Ding Dong.....the US Politics Thread (Part 1)

that is 100% a rein. you can see them coming off the bridle of the horse, one on each side of the horse’s neck. they’re usually 6-8ft long.

That are needlessly long and only made that way so they can be used like a whip without having to carry a separate whip in their hand.

It’s a cheap get out to pretend it isn’t a whip if it is being used as a whip and has the effect of a whip when used like one.

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Indeed…

Edited to add:

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Look at the hatred and anger on the faces of the cowboys, and the fear and desperation of the asylum seekers. How anyone can defend or equivocate about this is beyond me. So sad

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Every time you think that things in the US couldn’t get more weird and twisted…

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A view from north of the border (? written by the paper’s Washington correspondent). Is it as dire as the article described?

Isn’t this a recurring theme where they faff about, some shit gets shut down, they finally agree and parks are opened again.

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@richieh_10 Going to respond here since this will clearly spiral into a gun control debate about the US.

Access is clearly still a problem. You can argue whether or not the “need” for a semi-automatic rifle etc etc all day until you pass out. That will never fly in the US. We see it with vaccinations. Some of the most idiotic excuses to not get a jab. What it really comes down to, if you take away our right to make a decision all hell breaks loose. That is a cultural US thing that typically doesn’t follow logic. One day you’re a libertarian saying anti government regulation, the next you’re pro TX anti abortion law. Makes zero logical sense. Then again, us Americans aren’t always the most logical. Cool down periods make sense, additionally, make permits expensive might curb some of the behavior though charging it on your AMEX if you don’t plan to be around to pay the bill might not matter much. Something has to be done, but clearly I don’t necessarily no what it is. I would really like to see an emphasis into preventing people from reaching that stage mentally rather than just blaming the weapon. You can make it impossible to get a gun, but someone at that stage will likely find a way anyways.

I think if you are crazy enough to commit this kind of violence you’ll find a way to access the means needed to do so. With that said, we are failing as a country to clearly address the romance with violence along with not taking care of our people’s mental health issues. I really think it is a deep rooted culture issue. I know this nation was born in violence and continues to live violently, but somehow we have to find a way to change.

I know you mentioned how are we still surprised, but I refuse to ever stop being surprised. I refuse to accept this as normal life. The vast majority of humans do not wake up one morning and decide to go shoot up a grocery store. I want us to be better.

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But there will always be someone who does. And those who enable these lunatics by supporting the right to buy weapons are, in my view at least, almost as culpable as the murderers themselves.

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America will never be like numerous countries with regard to gun culture. The cat has long since been let out of the bag. The issue now is whether or not anything sensible can be done to curb the madness.

Personally I’d like to see a similar approach to owning a car.

Big responsibility? Yes. So you need to pass a test to show you have the right to drive.
Potentially dangerous ramifications from having a car, both to yourself and others? Yes. So you need some sort of insurance to keep a car.

That sort of thinking, fleshed out, should be applied to gun ownership.

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You are absolutely right, there will always be someone.

And you can never control or legislate or predict when that someone will do something. It is a brutal reality.

You are absolutely entitled to your view. Just like I am allowed to have my own. I think if it wasn’t guns it would be knives, or cars, or planes. etc etc. So do I blame those who support the 2nd Amendment for the mass shootings? No. I don’t.

I think these folks who commit such atrocities rarely survive the act. Usually, through self inflicted wounds. I think we are in an era in the US where the mental health of individuals are at an all time low. I think we have more mental health issues than ever before despite more resources being thrown that way. We need to address some of the root cultural issues first in my opinion. But then again, I often dont know shit

Poverty, inequality, and having a fair shake at the American dream, are massive issues. If people feel they can have a genuine crack at a good life, gun deaths will be down, as will myriad other societal ills.

There are massive systemic issues in the nation. Biden and the Dems are disappointing, but massively better than the alternate reality Trump sphere.

I hope the $3.5 trillion bill passes, as it will start to chip away at making a slightly fairer society.

The American economy has done very well, but the spoils have not been spread around nearly well enough.

The problem with it, if I lived in America I would 100% own a gun.

What are you gonna be the only person in the town without one?

It would be driven by fear but I would 100% would own a gun

I dont think that is fair. Strict regulation is still consistent with the second amendment. It is a fairly modern convention to act like it is otherwise and there is still a significant proportion of the US gun owning population who favor strict gun laws and regulations. So it’s not the second amendment per se that is the problem, but the culture that has developed around gun ownership in the past 20 years or so that you might refer to as the modern NRA take on gun rights.

And I think that is a really important distinction because it goes hand and glove with another comment you said in an earlier thread…

Gun culture has become perverse. You listen to many of these modern NRA types and you can almost hear them hoping someone tries to break into their home so they have the opportunity to waste the guy. I’m sure for many people its a form of fantasy and they would be far less resolute if given the circumstances, but the attitude is perverse to even think about it in that way. But a big part of this comes precisely from the place you’re talking about. It’s not about hunting or self defense, it’s about the glorification of the idea of wasting a “bad guy”.

I think the reality is that with all the inflammatory rhetoric about the topic during this period, there is now a generation of people for whom it’s not even about the guns. It’s about what they symbolize. And for most who fall into this groups it is about a refusal to kowtow to the liberal establishment. As we’ve now seen, it doesnt need to be about guns. You can replace them with just about anything, whether it be masks or vaccines.

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Well said Limie. I wrongly used the 2nd Amendment as a scale goat for the purchasing on weapons and that distinction should’ve been noted. I agree with your points above. I still thinks Cyns point about calling those who access to guns are culpable in mass shootings as drastically unfair. But then again that’s just my opinion.

The home defense argument has always been an dumb one to me. I have formal training with firearms; however, if anybody ever broke into my home. I’m praying that the sound my alarm system makes l, or a magazine loading, or a slide coming forward on a weapon scares the person off. Because if they are still around after all those things, I’m likely already dead. Most burglaries occur during the day, when no one is home. Yet like you mention above the NRA loves to hang hits on the western cowboy mantra and all the states with beloved “castle laws.” Yet statistically speaking you are more likely to shoot someone other than the intruder during a night invasion.

Shit this is depressing.

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There was a story I was reading about the other week where a fight broke out at a baby shower between the father to be and a female guest. Three men jumped in to break it up and rather than acknowledging that physically engaging a woman was not the smart move, he reached for his gun and in the struggle got off 3 shots injuring 3 separate people.

I’m just lost for words.

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Forget the lizards, here’s the real conspiracy…

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