The Thread Where We Discuss Guns and Gun Control

[EgonSpengler]

I don't really care for Judge Immergut's reasoning on the high-capacity magazines question, even though her conclusion is convenient* for someone who wants to limit the availability of those things, because it's based on an "originalist" reading of the Amendment, which I think is as dumb as a bag of hammers. Using her logic, no magazines should be considered protected under the 2nd Amendment. Indeed, no repeating firearms would be. We very quickly get back to the old saw that the 2nd Amendment only protects a White man's right to own a flintlock musket (which is not a real argument, it's only meant to highlight how dumb "original intent" is). As I reckon it, gun enthusiasts have to be in favor of a "living Constitution" philosophy of jurisprudence, or almost none of their toys would be protected by the Amendment they're always hiding behind. (I mean, if it were up to me, we'd just get rid of the 2nd Amendment entirely, but I think gun enthusiasts and I at least have to agree that 'original intent' is an idiotic way to understand the Constitution.)


* If you've ever wondered what a "concurring opinion" is in SCOTUS decisions, this is it: We agree on the conclusion, but not on the thought process that gets us there.

 

[RobAnybody]

So, there was a shooter on the UNC-Chapel Hill Campus today, like half a mile from where I live & where I went to University. Local News Coverage "Just" one faculty member killed, nbd I guess. We probably won't even get Thoughts & Prayers.

This part is "interesting":
"Oliver Katz, an exchange student from Copenhagen Business School in Denmark, said some students crowded into gym locker rooms to get away from windows while others crouched in corners and sat on the floor, he said.
“This never happens where I’m from,” Katz said. “It was intense. But I was a little surprised that other people weren’t panicking that much.”
Katz, who has only been on campus for two weeks, said he’s worried his home university will bring the exchange students back early. “I don’t want to leave. I like it here, and I do still feel safe.”

 

[E.man]

I watch ABC America News sometimes. So much shooting people dead that doesn't get onto our news.

What's this today? Pregnant woman killed cos maybe she shoplift something. She even said " are you going to shoot me". Cops just going around bang bang bang. Tough **** you're dead. Oh yeah she was 'black '.

'Black ' truck driver was too scared to stop for the cops cos he thought they'd shoot him. When he did stop they set a dog onto him. He had a loose mudflap.

You're all fudg1ng mental.

 

[Farm Boy]

When we talk our thousands, there's a life behind every one. And a death. Always was. But you can dig and find much more of each than before, if you want.

 

[Joij21]

Either way, it is a world of fear and alienation, where people live in a state of heightened awareness, even anxiety. It is not a world of trust or hope or solidarity or any of the values we need to make democracy work as a way of life, much less a system of government.

Hmm how convenient, it prevents solidarity among the people. So if I was an evil Machiavellian capitalist I can now prevent the people from properly gaining class consciousness or coordinating against me now that they are properly atomized and isolated from one another. Not to mention I also get to profit from the guns which prevent my reign from ever being overthrown.

 

[E.man]

There's entire military coups in African countries that overthrow their government that kill far less people.

 

[Gorbles]

When we talk our thousands, there's a life behind every one. And a death. Always was. But you can dig and find much more of each than before, if you want.

Your argument is an appeal to population demographics?

I could easily be wrong, because you're doing the obtuse thing again. But if I'm right:

lol, lmao

 

[Farm Boy]

No, it's an observation that you can stare into the face of this until it drives you mad. Pick up some fervor if you think you won't idle it, but don't stare too long.

 

[IglooDame]

So, I've been carrying a Glock 43X appendix-carry for a couple years now (a new holster makes it very concealed), but the lack of manual safety on the Glock has made the occasional re-holstering (like at the range during drills) more anxiety-inducing than usual. The first pic is true enough, but there are important blood vessels in the inner thighs that I don't want to put holes in. So I just got a Sig P365 that does have a manual safety, and frankly the trigger is atrocious. It feels like I'm pulling a loaded sled across gravel with my trigger finger. So, to the gunsmith it goes, and I'll make do with the Glock till it gets back. Though I've finally conceded that optics are reliable enough for defensive firearms and I'm getting a Holosun for it as well; it'll be mounted low enough to use the iron sights anyway ("co-witnessed") should the dot ever go out. The second pic is just a meme thing going around the transfem community.

 

[Joij21]

No, it's an observation that you can stare into the face of this until it drives you mad. Pick up some fervor if you think you won't idle it, but don't stare too long.

Except people want the issues to be solved rather than hiding behind stoicism which justifies inaction and lethargy twords making the world a better place.

Stoicism is defeatist and therefore counterrevolutionary to the issues at hand.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

Maybe it's because I come from a place with no gun culture but images like that always make me uncomfortable. Like, even ignoring the danger of self mutilation and bleeding out the thought of someone just casually walking down the street with an instrument of murder tucked into their pants like it was a handkerchief is... unsettling.

And it's like not even the fact it's an instrument of murder as much as the fact that it's just being carried so casually like it's nothing. Like it's literally a pencil or wallet or something equally innocuous.

 

[IglooDame]

Maybe it's because I come from a place with no gun culture but images like that always make me uncomfortable. Like, even ignoring the danger of self mutilation and bleeding out the thought of someone just casually walking down the street with an instrument of murder tucked into their pants like it was a handkerchief is... unsettling.

And it's like not even the fact it's an instrument of murder as much as the fact that it's just being carried so casually like it's nothing. Like it's literally a pencil or wallet or something equally innocuous.

I edited it to spoiler-tag it, my apologies for making you (and anyone else) uncomfortable.

I also drive a car everyday with which I can, with less effort and even just a few seconds of inattention, cause more pain death and destruction. I don't regard a pistol as inocuous, though, and I consider it an instrument of self-defense, not murder.

 

[Crezth]

I say it’s great and you should be armed and protect yourself and God bless.

 

[Gorbles]

No, it's an observation that you can stare into the face of this until it drives you mad. Pick up some fervor if you think you won't idle it, but don't stare too long.

Folks can. Doesn't mean that they are. Doesn't mean that's what the anger or incredulity represents.

 

[Joij21]

Folks can. Doesn't mean that they are. Doesn't mean that's what the anger or incredulity represents.

IDK I think what he means is what's the point of caring when nothing will change.

Just be stoic and bare the burden of possible getting shot at like a man.

 

[Gorbles]

IDK I think what he means is what's the point of caring when nothing will change.

Just be stoic and bare the burden of possible getting shot at like a man.

I'm reading positively into "fervour", in the hope I'm right.

 

[PPQ_Purple]

I edited it to spoiler-tag it, my apologies for making you (and anyone else) uncomfortable.

I also drive a car everyday with which I can, with less effort and even just a few seconds of inattention, cause more pain death and destruction. I don't regard a pistol as inocuous, though, and I consider it an instrument of self-defense, not murder.

I think I failed to convey my point. Apologies for that, english is not my first language.

I did not mean to imply that the picture it self caused me discomfort. It is just a picture after all.

What upsets me is the idea it represents. And that is the fact that there exist places where people actually walk around like that. Places where it is normal and accepted that people will just nonchalantly walk around with firearms out in the open like in a wild west movie. And they don't even consider it special!

Like, if I saw someone with a firearm tucked into their pants over where I live I would assume they are a violent criminal that is just about to perpetrate some sort of crime and frankly run or call the police if I am feeling brave. Most likely the former because I am not.

Also this is rambling a bit, but like these things are hard to translate into a whole opposite cultural context I guess.

 

[IglooDame]

I think I failed to convey my point. Apologies for that, english is not my first language.

I did not mean to imply that the picture it self caused me discomfort. It is just a picture after all.

What upsets me is the idea it represents. And that is the fact that there exist places where people actually walk around like that. Places where it is normal and accepted that people will just nonchalantly walk around with firearms out in the open like in a wild west movie. And they don't even consider it special!

Like, if I saw someone with a firearm tucked into their pants over where I live I would assume they are a violent criminal that is just about to perpetrate some sort of crime and frankly run or call the police if I am feeling brave. Most likely the former because I am not.

Also this is rambling a bit, but like these things are hard to translate into a whole opposite cultural context I guess.

For what it's worth, other than (I've heard) some relatively small communities a swath of states west of the Mississippi, open-carry in the US is fairly rare. The vast majority of non-law-enforcement folks that carry firearms (including me, and the person in that pic when they pull their shirt back down and their sweater hangs normally) do so concealed and go to considerable lengths to keep it concealed.

 

[E.man]

I also watch 'Border Control ' and there's plenty of Yanks turning up to get into Canada with their guns because "they can at home", or "Im from Texas and have a carry permit".
This is Canada. It's a different country, idiot ! They have their own laws. One of them a retired Texas judge!
Texan got arrested for attempting to smuggle weapons , hahaha.

 

[Farm Boy]

Folks can. Doesn't mean that they are. Doesn't mean that's what the anger or incredulity represents.

Sure. Those situations can go without saying.