11-26-2018, 09:09 PM
(11-24-2018, 04:14 PM)Bob Butler 54 Wrote:(11-24-2018, 12:40 PM)Eric the Green Wrote: (snip).
And appropo of this thread, gun massacres and violence will continue unabated until the Democrats pass comprehensive gun control including civilian bans on weapons of war. More and more supporters of gun control appear and get active after each massacre.
The Founding Fathers were perfectly capable of writing a Constitution to prevent just that. You can try to spend political capital and lose votes in the process, stalling other changes, but you will achieve nothing. I don't know that this is particularly wise, even though you might be sincere in holding your beliefs.
The military weapons of the time had dual use, both military and civilian. As late as 1941 Yamamoto said of America that in the event that Japan invaded the United States there would be a gun behind every tree. In the time of the American Revolution the firearm that could be used against a pirate, a slave in revolt, a marauding Indian, a highwayman, a rabid dog, or a bear (all legitimate fears) -- or in shooting a deer as prey or a wolf approaching one's livestock -- was also a military weapon. Let us remember that we do not have the right to keep artillery pieces, rocket launchers, or tanks.
Quote:Lots of folks are sincere in their beliefs.
People can be sincere and wrong in their believes, and I know circumstances in which I will be wrong. We all know about optical illusions and hallucinations. Let me miss a day of sleep or two days of food, and I will hallucinate. I ordinarily stop with one alcoholic beverage and completely avoid street drugs.
Quote:The place of least resistance is having psychiatrist identify the high risk suicide prone people and use that in your perpetual attempt at prohibition. Unfortunately, I don't see how much this will help.
Having been there, I should not have a firearm unless I am on a bona fide hunting trip or if I need a firearm for defense of myself or loved ones (bear nearby, basically). I can think of some places in Alaska and the northern Rockies in which I would have a gun.
Quote:Prohibition has not worked. Unfortunately suicide by cop and making a profit off news coverage of said events has become part of the culture. Trying to get the news people involved in stopping their link in the spiral of violence seems futile. How do you stop someone from enhancing their profits?
When I lived in Greater Dallas, I well knew that convenience stores were places to get in and out with the speed of an armed robber because I dreaded being there in the event that an honest-to-Dillinger armed robber stopped by. Armed robberies are rare, but they are one of the most frequent circumstances in which murders happen (the others were family arguments, barroom brawls, and drug trafficking). I try to get away from any family argument, I am very careful about what bars I patronize, and you can imagine how much I loathe and dread drug activity.
Quote:We just need to focus on things that might be done and promise a return on investment. We need to come together, rather than have the news radio pundits and late night comics profit over splitting folks apart.
Whatever our political philosophies and economic positions, we all need to promote a more life-affirming culture. That is a rational but not heartless culture, a culture that respects learning and thought, cherishes individuality and achievement, honors human rights, and that recognizes the public welfare as an objective instead of an option. Wherever one is on the continuum between economic libertarianism and democratic socialism (the latter Marxist economics without the terror and dictatorship of Commie states), we need this lest the rest of what we believe in become a nightmare.
I do not see Donald Trump as part of a life-affirming culture.
The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated Communist but instead the people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists -- Hannah Arendt.