Only if they make homosexuality illegal again.
And looking at the whole abortion shitshow, nothing the republicans come up with would surprise me
It’s possible there is information missing, as we never get a clear picture of this shit all at once, but it appears that once the shooter got into the school the cops’ focus was on “securing” the building rather than going in and continuing to engage him, despite that being the basis of “active shooter” policy. There is actually video of them detaining parents who were trying to take it into their own hands.
Just want to comment on the pepper spraying a grizzly thing. A few years ago we did some hiking in Yellowstone National Park. Beautiful place. And yes, there are grizzly bears, and everything else you can imagine too. I’m not a gun person, but I did recognize the need to have something, just in case.
The research showed that bear spray was clearly the way to go. It is like pepper spray, but an amped up version. Apparently it is more effective than a gun as a deterrent to the bear. Before we left for our trip I tried it out in our back garden. Don’t want to fumble around with the canister and not know what to do in an emergency. I gave it a quick blast and it was pretty impressive. Unfortunately a gust of wind came around the house and blew some of it back towards us. My wife got the tiniest bit on her face but her eyes were streaming for a long time. Later on the dog went out for a wee and a few particles of the bear spray had obviously settled in the grass where she sniffed, and she came in with her eyes streaming too. Nasty stuff.
Oh, and as for guns, America is nuts on this issue. It is easy for people outside the situation to keep laying out what needs to happen, but given the raging culture war that exists here, the interpretation of the Second Amendment and the partisan nature of politics, progress on the issue will be very modest, at best.
The lowest hanging, easiest fruit, should be sought. If 10 Republicans need to cross the aisle to get a bill to pass, it won’t be substantive, at all, but it would at least be a step.
Oh, and I would also stop saying gun control. I think that word is a red flag to freedom loving types. A different word is needed to help progress the conversation. I would talk in terms of gun safety, as it doesn’t sound like I want to take your guns away, but it does sound more reasonable (again to freedom loving types).
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Loving guns safely…?
In the early days of the NRA they were more of an organization that promoted gun safety. (I’m not an expert on the NRA, but that is my understanding). Along the way, they became a powerful lobbying force in politics.
For progress to be made I think an appeal to the mores of that earlier time would be in order. Guns are a given. Let’s start there, as that point won’t be conceded.
So… since guns are a given, how can we make the situation safer? That might be a conversation where progress could be made.
Yeah, like cars are a given, but driving is regulated.
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rent a rifle? Not when your life depends on it. hunters look after their firearms like adopted children.
there’s still lots of people who hunt to provide meat for their family. I have friends who hunt deer, moose and elk annually and stock their freezers.
my last hosted BBQ was a burger bar day, burgers were 50/40/10 ground moose, ground beef and ground smoked pork belly. delicious.
That sounds like one needs a gun condom
Yes, I love a Naked Gun…
Logically this has to be the starting point. Instead of saying “Guns are bad” we have to be a bit more nuanced and talk about making owning guns safer.
The problem though, as I see it, is that the Republican party has absolutely no intention of working with the Democrats. Half the Republicans pretend that they believe the Democrats are killing and eating children in the basements of pizza shops, while the other half are taking so much money from the NRA they couldn’t imagine putting their name to anything even remotely pro-gun safety.
If we can get anything, even the tiniest of baby steps towards making schools and malls and concert grounds safer to be at it would be an enormous victory - and that’s actually rather depressing.
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I think everyone, even the nuts, agree with that. The issue that I see as irretractable without generational change is that a portion of the population thinks safer means better armed.
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Honestly at this point it’s either arm the kids and teachers or have lethal drones be stationed inside the schools that can be remotely operated to neutralise potential attackers
Are we still hunters and gatherers - especially in the developed world?
That’s quite “Minority Report”-esque…
I mean they’re already in a dystopian nightmare. Might as well go the whole nine yards
outside of urban centers, yes it’s still quite popular to get tags to hunt/grow your own food.
I know many, many fisherman who would rather catch fish than buy farmed, store-bought fish. Same with beef, they’d rather buy a whole cow from a farmer and have it slaughtered by a butcher than buy it from a store.
I have several friends here who like to hunt, and yes, they have it butchered and it puts meat in the freezer. They are professional people who have families, live in town, and obviously do normal grocery shopping for the bulk of their food. But hunting, at least for them, is a pastime, tradition, way to spend a weekend away from usual fast paced life, with the added bonus of putting some meat in the freezer. One of them makes biscuits and gravy with venison, and it is delicious.
I am not a gun fella and hunting is not my bag, but I can respect someone who wants to do something like the above. Have at it.
Of course, the problem with guns in America is not this sort of thing though.
Edit:
Saw the beef comment above. We recently bought half a cow, went halfsies with my wife’s brother. Organic meat. You choose how you want it butchered too… so many steaks of various kinds, you choose, and thickness and so on, plus lots of roasts, ground beef, etc. Never done it before but we will definitely do it again. It’s a big bulk buy, but it works out cheaper, the quality is much higher, and you also support the little guy and in some small way take a stand against the giants of the food industry.
But yes, in addition to this, we go to the normal store all the time, or restaurants, or have food delivered. It’s not quite grizzly Adams for us!
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What? In Chicago?
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no, this conversation has gone out of context. Nobody hunts moose or elk with an AR-15 either, that just won’t get the job done.
We actually are in top 15 in the world for small arms ownership here in Canada. The list is surprising. However, lots of rural living here where people actually utilize small arms for their intended (hunting) purposes, not for sport.