Y’know, the more alone America gets in relation to certain major issues, the more out of touch they seem, especially when no one ever seems to be able to explain why America is right and THE REST OF THE ENTIRE FIRST WORLD OF THE PLANET is wrong.
I’m gonna stay out of this digression for the most part. But regardless of what’s constitutionally allowed or recognized, what do you think would happen to this country if:
a) Every car and truck in the country disappeared tomorrow, or
b) Subsistence hunting were somehow brought to an equally sudden and inexplicable end?
My not so WAG is that reality > state constitutions.
What about mass trebucheters?
If I gave you a choice, either I punch you in the arm or I punch you in the balls; I bet you would choose to be punched in the arm. And if I started punching you in the arm, would you say you are having fun because the arm punches give you comparatively more satisfaction than the nut punches?
This is the level of silliness you have offered to this thread.
IIRC, Vegas casinos do not allow guns. Or to be more technically accurate, there may be ‘no guns’ signs on the property that do not hold the weight of law, but the casino can still tell you to leave if they catch you packing, and you can be arrested for trespassing if you refuse.
In other words - they can’t take your gun from you, but they can make you lave.
Drunk gamblers and guns do not strike me as the best combination, so I have heard that casinos try to make sure nobody comes in carrying, but it’s still mostly sight-based security checks. Been years since I’ve been there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if security isn’t tighter nowadays.
Just how was renting a car a PITA? They ask for a driver’s license (duh) and a credit card.
ElvisL1ves, you have utterly and completely forfeited any right to presume anything about what I think and feel. Shut your pie hole.
Yes, I’m aware that the Swiss despite being more pro-gun than most European countries have significantly more restrictions on guns than much of the United States. I was pointing out that actual physical access to rifles doesn’t seem to tempt most Swiss. If it’s the “gun culture” that irks you more than the guns themselves, then:
[ol]
[li]How is wanting to preserve concrete proof that the people are ultimately the masters, not the subjects, of government a “cult”, except maybe a cult of liberty?[/li][li]I’ve proposed restoring the old militia musters in a civil form of requiring mandatory training. I have no trouble with “well regulated” provided that it’s not weaseled into a gun ban.[/li][li]Indeed the media shouldn’t push the use of guns as an answer to most problems. We should ban the glorification of gun violence in movies, television and video games. Good luck amending the First Amendment in the face of Hollywood’s resistance.[/li][/ol]
Based on the look on their faces when I showed my non-US driver’s license at the counter you would have thought I had showed them my Men In Black badge.
Well, it all depends on how seriously you regard the downside of being dead. The number of gun-related deaths per year in America, in round numbers, is only slightly less than the number of deaths from lack of health care. There are good things and bad things about America, and among the worst of the bad things is that no one really has a basic right to health care, except as a discretionary purchasable commodity, like an iPhone, but by golly everyone has the sacred right to own a gun, and the right to be shot dead by a random maniac is protected with boundless zeal.
And the reason that the right to be shot dead must be so thoroughly protected is frequently explained by right-wing lunatics. It’s because if any laws were passed to make this more difficult, then the redneck wishing to shoot beer cans off fence posts and the raving jealous husband wishing to put a bullet into the head of his wife’s lover would be inconvenienced, and might even have to fill out forms and stuff.
There may be lots of folks that have a blind hatred of guns, but I suspect Ravenman isn’t one of them. Even if he is typically on the anti side, I’ve always found his posts to be quite reasonable and thought provoking. I know it’s the Pit, but there you go.
Guns are not cars. That’s where the comparison should end.
Well. I can agree with that.
And watermelons are not fire hydrants! WHO’S WITH ME
Speaking of cars: for many years I was bus-dependent and I can tell you that in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul metro area a journey that takes 25 minutes door-to-door by car can take 100 minutes by bus. Absolutely no comparison, private cars are wonderful.
Well, to be fair, the Dow-Jones went way up today, and so did the Nasdaq, although not by as much, and the S&P was respectable. It might have been “A rising tide lifts all ships,” and has nothing to do with gun speculation. I have stock in a biotech company, Ford motors (inherited it; usually underperforms), a big box discount store, insurance provider, and a pharmaceutical company, and they all rose today. It’s rare that every single one rises. I have been lucky in that my overall portfolio keeps increasing, but it’s rare that every single stock increases in one day.
Where’s Starving Artist on your list?
The gun-control folks, for some reason, from Sandy Hook to Orlando to Las Vegas, won’t or don’t have it in them to do the obvious: Try to repeal the 2nd Amendment.
With the present Parliament of Whores?
This is sheer wishful thinking. What we have in modern American gun ownership is not “concrete proof” of that ideal: it’s merely an exercise in LARPing that ideal.
In a modern militarized nation-state, gun ownership does not make citizens “the masters, not the subjects, of government” in any realistically meaningful way. It is too late to dream about citizen militias providing any kind of effective bulwark against government tyranny. That ship has sailed, that train has left the station: against modern military weaponry, that “bulwark” is a paper plate.
Citizen gun-owners in 21st-century America are not defenders of liberty; they are at most cosplayers of liberty with some highly dangerous props. I personally don’t mind their continuing to own guns for their personal enjoyment if they want to (and are responsible, law-abiding and reasonably regulated). But we need to stop enabling their delusions of civic importance and the consequent fantasy-driven gun culture that is contributing to so many people getting killed.
In fact, that is precisely what I’m suggesting and supporting. I know it won’t happen any time soon, but that doesn’t mean it’s not the right thing to work toward.
Don’t have to erase Scripture, simply interpret what has been misunderstood in a more positive perspective.
I posted a poorly worded poll once that asked people if they would give up their guns if the 2nd Amendment were repealed. Most said no.