heard about the lady who took her gun to her 5 year old's soccer game a few years back (2008?)

yeah, she took that sucker everywhere, even grocery shopping.

Her hubby (parole officer) killed her and then killed himself.

THAT'S irony. You're welcome.

Sexobon, you're on very good form just lately.

I'm not familiar with the story. Did her husband take her weapon and kill her with it? If not, I'm missing the irony.

She was protecting herself from external threats and missed the internal threat.

Yeah, right, "imagine". You ain't foolin no-one, grrrl.

:lol:

And don't forget, it really slows down a killing spree when you have to apologise to all your victims as you go.

Plus, I just realized there's another reason. As we all know, US citizens have the right to run around with assault weapons because:

"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."

A nice thought from the founding fathers, but - "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."

All those people out there who are enraged with the government and are busy stockpiling Bushmasters are hardly members of "a well regulated militia" - rage filled and angry - yes; well-regulated - no. The coon hound faction is busy arming themselves to the gills and hanging on to every word Rush Limbaugh lets fall from his lips.

These people - far from being a militia - are actually a crowd of rabble rousers - the last group of people who should be running around with semi-automatics and endless rounds of ammunition. And somewhere within their ranks, the next Timothy McVeigh is quietly biding his time.

Switzerland is another country with an armed populance. You may find any of the following in many Swiss homes:

Sturmgewehr 90 assault rifle (171,283)
Sturmgewehr 57 battle rifle (2,392)
Pistole 75 semi-automatic pistol (27,831)
Pistole 49 semi-automatic pistol (1,360)
FN Minimi
Heckler & Koch MP5 submachinegun
Brügger & Thomet MP9 machine pistol
Tuma MTE 224 VA machine pistol
Remington 870 multipurpose shotgun (known as Mehrzweckgewehr 91)
Sako TRG-42 8.6 mm anti-personnel sniper rifle (Scharfschützengewehr 04)
PGM Hecate II 12.7 mm anti-materiel heavy sniper rifle (Präzisionsgewehr 04)

Bubba would be green with envy.

The difference is that Switzerland actually has a well-disciplined militia - its own citizen's army. At age 19, all Swiss males are called up to be evaluated for military service. Each potential Swiss soldier is subject to a barrage of tests - including ones for emotional and mental stabiliy - before being called up to serve. After they are inducted, Swiss citizens will spend about 300 days going through military training. A few decide to stay on and become career military, but most just go into the reserves where they will be called up every couple of years or so for military refresher training. And they keep their weapons in their homes. They can do because they are a select group of trained members of the Swiss citizen army.

While Hans was getting his training, Bubba was out shooting frogs in the swamp and thinking about conspiracy theories. Which one of them is more likely to turn into a mass murderer and which more likely to relax by shooting holes into cheese?

yes, but why punish the cheese?

Couldn't find a better clip than this, but Jon Stewart was great on gun control last week:

My opinion only. I think sexual desire and sadism is mostly born, not made. And if it is made, it's forged by trauma and pain and hurt.

Subject a child to an upbringing where violence - even gun violence - is the norm then yes, I think the child will be more likely to become violent and use a gun. Subject a child to sexually inapproprite behaviour and I think it will affect the child equally.

Of course there are many. many exceptions. I am not suggesting that an abused child automatically becomes a rapist or paedophile. But children do reflect the the norms they grew up with.

Well said Sundae. It is a good time to reflect on our societal norms.

The more I consider it though, the less I see any real solution. The breakdown is along regional and political lines, but the real friction points are not between rural and urban. The friction is in the suburbs. People moved out of the cities to, among other things, escape the violence. The burbs grew up in areas without gun restrictions because there was an existing culture of ownership for hunting and defense of private property in the absence of effective policing. The suburbanites bring their paranoia about other peoples intentions into a once "free" environment. They've set aside all other forms of self-reliance once native to the rural area but cling to the gun as a symbol of self-reliance in a world dominated by under-water mortgages and soccer moms. The people the press would like to put forth as the gun nuts, survivalists and the like, are much more likely to be killed by ATF agents than to go off on a rampage.

Right, but I was addressing the claims that the media is causing more mass killings by reporting them. That's ludicrous in its simplistic attempt to blame something other than guns coming out of our collective ass.

Great Stewart clip, Dana!

Fair enough. Subtle point I completely missed :blush:

Beck. He's the leader of the club that's made for you and me.
B... Because he's crazy
E... Easy to see he's crazy
C... 'Cause there's money in being crazy
K... Krazy can be spelled more than one way

I saw a very amusing cartoon about the coming new Civil War. It showed a scared of his own shadow tree hugger vs a morbidly obese gun nut riding a scooter. Maybe we are not that close to total annihilation.

I love how professorial Beck is, taking himself oh so seriously.