Redneck shoots up Pensacola with AK-47

[FBM]

We should abolish everything but single celled amoeba.

Amoebic dysentery.

Prions FTW

Yep, them electric cars can still run over sumboddy.

[Wumbologist]

nobody has ever been able to prove a causative link between legal firearms ownership and violent crime.

A few months ago I would have disagreed with you. I have done more reading since then.

Results in Australia are mixed.

• Since gun control laws were tightened considerably in 1996, suicide by firearms dropped from 22% to 7%, but suicide by other means increased to the extent that the overall rate actually increased slightly for a while.
• Homicide rates are currently at 1.2 per 100,000. When the gun-controls were tightened they stood at 1.6. Looks good, but in the five years leading up to the legislative changes the rates dropped steadily from 1.9 to 1.6 and in the following five years they plateaued there. Those figures are not useful to supporters of gun control.

Right, gun control hasn't done anything to change the decreasing homicide trend that existed before it was put in place.

[*]There were 13 massacres in the 18 years prior to the law changes and none in the 14 years since. I think those figures do support gun control, at least in so far as private ownership of automatic and semi automatic weapons has been all but abolished.[/list]

[/quote]

Massacres are exceptional events that are much harder to predict and control than regular run of the mill homicides. They're typically carried out by very deranged people who are hell-bent on causing as much harm as possible. Yes, they can, and often do, use firearms for this purpose, but let's not forget that there are many other ways a determined psychopath can carry out a massacre:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Chine ... ol_attacks
In total, out of the Chinese school attacks listed on Wikipedia, 21 people were killed. With knives. And there may be many more, as there is evidence that the Chinese government was interested in clamping down on the reporting of these attacks. There was also a similar attack in Belgium in 2009.

Knives not your bag? How about vehicles?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Hebei_tractor_rampage
17 killed with a shovel loader in China

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karst_Tate ... e_attacker
5 killed with car in an attempt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jerusalem_bulldozer_attack
3 killed in attack with front end loader


And of course, let's not forget explosives. Fully-automatic firearms are not difficult to acquire in many places in the Middle East, yet many prefer suicide bombings to achieve the maximum damage. Timothy McVeigh owned guns, yet when he wanted to kill, he used fertilizer and fuel oil in a Ryder truck to kill hundreds in Oklahoma City. Hell, even the Columbine Massacre was intended to be far more deadly, it's just that the bombs they had set up as their "main" attack had failed to go off.

Taking away individual methods for people to kill others is not an effective solution, especially for massacres. Where there's a will, there's a way. A far more effective solution would be to track down the root causes of such attacks and work towards prevention, rather than reactively trying to ban anything that someone has used to kill before.

[Wumbologist]

The spastic line of reasoning that a gun doesn't somehow make it easier to kill and terrorise people.

Yet you can't show that guns make people kill others more often than they would without. And guns also make it easier for the law-abiding to defend against attackers who wish to kill and terrorize. In the US, depending on which study you believe, there are hundreds of thousands to millions of defensive gun uses every year, the majority of which are resolved without a shot ever being fired.

[FBM]

Ah. We need to outlaw bare hands, too. Too dangerous in the wrong...ehm...hands.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

Famous last words: "It's okay, it's unloaded. Now watch this."

[FBM]

If you outlaw killing, then only outlaws will be killers. Gummits will never go for that.

[pErvinalia]

The spastic line of reasoning that a gun doesn't somehow make it easier to kill and terrorise people.

Yet you can't show that guns make people kill others more often than they would without.

I don't need to. It's not a point I am making.

And guns also make it easier for the law-abiding to defend against attackers who wish to kill and terrorize. In the US, depending on which study you believe, there are hundreds of thousands to millions of defensive gun uses every year, the majority of which are resolved without a shot ever being fired.

Sure. But it doesn't change your flakey reasoning from above.

I'm all for stats backing up the various positions in these arguments. What I can't stand is stupid lines of reasoning like the one you proffered above.

[Coito ergo sum]

LOL - the guy called himself a "Sovereign Citizen" --

According to a 2010 FBI briefing paper: "Sovereign citizens are anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States. As a result, they believe they don't have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments or law enforcement."

[Clinton Huxley]

LOL - the guy called himself a "Sovereign Citizen" --

According to a 2010 FBI briefing paper: "Sovereign citizens are anti-government extremists who believe that even though they physically reside in this country, they are separate or 'sovereign' from the United States. As a result, they believe they don't have to answer to any government authority, including courts, taxing entities, motor vehicle departments or law enforcement."

Do
Someone should annexe him

[Coito ergo sum]

LOL - the State of Florida ought to exercise its "right of conquest."

[Gallstones]

Is a .32 big enough to kill someone with; say point blank to the heart?

[laklak]

Oh yeah, a .32 will do just fine. Apparently the mafia's whack weapon of choice is a .22 to the back of the head.

Brazil nuts. Need to ban those things. I damn near killed myself trying to bust one open with a hammer, damn thing shot up and hit me in the cheek.

[FBM]

Yeah, we gotta get rid of anything that can be used as a poison, too. Like salt.

Ah...water. That's clearly gotta go. You can drown somebody with that stuff. Too dangerous to be in the hands of the public.

[laklak]

Damn dihydrogen monoxide - it's truly dangerous stuff. Have to set up public water stations, allow them to only take 3 ounces at a time in see-through plastic bottles. Save time at the airport, too.

What am I saying? Airport? Shit, you can crash airplanes into anything you want! BAN THEM.

Toilet paper. Like Arlo said, you could bend the bars, roll the toilet paper out the window, slide down the roll and have an escape. Can't have that.

[Gallstones]

Oh yeah, a .32 will do just fine. Apparently the mafia's whack weapon of choice is a .22 to the back of the head.

Brazil nuts. Need to ban those things. I damn near killed myself trying to bust one open with a hammer, damn thing shot up and hit me in the cheek.

Get yourself a hyacinth macaw, they can crack 'em.