The Great ILX Gun Control Debate

People in the Midwest don't understand the redneckery of rural northeast, generally. My recent coworker acquaintance is from rural Maine and I have a knowing eyebrow-raise in our interactions.

Wow---Currington comes off like a wuss, but he's not nearly as successful as McGraw (who might still get Dixie Chicked, to some extent)(we'll see what the fading Duck Dynasty Daddy has to say; ditto Kid Rock, Hank Jr., Ted Nugent)
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/tim-mcgraws-sandy-hook-show-sparks-controversy-billy-currington-bails-20150417

I have to think at some point that shouting about your right to automatic rifles at the expense of a pile of dead children would create an image problem for you.

you would think so, and yet...

(we just enjoyed a 78,000+ strong NRA convention here last weekend)

"enjoyed"

http://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/charleston-and-the-next-time

A generally forgotten '90s episode recalled at the end of this piece by ILE fave Dennis Perrin:

Nothing proved this awesome power of gun cult batshittery more than the controversy in the mid-90s, when ex-President George H. W. Bush resigned from the NRA and published a letter attacking the NRA. The language in Bush Sr.’s letter may seem mild to us today, but back then, this is about as close to raw outrage as a blue-blooded elder statesman gets:... (text follows)

https://pando.com/2015/06/26/brief-history-american-gun-nuts/5b63d36f4248427552398e4d08fe314a0851f942/

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/S-F-killing-sparks-national-outrage-likely-6366684.php

# of times the word 'immigration' appears: 10
# of times the word 'gun' appears: 0

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/19/us/a-culture-clash-over-guns-infiltrates-the-backcountry.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&version=Moth-Visible&module=inside-nyt-region®ion=inside-nyt-region&WT.nav=inside-nyt-region

what a dumb fucking hobby

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/COpoYwQUkAAW_ZS.png

I think this is interesting:

A veteran who says he was carrying a concealed weapon on Oregon’s Umpqua Community College campus Thursday when 26-year-old Christopher Harper Mercer went on a murderous rampage, says he didn’t intervene because he knew police SWAT team members wouldn’t know him from the shooter.

In an interview with MSNBC, veteran John Parker said he knows lots of students who conceal carry at the school because, despite a school policy that discourages weapons on campus, Oregon state law does allow it.

http://www.rawstory.com/2015/10/armed-vet-destroys-gun-nuts-argument-on-mass-shooters-by-explaining-why-he-didnt-attack-oregon-killer/

That exact scenario has gone through my head a lot of times when I hear the arguments for concealed carry -- how do the cops know who's the shooter and who's trying to stop him?

this is good too:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jonathan-byrd/are-guns-americas-biggest_b_8062870.html

http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonkblog/wp/2015/10/14/people-are-getting-shot-by-toddlers-on-a-weekly-basis-this-year/

people seem to be shooting toddlers on a weekly basis too cf that horrible story in albuquerque.

Despite a spike in sales, Hawaii boasts persistently low rates of violence involving firearms, offering lessons for the rest of the United States.

https://www.facebook.com/janisianpage/photos/a.357587427661315.87486.357191544367570/913842435369142/?type=3

https://scontent-lga3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xpt1/v/t1.0-9/12074602_913842435369142_8702280429031007540_n.jpg?oh=88ea513ca6d9d8e0dc6fc0dc58affccc&oe=57178562

these days we just send a few big guns, ozzy.

which only fortifies ozzy's case, really

"Why do we send drones to perpetual war? Why not just send that guy from the movie Rocketeer?"

that photo captures the exact moment when Ozzy said that

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/12/11/mich-woman-who-shot-at-shoplifters-gets-18-months-probation-vows-to-never-help-anybody-again/

“I tried to help,” she told WJBK after her sentencing on Wednesday, before wryly adding: “And I learned my lesson that I will never help anybody again.”

She has learned NOTHING.

Gun experts slammed her, saying she was lucky not to have killed an innocent bystander.

blowing away shoplifters evidently the right impulse but it's just not worth the risk

this woman is a will forte character

“I made a decision in a split second,” she told judge Julie Nicholson on Wednesday, according to WJBK. “Maybe it was not the right one, but I was trying to help.”

jeez, maybe people shouldn't have the opportunity to make potentially deadly split-second decisions

ostensibly pro-gun control liberals who are suddenly concerned about banning ppl on no-flight lists from buying guns are insane.

i really don't think they're *that* concerned about it, i think it's a weak attempt to troll or turn a somewhat right wing idea back against them.

it's total black comedy watching these two sides try to outmaneuver one another sometimes

i agree actually. no one should be able to buy guns. the fact that no-fly lists are probably unconstitutionally vague and broad is a point in its favor here xxp

I just had a guy throw a screaming fit when he saw that I was putting up a 30.07 sign (required sign in Texas forbidding people from open carrying) in one of my stores. Kind of hope they stage a protest so I can tow their cars.

gotta admit that I first thought "thirty ought....seven?" when I scanned yr post

ditto

That's how I read it in my head. The sign banning concealed carry is actually a '30.06 sign.' Not sure if it's random chance or one Texas legislator in 1994 thought he was funny.

Coincidence, it would appear

http://codes.lp.findlaw.com/txstatutes/PE/7/30

Editor's Note: Most of us probably grew up having fairy tales read to us as we drifted off to sleep. But how many times have you thought back and realized just how, well, grim some of them are? Did any of them ever make your rest a little bit uneasy? Have you ever wondered what those same fairy tales might sound like if the hapless Red Riding Hoods, Hansels and Gretels had been taught about gun safety and how to use firearms? The author of this piece, Amelia Hamilton has —- and NRA Family is proud to announce that we’ve partnered with the author to present her twist on those classic tales. We hope you and your children enjoy this first installment!

Little Red Riding Hood (Has a Gun)

What if the Native Americans had guns?

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wounded_Knee_incident

An armed society is a polite society.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhBNSv2Rqn0

The best thing is, dude already had a gun. He could have just been like "$25 service fee? Well I'll save up my allowance and come back next week. I've got at least one other gun to hold me over in the meantime."

that NRA red riding hood thing is a ripoff of james thurber:

http://downwithtyranny.blogspot.com/2009/12/thurber-tonight-fables-for-our-time-hen.html

Facebook bans private gun sales posts - http://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/30/technology/facebook-gun-sales-ban.html

Tampa.

The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives reports in a news release that ATF agents, along with FBI bomb technicians and Tampa police, executed a search warrant Monday at the home of 24-year-old Michael Ramos. Tampa police had passed along a tip about the explosives to ATF. The news release says Ramos had previously expressed anti-government sentiment and acknowledged being in possession of explosives. Besides the bombs, agents reported finding an AK-47 semi-automatic rifle, a .45 caliber pistol and large amounts of ammunition.

After his arrest, Ramos admitted to making a number of pipe bombs and identified websites he used as reference in making them. He told detectives he bought fuses from Phantom Fireworks, PVC pipe from Home Depot, and other bomb-making materials from Amazon.com. He also admitted to having tear gas, which he bought from keepshooting.com, and smoke grenades at his house. Ramos continued, saying he recently sold a Mossberg, pump action shotgun with a shortened barrel, which he purchased at a Walmart in Lakeland. Ramos told detectives in a written statement he manufactured eight black-powder-based pipe bombs for "preparedness/protective" reasons. He also wrote he never had intentions of harming anyone with the bombs.

http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a41746/anti-government-extremists-terrorism/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pxgEeTScnTw

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-guns-silencers-idUSKCN0WA19E

just curious, what is the argument for silencers, from the perspective of people who love guns and claim they want them for self-protection? is it so that if there are multiple attackers in your home, you can go from room to room (after detecting the intruders with your advanced recon eq and donning your nightvision goggles, of course) taking them down one by one without the others hearing and fleeing, so you can achieve a 100% kill rate?

is it so that you can go hunting with your pistol a little bit closer to the area you live without angering the neighbors with the noise?

I've heard hunters claim it's good for not scaring away other animals, and the same argument from animal control people. But I think that's largely bullshit. I also heard (hilariously/darkly) someone anti-silencer say that in an active shooter scenario silencers would make it too difficult for anyone to take credit for taking out the bad guy.

The arguments I've heard from gun loving relatives for having them boils down to "freedom" and "slippery slope."