# Stupid liberal idea of the day **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 20, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086 "2011-04-20T15:35:49Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 197
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3921 "2015-10-05T22:11:15Z")
> [@Clothahump](#): > > Why would anyone in their right mind think that suing the manufacturer of a firearm used in a homicide is a reasonable thing to do? Why would anyone think that firearm manufacturers are extra-special delicate flowers that need unique legal protection from the government that other companies (including car companies) don’t get? What is so dangerous about “the public” that these companies need _government protection_ from them that others don’t get? ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3922 "2015-10-05T22:13:52Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > I’d submit that in a country of 350 million people, homicides in the 11,000 range are indeed rare events. To put this in even better perspective, 11,000 homicides = 30 per day…in a country of 350 million people! So yes, rare occurrences. Take away drug related shootings (which, ironically, the left is largely responsible for due to its formerly eager adoption of drug use as a lifestyle and past and current promotion of drug use as “cool”) and I’d wager the total would drop to less than half that amount. It’s pretty obvious that most of the left’s objection to guns is part and parcel of their liberal ideology which hates power and authority (both of which guns bestow in abundance) rather than any real and rational concern for human health, safety and welfare. Mass shootings, etc. are merely rallying points in their attempt to achieve a goal they’ve been in favor of all along. There are a lot of other things in this country that cause a far greater needless loss of life but they get totally ignored because they don’t hit liberal hotspots. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3923 "2015-10-05T22:30:20Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Take away drug related shootings (which, ironically, the left is largely responsible for due to its formerly eager adoption of drug use as a lifestyle and past and current promotion of drug use as “cool”) and I’d wager the total would drop to less than half that amount. [Trey Radel-R.](http://gawker.com/coke-busted-gop-congressman-just-voted-to-drug-test-foo-1468175133) Busted trying to buy cocaine from undercover DEA agent. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3924 "2015-10-05T22:34:18Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > To put this in even better perspective… I think you mean, “to make these statistics less damaging to my position, we’ll pretend that the previous exchange didn’t happen.” ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3925 "2015-10-05T22:42:41Z")
> [@running\_coach](#): > > [Trey Radel-R.](http://gawker.com/coke-busted-gop-congressman-just-voted-to-drug-test-foo-1468175133) Busted trying to buy cocaine from undercover DEA agent. That really doesn’t mean anything. There are outliers and hypocrites in every segment of society. It’s been the left though which originally embraced drugs like manna from heaven and to this day considers drugs, drug use and those who engage in it as cool, and those who eschew it or try to battle against it are portrayed as square, uptight and out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3926 "2015-10-05T22:46:52Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > I think you mean, “to make these statistics less damaging to my position, we’ll pretend that the previous exchange didn’t happen.” No, what I actually meant was that these statistics are even less significant than I originally pointed out when you break them down into real world terms. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3927 "2015-10-05T22:48:35Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > That really doesn’t mean anything. There are outliers and hypocrites in every segment of society. It’s been the left though which originally embraced drugs like manna from heaven and to this day considers drugs, drug use and those who engage in it as cool, and those who eschew it or try to battle against it are portrayed as square, uptight and out of it. Another mind-reader of liberals! The Dope has so many of these I’ve lost count. Who knew that all this time I thought I’ve been liberal, and yet I don’t hold any liberal views according to the Dope’s conservative psychics? ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3928 "2015-10-05T22:56:08Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > That really doesn’t mean anything. There are outliers and hypocrites in every segment of society. It’s been the left though which originally embraced drugs like manna from heaven and to this day considers drugs, drug use and those who engage in it as cool, and those who eschew it or try to battle against it are portrayed as square, uptight and out of it. You mean such liberal party animals like Limbaugh and Ted Haggard? ---
**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 5, 2015, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3929 "2015-10-05T23:26:53Z")
Here is the stupid, stupid, stupid, nasty, worthless, [evil shit Ms. Clinton wants](http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-gun-control-plan-2015-10) enacted: [ul] [li] **Universal federalbackground checks**.Clinton saidshe supports the 2013 US Senate bill expanding background checks on gun purchases, which most Republicans argue will not prevent determined individuals from getting their hands on guns. Polls have found that backgroundchecks enjoy broad support among most Americans.[/li][li] **Close various loopholes**.Clinton’s proposal citedseveral laws that allow individuals to purchase guns without undergoing existing background checks thatlook to ensure that gun purchasers do not have a history of court-documented mental illness. The proposal would end the “Charleston loophole” — referring to a shooting earlier this year in South Carolina—a quirk that allows gun sales to go through if a check is not completed within three days.[/li][li] **Repeal a law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits**.The law is fairly complicated, but gun manufacturers have certain special protectionsthat prevent victims of gun violence from suing for negligence.[/li][li] **Expand inspections of gun dealers**.[/li][li] **Criminalize purchasing guns on behalf of those barred from buying guns themselves**.Clinton proposes criminalizing “straw purchases,” in which individuals buy guns and provide them to individuals who cannot pass background checks themselves.[/li][li] **Block convicted domestic abusers from buying and possessing gun** s.[/li][li] **Improve laws blocking individuals suffering from mental illness from obtaining weapon** s.This is possibly an area that she could find compromise — gun-rights groups like the National Rifle Association have presented improvedgun-control databases as the solution to curbing mass shootings, though many Democrats say this alone does not go far enough.[/li][/ul] Admittedly, it is a bandaid approach, but at least it is _something_. The RWers have only _More Guns! An Armed Society is a Polite Society!_ So far, that has not turned out all that well. Because, you know, many of us would just as well prefer not to go around packing. I do sometimes have quite a temper. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3930 "2015-10-05T23:39:43Z")
[QUOTE=escherealAdmittedly, it is a bandaid approach, but at least it is _something_. [/QUOTE] See, there’s the problem right there. It’s only a first step, a beginning, with undoubtedly more onerous restrictions to follow with outright banning the likely end game. Plus it leads to a federal database of gun owners that could be used in the future in a confiscation scheme or to outlaw ownership of all guns not in the database. ---
**Author:** ![iiandyiiii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iiandyiiii/32/7924_2.png) [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3931 "2015-10-05T23:42:05Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > See, there’s the problem right there. It’s only a first step, a beginning, with undoubtedly more onerous restrictions to follow with outright banning the likely end game. > > Plus it leads to a federal database of gun owners that could be used in the future in a confiscation scheme or to outlaw ownership of all guns not in the database. The NSA already knows all of this. ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3932 "2015-10-06T00:08:46Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > The “loser pays” rule is certainly universal. What isn’t universal is a law that says lawsuits against gun manufacturers are frivlous by definition. I don’t think this is true - that “loser pays” is universal. Can you elaborate? [The gist of this op ed](http://www.wsj.com/articles/avrohom-j-kess-and-yafit-cohn-loser-pays-rules-make-a-comeback-1409179049) is that it is not universal. [This article says it is banned in Delaware.](http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/06/25/delaware-corporatelaw-idUSL1N0ZB1JN20150625) ---
**Author:** ![Bone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bone/32/407_2.png) [@Bone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3933 "2015-10-06T00:09:53Z")
> [@eschereal](#): > > Here is the stupid, stupid, stupid, nasty, worthless, [evil shit Ms. Clinton wants](http://www.businessinsider.com/hillary-clinton-gun-control-plan-2015-10) enacted: > > [ul] > [li] **Universal federalbackground checks**.Clinton saidshe supports the 2013 US Senate bill expanding background checks on gun purchases, which most Republicans argue will not prevent determined individuals from getting their hands on guns. Polls have found that backgroundchecks enjoy broad support among most Americans.[/li][li] **Close various loopholes**.Clinton’s proposal citedseveral laws that allow individuals to purchase guns without undergoing existing background checks thatlook to ensure that gun purchasers do not have a history of court-documented mental illness. The proposal would end the “Charleston loophole” — referring to a shooting earlier this year in South Carolina—a quirk that allows gun sales to go through if a check is not completed within three days.[/li][li] **Repeal a law protecting gun manufacturers from lawsuits**.The law is fairly complicated, but gun manufacturers have certain special protectionsthat prevent victims of gun violence from suing for negligence.[/li][li] **Expand inspections of gun dealers**.[/li][li] **Criminalize purchasing guns on behalf of those barred from buying guns themselves**.Clinton proposes criminalizing “straw purchases,” in which individuals buy guns and provide them to individuals who cannot pass background checks themselves.[/li][li] **Block convicted domestic abusers from buying and possessing gun** s.[/li][li] **Improve laws blocking individuals suffering from mental illness from obtaining weapon** s.This is possibly an area that she could find compromise — gun-rights groups like the National Rifle Association have presented improvedgun-control databases as the solution to curbing mass shootings, though many Democrats say this alone does not go far enough.[/li][/ul] > > Admittedly, it is a bandaid approach, but at least it is _something_. The RWers have only _More Guns! An Armed Society is a Polite Society!_ So far, that has not turned out all that well. Because, you know, many of us would just as well prefer not to go around packing. I do sometimes have quite a temper. If you want to start a debate thread on any one of these proposals I’d be glad to engage on why they are bad - except the last one. That one is good. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3934 "2015-10-06T00:29:12Z")
> [@Bone](#): > > If you want to start a debate thread on any one of these proposals I’d be glad to engage on why they are bad - except the last one. That one is good. Is there a counter-argument that’s not “this will lead to confiscation”? ---
**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 6, 2015, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3935 "2015-10-06T00:32:05Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Is there a counter-argument that’s not “this will lead to confiscation”? Is there an argument that’s not “we’ll settle for just this one little restriction, SCOUT’S HONOR”. ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3936 "2015-10-06T00:35:52Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > It’s been the left though which originally embraced drugs like manna from heaven and to this day considers drugs, drug use and those who engage in it as cool, and those who eschew it or try to battle against it are portrayed as square, uptight and out of it. Quoted again, just because I can’t wrap my brain around this. Whaaaaa…? Is this some naive view of early 60’s Americana? Some _Ozzie & Harriet Try To Keep Ricky Nelson Away From Weed_ fantasy? SA, would your brain explode if you met me? Eagle Scout, Asst. Minister, Teacher, Bible study leader, sports fan (& Serious Tailgater), Traditional Dad with many Traditional Values, who’s tried to keep himself and his kids away from hard drugs… …and a Progressive Liberal. Who knows evil when he sees it, and most of it today wears a scarlet **R**. ---
**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 6, 2015, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3937 "2015-10-06T00:45:01Z")
> [@Starving\_Artist](#): > > Plus it leads to a federal database of gun owners that could be used in the future in a confiscation scheme or to outlaw ownership of all guns not in the database. If a government needed such a database today, all they need to do is seize the NRA membership rolls. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3938 "2015-10-06T01:01:31Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > Is there an argument that’s not “we’ll settle for just this one little restriction, SCOUT’S HONOR”. Someone, some day, may well propose additional laws or regulations. But they will be debated and voted on for their own merits. I’ll wait until that happens and form my opinions then. What I won’t do is fall for such a slippery slope, “expanded background checks will mean confiscation”. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3939 "2015-10-06T01:39:44Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Quoted again, just because I can’t wrap my brain around this. > > Whaaaaa…? Is this some naive view of early 60’s Americana? Some _Ozzie & Harriet Try To Keep Ricky Nelson Away From Weed_ fantasy? > > SA, would your brain explode if you met me? Eagle Scout, Asst. Minister, Teacher, Bible study leader, sports fan (& Serious Tailgater), Traditional Dad with many Traditional Values, who’s tried to keep himself and his kids away from hard drugs… > > …and a Progressive Liberal. Who knows evil when he sees it, and most of it today wears a scarlet **R**. Obviously, you’re not familiar with Starving Artist. The man thinks Leave It To Beaver was the ideal world and the hippies ruined everything by sledgehammering the good, logical social restrictions of the pre-1960ish world into rubble and dancing naked and having wild orgies in the ruins of society. ---
**Author:** ![Starving\_Artist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/aeb1de/32.png) [@Starving\_Artist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Starving_Artist)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2015, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086/3940 "2015-10-06T01:53:42Z")
> [@digs](#): > > Quoted again, just because I can’t wrap my brain around this. > > Whaaaaa…? Is this some naive view of early 60’s Americana? Some _Ozzie & Harriet Try To Keep Ricky Nelson Away From Weed_ fantasy? > > SA, would your brain explode if you met me? Eagle Scout, Asst. Minister, Teacher, Bible study leader, sports fan (& Serious Tailgater), Traditional Dad with many Traditional Values, who’s tried to keep himself and his kids away from hard drugs… > > …and a Progressive Liberal. . No, my brain wouldn’t explode. I’d simply peg you as an outlier. Not every liberal acts like every other liberal and not every conservative acts like every other conservative. But the fact remains that it’s been the left in the main who embraced drugs to begin with, who criticize and ridicule efforts to combat drugs and drug use, who seek to reduce penalties for it, and who treat drug use as cool and inside and people who don’t as uptight squares who are out of it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=196) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/stupid-liberal-idea-of-the-day/579086.md?page=198)