The 2nd Amendment in the 21st Century

[ajax18]

Because of the gun culture, life in the US will increasingly be defined as nasty, brutish, and short.

If you think life would be better without the 2nd amendment, move to Mexico. They have no 2nd amendment there. Tell me how safe and secure you feel when El Chapo hears there's a defenseless Gringo with a plump wallet that just moved into his barrio.

[Doctor Steuss]

Because of the gun culture, life in the US will increasingly be defined as nasty, brutish, and short.

If you think life would be better without the 2nd amendment, move to Mexico. They have no 2nd amendment there. Tell me how safe and secure you feel when El Chapo hears there's a defenseless Gringo with a plump wallet that just moved into his barrio.

Mexico has a lower firearm-related death rate than the US, for what it's worth.

[Chap]

Because of the gun culture, life in the US will increasingly be defined as nasty, brutish, and short.

If you think life would be better without the 2nd amendment, move to Mexico. They have no 2nd amendment there. Tell me how safe and secure you feel when El Chapo hears there's a defenseless Gringo with a plump wallet that just moved into his barrio.

Or you could try moving to the kind of country I live in (despite the name, please don't confuse my with the person referred to by ajax). No Second Amendment, much less gun crime than the US, and generally a lot less violent.

[Chap]

If I could suddenly press a button and transform the countries where I live into societies like the US where (amirite?) there is more than one gun for every adult in the population, and a kids just turned 18 can walk into a shop and buy a military grade assault rifle and hundreds of rounds of ammunition, then - HOW EXACTLY WOULD I BE BETTER OFF?

I don’t think you’d be better off. Like most of us you seem to possess sense and empathy, so the thought of living with a statistically nominal event is still gut wrenching and barbaric. However, let’s look at it like a selfish paranoid asshole who is convinced if we lose our guns they’ll be rounded up by demonrat communists and gulag’d to death.

I suppose their question might be along the lines of how much should we fear mass shootings in the US? This comment might be a bit much for some people in the aftermath of the Texas Ohio Pennsylvania Michigan Colorado Arizona Nevada California shooting, but try and bear with it. Since, say, 2012 there have been 1500 deaths from mass shootings. These are 1500 people, with hopes and dreams and unquantifiable experiences. That being said, this is .0000045% of the us population (I might be off by a zero or whatever, I’m terrible at math). It’s an insanely improbable number to worry about, you might as well worry about being eaten by a shark in a kiddie pool.

You’re 76 x as likely to die from drunk driving. 2775 x as likely to die from obesity-related issues. 4300 x as likely to die from cancer. All of that is fairly preventable with good choices, as is with gun ownership. One can argue nuances with regard to choice and consequences, but you can’t with statistics.

In other words, don’t worry about it, man. You’ll be fine. And if not, oh well.

- Doc

Thanks for the nice post. But I do think you have me slightly wrong. Ajax seems to think it would be terrible and dangerous to live in a society where he could not freely own firearms. I am simply pointing out that I do live in such a society, and I feel in no danger as a result. Hence I ask what I would gain if the society I live in suddenly went over to unrestricted gun ownership on the US model.

So far neither ajax not anybody else has given me an answer.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

Hrm. What do you gain. Man, that’s a tough one because you ostensibly feel safer and healthier than the average American does I’d imagine. I mean, you’re not the constantly bitching about minorities, opposition parties, or morality gone askew, so whatever it is that Xanax thinks he has in his part of the world, it’s clearly driving him insane.

Bah bah bah …. phbbbt …. hrrrrrrmmmmm … Ah! I got it.

You’d gain the ability to kill someone almost instantly, if you were so inclined! And how does that make you better off? Because you’re actually an international assassin with dual citizenship with Brazil, which has no extradition agreements in place with the US, and you have voce tem esses caras em seus bolsos.

- Doc

[Res Ipsa]

Hrm. What do you gain. Man, that’s a tough one because you ostensibly feel safer and healthier than the average American does I’d imagine. I mean, you’re not the constantly bitching about minorities, opposition parties, or morality gone askew, so whatever it is that Xanax thinks he has in his part of the world, it’s clearly driving him insane.

Bah bah bah …. phbbbt …. hrrrrrrmmmmm … Ah! I got it.

You’d gain the ability to kill someone almost instantly, if you were so inclined! And how does that make you better off? Because you’re actually an international assassin with dual citizenship with Brazil, which has no extradition agreements in place with the US, and you have voce tem esses caras 'em seus bolsos.

- Doc

Definitely gets a 10.0 for artistic impression. And the way you stuck the landing....magnifico!

[Res Ipsa]

Because of the gun culture, life in the US will increasingly be defined as nasty, brutish, and short.

If you think life would be better without the 2nd amendment, move to Mexico. They have no 2nd amendment there. Tell me how safe and secure you feel when El Chapo hears there's a defenseless Gringo with a plump wallet that just moved into his barrio.

El Chapo doesn't live in a barrio. He lives in El Supermax.

[MeDotOrg]

Because of the gun culture, life in the US will increasingly be defined as nasty, brutish, and short.

If you think life would be better without the 2nd amendment, move to Mexico. They have no 2nd amendment there. Tell me how safe and secure you feel when El Chapo hears there's a defenseless Gringo with a plump wallet that just moved into his barrio.

I don't think the only model for a country without a 2nd Amendment is Mexico. Are you saying the only thing that keeps us from being overrun by the U.S. version of Mexican Drug Lords is the fact that we let an 18 year old buy assault rifles and 6,000 rounds of ammunition?

And again, if we were writing the Constitution today, what would the words "well-regulated militia" mean in the context of defending the United States in the 21st Century?

[Marcus]

Suppose we turn this around. I am very much appreciative of the fact that the drivers on the roads i use are, for the most part, of an appropriate age, have a license to drive which they got after fully identifying themselves and taking both written and practical tests, and then are driving vehicles that are typically registered, fully identified, and, most importantly, insured. Also, police regularly keep an eye out for nonseatbelted, unlicensed, unregistered, impaired and/or distracted drivers, imposing fines and penalties that hopefully discourage those behaviors.

All of that makes me considerably more confident in sharing the space with cars and drivers.

Almost NONE of that carries over to the same extent to gun purchasing, ownership, and use.

[Res Ipsa]

If you think life would be better without the 2nd amendment, move to Mexico. They have no 2nd amendment there. Tell me how safe and secure you feel when El Chapo hears there's a defenseless Gringo with a plump wallet that just moved into his barrio.

I don't think the only model for a country without a 2nd Amendment is Mexico. Are you saying the only thing that keeps us from being overrun by the U.S. version of Mexican Drug Lords is the fact that we let an 18 year old buy assault rifles and 6,000 rounds of ammunition?

And again, if we were writing the Constitution today, what would the words "well-regulated militia" mean in the context of defending the United States in the 21st Century?

Yeah, curious he didn't pick England or Australia or even Canada.