BBC reporter x.com :
I don’t know what you’re on about, I didn’t make whatever political statement you’re addressing. I didn’t think it was a good example because you don’t see the victims like this one. You don’t see them smiling and talking and dying. You don’t see the terror in their eyes or their last breath. You just see a inanimate object crashing into another. That’s why I thought beheading videos were a better comparison, they’re up close and personal, like this one.
I was going to insert the obligatory Monty Python link here but it was a long day at work ---- so just picture it in your brain. Unless your brain hurts; then picture that sketch instead. 
Including feathers. I could shoot someone, or I could smother them to death with feathers, so, as deadly weapons, there’s no difference between guns and feathers. Am I right?
You’re like a poorly designed robot. :rolleyes:
And what does this semantic argument do to the actual point which you understood perfectly well? Everyone knows that a gun murder is a shorter way to say a murder performed by a person using a gun.
The point isn’t that guns kill people. The point is that easier access to guns makes it easier for people to kill more people. You want to argue with that, be my guest. But political slogans won’t really get anywhere.
Still, I’m glad we’re talking about guns and not race.
I haven’t seen anyone else comment on this, and I may get flamed for it but…
Is anyone else a little bothered by the fact that the dead reporter’s father has seemingly been on television constantly since the very day of the attack? I mean, it’s certainly not unusual for family members to be interviewed in these cases, and I understand that he wants to bring attention to the larger issue of guns, violence, etc. But I would think if your daughter had just been violently murdered, you might want to take a day or two to quietly grieve. But I turn to FOX News (I know, I know) and he’s talking to Megan Kelly. A while later I flip to CNN and he’s talking to Anderson Cooper. Then he makes the round of the broadcast networks. Then back to CNN with Don Lemon, and again later with Wolf Blitzer or Erin Burnett’s fill-in or whomever. He just seems a bit too eager to be in the spotlight.
Okay, I’m a horrible person for thinking the above about a father who just lost his daughter. But, Dude, get off camera for a couple of days and take care of yourself and your family.
That’s just it, the point is that guns don’t kill people. If you remove the gun from picture the intent allows other tools to be used. In this instance he could have stabbed the reporter and photographer with a knife or driven over both of them with a car. It’s the person who commits murder and not the gun.
I’m European so this isn’t my battle, but I disagree. The poor man has every right and every reason to speak up - on any and every show that’ll hear him out. Nothing wrong with that.
That could be his way of dealing with his feelings, and “taking care” of things. He is a man who just lost his daughter, don’t judge how he handles it.
Vertical axis, homicide rate. Horizontal axis, prevalence of guns:
Crazy people murdering people in countries where guns aren’t available:
http://gatesofvienna.net/2014/12/a-non-jihad-event-in-nantes/
http://www.thelocal.se/20150810/triple-stabbing-at-swedish-ikea-store
People who want to kill people, kill people. It’s just not that hard.
Higher homicide rate than Yemen, a basically lawless current war zone. ripple of applause
If it’s just as easy to kill someone with a gun as without a gun, that’s a pretty poorly designed gun, isn’t it?
The statistic of 4.8 for Yemen is from 2010. Way before it became the “lawless current war zone”.
You could run down a bus load of kids waiting to board easier than shooting them.
How do you know unless you’ve tried?
Fair point, well made. OK then, the 2010 homicide rate for the richest and most advanced large first-world country was still higher than that of Yemen.
because it’s easy to drive down a road. The skill set doesn’t change if people are standing on it.
… and?
You’re comparing apples and oranges. US culture is unlike Yemen’s. Also unlike UK’s, France’s and Denmark’s. There are all kinds of influences to the homicide rate, and availability of guns is just one of them and no idea how significant. The graph presented certainly doesn’t suggest a huge correlation.
The earlier post’s suggestion of comparing Seattle and Vancouver is interesting, since they have similar populations in kind and in size (around ~600,000). Vancouver had 42 homicides in 2013. Seattle had 23. Of course, in Seattle most homicides are done with guns, but in Vancouver with knives. I am sure those killed by knives are very comforted by the fact that they were not victims of firearms.
The most lethal move of them all has already been clearly established:
Maybe if you lined them up half a dozen abreast like this:
(◑‿◐)(◑‿◐)(◑‿◐)(◑‿◐)(◑‿◐)(◑‿◐)
You could punch the temple of the kid on the left while you’re punching the temple of the kid on the right, knocking all their heads together with the Double Monkey Punch. The resonance waves within and between all their tiny skulls would make their heads explode.
|/|/|/|/|/|/
‿ ‿**‿ ‿**‿ ‿
/|/|/|/|/|/|\