I’ve got a rattlesnake gun I’ve got a rattlesnake gun I’ve got a rattlesnake gun!
Think about what an Aerosmith gun would shoot :eek:
David Waldman is keeping a running account of gun incidents at his Gun Fail blog at Daily Kos.
It’s quite remarkable to see so many of these incidents collected in one place. I wonder if he’ll have the fortitude to keep it up for long.
Hentor, in addition to Walman’s blog, there is Ohh Shoot, which tracks gun mishaps and Slate’s attempt to track every gun death in America since Newtown.
Remember, anytime someone is shot it means that the idea of private gun ownership is discredited forever and the legal protections for it can be ignored. Just like everytime someone is acquitted in court it means that due process rights don’t exist, everytime a Muslim does something violent it means freedom of religion is stupid, and everytime someone commits welfare fraud it means we should abolish food stamps and let people starve.
Do I detect a note of sarcasm?
Hey, it’s your well. If you want to poison it, be my guest.
If you don’t believe that, what possible reason do you have for listing every incident of violence involving a gun? Make your argument.
It’s possible that people might decide on their own not to carry guns because they’re dangerous, you know. Or maybe those people just like making lists. I am fairly certain that *America’s Dumbest Criminals *or whatever that Fox special is called is not intended to influence law enforcement policy, for example. People also make lists of car accidents without demanding the banning of private ownership of cars.
So, just a coincidence, being done for no reason then. OK.
Could you maybe put all your straw men into one post?
My argument would be that a) dumb asses shooting themselves with guns they bought for “protection” is funny as shit and b) in order to discuss an issue, we must understand it. The fact that the NRA actively blocks attempts to better understand gun violence is a strong indicator that if America had more data, it might well draft gun legislation that is not in the gun industry’s interest.
And it really helps if you read Ohh Shoot with Yakety Sax playing in your head.
Fewer people smoke today, due in large part to the campaign against smoking over the last 40 years. Yet tobacco is still legal. We seek to do the same for guns. We will convince your children, or their children, that gun ownership has a net negative effect on the nation, and is not necessary to pursue life, liberty and happiness. Maybe not tomorrow, or next year, but the arc of history will bend away from personal gun ownership. And it will be done without banning all firearms, or seizing anyone’s guns.
It’s helpful to know that approximately 100,000 people in the US will be shot each year. It’s helpful to know that approximately 30,000 people will die from gunshot wounds each year. It’s helpful to consider the varying features of individual firearm incidents and to watch them accrue over time.
It may be akin to the fact that one may factually know the forces that create the tides and have a sense of the volumes involved, but may find that it’s still informative nevertheless to stand on the beach.
It’s even more informative to be buffeted by rip tides, albeit often with dire consequences.
When I was but a wee lad, our local newspaper in Waco, TX had a custom of putting certain news in a predictable place. For instance, on the comics page, on the lower right hand side, was where you read about people getting shot. The format was standardized: “There was an altercation at the Dew Drop Inn last night. Jimmy Joe DeWitt was hospitalized at Methodist Hospital as a result of a gun shot injury. Police are investigating…” And so forth. It was normal, saw it all the time.
It wasn’t until I left Texas that I noticed that other places didn’t have that custom, that they seemed to regard a gunshot injury as something pretty unusual. It was news. It was exceptional.
So, perhaps there is a value to letting people know just how common Stupid Gun Tricks are in America. Maybe.
Were the comics also about people getting shot? It was Texas.
The Phantom carried not one, but two semi-automatic pistols.
As said, nonsense. If carrying guns openly becomes normal, then criminals will carry them openly to blend in.
The lesson being that gun owners tend to be amoral jerks and bullies. And the police weren’t called for “no reason at all”; fear is a rational response to someone doing what he did. As I said, he’s lucky there wasn’t a fellow Second Amendment fan there who didn’t decide to go all “heroic”, pull out a concealed weapon and shoot him. Or that the cops weren’t overzealous and shot him. He was endangering himself and others, and being a bullying jerk.
If things had gone a little differently he’d have gotten himself a Darwin Award.
No, no, I disagree. Anytime someone is shot, it means that there were clearly not enough guns in the equation. The answer to any gun shooting is that more people should be armed.
For example, 15-year-old Matthew Daniels, of Sweetwater, Tennessee? Who accidentally shot himself? If only someone had been nearby with a firearm, they could have shot that gun out of his hands before he hurt himself.
And Rodrigo Diaz? Who foolishly got himself shot in the head for asking directions? If only he’d been armed with something useful, he could still be alive. Clearly he should have established a defensive position, locked and loaded, and THEN asked for directions. He could probably have defended himself then.
It’s obvious, right?
Or the 5 people who were shot at events on gun appreciation day, if only they had guns…
Well, that one is the exception that proves the rule.
No, I think what they really needed was more guns. You see, at these particular shows, they did not have enough guns for sale. This caused people to be nervous and therefore careless in their frantic haste to get a firearm before the self-proclaimed God-Emperor Obama takes all of them away.
If only there had been more guns there, these tragic accident would not have happened.