# Stupid Gun news of the day (Part 1) **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [January 29, 2013, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729 "2013-01-29T19:01:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 314
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6261 "2015-10-22T18:23:59Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > You are a fucking bloody asshole. Exactly, thank you for proving my point. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6262 "2015-10-22T18:55:29Z")
_whoosh_ ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6263 "2015-10-22T18:57:51Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > _whoosh_ double whoosh, I whooshed your whoosh! 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6264 "2015-10-22T19:16:55Z")
> [@RTFirefly](#): > > And have the gun lovers ever said, “you know, you’re well-intentioned, but wrong - here’s what _would_ work”? I don’t know that there has been a lot of “I know you’re well intentioned but let me suggest something better” on either side. Folks on this board have mentioned better enforcement of gun laws that we already have. I think I’ve been saying licensing and registration for years now. The NRA has plenty of suggestions, you probably don’t think any of them will work but they don’t think any of your suggestions will work either so… Its really not a case of the gun control side saying lets do something and the gun rights side saying we want to freeze time. > [@](#): > > And why did she have just one chance? Because the gun lovers didn’t really want her, or anyone else favoring gun control measures, to have _any_ chance. > > They were looking for any excuse to end the debate. That’s why she got only one chance. So it’s all _her_ fault. You only get one chance because that is the political reality and you can keep blowing your ticket on pie in the sky crap or you can educate yourself and come up with a better more strategic approach to try and achieve goals that are politically difficult but possible. > [@](#): > > And somehow that killed Manchin-Toomey too. Because reasons. I agree. Defeating the Manchin Toomey bill was the gun rights side spiking the ball in the end-zone. > [@](#): > > Well, there are two possible approaches, from my perspective. We can go for measures that aren’t likely to do much good, but should at least help around the edges, and seem like there should be no rational grounds for even the gunlovingest gun lover for opposing them. Or we can go for measures that might make a real dent, but would have half the gun owners in America crying “Fascism!” > > What usually happens, of course, is that we go for the former, but get the latter reaction. > > Now, if you’ve got any ideas for measures that would make a real dent in gun deaths, but wouldn’t give the gun lovers fits, I’m all ears, and I’m sure millions of other Americans would love to hear ideas like this too. > > You gun lovers are the experts about guns, so surely you can come up with better ideas than what Sen. Feinstein proposes. If you can’t, then please don’t criticize her proposals. > > Floor’s yours. I’ll wait. I think licensing and registration would reduce gun deaths. Licensing and registration alone would give the gun rights side seizures for reasons I do not agree with. If the gun control side proposed licensing (which will only be denied to prohibited persons) and registration (with HIPAA type laws that imposed heavy penalties for unauthorized disclosure, and a legal prohibition against using it as a shopping list for confiscation) AND proposed a national carry license and the elimination of ALL state and local gun laws as well as repeal of restrictions on suppressors and SBR/SBS; I think it could pass in a post Sandy Hook situation. But Sandy Hook situations are vanishingly rare and the gun control side cannot afford to overplay their hand and squander their opportunity for change when it next arises. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6265 "2015-10-22T19:19:42Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > I will explain where this silly analogy falls down. > > This thread is focused on gun violence in America. In America, it is actually possible to get by without having a car, pickup or other type of motor vehicle. I have done it, myself. But living in Amelia without a car is a serious pain in the ass. One effectively becomes either a second-class citizen (or dependent on someone else) when they do not have a car. The vehicle is _essential_ to American life. I lived in NYC for decades without a car. > [@](#): > > The gun, not so much. I have never owned a gun, myself, and it has revel felt to me as though not owning or having one has placed me at any kind of a disadvantage. Ever. And as far as I can see, there are millions of other Americans like me who feel no personal lack in not having a gun or guns. I felt the need for a gun during the LA riots. > [@](#): > > So I see your argument as an attempt to _elevate_ the firearm to the same level of essential utility as the motor vehicle. You want everyone armed, so that disputes can end properly, as they ought, with a bullet in the belly of the loser. And we will be polite, courteous and disinclined to argue, because we will know that arguments will end in bloodshed. > > Yeah, no, that is just a fucked up notion. That is not the society we should aspire to. I reiterate, guns make people stupid, this thread, and you, demonstrate that fact quite effectively. Cars are bad enough at suppressing our intelligence without going and adding lots of guns into the mix. Then you have a poor understanding of the mindset of the 30-40% of American households that own guns. ---
**Author:** ![Damuri\_Ajashi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/898d66/32.png) [@Damuri\_Ajashi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damuri_Ajashi)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6266 "2015-10-22T19:20:44Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > Exactly, thank you for proving my point. whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6267 "2015-10-22T20:51:22Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Do also really, really want not to ever have something happen by accident, to lose it or have it taken from you, to get somebody hurt you didn’t intend to? What the hell is this constant meme of “have your gun taken from you”? To hear the gun control proponents tell it, disarming someone is easier than catching a cold in daycare. If guns are that easy to take from someone why do you fear them? ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6268 "2015-10-22T21:39:44Z")
Because bullets move faster than people do, Einstein. Try to disarm someone pointing a loaded gun at you. There’s a reason why it’s called "suicide by cop ". ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6269 "2015-10-22T21:46:01Z")
> [@Cartooniverse](#): > > Because bullets move faster than people do, Einstein. > > Try to disarm someone pointing a loaded gun at you. > > There’s a reason why it’s called "suicide by cop ". But when it’s a gun carrier, the presumption seems to be that he’ll stand there stammering like Barney Fife while the bad guy leisurely relieves him of his gun. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6270 "2015-10-22T22:02:19Z")
In other news [a far right nutjob enters a Swedish schoo](http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/22/pupils-wounded-in-sword-attack-at-swedish-school)l with the intention of killing students. Thankfully, due to strict gun control laws he is only able to muster up a sword and so the death toll is mercifully (but still tragically) just 2. This is apparently the 45th school killing in two years in Sweden…Actually, no…wait, I misread. This is the\* second\* school killing in\* 45 years. \*Such an easy mistake to make. Oh, if only that nutjob had had easy access to a gun, I am sure that by some logic the death toll would have been lower, for some reason. Yes, introducing more guns into that situation would definitely have made things better. Simple equation, the number of, and easy access to, guns in the USA means more gun deaths. It isn’t rocket science (though ballistics is common to both). Personally I’m very happy with my governments approach to guns. If I can justify why I need one and prove my suitability then I can own a firearm. But it is no easy task to prove it and so most people just don’t bother. None of this applies to the criminals of course, they are free to source and carry whatever they want and should they choose to they could outgun us poor schmucks and force us to live in quivering fear. Scared of “having a cap popped in our bottoms” as I believe is the colloquial saying. Yet by and large they don’t. They don’t carry because no-one else carries and the expense and difficulty of sourcing a weapon from a small pool and the harsh penalties involved act as further discouragement. So were the USA to remove the vast majority of guns from private hands and severely restrict future access you would likely have far less deaths. But you never will because “constitution” or some shit like that. Having lots of guns means you have the illusion of protection while actually being at greater risk…well…whatever. It is literally your (or your four-year-old’s) funeral. ---
**Author:** ![PigArcher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/bcef8e/32.png) [@PigArcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PigArcher)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6271 "2015-10-22T23:41:26Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > But when it’s a gun carrier, the presumption seems to be that he’ll stand there stammering like Barney Fife while the bad guy leisurely relieves him of his gun. Or, assuming we’re talking about the real world rather than gun fetishist fantasy land, a mugger grabs someone from behind and relieves them of their wallet AND their gun. But you’re clearly in gun fetishist fantasy land, so presumably all muggers approach their targets from the front and clearly announce their intention to rob some one when they’re 50 yards out, giving the noble defender of rights plenty of time to draw, aim, and shoot. Or maybe if grabbed from behind, the noble defender whips out his fancy special ops kung fu moves to to gain the upper hand (making the gun useless in the first place, but maybe they could brandish it afterwards or something). Prediction: at least one reply to this will focus on the “50 yards” part to lambaste me as “low information” since I picked some random number rather than figuring out what distance makes most sense in my obviously satirical hypothetical. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2015, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6272 "2015-10-22T23:54:03Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > But when it’s a gun carrier, the presumption seems to be that he’ll stand there stammering like Barney Fife while the bad guy leisurely relieves him of his gun. No, the good guy will be on the ground bleeding out when the bad guy relieves him of his gun. The bad guy knows when he is going to kill someone. The good guy doesn’t know even know who is going to kill him. Unless he’s a mind reader and can shoot the bad guy before he draws his gun; but the cops frown on that, because then he’s just shooting another good guy. Good guys with guns have this fantasy that they will go up against the bad guy and outdraw him, as if bad guys adhered to some code that prevents them from shooting people in the back. How are you going to defend yourself from a bad guy who is willing to shoot you in the kidney when you least expect it? ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6273 "2015-10-23T01:15:42Z")
I’m not saying people can’t be ambushed; cops get ambushed and shot with their own guns (thankfully not that often). They make retention holders just so that a sidearm can’t be snatched easily; but this constant refrain of “they’ll just take your gun away” is imbecilic. Are you suggesting that if armed robbers knew many of their victims might be armed, they would resort to murdering people in cold blood and then looting their bodies? Fortunately there aren’t too many people willing to risk life without parole for a wallet or a purse. If there really were that many monsters out there, the kid gloves would come off and these career murderers would be hunted down like animals and publicly hanged. You aren’t suggesting we mustn’t fight back against criminals because that’ll just _provoke_ them??:mad: ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6274 "2015-10-23T05:26:45Z")
There were good guys with guns at Umpqua Community College. They looked out the door of their classroom, thought for a moment, and decided they did not want to risk because nag mistaken for bad guys. So, yaay for their due restraint. And, as to the usefulness of their weapons, well … ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6275 "2015-10-23T11:21:20Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > double whoosh, I whooshed your whoosh! 😛 In the history of the Internet there have been just six proven true double whooshes (some claim seven, including one from an early bulletin board, but I digress). When I was alerted to the possibility of another, you cannot imagine how excited I was. What a total fucking disappointment. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 11:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6276 "2015-10-23T11:34:32Z")
> [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](#): > > [http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/22/four-year-old-girl-killed-in-road-rage-shooting-on-new-mexico-freeway/](http://www.foxnews.com/us/2015/10/22/four-year-old-girl-killed-in-road-rage-shooting-on-new-mexico-freeway/) > > I take it from the absense of any charges related to illegal possession of a firearm that the guy who killed the four year old girl due to road rage was a perfectly legal gun owner, up until he wasn’t. The father of the four-year old may have himself to blame. He was in fear and could have legally begun shooting first. But perhaps he didn’t fire because he was conserving his ammo – the libtards have forbidden road-rage sized magazines, right? That makes Emperor Obama once again the real guilty party here. (I suppose it’s conceivable he didn’t even have a gun, in which case he wins the stupidity-of-the-day award. Provoking road rage in America without a gun? :eek: :smack: ) ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 12:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6277 "2015-10-23T12:04:13Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > You aren’t suggesting we mustn’t fight back against criminals because that’ll just _provoke_ them??:mad: I presume this is a rhetorical question on your part. You’ve been here long enough and gone round n’ round with this exact group of people enough that you must, by this point, understand that they consistently press only one point: The gun owner is _always_ wrong, no matter what. \*\* Always.\*\* ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6278 "2015-10-23T12:20:16Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > What the hell is this constant meme of “have your gun taken from you”? To hear the gun control proponents tell it, disarming someone is easier than catching a cold in daycare. Isn’t that what usually happens? In the real world, that is. > [@](#): > > If guns are that easy to take from someone why do you fear them? Sigh … been over that many times, but futilely. I don’t fear guns themselves, nobody really does except in **Damuri** ’s porn stash. What we fear is assholes with guns. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6279 "2015-10-23T13:09:21Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Isn’t that what usually happens? In the real world, that is. > > Sigh … been over that many times, but futilely. I don’t fear guns themselves, nobody really does except in **Damuri** ’s porn stash. What we fear is assholes with guns. Just take his gun away from him. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2015, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729/6280 "2015-10-23T13:11:51Z")
> [@Scumpup](#): > > I presume this is a rhetorical question on your part. You’ve been here long enough and gone round n’ round with this exact group of people enough that you must, by this point, understand that they consistently press only one point: The gun owner is _always_ wrong, no matter what. \*\* Always.\*\* I know, but I don’t want to concede by silence. Fighting ignorants has become a habit. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729.md?page=313) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-gun-news-of-the-day-part-1/648729.md?page=315)