Current Affairs The " another shooting in America " thread

[Ruairi77]

Never a dull moment eh.

On a kind of different note.
Interesting thing happened recently. I drop my kid off at preschool every morning,
and a cop also drops his kid off. He comes in to the cubby area and sometimes the class to drop him off and he has a loaded gun on his hip.
Now I'm assuming he's either on duty so shouldn't be dropping his kid off or he's off duty so shouldn't be open carrying a loaded gun.
It made me feel uncomfortable but I didn't say anything because I didn't see any positive upshot to it.
One mom did say it to the center director and she was met with a very frosty reception and chastised for criticizing the police.
It's just a little story but for me it shows how deeply gun culture is baked in to society here.
I cant imagine an armed cop going in to a classroom of toddlers on a daily basis in Ireland or the UK.

 

[Spotty]

in days of yore, we'd settle this the honorable way

Or in a " dual ". Topical right. Gentlemen back to back. You will each take 10 steps and stop. Turn, and take your shot.

It'll make it more difficult you buffoon. When was the last time someone went on a rampage with an Browning M2 machine gun? Oh, sorry, they're banned...

There is no ideal, perfect solution; there isn't a silver-bullet (every pun intended). Nevertheless, maintaining the status quo is morally wrong on every level.

Look at the legislation here in the UK and elsewhere and ask yourself if gun control doesn't work compared to lax or non-existent gun control.

Buffoon, oh dear. Never mind. The debate was never about whether or not stricter gun control would make a mass shooting less likely, or not. Of course they would. I'll make it very clear for you, just for you, without name calling. The debate was would stricter gun controls stop mass shootings. My argument was you can have as many gun control laws as you wish, the mass shootings will not stop.

I'm sure you understand that, right. Thank you and have a nice evening.

 

[Ruairi77]

Or in a " dual ". Topical right. Gentlemen back to back. You will each take 10 steps and stop. Turn, and take your shot.

Buffoon, oh dear. Never mind. The debate was never about whether or not stricter gun control would make a mass shooting less likely, or not. Of course they would. I'll make it very clear for you, just for you, without name calling. The debate was would stricter gun controls stop mass shootings. My argument was you can have as many gun control laws as you wish, the mass shootings will not stop.

I'm sure you understand that, right. Thank you and have a nice evening.

no man,
it wasn't
no one thinks that.

 

[PhilM]

Or in a " dual ". Topical right. Gentlemen back to back. You will each take 10 steps and stop. Turn, and take your shot.

Buffoon, oh dear. Never mind. The debate was never about whether or not stricter gun control would make a mass shooting less likely, or not. Of course they would. I'll make it very clear for you, just for you, without name calling. The debate was would stricter gun controls stop mass shootings. My argument was you can have as many gun control laws as you wish, the mass shootings will not stop.

I'm sure you understand that, right. Thank you and have a nice evening.

It's a straw man's argument. Of course they won't stop it; nobody in their right mind would suggest otherwise. However, that's not the point at all, is it?

Would stricter gun control potentially (replace it with likely) reduce mass shootings? Most semi-intelligent people would suggest it would, hence the pleas for it.

We had the Dunblane massacre over here in '96, which led to the banning of handguns. Are they still available? Yes. Have they still been used? Yes.

But their use has declined and we haven't had a massacre using once since, so you could argue the legislation was effective. The same happened in Australia.

The point you're even discussing 'stopping' rather than limiting or reducing speaks wonders to me. One less massacre is better than it currently is.

If they're knocked down bit by bit, year by year, we'll that's better for all.

 

[Noisy noise annoys]

Yes, of course. Let's. I'll sign up to that

So the last five pages have been pointless ?!

 

[BlueTX]

To those proponents of gun control, please answer me this HONESTLY. If someone is 100% determined to gun down as many people as they can, do you think more stringent gun control measures will put him / her off ? It surely is a rhetorical question. Of course it won't stop them. Period. The stark harsh truth is we as a society is NEVER going to be able to stop a determined person. We just aren't. Make it harder for them, yes. But not stop.

I'm a billion percent believer in the " it's not guns, it's people who kill people. I just can't see the arguments for gun control.

The answer to your question is yes. "Gun control" measures have shown to be effective at putting off/stopping mass shootings. Not all, of course. There's no foolproof solution to ending humans killing other humans or themselves.

I believe you can see arguments for gun control, or, as I prefer to call it gun responsibility, and I believe you have stated as much in your follow-up comments.

 

[SerenityNigh]

Never a dull moment eh.

On a kind of different note.
Interesting thing happened recently. I drop my kid off at preschool every morning,
and a cop also drops his kid off. He comes in to the cubby area and sometimes the class to drop him off and he has a loaded gun on his hip.
Now I'm assuming he's either on duty so shouldn't be dropping his kid off or he's off duty so shouldn't be open carrying a loaded gun.
It made me feel uncomfortable but I didn't say anything because I didn't see any positive upshot to it.
One mom did say it to the center director and she was met with a very frosty reception and chastised for criticizing the police.
It's just a little story but for me it shows how deeply gun culture is baked in to society here.
I cant imagine an armed cop going in to a classroom of toddlers on a daily basis in Ireland or the UK.

We had some nugget doing open carry at the soccer fields this spring. I almost spoke and commended his bravery, but I thought better of it. You've got to be f*cked in the head to think it's ok to stroll around a park with maybe ~500 people watching/playing soccer while open carrying.

So, I'm generally ok with cops carrying in uniform, but I get what you're saying.

 

[PhilM]

Never a dull moment eh.

On a kind of different note.
Interesting thing happened recently. I drop my kid off at preschool every morning,
and a cop also drops his kid off. He comes in to the cubby area and sometimes the class to drop him off and he has a loaded gun on his hip.
Now I'm assuming he's either on duty so shouldn't be dropping his kid off or he's off duty so shouldn't be open carrying a loaded gun.
It made me feel uncomfortable but I didn't say anything because I didn't see any positive upshot to it.
One mom did say it to the center director and she was met with a very frosty reception and chastised for criticizing the police.
It's just a little story but for me it shows how deeply gun culture is baked in to society here.
I cant imagine an armed cop going in to a classroom of toddlers on a daily basis in Ireland or the UK.

I was under the impressions cops and or other law enforcement officers in the US were able to carry a firearm off-duty, or at least in most states.

Whether it has to be concealed or open carry, I have no idea. But here comes the argument of open carry, which for me is one of the absurd US nuances.

If you can carry a gun, so be it; I'd rather people didn't have access, but that's another issue. But why feel the need to overtly carry a firearm and cause alarm?

It's like those amoebas who openly carry assault riles in public and walk past shopping centres or even worse schools to exercise their constitutional rights.

They don't consider the alarm it causes to the public and putting cops under pressure to react to the situation in a lawful, courteous manner but limit risks.

My ma always said, "Just because you can, doesn't mean you should.' The cop should consider that mantra.

 

[wm02]

We had some nugget doing open carry at the soccer fields this spring. I almost spoke and commended his bravery, but I thought better of it. You've got to be f*cked in the head to think it's ok to stroll around a park with maybe ~500 people watching/playing soccer while open carrying.

So, I'm generally ok with cops carrying in uniform, but I get what you're saying.

Yup. I grew up and now live in areas where you don’t see guns at all.
Went to a Panera while in Denver on a business trip some years ago and a guy was open carrying. It’s unsettling

 

[SerenityNigh]

Yup. I grew up and now live in areas where you don’t see guns at all.
Went to a Panera while in Denver on a business trip some years ago and a guy was open carrying. It’s unsettling

Years ago I saw a dude driving down a busy street on a motorcycle with a gun strapped to his back. I'm sure open carry was legal then, but I called the police operator and said more or less, "yeah, he doesn't appear to be harassing anyone but I thought I should report it because WTF."

 

[verreauxi]

 

[carolinablue232]

Yup. I grew up and now live in areas where you don’t see guns at all.
Went to a Panera while in Denver on a business trip some years ago and a guy was open carrying. It’s unsettling

That’s interesting. I’ve lived in Denver for a couple years now, and open carry is not permitted in the city. Statewide it is, but local laws prevent it here. Must’ve been a recent change.

 

[wm02]

That’s interesting. I’ve lived in Denver for a couple years now, and open carry is not permitted in the city. Statewide it is, but local laws prevent it here. Must’ve been a recent change.

Must have been about 11-12 years ago…it was a rough trip my nose started bleeding once I got to the hotel due to the elevation, aridity

 

[Glasshalffull]

It'll make it more difficult you buffoon. When was the last time someone went on a rampage with an Browning M2 machine gun? Oh, sorry, they're banned...

There is no ideal, perfect solution; there isn't a silver-bullet (every pun intended). Nevertheless, maintaining the status quo is morally wrong on every level.

Look at the legislation here in the UK and elsewhere and ask yourself if gun control doesn't work compared to lax or non-existent gun control.

I was gonna call him a buffoon, and you beat me to it. Gutted.

 

[Walken]