Another Kill Spree.

[Coito ergo sum]

Imagine if the Sikhs were packing, this tragedy could have been avoided.

They generally do...

[Coito ergo sum]

Free citizens should be allowed to legally carry bombs so they can blow up the bombs of evil-doers.

As long as those bombs are registered, and properly permitted...

[Clinton Huxley]

Free citizens should be allowed to legally carry bombs so they can blow up the bombs of evil-doers.

As long as those bombs are registered, and properly permitted...

It's no business of the gubmint if I keep a bomb.

[Coito ergo sum]

Free citizens should be allowed to legally carry bombs so they can blow up the bombs of evil-doers.

As long as those bombs are registered, and properly permitted...

It's no business of the gubmint if I keep a bomb.

As long as you keep the explosives stored separately from the firing mechanism it's fine.

[Tero]

You could hire a bum to carry the bomb. Free beer if he survives.

[Coito ergo sum]

It's best to have the kids do it. Teaches them responsibility at an early age.

[Tero]

Killer was a punk. Case closed. If he was in death metal, he could only kill rival band members. Or eat them.

[Mysturji]

So, the BATF has a definition?

A government agency.

Can a person who is not a law-abiding citizen legally obtain a gun license?

Can a person who has ceased to be a law-abiding citizen legally keep a previously issued gun license?

[Seth]

How many bombings today? Just for reference purposes.

A completely wrong analogy.
Those bombs weren't licenced, therefore illegal, and thus owned and operated by criminals.
Gun nuts are by definition law-abiding citizens, at least in some places.

Now that's sorted out, any idea where I can buy a license for a nail-bomb?
Purely for self-defence.

Wrong. The possession of a weapon with the intent to commit a crime with it makes that possession illegal. Therefore, while the shooter may have acquired the weapons before forming the intent to commit a crime, the instant he formed that intent, his possession of so much as a single round of ammunition, much less a bomb, became illegal.

[Seth]

Free citizens should be allowed to legally carry bombs so they can blow up the bombs of evil-doers.

As long as those bombs are registered, and properly permitted...

It's no business of the gubmint if I keep a bomb.

As long as you keep the explosives stored separately from the firing mechanism it's fine.

Well, sort of. These days you have to store the explosives in an approved and permitted magazine. There are specific design specifications for what constitutes a magazine and also a day box, which is used to store explosives currently being used.

Back in the day, agriculturalists (like me) could go buy explosives without a permit at the local hardware store. The catch was that you couldn't transport the blasting caps and the explosives in the same vehicle. I bought some Kinepack, which is a binary, meaning that the two components (ammonium nitrate and nitromethane) when separated in their respective containers, were not classed as an explosive at all and could be stored in your kitchen if you wanted. But when you opened the foil ammonium nitrate pack and poured in the nitromethane and then kneaded it and left it for 20 minutes, it became a class B explosive (low explosive). In order to set it off, you had to have a blasting cap capable of generating enough of a shock wave to trigger the low explosive. The problem for me was that the law said you could only possess the blasting caps outside a legal magazine for 24 hours. Any longer than that and you had to have them properly stored. That meant that I had to set up the project (blasting a downed tree out of the creek because it was causing a jam and bank erosion) ahead of time, and then get the explosives and use them the same day.

Worked quite well except that I didn't have a blasting machine (trigger) all I had was an army surplus pizeoelectric "clacker" from a claymore mine, and it only had about 100 feet of cord with it. So I set the charges, wired it all up, and got behind another tree to trigger the explosion. Went off as planned and I stepped out to give a thumbs-up to my friends who had come to observe the blast, who were standing a hundred yards away. They were waving madly at me and I wondered why when, about 10 or 15 seconds after the blast a large chunk of wood crashed to the ground about three feet away. It had been blown directly upwards and took that long to come back down. Almost killed me.

That was my first and last foray into agricultural blasting.

[Seth]

So, the BATF has a definition?

A government agency.

Can a person who is not a law-abiding citizen legally obtain a gun license?

Depends on the crime. Felonies and any domestic violence conviction, along with being a habitual user of illegal drugs, or mentally insane (adjudicated so by a court) are all disqualifiers, but minor misdemeanors and traffic tickets don't disqualify.

Can a person who has ceased to be a law-abiding citizen legally keep a previously issued gun license?

Depends on the state. Most states do not issue "gun licenses" per se, although some do. Both federal and state law make it illegal for a felon or other disqualified person to possess a firearm, or so much as a single round of ammunition, and if you get convicted, one of the things the court may require is that you dispose of your firearms. The police generally don't seize them, although they may if they are evidence, and a convicted felon must lawfully dispose of them by giving them to someone, or transferring them to a gun dealer to be sold. As for CCW permits, most often they are revoked when the holder commits a crime, and in some states it can be even a misdemeanor that will get your permit yanked.

We do have the NICS (National Instant Check System) that all federally licensed gun dealers must use prior to transferring a firearm to a buyer. Usually takes about 15 minutes or less to run a NICS check. And the buyer has to fill out a BATFE form that the gun dealer must keep forever detailing the transaction. The form includes a series of questions the buyer has to answer truthfully under penalty of perjury about their eligibility to purchase a gun. These records actually constitute "gun registration" because the BATFE can inspect any dealer's forms on demand, although they are not permitted to compile either the information on those forms or the information from NICS checks into a database. But the BATFE can "trace" a gun, albeit somewhat laboriously (which is specifically intended by Congress) if it's been used in a crime, back to the original gun dealer who sold it.

Some states require that a NICS check and form be filled out for ANY transfer of a firearm (California, New York, Illinois, possibly others) but most states do not require forms or NICS checks for private sales/transfers between private individuals. Colorado requires NICS checks and a form for all gun show sales, as do some other states.

[pErvinalia]

Just had a funny thought about the old debates we used to have with seth regarding him funding his own healthcare. We used to model our argument on Seth getting regular normal diseases and/or afflictions. But what we failed to realise was that normal afflictions to Seth are likely to take a back seat to crazy incendiary related afflictions (like exploding a tree onto himself)..

[Sean Hayden]

I usually obsess over questions like, "Who knew this guy", "Did he really have no contact with the world", "What kind of priors are we looking at", "Was he recently released from a mental health facility, a prison", all of these questions seem more useful to me in these situations than just calling for guns to be banned.

[Mysturji]

I usually obsess over questions like, "Who knew this guy", "Did he really have no contact with the world", "What kind of priors are we looking at", "Was he recently released from a mental health facility, a prison", all of these questions seem more useful to me in these situations than just calling for guns to be banned.

I agree, mostly.
I'm not really into banning anything, but it seems to me that an appropriate degree of control would be a good idea.
Of course to some, an "appropriate degree" of control regarding guns is "none".

[Seth]

Just had a funny thought about the old debates we used to have with seth regarding him funding his own healthcare. We used to model our argument on Seth getting regular normal diseases and/or afflictions. But what we failed to realise was that normal afflictions to Seth are likely to take a back seat to crazy incendiary related afflictions (like exploding a tree onto himself)..

And the answer's still the same: Either I'll pay for my own medical care/insurance, or I'll die. What I won't do is steal from others to pay for my medical care.

Well, I take that back. If Obamacare survives (Obama is reelected) and I'm forced to pay for insurance against my will, I'm going to become the biggest consumer of socialized medical care I possibly can. I'll be at the doctor's office every fucking week sucking up health care resources with petty complaints. I'll get my money's worth one way or another.