What would you do about Virginia Tech?

[iron81]

Now that everyone has had their fun flaming me, it honestly wasn't clear to me whether Metric is the type of person who believes: "kill them all and let God sort it out". Don't call that a smear because there are more than a few people out there like that. The 2nd Amendment is important, but there are those who take it too far.

Metric, thank you for answering my question.

[ChrisV]

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Legalising abortion....

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I should have said "removing restrictions on abortion".

[bkholdem]

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Now that everyone has had their fun flaming me, it honestly wasn't clear to me whether Metric is the type of person who believes "kill them all and let god sort it out". Don't call that a smear because there are more than a few people out there like that. The 2nd Amendment is important, but there are those who take it too far.

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So assume the worst and then justify your ignorance later when it becomes more clear that it is not true?

[Borodog]

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*I* have training to do so in a safe manner, and I happen to be a good deal more efficient with their use than your typical cop on the beat. So I guess this means we're good.

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Is efficient synonymous with trigger-happy?

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By "more efficient," I refer to the ability to put rounds on target more quickly, at longer range, and with fewer misses. I hope that's all right with you.

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Ok,

Evidence?

And even assuming you are that good and are able to perform as well under a realistic environment, the vast majority of gun owners arent.

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Lol. You haven't seen the statistics for concelead carry civilians versus the police in terms of things like percentages of erroneous shootings, innocents injured, etc, have you? The civies destroy the cops. Now, this does NOT show that civilians are better than cops, because the cops are required by their jobs to stick their nose into dangerous situations. But it does show that "the majority of gun owners" are not the incompetent boobs you make them out to be.

[bkholdem]

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A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the People to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.

It's important to be selective when we reference ancient documents:
If a man is caught in the act of raping a young woman who is not engaged, he must pay fifty pieces of silver to her father.
Deuteronomy 22:28-29 NLT

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This is a horrible comparison. The former was essential to the establishment of this nation (and more importantly, to the overthrow of our previous government). The latter is neither.

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...but that's exactly my point. It's not relevant now.

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Because you say so? If I grab your wallet and biotch slap you when you object because 'your comments are not relevant' (to me) is that OK?

[Metric]

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Ok,

Evidence?

And even assuming you are that good and are able to perform as well under a realistic environment, the vast majority of gun owners arent.

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You want me to personally take you to the range with the local police force or something? You'd like to see my credentials and those of my instructors? I'm afraid, for the purposes of this forum, you're going to have to take my word for it or simply pretend that it's impossible for me to shoot better than the next cop you happen to see at the local donut shop.

[Borodog]

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Now that everyone has had their fun flaming me, it honestly wasn't clear to me whether Metric is the type of person who believes "kill them all and let god sort it out". Don't call that a smear because there are more than a few people out there like that. The 2nd Amendment is important, but there are those who take it too far.

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So assume the worst and then justify your ignorance later when it becomes more clear that it is not true?

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Pretty much.

[NCAces]

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Borodog,

If the net effect is saving one person, it is a good thing?

Surely you see the logic in that?

Either way, ive stated my case, it worked here, maybe itd work in America. Prolly wont ever find out. Either way if i moved to America for any serious length of time id buy a can of mase and a taser over a handgun.

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I've previously shown the folly in your statment ... there is no logic in what you say. I assert that the ownership of guns saves far more lives every year than are lost by the use of guns. Guns have a net positive result, not the other way around. You simply cannot get past the idea that guns can and are used to prevent crime. Less guns does not mean less crime.

NCAces

[latefordinner]

If given the choice, I would rather live in a society without guns (voluntarily without guns), but if I'm going to live in one with guns I'd prefer that they be spread around and not concentrated in the hands of a few. Gun control is about as stupid as any other type of prohibition.

That being said, I think the 2nd Amendment defense often latched onto is basically irrelevant. The 2nd Amendment had less to do with the right to have guns, than the right to protect yourself against a dictatorial government and the ability to overthrow that government, violently if necessary.

Which stops making sense when the government has apache helicopters and tanks and you have a couple handguns.

You will know the extent that a resistance movement is threatening the power of the corporate plutocracy by the extent of the violence and repression used by the State against them.

--

back on track: any hand-wringing in retrospect here is silly. We live in a world where we all have relatively easy access to technologies that can result in mass death. If i wanted to, I could come up with ten ways to kill over 50 people tomorrow and there is nothing that could be done to stop me. The technological death genie is already out of the bottle.

However, you can create social conditions that make such events unlikely, abnormal, and isolated tragedies rather than the opposite

(Though I'm waiting for the anti-immigration folks to jump on the "foreigners are evil" bandwagon since it seems likely the shooter was here on a student visa.)

[onthebutton]

This is the first time I've posted extensively, but is usually how politics threads go?

I mean, like this: inane babble, argue, "well in the EU", inane babble, Borodog pwns, inane babble, inane babble. Borodog pwns, etc.

Just curious, who are the other people who pwn everyone around here? Just so I'm watching for them, you know.