait now, &quot;Only women should own guns&quot; is a pretty reasonable idea to me (a non-woman). However, this has to be conjoined with the absolute &quot;Nobody should have a gun in their fucking vehicle. EVER. FUCKING EVER.&quot;.
Cause if I didn&#039;t believe that, there would be dozens more people buying tires over the last few years, and I&#039;d be doing 10 to 20.
Well, I&#039;ve never been convinced that Greek or Latin or Hebrew or Aramaic was that useful. I mean, sure, it&#039;s impressive to be able to learn another language, but if all you&#039;re going to use it for is to translate fantasy, WTF?
Good point Chet...and it puts a finer point on things. Folks are all, OMG death in a movie theater...what will we do about Aurora, but kind of meh about the mayhem in Chicago (unless you live there or someone points it out to you). If I think about it, the &quot;meh&quot; part might bother most of all.
Well, this may piss you off, too, but the fact is that gunfire massacrees are a pretty small component of the overall death rate in the US. I looked at the CDC tables for cause of death (for 2008, the latest released). Deaths by firearm are just about the same (30,000) as deaths by motor vehicle accident. One distinctive thing is that more than half the gun deaths were suicide.
There were about 13,000 gun-related homicides per year, or about 36 per day. I am not, honestly, trying to minimize the horror of the Aurora theatre shooting, but statistically it was just a biggish blip. <i>Every day</i>, three times as many people are shot to death in the United States.
We pay more attention to wholesale gun deaths than to retail ones. This is because a mass shooting makes us realize, intensely, that <b>we</b> could actually be victims. Nevertheless, homicide by gun is somewhere around the thirtieth or fiftieth probable cause of death for USAmericans.
/Snark off, if it wasn&#039;t already. I support making extended magazines illegal (what is the fucking point?). I support making hollow-point bullets illegal (the point of hollow-points is to kill human beings more efficiently). I support measures that would prevent individuals from purchasing 6,000 rounds of ammo on the internet in less than, say, six years.
I grant you that there will be other mass shootings. Restricting magazines and ammo could reduce their impact, but I don&#039;t expect that. My point is that it will be a fucking long time before the occasional wholesale shootings outscore the day-to-day retail shootings. (I think I was supposed to turn the snark back on somewhere).
MOAR FUCKING TENTACKLES.
Wait now, &quot;Only women should own guns&quot; is a pretty reasonable idea to me (a non-woman). However, this has to be conjoined with the absolute &quot;Nobody should have a gun in their fucking vehicle. EVER. FUCKING EVER.&quot;.
Cause if I didn&#039;t believe that, there would be dozens more people buying tires over the last few years, and I&#039;d be doing 10 to 20.
Mmm, Z, that&#039;s because there is no good answer.
Can we just line up and kick him in the nuts? I&#039;d pay for a flight to do that.
Without clicking the linkie, I&#039;d be happy to shoot Bryan Fischer to improve his statistics.
Nah, Clapton hasn&#039;t been god since what, 76 easy?
I think he&#039;s warming up to be irrelevant at the RNC.
Oh, please. God didn&#039;t tell W to fuck up Iraq. That was a simple daddy issue.
There&#039;s no medals for assault rifle? What&#039;s with the anti-USA bias??!!?
What makes you think you can&#039;t have both?
God is the original honey badger, that&#039;s all.
Nanotech fully-auto, um, molecule-shooters?
This is the most sensible remark to follow this clusterfuck. If there were a Nobel Prize for Common Sense, you&#039;d be a shoo-in.
Well, I&#039;ve never been convinced that Greek or Latin or Hebrew or Aramaic was that useful. I mean, sure, it&#039;s impressive to be able to learn another language, but if all you&#039;re going to use it for is to translate fantasy, WTF?