The Thread Where We Discuss Guns and Gun Control

[Lexicus]

Stealing from someone with a gun, and especially trying to steal specifically the gun from the person with the gun, doesn't sound like an odds-on proposition

Step 1 get a baseball bat
Step 2 wait for guy with gun to come around a corner
Step 3 smack him in the head before he can so much as twitch his hand toward the gun

 

[Samson]

Texans can now openly carry guns in public without a permit or training.

A new pro-gun law in Texas that went into effect Wednesday allows most Texans who legally own a firearm to carry it openly in public without obtaining a permit or training, a measure that experts say will make it more challenging for law enforcement to protect the public from gun violence.

The number of shootings in Texas, not including suicides, increased 14% this year with roughly 3,200 shootings compared to the same period in 2020.
Texas has seen a consistent increase in mass shootings over the past four years. Through August 31, the state had 38 mass shootings, a 40% jump over the same period last year and a stark increase over the 19 mass shootings in 2019 and 10 in 2018, according to GVA data. Nationally, there have been 464 mass shootings through August 31, compared with 418 last year and 286 in 2019, GVA data shows.

In 2013, a group of mothers who were volunteering with Moms Demand Action was having lunch at a Dallas-area restaurant when they were confronted by a group of 40 men openly carrying long guns, Watts said.
"They pretended like they were aiming at the volunteers inside the restaurant and there was nothing the manager could do, because it was legal to open carry long guns," she said. "We were shocked that this was legal behavior and it seemed like an alarming practice that was meant to intimidate and silence us."​

 

[EgonSpengler]

Texans can now openly carry guns in public without a permit or training.

A new pro-gun law in Texas that went into effect Wednesday allows most Texans who legally own a firearm to carry it openly in public without obtaining a permit or training, a measure that experts say will make it more challenging for law enforcement to protect the public from gun violence.

The number of shootings in Texas, not including suicides, increased 14% this year with roughly 3,200 shootings compared to the same period in 2020.
Texas has seen a consistent increase in mass shootings over the past four years. Through August 31, the state had 38 mass shootings, a 40% jump over the same period last year and a stark increase over the 19 mass shootings in 2019 and 10 in 2018, according to GVA data. Nationally, there have been 464 mass shootings through August 31, compared with 418 last year and 286 in 2019, GVA data shows.

In 2013, a group of mothers who were volunteering with Moms Demand Action was having lunch at a Dallas-area restaurant when they were confronted by a group of 40 men openly carrying long guns, Watts said.
"They pretended like they were aiming at the volunteers inside the restaurant and there was nothing the manager could do, because it was legal to open carry long guns," she said. "We were shocked that this was legal behavior and it seemed like an alarming practice that was meant to intimidate and silence us."​

And before anyone says "Texans are crazy", this is the Texas Republican Party. Texans are opposed to this law, by a wide margin. A poll conducted by the Texas Tribune and the University of Texas in June of this year found that 57% of Texans oppose "Constitutional carry", while 36% support it.

 

[Samson]

36% of Texans are crazy.

 

[EgonSpengler]

36% of Texans are crazy.

It could well be more, but in many instances I think a lot of people who support the Republican Party have themselves been hoodwinked. I haven't looked closely at this particular law, but just in general, the Republican Party works hard to make sure people are uninformed and/or misinformed. So few of their positions and ideas bear up to scrutiny that it behooves them to make sure that even their own supporters don't understand them. Not everything they say and do crumbles like a vampire in the bright light of day, but enough does that a general habit of misdirection and dishonesty is just good strategy for them. In this case, I'm willing to give that 36% of Texans the benefit of the doubt and figure that some (or many) of them just haven't given it a lot of thought.

 

[Samson]

It could well be more, but in many instances I think a lot of people who support the Republican Party have themselves been hoodwinked. I haven't looked closely at this particular law, but just in general, the Republican Party works hard to make sure people are uninformed and/or misinformed. So few of their positions and ideas bear up to scrutiny that it behooves them to make sure that even their own supporters don't understand them. Not everything they say and do crumbles like a vampire in the bright light of day, but enough does that a general habit of misdirection and dishonesty is just good strategy for them. In this case, I'm willing to give that 36% of Texans the benefit of the doubt and figure that some (or many) of them just haven't given it a lot of thought.

Yeah, I was really joking based on your post. Though "letting anyone walk around with a gun" does not seem to align with the responsible gun ownership that is touted by some 2nd amendment advocates.

There is a group in Texas I have worked with and visited, and they are about the most ethnically diverse and uniformly liberal group I have had contact with. I am not sure they are a representative sample of the state though.

 

[EgonSpengler]

Yeah, I was really joking based on your post. Though "letting anyone walk around with a gun" does not seem to align with the responsible gun ownership that is touted by some 2nd amendment advocates.

There is a group in Texas I have worked with and visited, and they are about the most ethnically diverse and uniformly liberal group I have had contact with. I am not sure they are a representative sample of the state though.

Texas is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse states in the union. It's one of a handful that are "majority minority", which is to say that it's not majority-White. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, non-Latino Whites are 41.2% and Latinos are 39.7% in Texas (national averages are 60.1% and 18.5%, respectively), so that's all but even. African-Americans are 12.9% and Asian-Americans are 5.2%, only slightly below the national averages of 13.4% and 5.9%, and 17% of the population is foreign-born (national average is 13.6%).

 

[Broken_Erika]

Father charged after toddler fatally shot mother during Zoom call

A Florida father has been arrested and charged over the fatal shooting of his girlfriend by the couple's two-year-old child in August.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58920322

 

[Samson]

TIL about the Theoretical Lethality Index:

 

[Sommerswerd]

Step 1 get a baseball bat
Step 2 wait for guy with gun to come around a corner
Step 3 smack him in the head before he can so much as twitch his hand toward the gun

When you posted this it seemed so familiar to me but I couldn't remember why. I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to make the connection

Step 1 Pick up one of those rocks
Step 2 get behind a boulder and wait for the man to come running around the bend
Step 3 when his head is in view hit it with the rock!

 

[Lexicus]

When you posted this it seemed so familiar to me but I couldn't remember why. I'm embarrassed that it took me so long to make the connection

Step 1 Pick up on of those rocks
Step 2 get behind a boulder and wait for the man to come running around the bend
Step 3 when his head is in view hit it with the rock!

Yes, convergence on a simple, effective plan design

 

[Farm Boy]

Sort of weird. That's definitely how sporting goes though. I mean, nobody has time to train to endurance hunt anymore, and it's hard to have to space to walk unless it's a little bit for pheasants or rabbit. It's all duck blinds and stands.

If hiding around the corner works with a rock, it works way the **** better with a gun.

 

[Broken_Erika]

What about a gun that shoots rocks?

 

[Sommerswerd]

There are shells available for shotguns that discharge rock salt.

 

[Farm Boy]

Featured in either Kill Bill 2 or Secondhand Lions, I think.

Well, not featured, but they both had rocksalt shells, I think.

 

[Lexicus]

Featured in either Kill Bill 2 or Secondhand Lions, I think.

Well, not featured, but they both had rocksalt shells, I think.

I thought it was Kill Bill 1 but I could be remembering wrong

 

[Sommerswerd]

Featured in either Kill Bill 2 or Secondhand Lions, I think.

Well, not featured, but they both had rocksalt shells, I think.

Yes.

I thought it was Kill Bill 1 but I could be remembering wrong

It was 2. Its when she goes after Bud close to the end, right before Elle and then of course, Bill himself.

 

[El_Machinae]

When I was learning to survival camp, we'd use two rocks to shoot sparks. I bet that could be adapted towards being a weapon.

And if you ever want to truly weaponize rocks, watch the Star Trek episode involving the Gorn.

 

[TheMeInTeam]

What about a gun that shoots rocks?

Pretty effective, according to the list above.

 

[Lexicus]

I bet that could be adapted towards being a weapon.

Meh, very doubtful.

What about a gun that shoots rocks?

Early cannonballs were made of stone...