9mm and three piece suit…
thats how DK rolls
In the United States, guns are standard fare. We don’t take well to being lectured about them, either. Makes us bristle like porcupines.
Personally, I think the death-by-firearm numbers are more telling of issues with our fundamental values, not something as silly as the guns themselves. Besides, social dysfunction is a pretty slick way to offload blame.
Along that vein, a few weeks ago I heard an out-of-stater claim that California would have less freeway shootings if “everyone had a handgun in their car.”
This thread made me think of Eddie Izzard:
And the National Rifle Association says that, "Guns don’t kill people, people do,” but I think the gun helps, you know? I think it helps. I just think just standing there going, “Bang!” That’s not going to kill too many people, is it? You’d have to be really dodgy on the heart to have that… ( imitates gunfire noises ) I think they should just try that, you know.
But yeah, shooting clay pigeons, I think, yeah, go for that. Shooting clay pigeons, they’re f*ckers! Come round your house, whiz through ( fly-by noises ) They do nothing, they don’t even eat flies! You know? Spiders eat flies, so they’re all right, keep them, you know? Flies don’t eat fuckall, so kill 'em! And clay pigeons - everyone shoots them in the air. Wait 'til they land! Then go up to the clay pigeon… ( shoots ) Much easier.
But I’m a responsible gun owner. When I sell them there’s no telling whose hands they will fall into. Doesn’t that just pass on the “problem”?
Well Harper, everyone knows that Guns Don’t Kill People, Rappers Do 
entropy, you’re damn right, i’m seeing you guys ‘bristle’ right now. Obviously without guns gun crime is quite tricky, and obviously responsible gun owners and collectors who are purely interested in sport, hunting and just having a collection of guns pose little threat to society.
“Personally, I think the death-by-firearm numbers are more telling of issues with our fundamental values” - entropy
Agreed, and i think that the idea that sane rational and genreally pretty nice people in the unicycle forum who i have respect for can have a nice quiet chat about firing/owning fully automatic high powered firearms says alot about the values of middle class America, that’s what really shocked me in to replying in the first place. Incidnetally good point pdc, i suppose if you already own guns it does makes sense to keep them where you know they’re not being mis-used.
If there were no guns, murder rates and other violent crimes would remain pretty level. Humans are versatile creatures.
If guns were to be banned then only criminals would have them.
So why is America’s murder rate so high, if it isn’t associated with high gun ownership level? How can you possibly predict with such certainty the behavioural changes of a nation of 250 million people?
Versatile as we may be, it’s pretty hard to snipe someone 400 yards away on a petrol station forecourt with a bit of two by four.
But I don’t enjoy unicycles. They are silly and of no use for anything functional. I see no need for anyone to have a unicycle other than to show off immature behavior. I would highly advise anyone not to buy a unicycle and spend their money more wisely on something with more reason, like a bicycle.
Actually, I was thinking maybe this was some kind of new hand grip or handle, sort of like arms on a chair.
Just for the record, not all citizens of the USA own guns. There are no guns in my house.
No. I saw the title of the thread and thought to myself that i never knew Ollie North could ride a uni.
Apart from that, I’m sooo staying out of this discussion.
The Murder rate in the United States is also much higher in areas with telephone poles. I think it has something to do with the telephone poles.
GFW
That’s typical, citing an example that accounts for .00000000000001% of the gun crimes even though all the gun control is focused on handguns and assault rifles.
My point stands that if guns were banned, still the criminals would be the only ones with guns. Unless you mean to have all the guns magically disappear of the face of the earth, cause if they exist the homies will find them. If they did all magically disappear then invest in knife and baseball bat stocks cause people who want to do harm will still do it.
As this is typical…
Ridiculing statistics and the statistical process isn’t going to prove anything.
Aw, shoot!
Good to know.
BANG! You’re dead.
Thanks Bruce. That should do it.
You kids play nicely now.
The interesting use (or misuse) of statistics is in stories comparing violent crime growth rates in the UK and Australia, which have both incurred very strict gun control measures in recent years, to those of the US. I will not link to the plethora of stories easily available using your search engine. Subgroup studies similar to these compare violent crime rates in the US in areas which have strict gun control laws to those in which they are more lax. The difficulty is in understanding which studies are valid. Sometimes people omit certain details to make their arguments appear to be stronger. Go figure.
Nice new avatar, Bruce.
“An armed society is a polite society.” - Robert A. Heinlein
Now i think we’re exagerating slightly aren’t we? That means for every once that happens there are 100,000,000,000,000 other gun crimes, although i admit sniping is only a drop in the ocean, just a drop that the media picked up on at one point. You still don’t say how you can be absaloutely adamant about how the nation will change if guns are banned, which i don’t think anyone was suggesting anyway, I don’t think there are any countries which have banned firearms outright, they just have attitudes which mean that they don’t become a problem.
Thanks. It’s the first time I’ve ever changed it.
True statement, but it means nothing. Observe:
“If unicycles were banned, only criminals would have them.”
Silly rhetoric.
I much prefer arguments about character. Is a given society mature enough to responsibly handle guns?
Again: I believe that an armed civilian population is about as safe as a firearm-free equivalent. I think that both sides of the gun control debate bend and twist statistics and studies to make it look like they’ve got the high ground, but at the end of the day, no one has gained anything. The core values, such as the sanctity of life, make all the difference. Here in the US, we’d still kill each other in droves with different tools if guns were more controlled.
I also feel obligated to point out that people who frequent R.S.U are, in general, individuals with good values. And Harper is downright classy.