blonde poker forum

How many more before they tackle the gun laws?


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34062118


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_r-1PKlXDx0

i'm not sure about posting the you tube link tom

it was posted from the gunman's own twitter account, the shooting from first hand, and they removed it and suspended the account immediately

not a pleasant thing to watch


the answer to your question is that the right wing of american politics won't allow the liberals (or in our terms sensible poliocy makers) to change the gun laws

No. It's not a nice thing to watch but it's not a nice thing to read or hear about either.

That said, I'll leave it up to you to decide if it goes or stays. I'm fine either way.

It's shocking that in this day and age this sort of thing is allowed to happen and there's pretty much no chance of anything being done to stop it.

I've no objection to the link but it should probably carry a warning of what is inside.

Nothing will change ever, they are too far gone in that direction mate it's like a war zone there with the guns/weapons available. And the majority of Americans are totally against any change, it's in their constitution innit....

The best other countries can do is not follow their path.

Pretty much this.

There is so much I absolutely adore about America, I love the place and the people. But the things they get wrong are horrific.

I've just heard a shocking stat.

On average there are 31 people murdered by shooting in the USA every day.

Apparently, that stat doesn't include accidental shootings or self defense shootings. Just murders.

It gets worse, there is a mass shooting almost every day in America

http://www.vox.com/2015/8/24/9183525/gun-violence-statistics?utm_campaign=vox&utm_content=feature%3Atop&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter#

It's difficult to argue with stuff like that Barry.

Thanks for the warning.

I personally find charity appeal adverts with starving children or suffering animals more unpleasant to watch than a video showing a woman screaming and a camera falling over.


I'm obviously a bit out of step with what's acceptable viewing. I will be sure to post a warning in future.

charity appeal adverts are supposed to make you feel uncomfortable and to inspire you to take positive action.
Videos of someone being murdered merely serve to gratify the viewer's prurient curiosity and the self-aggrandisement of the killer.
IMHO

The fact that a charity video is supposed to make me uncomfortable doesn't make it any more acceptable to me, but I realise that if I want to watch TV I will have to suffer one every now and again. On the other hand, I quite like having my prurient curiosity gratified, but I usually go to porn sites for that.

But at least the charity video meets the advertising authority standards and the times it is screened are controlled.

The thread title is Virginia Shootings, what did you think the you tube link contained?

Dave, this is not the TV it's a poker forum. People don't say Fuck on TV at 9am in the morning but they do on here.

Why are Americans so short sighted and selfish?

"I like guns so you are not going to stop me using them" despite all the evidence showing if guns weren't so widely available there would be considerably less violent crime.

I found the journalistic values questionable in the way this was reported. As pathetic as the killer's actions were and how tragic the consequences, I don't think it should be treated as the days top news story simply because it was caught on camera.

Americans cherish their right to bear arms in order to be able to defend themselves from tyrannical government. It's too simplistic imo to say they support this right just because they like them.

If the 1000000/1 shot of a tyrannical government ever coming to power ever comes to pass, it would just send the drones in.

What good would a rifle, however powerful, do against drones?

The right to own slaves was in the constitution originally, as was prohibition. So they defeat the argument that the constitution cannot be altered.

When the founding fathers wrote it, they were talking about muskets as "arms", not assault rifles which could pump out hundreds of bullets per second.

It's completely illogical that normal people should own guns.

You are arguing with the wrong people mate, no-one here would really disagree.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people innit...

YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VZrFVtmRXrw


/thread

That's certainly true as to the ownership & use of guns, but generally speaking, I don't believe they are any more short sighted or selfish than us, or any other country. I genuinely think the vast majority of them are good, decent people.

Yep, their problems are institutional. This country has plenty of wankers, just thankfully they don't have guns.

More fundamentally - when people talk about these rights, they're already talking about alterations to the constitution (hence why they're called amendments). The clauses of the actual constitution as it originally stood hardly ever gets mentioned - it's always the amendments.

But the point is a good one - they also had an amendment for Prohibition - then got rid of it.

Well, clearly > 50% of the American population are obviously short sighted and selfish. DUCY?

No. They just have a different view to us as to gun control. In THAT respect, yeah, it feels dumb to us, but having an opinion on one matter different to us does not make them stupid or selfish.

I'm 100% with you & everyone else as to the idiocy of the gun control (or lack of) in the USA, & how they perceive it. It just hits a bit of a nerve with me when I see so many people denigrate American people generally. It's too easy just to say "yanks are dumb".  Some keyboard warriors repeat that mantra regularly from the safety of their back bedroom, & in many cases have never even visited the USA.

Do you think the average American is dumber than the average Brit?

The argument about gun control isn't about guns at all.

People currently have things which other people want to take away from them. "No, you can have my things - grrrrrrrrr". It then becomes a proxy for the wider argument of how much the federal government can interfere in people's lives.

Yes.

They think their right to own guns is more important than saving the lives of thousands of people who die each year from gun crime.

I think I am justified in calling every single person who opposes gun control "short sighted and selfish".

Can think of quite a few more colourful words to describe them too.

Great. I thought I was going to have to argue to get to this point.

There isn't necessarily a majority who are opposed to gun control though. The US people don't vote against gun control measures - their politicians do.

The American aim of being ultra democratic meant they decided there were going to be a LOT of elections - that needs money - so ironically it ends up that a lot of US legislation is decided by a handful of rich vested interests. Obviously the NRA being the important one in this instance.

Many of the politicians who vote against gun control might actually believe they're doing the right thing, and they might represent the majority of their constituents - but it's far from certain. I suspect that without NRA money going into PAC's and their like in America to fund their election a lot more of them would vote for gun control measures.

I wonder if Americans think the same about us?

Hang on, who said we think that?

I was just generalising. I certainly don't agree with Camels view.

I knew that. I was just using you.

Anyway, no one could accuse you of being average.

I feel dirty now.

I'm a passionate atheist but I understand why people follow religion.

I'm massively against the death penalty but can understand why people supprt it.

However I haven't seen one cogent argument for civilians to freely own and carry guns other than "I like guns, don't you dare take them away from me"

it adds weight to your argument that Americans are dumb - but the answer is safety.

I looked up a Gallup poll of Americans about guns - no opinion tends to get over 50%, the biggest minority want more gun controls; but over 60% of the people who own guns do so because of "personal safety". They have really brought into the idea that having a gun keeps you safe (despite all the evidence to the contrary).

I agree with that, but I haven't seen one cogent argument for Americans being dumber than Brits.

A gun owner is far more likely to have the gun used on them than on an intruder/threat.

I did however enjoy this quote from the DavidIcke.com forum.


I'm American, and I'm sick of people saying America is "the stupidest country in the world."

Personally, I think Europe is the stupidest country in the world.

Ha, very good.

Not so good though - you read David Icke's Forum? That must be some place.......

Very funny, but you read the David Icke forums? Do you believe in all that lizard shit?

We think alike, Barry.

Who'd have thought Tom was a member of Team Tin Foil Hat? 

I am not sure as to why it is the case but on PISA rankings the UK is above the USA in maths, reading and science.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PISA_2012 (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/PISA_2012)

It was a long time ago, but I read something that went along the lines of the American school system is about two years behind us, ie. their 14 year olds learn what our 12 year olds learn etc.

I did a teacher training course (also a long time ago but I've no reason to believe it's changed), as part of that we looked at different systems around the world - the US had (and so probably has) a very mediocre public school system.

Just because I'm paranoid it doesn't mean they're not after me.

(http://www.azquotes.com/picture-quotes/quote-i-was-walking-home-one-night-and-a-guy-hammering-on-a-roof-called-me-a-paranoid-little-emo-philips-77-23-78.jpg)

Lol.

I remember, years ago, Icke used to claim that there was a paedophile ring active in Westminster, involving people at the top of British politics and show business and some linked to the royal family. This was at a time when no-one else with a national platform was saying anything about it. I dismissed his ridiculous rantings, like just about everyone else, apart from the nutters who go for every conspiracy theory. Now that Icke has, incredibly, been shown to be right about this, I wonder if any of his other claims are also true.

More Americans die in gun homicides and suicides every six months than have died in the last 25 years in every terrorist attack and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

More Americans have died from guns in the United States since 1968 than on battlefields of all the wars in American history.


http://mobile.nytimes.com/2015/08/27/opinion/lessons-from-the-murders-of-tv-journalists-in-the-virginia-shooting.html?referrer=&_r=0

Kinder Surprise eggs are banned in America on health hazard grounds

(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CNbujrrUkAAAI-5.jpg)