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Corrections
Think I'll address some of the stupidity I'm seeing on the internets here. It allows me to get it off my ample chest without having to interact with idiots. Here goes:
--If you're opposed to abortion because you're "sick of women abdicating their responsibilities" you've just admitted that you think raising a child for 18 years is a suitable punishment for the terrible crime of having sex. Go fuck yourself.
--If you think that, and don't support harsh crimes (like jail and forfeiture) for men who sire children and then are not involved fathers who support their children financially, you've just admitted that you're punishing women for sex--but not men. Go fuck yourself.
--If you think women should be forced to bring embryos or foetuses to term, but then vote for people who slash education, SNAP, WIC, oppose the ACA, or accuse mothers of being "welfare queens," you are not pro-life. You're pro-foisting-your-hangups on others. Go fuck yourself.
--No one has suggested that gun control will end all gun crimes forever. Nobody is that stupid. If you have reduced the gun-control argument to that, you're purposely twisting the issue. Go fuck yourself.
--Guns are not a magical amulet that prevents harm from befalling you--which I'm sorry to say that people have essentially said to me. "I need guns, because only guns can defend blah blah blah." Statistically, having a gun makes you more likely to be shot...either by yourself or someone in your household. Still want one--be my guest. But let's not pretend that those who prefer not to are asking to have violence done to them.
--Guns can and do go off when dropped. Sorry gun fans, there are many documented cases. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but drop safety standards only apply to handguns anyway. Most rifles, shotguns, and the like are not subject to drop-tests as a matter of law.
--Jade Helm 15 is not a plot by the government to take over the South and institute martial law. But even if it were--aren't a lot of you pro-fire-power types longing for martial law anyway?
--Even if Jade Helm 15 was a plot to take over the south, you and a couple of buddies in camo pants aren't going to stop the US Army Special Forces, the Navy Seals, or any other specialized military group. You're kidding yourselves.
--Hitting your kid out of anger is indeed abusive. It's not "discipline" because it doesn't teach anything except 'watch out or you'll get hit again'. Discipline is teaching someone what acceptable behavior is. Hitting is punishment, which some do think is a valid parenting option, but it doesn't teach anyone a goddamn thing--except maybe "one or more of my parents is violent and unstable." Not sure if what you're doing to a kid is abuse? Ask yourself, "Would I do this to an adult in a public place? If I did, could I be arrested?" If you answered No to the first question and/or Yes to the second--that's abuse.
Wow, I feel so much better now.
--If you're opposed to abortion because you're "sick of women abdicating their responsibilities" you've just admitted that you think raising a child for 18 years is a suitable punishment for the terrible crime of having sex. Go fuck yourself.
--If you think that, and don't support harsh crimes (like jail and forfeiture) for men who sire children and then are not involved fathers who support their children financially, you've just admitted that you're punishing women for sex--but not men. Go fuck yourself.
--If you think women should be forced to bring embryos or foetuses to term, but then vote for people who slash education, SNAP, WIC, oppose the ACA, or accuse mothers of being "welfare queens," you are not pro-life. You're pro-foisting-your-hangups on others. Go fuck yourself.
--No one has suggested that gun control will end all gun crimes forever. Nobody is that stupid. If you have reduced the gun-control argument to that, you're purposely twisting the issue. Go fuck yourself.
--Guns are not a magical amulet that prevents harm from befalling you--which I'm sorry to say that people have essentially said to me. "I need guns, because only guns can defend blah blah blah." Statistically, having a gun makes you more likely to be shot...either by yourself or someone in your household. Still want one--be my guest. But let's not pretend that those who prefer not to are asking to have violence done to them.
--Guns can and do go off when dropped. Sorry gun fans, there are many documented cases. Please correct me if I'm wrong, but drop safety standards only apply to handguns anyway. Most rifles, shotguns, and the like are not subject to drop-tests as a matter of law.
--Jade Helm 15 is not a plot by the government to take over the South and institute martial law. But even if it were--aren't a lot of you pro-fire-power types longing for martial law anyway?
--Even if Jade Helm 15 was a plot to take over the south, you and a couple of buddies in camo pants aren't going to stop the US Army Special Forces, the Navy Seals, or any other specialized military group. You're kidding yourselves.
--Hitting your kid out of anger is indeed abusive. It's not "discipline" because it doesn't teach anything except 'watch out or you'll get hit again'. Discipline is teaching someone what acceptable behavior is. Hitting is punishment, which some do think is a valid parenting option, but it doesn't teach anyone a goddamn thing--except maybe "one or more of my parents is violent and unstable." Not sure if what you're doing to a kid is abuse? Ask yourself, "Would I do this to an adult in a public place? If I did, could I be arrested?" If you answered No to the first question and/or Yes to the second--that's abuse.
Wow, I feel so much better now.
no subject
no subject
>Guns are not a magical amulet that prevents harm from befalling you
I've never, ever said this. But by the same rote, fire extinguishers are not mythical devices that keep your house from burning down, bandages are not talismans that keep you from bleeding from a wound, seatbelts are not sorcerous devices that stop you from being in a car accident, etc.
Your statement is silly.
>Statistically, having a gun makes you more likely to be shot...either by yourself or someone in your household.
Statistically, owning a vehicle makes you far more likely to be in a vehicle accident. And yet, here I sit, after 40 years of living in gun-positive families, armed to the teeth, and still have never, ever been shot. Weird. It's almost like the statistics on this don't really matter.
>>Guns can and do go off when dropped. Sorry gun fans, there are many documented cases.
This is one that I want to do a test with you on. We can spend the time and money to do it together, or I can just video record it to your liking. I will go half and half with you on the cost, new or used, of ANY firearm manufactured after 1970, of your choosing. Any at all. Rifle, shotgun, pistol, revolver, you choose the make and model. I will alter a cartridge or shell of ammo, so it's just a blank - no projectile, but it will go boom if the firing pin is released from a shock. I will cycle the action so that the gun is in Condition 0 - hammer or firing pin cocked and ready to go, no safety on.
Then I will drop it 50 times on concrete surface, from 10 feet up.
Then I will THROW it down onto a concrete surface from 10 feet up. Spike that motherfucker any which way you like, pointed however you like, like a goddamn football.
Additional tests will be welcome. We can ruin the firearm, smashing it with a sledgehammer, dropping cinderblocks on it, throwing it out of a moving vehicle, dragging it behind a truck for a mile, etc. Just to give you a logically good handicap in your favor, I say we purchase a firearm that's notorious, in apocryphal tales, for "going off when dropped," like the Hi-Point C9, which is a cheap, cheap pistol with only a flimsy lever safety (that we will disengage, or even fully remove, for the test).
And after decades of experience, and yes, having accidentally dropped MORE THAN ONE firearm that was in Condition 0, I am willing to bet a fair wager that we will be unable to make the firearm go off.
The reason you get a lot of "it just went off" stories on firearms is that no gun owner, ever, wants to admit a negligent discharge. Doing so proves that they were being stupid and disrespectful of the weapon. You also get a lot of "the stop sign just appeared one day" and "my brakes must have failed" nonsense in traffic court. It's bullshit. Modern firearms, no matter how light the trigger pull, are designed to go off when you pull the trigger. Unless there's a SEVERE malfunction in the mechanisms of the firearm (which I will admit has happened in the past - Beretta had a HUGE recall on the Bersa Thunder .380 handgun when it was discovered that engaging the safety on a limited run of them could make the hammer fall and firing pin strike if a cartridge was in the chamber), no, you cannot - CAN NOT - make a gun fire by dropping it.
> but drop safety standards only apply to handguns anyway
There are no legal drop safety standards. Gun manufacturers make firearms that have specific mechanisms because, and I know, this is gonna sound odd, but they don't want to be known for making firearms that can accidentally go off.
Namaste, motherfucker!
no subject
To be clear, it's not MY statement. It's something I hear often though. Second most often are people who post/comment after a shooting that it wouldn't have happened/less people would have died if only the victims had shot back. The clear implication being that more guns equals less people hurt by guns. I don't buy it.
"It's almost like the statistics on this don't really matter."
They matter, they just don't necessarily predict what will happen in any individual household. Duh.
As to the dropping, testing it on a few guns would not convince me. Many people drive each day and get where they're going safely. That doesn't mean people don't die in car accidents. I exercise 3 times a week and have never had a heart attack. That doesn't mean people don't have heart attacks while exercising. Even if it's rare, that doesn't mean it doesn't happen. That's my only point there--it does happen, so people need to stop saying it never does. Seldom, infrequently, even "statistically insignificant" is more truthful than "never" or "none."
Also, stop dropping your guns. That shit is dangerous. ;-)