Oh lordie lordie the future is not looking good

General Discussion
1

So we got fools like me going around trying to encourage folks to take their planet seriously.
And this is the mentality we are faced with

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There was a time when it was really fun to be fully engaged in the world… now… never mind

2

I think it’s an example of people having too much time on their hands, but nothing to get depressed over.

3

The biggest gun nut I’ve ever known turned out to be a pedophile…not saying there’s a clear link, but you have to wonder about the mentality of people who are so obsessed with death. And guns are only really good for killing things.

4
The biggest gun nut I've ever known turned out to be a pedophile...not saying there's a clear link, but you have to wonder about the mentality of people who are so obsessed with death. And guns are only really good for killing things.
Your anecdotal evidence makes you the expert then. 8-/
5
So we got fools like me going around trying to encourage folks to take their planet seriously.
Keep going, we need to wake up. The UK is half under water (nearly true). Things don't need to get much worse for people to start migrating to escape and then all hell will break loose, horrifically affecting our children, if not us.
6

IMO one of the major problems we face in this country re. AGW denial is the publicity generated by fossil fuel companies and wealthy investors who stand to lose tremendous profits. For example, Last year Exonmobil spent 19 million on PR aimed to convince the general public that their “product” had no impact on the climate. Likewise the Koch brothers are pumping money into think tanks designed to dupe the public by innuendos and out right lies, e.g. Antarctica is actually gaining ice! They’re also counting on the credulous to believe them and why not? How many people do you know who read “peer reviewed” articles? How many people even know or study economics and how we are tied to the international marketplace? Not many I’d suspect. we were raised on the concept of self reliance and self concern. Americans value our self independence over all and that concept ties us to the ideal of a free market economy and small government, the hallmarks of the Tea Party platform. Laissez Faire economics in other words. I got mine, you get yours and to hell with global warming. It’ll all work out somehow, “coal is clean”, “oil is abundant”, “there’s plenty of water”, “the ice caps aren’t melting”, and “the cancer rate is down”. Business as usual.

Cap’t Jack

7
The biggest gun nut I've ever known turned out to be a pedophile...not saying there's a clear link, but you have to wonder about the mentality of people who are so obsessed with death. And guns are only really good for killing things.
Your anecdotal evidence makes you the expert then. 8-/ At my own experience I am, and the facts indicate that the kind of gun culture present in the US has some pretty negative consequences. Isn't it something like 30,000 people killed by guns there every year, most nations would think that was an ongoing catastrophe on the scale of a major war. I've owned guns and don't think that alone is the sign of being mentally imbalanced, but people who base a large part of their identity on having their weapons and how intimidated their neighbours are as a result as this guy did have no business owning firearms IMO.
8
At my own experience I am, and the facts indicate that the kind of gun culture present in the US has some pretty negative consequences. Isn't it something like 30,000 people killed by guns there every year, most nations would think that was an ongoing catastrophe on the scale of a major war.
Yep.
9
At my own experience I am, and the facts indicate that the kind of gun culture present in the US has some pretty negative consequences. Isn't it something like 30,000 people killed by guns there every year, most nations would think that was an ongoing catastrophe on the scale of a major war.
Well, there is an ongoing catastrophe in the US; in regards to gang related killings. Although, many of the 30.000 or so gun deaths are suicides.
but people who base a large part of their identity on having their weapons and how intimidated their neighbours are as a result as this guy did have no business owning firearms IMO.
True enough.
10
I think it's an example of people having too much time on their hands, but nothing to get depressed over.
Nothing to get depressed over? You must be kidding! Lois
11
The biggest gun nut I've ever known turned out to be a pedophile...not saying there's a clear link, but you have to wonder about the mentality of people who are so obsessed with death. And guns are only really good for killing things.
Your anecdotal evidence makes you the expert then. 8-/ At my own experience I am, and the facts indicate that the kind of gun culture present in the US has some pretty negative consequences. Isn't it something like 30,000 people killed by guns there every year, most nations would think that was an ongoing catastrophe on the scale of a major war. I've owned guns and don't think that alone is the sign of being mentally imbalanced, but people who base a large part of their identity on having their weapons and how intimidated their neighbours are as a result as this guy did have no business owning firearms IMO. Would you control it? If so, how? Lois
12

Quoting MidAtlantic:

Although, many of the 30,000 or so gun deaths are suicides.
Oh, so you figure that we should make it easy for an unhappy person who is depressed to kill him/herself? If guns weren’t so available, many of them might get therapy and become decent, happy citizens.
Occam

13
Quoting MidAtlantic:
Although, many of the 30,000 or so gun deaths are suicides.
Oh, so you figure that we should make it easy for an unhappy person who is depressed to kill him/herself? If guns weren't so available, many of them might get therapy and become decent, happy citizens. Occam
I have mixed views on suicide, so maybe.
14
I think it's an example of people having too much time on their hands, but nothing to get depressed over.
Nothing to get depressed over? You must be kidding! LoisNot kidding.
15

My viewpoint as a Viet Nam vet on private ownership of weapons. If you enable you are responsible. If you want to quote the 2nd Amendment - the arms you have the “right to bear” are unrifled muzzle loading muskets that the founding fathers were referring to; not modern day automatics or semi-automatics with their ranges of a mile or more.
Why should I have to worry about the drunken gun owners two blocks over who gets mad at his wife and decides to fire a round or two his backyard.

16

I tried to use the muzzle loading argument a while ago, and the pro-gun guy said, “If you want to ban techological advances, then you’d have to limit the First Amendment to the spoken word and old method printing. Radio, Television, telephones, and the Internet statements wouldn’t be protected by the First Amendment.” I dislike guns and think we should just have an amendment to eliminate the Second one, but, unfortunately, the muzzle loading argument doesn’t work.
Occam

17
Would you control it? If so, how? Lois
Yes, I would control access to firearms. I think the model here in Canada works pretty good, so handguns would be restricted weapons requiring special licences and strict limits on how they are transported and stored and everyone would need a Firearms Acquisition Certificate to purchase firearms which requires a background check by the RCMP.
18
My viewpoint as a Viet Nam vet on private ownership of weapons. If you enable you are responsible. If you want to quote the 2nd Amendment - the arms you have the "right to bear" are unrifled muzzle loading muskets that the founding fathers were referring to; not modern day automatics or semi-automatics with their ranges of a mile or more. Why should I have to worry about the drunken gun owners two blocks over who gets mad at his wife and decides to fire a round or two his backyard.
Those are pretty much my feelings about it too, at the time the Amendment was passed the US needed to rely on an armed citizenry for defence against attacks from natives and foreign powers like the British. Now most of the weapons in the US are being turned against Americans and in too many dreadful cases one or a few gunmen with high capacity weapons can do a lot of damage.
19
Would you control it? If so, how? Lois
Yes, I would control access to firearms. I think the model here in Canada works pretty good, so handguns would be restricted weapons requiring special licences and strict limits on how they are transported and stored and everyone would need a Firearms Acquisition Certificate to purchase firearms which requires a background check by the RCMP. Yes, that would certainly help in the States, but we'll never get those kinds of laws passed here-- at least not at the Federal level where they're needed. Canadians are fortunate in not having the Second Amendment of the US Constitution to deal with. We'll never get around the misreading of it.
20

Another major problem conflicting with a national blanket law is the patchwork of state laws concerning who may own and carry a fire arm. In some states there is an age restriction, some require a special ID card that must be presented before buying or selling any firearm, some don’t even have a Second Amendment restriction in their constitutions. Some allow a conceal carry permit issued after a background check and some don’t allow those permits, period. In most states anyone with an FFL may purchase just about any type of weapon but that permit is only issued by the Federal Government and impossible to obtain if you have a record. So until we pass a strict uniform gun law that applies to citizens in every state that bans automatic weapons and insists on enforcing background checks (already on the books BTW but laxly enforced in most states) the problem will continue. As to disarming the public entirely, that won’t happen in our lifetime and the only way it will happen is when more and more Americans no longer feel a need to own a gun for whatever reason.
Cap’t Jack