Time for a "Mass Shootings" Forum?

Matt in the Hat · Feb 3, 2013

VFish said: ↑

Hardly, but congrats, your comment is probably one of the most obnoxious ever posted. The guy spent his post military career helping Vets overcome PTSD.
Click to expand...

So in other words he volunteered to kill people and then tried to un******** other voluntary killers. BFD.

Matt in the Hat · Feb 3, 2013

ToasterLeavins said: ↑

Wow. Its interesting that you think you know enough about this guy and his service to make that kind of pronouncement. And by interesting i mean disgusting.
Click to expand...

Know what else is disgusting? Soldier worship.

y-lee-coyote · Feb 4, 2013

Matt in the Hat said: ↑

Know what else is disgusting? Soldier worship.
Click to expand...

Our reaction to Vietnam, but you are right...

Boogie_Down · Feb 4, 2013

ToasterLeavins said: ↑

Wow. Its interesting that you think you know enough about this guy and his service to make that kind of pronouncement. And by interesting i mean disgusting.
Click to expand...

The guy wrote a book bragging about killing 150 people. You live by the sword you die by the sword. That's karma. It may be insensitive to say but it's the truth.

The Jitty Slitter · Feb 4, 2013

NGV said: ↑

The truth is that murders by strangers in the USA are pretty rare.
Click to expand...

This fact is ignored by the media the world over - especially in relation to violence against women and children.

soccernutter · Feb 4, 2013

The Jitty Slitter said: ↑

This fact is ignored by the media the world over - especially in relation to violence against women and children.
Click to expand...

Most importantly, it is being ignored by the NRA...and by y-lee.

Here you go, y-lee, on your crusade v. violence. How do you reduced domestic violence?

Matt in the Hat · Feb 4, 2013

y-lee-coyote said: ↑

Our reaction to Vietnam, but you are right...
Click to expand...

The big difference with Vietnam is that there were a good number of soldiers over there against their will. At that point it's all about survival

soccernutter · Feb 4, 2013

y-lee-coyote said: ↑

Our reaction to Vietnam, but you are right...
Click to expand...

As MitH said, but also for the general ignorance about conscription v. volunteering. Of course, by the end of Vietnam, the general attitude towards the soldiers had changed.

KCFutbol · Feb 4, 2013

soccernutter said: ↑

As MitH said, but also for the general ignorance about conscription v. volunteering.
Click to expand...

Conscription is something the last few generations haven't had "joy" to experience. I well remember lottery day when your birthdate was assigned a number (1 thru 365/366) that helped determine whether you'd get drafted.

I breathed a sigh of relief when I received #303.

y-lee-coyote · Feb 4, 2013

Matt in the Hat said: ↑

The big difference with Vietnam is that there were a good number of soldiers over there against their will. At that point it's all about survival
Click to expand...

I almost came back and edited my post to point that out ,

msilverstein47 · Feb 4, 2013

a really long, but fascinating read....

http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/02/11/130211fa_fact_keefe?currentPage=all

dapip · Feb 4, 2013

GOP: Second amendment must be repealed, immediately!!!!

American Brummie · Feb 4, 2013

Listen, it's clear at this point that there will not be any substantial gun-control legislation to come out of the House, and it's also clear that there will be no compromising or Bayesian-esque updating of viewpoints or information from the right-wingers on P&CE or anywhere else, really. Since none of the conservatives who have read my posts (or the posts of anyone else here) were able to provide any alternative to the status quo, demonstrating an almost complete lack of critical thought, my new question is this:

What would this country stand to lose if we rounded all these people up and shipped them to Mars?

JohnR · Feb 4, 2013

And they say Democrats can't be real men!

This photo release is so wonderfully cynical. It feels as if it were done solely to piss off the NRA.

JohnR · Feb 4, 2013

American Brummie said: ↑

What would this country stand to lose if we rounded all these people up and shipped them to Mars?
Click to expand...

Country music.

Dr. Wankler · Feb 4, 2013

That photo would've been better if the president were aiming the gun at the camara.

guignol · Feb 4, 2013

JohnR said: ↑

Country music.
Click to expand...

and that would be a bad thing?

youuuuu don't love me, it's plain...

dapip · Feb 4, 2013

JohnR said: ↑

Country music.
Click to expand...

Because we all loved last Ted Nuggent's CD...

JohnR · Feb 4, 2013

guignol said: ↑

and that would be a bad thing?
Click to expand...

The only country song I like is Faraway Eyes.

guignol · Feb 4, 2013

JohnR said: ↑

The only country song I like is Faraway Eyes.
Click to expand...

that's not a country song. it takes more than a steel guitar to make a country song.

JohnR · Feb 4, 2013

Jesus makes an appearance.

Cascarino's Pizzeria · Feb 4, 2013

dapip said: ↑

GOP: Second amendment must be repealed, immediately!!!!

Click to expand...

There's smoke coming out of the front and the side. And we can't see his mouth. Is this Obama's secret gun-bong we've been hearing about? Paging MasterShake...

Crimen y Castigo · Feb 4, 2013

JohnR said: ↑

The only country song I like is Faraway Eyes.
Click to expand...

This is the musical equivalent of the Obama skeet-shooting photo.

ceezmad · Feb 4, 2013

San Harris on guns.

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/the-riddle-of-the-gun

Fantasists and zealots can be found on both sides of the debate over guns in America. On the one hand, many gun-rights advocates reject even the most sensible restrictions on the sale of weapons to the public. On the other, proponents of stricter gun laws often seem unable to understand why a good person would ever want ready access to a loaded firearm. Between these two extremes we must find grounds for a rational discussion about the problem of gun violence.
Unlike most Americans, I stand on both sides of this debate. I understand the apprehension that many people feel toward “gun culture,” and I share their outrage over the political influence of the National Rifle Association. How is it that we live in a society in which one of the most compelling interests is gun ownership? Where is the science lobby? The safe food lobby? Where is the get-the-Chinese-lead-paint-out-of-our-kids’-toys lobby? When viewed from any other civilized society on earth, the primacy of guns in American life seems to be a symptom of collective psychosis.
Click to expand...

A response

Sam Harris Neglects The Most Important Evidence About Guns
by Sean Faircloth posted on January 04, 2013 02:39AM GMT

http://www.richarddawkins.net/found...glects-the-most-important-evidence-about-guns

However, in his recent piece on gun control, Sam Harris failed to address the two most important pieces of evidence related to that topic.
1) the evidence regarding domestic violence against women;
2) the data confirming success of gun control in other countries.
Click to expand...

Harris replies to his critics

http://www.samharris.org/blog/item/faq-on-violence

If I saw a way that we could remove 300 million guns from our streets—perhaps by amending the U.S. Constitution and instituting a $150 billion buy-back program—then I would be happy to weigh the merits of doing this. But, given the legal and political realities in the U.S., I don’t consider the banning and confiscation of guns to be a serious possibility (nor does it seem to be a goal of gun-control advocates).
Click to expand...

A rebuttal to his rebuttal

http://www.richarddawkins.net/foundation_articles/2013/1/12/sam-harris-gun-faq-a-friendly-rebuttal

This nation is changing demographically every day. We cannot predict all the trends, but the path of continuing gun violence is the path of death, carnage, and policy disaster. The path of removing non-hunting guns (including handguns) combined with strong regulation is a path of practical promise and a path of life – a path worth the investment of serious organized effort based on overwhelming evidence necessary to overcome the entirely weak arguments in support of the current Gun Flood policy.
Click to expand...

Nice debate from 2 secular people

soccernutter · Feb 4, 2013

For all those strong gun rights avocates, they are foolish.
http://www.newsmax.com/US/pennsylvannia-gun-show-cancelled/2013/01/25/id/472895
http://www.post-gazette.com/stories...ow-in-harrisburg-halted-after-boycott-671934/

Good for Reed Exhibitions to make this statement and ruling. But what this does is promote a very poor viewpoint of the strong gun rights sellers and buyers. Most don't want the government involved, but then they do not self regulate. If this group really wants to maintain their rights, they need to figure out the problem with guns and fix it themeselves BEFORE the government gets involved.