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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

Morgikit Mikon :3 from War Drobe, Spare Oom Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Mikon :3
#50326: Feb 27th 2013 at 7:29:28 AM

Like I said, I'm more concerned about the ones who aren't getting help.

Greenmantle V from Greater Wessex, Britannia Since: Feb, 2010 Relationship Status: Hiding
V
#50327: Feb 27th 2013 at 7:35:01 AM

Then, I suggest the only answer to the problem should be compulsory psychological assessment of everyone — I mean, this is where this conversation is going to end up?*

Keep Rolling On
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#50328: Feb 27th 2013 at 7:43:54 AM

Not hardly. There are lots of nations that successfully restrict guns. The only reason we have a hangup about it in the U.S. is the Second Amendment, which forces us to come up with workarounds, much in the way as the First Amendment has been granted exceptions in the service of public safety, etc.

Then again, I wouldn't mind compulsory psychological screenings in a general sense — as long as we could ensure the integrity of the system to a reasonable degree. There are lots of seriously fucked up people out there. Of course, one could get into a great big argument over what, precisely, constitutes mental illness that requires treatment — you just know someone will try to slip homosexuality in there, or "fanatical conservatism", and start persecuting people for stuff that isn't medical in nature.

edited 27th Feb '13 7:46:04 AM by Fighteer

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Morgikit Mikon :3 from War Drobe, Spare Oom Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Mikon :3
#50329: Feb 27th 2013 at 7:47:16 AM

I don't know what the answer is. I just have no sympathy for the "Obummer's gonna take our guns!" crowd. And call me stupid, but I don't think the best way to solve violence is with more violence.

Midgetsnowman Since: Jan, 2010
#50330: Feb 27th 2013 at 8:02:31 AM

Its not about more violence. Its about the strange and paradoxical belief that one day, the nation will fall apart and only patriotic gun owners will be badass enough to save the nation.

Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#50331: Feb 27th 2013 at 8:43:23 AM

All this stuff about guns is rather worrying to me and a lot of people I know, because from what I've gathered, there tends to be an overlap between the crazier gun nuts and the people who think Canada is a 'socialist commie wasteland' (actual quote from an american tourist last summer).

It's highly unlikely anything like that will happen, but the possibility is the unnerving part.

Karkadinn Karkadinn from New Orleans, Louisiana Since: Jul, 2009
Karkadinn
#50332: Feb 27th 2013 at 8:48:58 AM

It really speaks to how insular America's geographical size allows some of its residents to be, when they can effectively shield themselves in a cocoon of ignorance from even THE NEAREST NEIGHBORING FELLOW FIRST-WORLD COUNTRY.

And let's not even get into misconceptions about Mexico, it's gone well past mere condescension into unmitigated tragedy.

Furthermore, I think Guantanamo must be destroyed.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#50333: Feb 27th 2013 at 9:37:52 AM

Mexico is a human disaster of epic proportions and one that is almost entirely America's fault. It may go down in history as one of the greatest cases of sheer ignorance on record.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Morgikit Mikon :3 from War Drobe, Spare Oom Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
Mikon :3
#50334: Feb 27th 2013 at 10:43:31 AM

[up]No wonder they try to come here.

CaissasDeathAngel House Lewis: Sanity is Relative from Dumfries, SW Scotland Since: Oct, 2010 Relationship Status: Pining for the fjords
House Lewis: Sanity is Relative
#50335: Feb 27th 2013 at 10:44:00 AM

[up][up] Agreed. Frankly it's only the fact that the Government exists that puts it significantly better than somewhere like Somalia, really - it exists but clearly doesn't actually control large swathes of the country.

edited 27th Feb '13 10:44:16 AM by CaissasDeathAngel

My name is Addy. Please call me that instead of my username.
DevilTakeMe Coin Operator from Wild Wasteland Since: Jan, 2010
Coin Operator
#50336: Feb 27th 2013 at 11:02:50 AM

That's the great thing about America. As John Kerry recently put it: "You have the right to be stupid, if you want to be."

It's combining that sentiment with Guns that gets people hung up.

Of course, with education funding usually being the first thing to go in a budget crunch, that's generally less of a choice, isn't it?

edited 27th Feb '13 11:20:27 AM by DevilTakeMe

Glove and Boots is good for Blog!
DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#50337: Feb 27th 2013 at 12:18:37 PM

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/28/us/politics/conservative-justices-voice-skepticism-on-voting-law.html?partner=rss&emc=rss&src=igw&_r=0

I saw this posted earlier by Deviant. Thoughts? Honestly, I think it could stay...racism is still reasonably strong in the south. Look how long it took Mississippi to ratify the 13th. Oh. The recent idiot "Poll watchers/voter registrars" thing this presidential election does not make me confident.

Oh, and Scalia is one of the most loathsome people currently in an American position of power. Calling it "A vestige of racial entitlement?"

...I honestly hate that man.

edited 27th Feb '13 12:53:36 PM by DrTentacles

Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#50338: Feb 27th 2013 at 12:46:11 PM

By the way, we already have armed guards arresting students at schools. Reasons include throwing a paper plane and not wearing a belt. (Huffpost link)

So that article is being extremely disingenuous and demonstrating exactly why I dislike them. It makes it sound like a sudden rash of child arrests right now OH MY GOD because of security after the shootings, but if you bother to follow their sources, all but one of those incidents predate even Aurora, much less the recent school shootings.

Hell, they happened spread out over a period of time starting in 2008. All politics aside, five years is plenty of time for a handful of stupid to happen across a country of 300 million.

edited 27th Feb '13 12:47:52 PM by Pykrete

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#50339: Feb 27th 2013 at 5:35:01 PM

[up][up]Yeah, Scalia is pretty much a walking, talking piece of refuse. Except he is a member of the most powerful institution in the US government.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#50340: Feb 27th 2013 at 5:48:55 PM

To be fair, even though the South has more explicitly racist people and embarrassments like not ratifying the 13th, in practice they tend to have rather less active problems with it than urban areas in the North that still have excessively poor and insular enclaves that turn into crime zones and law enforcement that deals with them regularly and depressingly often turns racist as a result.

edited 27th Feb '13 5:51:48 PM by Pykrete

DrTentacles Cephalopod Lothario from Land of the Deep Ones Since: Jul, 2012 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Cephalopod Lothario
#50341: Feb 27th 2013 at 5:52:26 PM

[up] Honestly, I'm in favor of that law covering the whole country if it stops voter id bullshit from happening.

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#50343: Feb 27th 2013 at 7:44:25 PM

Montana Roadkill Law Allows Motorists To Eat The Animals They Hit

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
Lascoden ... from Missouri, USA Since: Nov, 2012
...
#50344: Feb 27th 2013 at 7:51:55 PM

[up]Tasty. Though, why was that illegal in the first place? I mean, I find it absolutely disgusting, but why exactly did they need to pass a a law in the first place banning it?

boop
Belian In honor of my 50lb pup from 42 Since: Jan, 2001
In honor of my 50lb pup
#50345: Feb 27th 2013 at 8:18:45 PM

http://www.dumblaws.com/

Just glancing through them, I like this one from Marshalltown, Iowa: "Horses are forbidden to eat fire hydrants."

Oh, you were asking a serious question? No idea. Doesn't really matter anyway.

Yu hav nat sein bod speeling unntil know. (cacke four undersandig tis)the cake is a lie!
DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#50347: Feb 27th 2013 at 8:34:46 PM

As the article notes, it's not uncommon for eating roadkill to be legal — but most of the time it's used for big game animals like deer, and only when they're freshly killed, not the stereotypical redneck scraping a week-old possum off the pavement sort of thing.

As for why it's illegal, depending on the state, it could run afoul of both food health safety and/or hunting laws.

edited 27th Feb '13 8:35:37 PM by NativeJovian

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Pykrete NOT THE BEES from Viridian Forest Since: Sep, 2009
NOT THE BEES
#50348: Feb 27th 2013 at 8:44:14 PM

Around here you can phone roadkill in to the local zoo to feed to their big cats, but they'll only take it if it hasn't started bloating yet.

edited 27th Feb '13 8:45:03 PM by Pykrete

DeviantBraeburn Wandering Jew from Dysfunctional California Since: Aug, 2012
Wandering Jew
#50349: Feb 27th 2013 at 8:51:19 PM

Representative Keith Ellison: Sean Hannity is the “the worst excuse for a journalist I have ever seen.”

[up] Awesome.

edited 27th Feb '13 8:51:58 PM by DeviantBraeburn

Everything is Possible. But some things are more Probable than others. JEBAGEDDON 2016
RadicalTaoist scratching at .8, just hopin' from the #GUniverse Since: Jan, 2001

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