The Great American Comedy

[faethor]

It was God's will says Grandma.

 

[Robert]

It was God's will says Grandma.

"He just picked (the gun) up before he realized it," grandmother Linda Riddle toldWLEX.
"It's just tragic," uncle David Mann told the CNN affiliate. "It's something that you can't prepare for."

I can think of one very simple and blindingly obvious way that you most certainly can prepare for it.

Riddle said she is devastated, but comforted knowing that her granddaughter is in a better place.

"It was God's will. It was her time to go, I guess. I just know she's in heaven right now and I know she's in good hands with the Lord."

Sweet, furry badger-baws!

Where do you start with that kind of idiocy?
Let's all blow each others brains out so we can all be in a better place!

Absolutely staggering in it's illogical ignorance.

 

[faethor]

Sat, May 4th, 7pm - Florida 13-year-old shoots 6-year-old sister playing hide-and-seek
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nat...oots-6-year-old-sister-home-article-1.1336023

 

[cecilia]

I can think of one very simple and blindingly obvious way that you most certainly can prepare for it.

yeah, no kidding!

haven't these morons ever heard of

1. putting your dumb guns in a flippin' LOCKED vault
2. NOT having any guns because they are obviously too dumb to live
3. NOT having any children because they are too dumb to live

 

[Glaucus]

how very westboro of you... i'm just glad it's you implying this stuff is funny... responsible gun owners (and most are), find these gun related tragedies horrific...

Now that's a joke. Responsible people would give up their firearms because they cause an immense amount of pain and misery and offer no utility other than entertainment. Being responsible means you do NOT accept a certain amount of death just so you can pop a few bottles in your back yard. That's why responsible people banned lawn darts even though anyone who's responsible can use the lawn darts safely. Being responsible doesn't make you bullet proof.

And training and safety regulations only go so far. Firefighters know more about fire and fire safety than anyone, they wear protective gear and train year round and still fire fighters burn to death every year. The only sure fire way to prevent firefighters from burning to death isn't more safety training or better equipment; it's no more fire. Unfortunately we can't just ban fire and so the firefighters will continue to burn to death, tragic as that is. But firearms are something we can ban and there's no tragedy there.

And yes I'm sick of this shit and I hold all you pro-gun advocates responsible. And when I said that sometimes people need to be offended, I really meant to say they need to be shamed. It seems that might be the way we have to deal with the gun violence - to shame the irresponsible people who believe that firearm safety boils down to a few simple safety rules.

 

[ilwrath]

Now that's a joke. Responsible people would give up their firearms because they cause an immense amount of pain and misery and offer no utility other than entertainment. Being responsible means you do NOT accept a certain amount of death just so you can pop a few bottles in your back yard. That's why responsible people banned lawn darts even though anyone who's responsible can use the lawn darts safely. Being responsible doesn't make you bullet proof.

Careful of the police state you're wishing for there, Glaucus. Just because guns aren't part of your culture, it doesn't make them an invalid part of culture.

With companies making such progress on self-driving automobiles... How long until driving a car becomes a senseless and dangerous risk we don't need? Surely you'd agree that many more lives could be saved by removing the human from the transportation equation. You'd gladly give up that little blast through a beautiful stretch of winding country road for the greater good... Never get to manually roll down the windows, work the three pedals, and balance a simple, elegant little car, through the apex. Step on the throttle just a touch too early and hang the tail out ever so slightly on exit, just for style. Can't do it ever again. Ah, not so easy, is it? I know my life would be less worth living. But you and I both know that so many others out there could give two shits about our loss in this.

It's not so easy to pass judgement on lifestyles and cultures that aren't your own.

 

[cecilia]

actually, I would LOVE it if most cars on the road were self-driving.

today we had a real "April Shower" and there was an increase in the number of complete fu*king morons out on the road.


I know people "love" to drive, but when it's available more will turn to auto-driven cars.
however, I think this will happen naturally because getting driven will allow people to do other things. If you know you want to check your email / watch a video / whatever the heck AND you know you can switch your car to auto-drive, you WILL.

people are lazy. It's the natural turn of things and no laws need to be passed for this.

Criswell Predicts !!!!

 

[Robert]

actually, I would LOVE it if most cars on the road were self-driving.

today we had a real "April Shower" and there was an increase in the number of complete fu*king morons out on the road.


I know people "love" to drive, but when it's available more will turn to auto-driven cars.
however, I think this will happen naturally because getting driven will allow people to do other things. If you know you want to check your email / watch a video / whatever the heck AND you know you can switch your car to auto-drive, you WILL.

I know I certainly will. I have never particularly enjoyed driving and I take the train to work. I would probably save the best part of an hour a day if I drove but I'd lose out on an hour and a half of reading time.

 

[ilwrath]

It's the natural turn of things and no laws need to be passed for this.

Ah, but there will... In another 20 years when most people press the button... The big problem will be the people who don't. They cause accidents. They kill people.

The gun is a tool already past its useful date. Pretty much, the only reasons left to own one are culture, tradition, and sport. The manually-drivable automobile will be there in 20 years, too. Maybe less.

 

[redrumloa]

Now that's a joke. Responsible people would give up their firearms because they cause an immense amount of pain and misery and offer no utility other than entertainment. Being responsible means you do NOT accept a certain amount of death just so you can pop a few bottles in your back yard. That's why responsible people banned lawn darts even though anyone who's responsible can use the lawn darts safely. Being responsible doesn't make you bullet proof.

And training and safety regulations only go so far. Firefighters know more about fire and fire safety than anyone, they wear protective gear and train year round and still fire fighters burn to death every year. The only sure fire way to prevent firefighters from burning to death isn't more safety training or better equipment; it's no more fire. Unfortunately we can't just ban fire and so the firefighters will continue to burn to death, tragic as that is. But firearms are something we can ban and there's no tragedy there.

And yes I'm sick of this shit and I hold all you pro-gun advocates responsible. And when I said that sometimes people need to be offended, I really meant to say they need to be shamed. It seems that might be the way we have to deal with the gun violence - to shame the irresponsible people who believe that firearm safety boils down to a few simple safety rules.

No Mike, you are just sheep and an hypocrite. You own a car, right?

In the United States in 2010, the rate of firearm deaths was 10 people per 100,000, while for traffic accidents it was 12 per 100,000.

 

[Speelgoedmannetje]

No Mike, you are just sheep and an hypocrite. You own a car, right?

In the United States in 2010, the rate of firearm deaths was 10 people per 100,000, while for traffic accidents it was 12 per 100,000.

Firearm accidents? Fatal traffic accidents? You might well want to post a source with it btw.

 

[redrumloa]

Firearm accidents? Fatal traffic accidents?

No, firearm deaths compared to fatal traffic accidents. Firearm accidents are so few they are statistically insignificant. They make good headlines though and work the sheep into a froth.

 

[robert l. bentham]

i'm sorry. i wasn't actually offended. i was just shocked and a little disappointed... i thought inflammatory, hyperbolic rhetoric bourne of frustration and emotional exasperation was just a bit over the top, and wholly outside of the character i know as "glaucus". it might be a joke, not my kinda humour, that's all. i didn't think it was funny when tosh suggested a woman who said rape wasnt funny should be gang raped either... just me maybe... i dunno... i could be wrong here too... been wrong before...

 

[redrumloa]

You might well want to post a source with it btw.

Here is a decent one for you.

What exactly are the accidental death and injury rates for firearms, as compared to cars?

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

I know I certainly will. I have never particularly enjoyed driving and I take the train to work.

Maybe you don't enjoy it because you don't have a nice sporty little topless two seater to go bombing around the tiny winding roads on a nice sunny day.

For city commutes I could see pushing a button and then doing your whyzzat till you got to work would be fine - but it's nice to have the option to take the wheel and have some fun.

 

[Glaucus]

Red doesn't want to post figures because it takes away from his argument.

American Gun Deaths to Exceed Traffic Fatalities by 2015

The fact is that motor vehicle deaths once greatly outnumbered firearm deaths, but thanks to heavy regulation that number has gone down dramatically and it seems to be a continuing trend. Firearm deaths however have stayed more or less the same, except for a bit of a spike in the early 1990's.

That chart simply speaks of the absolute death rate, it doesn't correct for the number of car owners vs gun owners. It is also a national chart and this chart may look different for different states. Also, there's a lot more data behind the graph and it's very telling. Even Red unwittingly alluded to it:

No, firearm deaths compared to fatal traffic accidents. Firearm accidents are so few they are statistically insignificant.

All traffic deaths are unintentional, where as firearm deaths are almost always intentional. I think that's an important difference.

Comparing guns to motor vehicles is interesting. As indicated above, guns are designed to kill and when someone shoots someone else to death they are simply using the right tool for the job. Automobiles however are designed for transportation and when someone is killed in a car accident it is usually just that, a failure of either the driver or the equipment or the roadway or the weather. If someone wishes to murder someone it's not likely they'd choose to do it with a car, even if the only reason is that running someone over damages the car and how cool is to to drive around with a busted up hood and windshield? Not very.

As for the whole gun culture issue raised by ilwrath... I don't actually believe we'll have fully automated cars any time soon. We'll probably have to settle for some kind of advanced, hybrid cruise control or specially designated freeway lanes where cars can enter and instruct their car to follow the car in front of them until it reaches the appropriate exit and then the human takes over again. We've yet to perfect electronic mapping and navigation and cartography has been around for centuries. I don't think we'll see full AI driving and the technology will likely meet the same practical end most AI advancements do: close but not close enough.

BUT, for the sake of argument, let's say Google does the impossible and makes a car that can drive itself perfectly under all conditions without fail and reduces traffic fatalities by 98%. The question would then be: Would we as a society reject this life saving advancement because some of us like to drive a little irresponsibly every now and then? I very seriously doubt that. Not only that, I think anyone who would trade the lives of thousands of people each year just so they can have a little bit of fun on the road is probably either not thinking straight or is self centered. The one similarity that automobiles have in common with firearms is that the actions of one puts the lives of others in danger. Mountain climbing, however dangerous it may be, only places the climber in peril. That's a danger we can allow those willing to take the risk. But when others lives are also placed at risk those others have a right to have a say in how those risks are placed upon them.

The existence of a behavioral culture isn't a defense. It isn't a defense for slavery, it isn't a defense for the abuse of women, it isn't a defense for circumcision, it isn't a defense for dangerous driving and it isn't a defense for gun violence. So as much as I love driving irresponsibly, I would not stand in the way of a safe driving alternative. I don't understand how anyone could stand in the way of all forms of firearm regulation as does the NRA.

 

[Robert]

Maybe you don't enjoy it because you don't have a nice sporty little topless two seater to go bombing around the tiny winding roads on a nice sunny day.

I'm not convinced. Such a vehicle has little, if any attraction for me.

 

[Speelgoedmannetje]

No, firearm deaths compared to fatal traffic accidents. Firearm accidents are so few they are statistically insignificant. They make good headlines though and work the sheep into a froth.

Then compare fatal firearm accidents with fatal traffic accidents and firearm homicides with traffic homicides. Pears, apples.

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

I'm not convinced. Such a vehicle has little, if any attraction for me.

Well, next time you're in town ...

 

[FluffyMcDeath]

That chart simply speaks of the absolute death rate, it doesn't correct for the number of car owners vs gun owners.

I wander what the chart would look like if it plotted deaths per hour of use.