Brontoforumus

Assault weapon bans breed stupid hair-splitting loopholes. You're going to have more success on increasing safety if you go for increased background checks, waiting periods, and bureaucracy like New York's pistol policies which are successfully deterring me from purchasing more handguns even though I've already done the hardest part in getting the pistol permit in the first place. Assault weapons ban? Fuck the government I'm finding a workaround. A bunch of paperwork to buy anything? ... Maybe later.

I think we've mostly passed the point of anyone being confused, but here's a picture of a bumpstock gun in action:



His finger remains stationary but he's effectively pulling the trigger each time.

Oh, and the other reason that assault weapon bans aren't the solution you're looking for: Every time I've been to the nearest shooting range, which is run by the Westchester County Parks Department and there's plenty of range safety officers and/or cops present, I've seen at least one person in flagrant violation of NY-SAFE and nobody's ever said anything. It's only being used if the cops don't like someone or as a bonus multiplier on jail time for committing a crime while possessing an "assault weapon".

Not only were three people shot dead in Denver the other day, but the police had trouble finding out who the shooter was because some random schmucks whipped out their own guns to try and help.

Yeah, one of those guys worked at the university where I attend.

Another day, another mass shooting. It's probably all caught on camera too, since the church recorded all their sermons for youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCwi858 ... FFVycFvvWA

Meanwhile, at Wal-Mart...



I didn't think anyone would ever take that schoolyard version of Jingle Bells quite so literally...

...take us back into orbit, Mr. Malmsteen. We've seen enough.

Is it okay if I like owning and shooting guns but also think that most people, including me, probably shouldn't have them? Because I am willing to give up midnight blacklight scorpion plinking if it means a bunch of people won't get shot all the time.

Yeah, that's where I was a few years ago too. After Sandy Hook I just stopped. Like for a long time I was like "I am not the problem" because I wasn't. When my handguns were in my home they weren't even assembled much less out and around for anyone to see or pick up. Then some asshole killed dozens of kids and literally no one who should have cared cared and I couldn't do it anymore. I just got rid of them all.

They're probably working on this one as we speak:

Breaking News: Alderaan has been the victim of a Mass Shooting

Yesterday at 12:14 PM local time, Alderaan exploded, killing 6.8 billion people. The shooter has been identified as Grand Moff Tarkin, who took aim from a nearby balcony of the Alderaan Hotel. Firing once, 6.8 billion people were instantly killed, and 17 in orbit are in critical condition.

"There's a mental health problem disguised as a gunstar problem in this sector," said Joe Rogan. "This Tarkin guy needed to get help."

Galactic Senate Republicans were quick to remind everyone not to politicalize the tragedy. "The thing is, if someone on Alderaan had also had an AR-15 with an attached Death Star mod, this whole tragedy could have been prevented. What we need are MORE AR-15 with Death Star mods, not less."

"The AR-15 and the Death Star mod were obtained legally, at K-Mart," commented Amidala, The Senator from Naboo. "What we need are tighter controls and background checks in our local sectors to prevent tragedies like this from occurring. My thoughts and prayers go out to the families of all who were killed, who are also dead, because the entire planet exploded."

"This is simply the price we pay for having freedom," said some dude on Spacebook. "It's sad, but what's the alternative? Keeping Death Stars out of the hands of the general populace? That would just mean that only the rebel scum would have Death Stars. I just ordered nine myself, one for my daughter, one for my wife, and seven for me. If the rebel scum are gonna have AR-15s with Death Stars, then goddamn it, so am I, and so is my family. If anyone tries to blow up my planet, we'll be ready."

At the time of this writing, Tarkin remains at large but is probably going to go kill some people on Yavin.

The AR-15 is not the problem, it's just the most commonly owned model of gun in the US so they end up showing up in crime more often too. If AR-15s get banned, people will kill each other with other semi-auto guns that are either wholly not AR-15s, or technically-not-AR15s-because-slight-difference-that-matters-legally. The only significant-reduction-in-ability-to-cause-harm gun control I've seen is New York's handgun process, where you have to fill out forms that get sent to the police before you can buy a gun, which come with a waiting period of "whenever we get around to it, it'll probably take about a month?" and are sufficiently inconvenient that I don't want to deal with the hassle of buying more handguns.

I know. It just gave me a chuckle. And highlights for good or bad how the AR-15 HAS become the poster child for this sort of thing.

The AR-15 was popular in the first place mainly because it "Looks military scary" and it has tons of accessory mounts and accessories, so you can add more mil-spec toys make it look even scarier.

Mongrel wrote:I know. It just gave me a chuckle. And highlights for good or bad how the AR-15 HAS become the poster child for this sort of thing.

The AR-15 was popular in the first place mainly because it "Looks military scary" and it has tons of accessory mounts and accessories, so you can add more mil-spec toys make it look even scarier.

The sheer amount of customization available, the gun community tends to refer to the AR-15 as "legos for men" or sometimes if they remember that women exist it's "legos for adults".

I think I've mentioned my Scots friend Chris (and his super-adorable son Jack) before. I knew he lived in Dunblane, but didn't make the connection until he mentioned today that Jack is in his third year at Dunblane Primary School (because another parent was talking about "when do you talk to your kid about school shootings?").

That has got to be a weird thing for a parent, especially in a country where that's basically the only school that happened at.

If you want to feel bad about life, there's a documentary about Sandyhook on Netflix from the point of view of the parents.