I think it's only fair that I give you some publicity as well, friend!
by the way - Have you noticed how many posts and reads your thread has?
You authored a Mega-Thread Q!
I don't think I can take credit for that, my friend Ceeboo. It's kind of a hot button issue, right now. I think I was hoping for a less emotional discussion, but I should have known better.
I suppose it's good to air these things. I would have preferred a little less animosity.
This, or any other post that I have made or will make in the future, is strictly my own opinion and consequently of little or no value.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true" Twain.
Quasimodo wrote:I suppose it's good to air these things. I would have preferred a little less animosity.
I do feel bad about getting ugly in your thread.
Sorry about that.
However, I do want to hunt down and kill the new monster taking over the trailer park!
No apologies necessary, Rock. I know that this is an emotional issue for many people. I would like to think that, for me, it's a matter of logic. But, what I think is logic might well well be seen as foolish to others.
Now, to the important issue. If I have any responsibility for the recent glut of GIFs being posted here, I humbly apologize. We can only hope that the newness will wear off at some point and the number of "wiggly" things seen on our screens will reduce in the future.
This, or any other post that I have made or will make in the future, is strictly my own opinion and consequently of little or no value.
"Faith is believing something you know ain't true" Twain.
RockSlider wrote:However, I do want to hunt down and kill the new monster taking over the trailer park!
Well actually I would like to take that monster out to dinner and a have a bunch of brewskis and then shoot him with a spit wad.
a.k.a. Pokatatorjoined Oct 26, 2006 and permanently banned from MAD Nov 6, 2006
"Stop being such a damned coward and use your real name to own your position."
"That's what he gets for posting in his own name."
2 different threads same day 2 hours apart Yohoo Bat 12/1/2015
What particular right is being discussed in this thread? If the Supreme Court has ruled in multiple cases, including under Justice Scalia's pen, that the 2nd amendment to the constitution does not give every citizen the right to own any weapon of any kind whatsoever, it calls into question that one could firmly assert that absolute freedom to do whatever one wishes at all times by whatever means is legally guaranteed, socially desirable, or logically supportable. Simply put, freedom as it must exist in a civilized society isn't logically equivilent to absolute unrestricted agency. And legal tradition in the US includes restricting certain types of firearms from general public access. So we ought to be discussing this within boundaries of some type. how one goes about defining those boundaries seems like a good place to go from this acceptance of reality as it exists.
I served an LDS mission in Switzerland where quasi-mandatory military service and a very real sense of militia military exists; where government issued firearms are kept by citizens in their homes for the purposes of being at the ready if called upon. And I didn't see that as an issue in that country. Ownership isn't really the main question, in my opinion.
That suggests culture and ideology play a meaningful role in how weapons are used, who uses them when, and what justifications a person might believe exist for their owning a firearm, which I brought up in my previous posts. When someone says their main reasons for owning a firearm are to protect their family from violence and to be able to stand up to the US government I think they are part of the problem. That person is not so far away, mentally, from the person who justifies their use of a firearm to kill or maim in opposition to some social, political, religious, or other underlying cause tied to society or western governments.
I'd go so far as to call that person a radical. And radicalism is the core problem. in my opinion.
The world is always full of the sound of waves..but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows it's depth? ~ Eiji Yoshikawa
Seems I'm the only one that does not see that I am part of the problem.
I wouldn't put it that way.
I'm a firm believer that pluralism is synonymous with progress, and differences of opinions are therefore part of the expected landscape. That we have different perspectives isn't a problem, but a good sign...provided we can do so peaceably. :)
The reality is that laws have to evolve with the times, while we also need to be responsible thinkers and accept that if we are to have freedoms we must be responsible for our thoughts as well as the consequences of our actions. So in that sense, our rhetoric is as much a weapon as any physical one and one which can do real damage to society. Let's agree to wield it with the same respect we'd apply to where we'd point a firearm, right?
So are we wrong to ask that we reconsider our assumptions? I don't disagree with many of the nuts and bolts of your comments about responsible firearm ownership made in the thread, to be honest. I'm for responsbile ownership of firearms, and a social identity that includes our shared heritage with the past. But we have to acknowledge there are problems with how things are being done currently, and when we declare our selves to be the enemy (some descending to call their countrymen evil so readily it should amaze us if it weren't so common place...) aren't we dismissing the idea of a cooperative society?
The world is always full of the sound of waves..but who knows the heart of the sea, a hundred feet down? Who knows it's depth? ~ Eiji Yoshikawa
honorentheos wrote:The reality is that laws have to evolve with the times, while we also need to be responsible thinkers and accept that if we are to have freedoms we must be responsible for our thoughts as well as the consequences of our actions. So in that sense, our rhetoric is as much a weapon as any physical one and one which can do real damage to society. Let's agree to weld it with the same respect we'd apply to where we'd point a firearm, right?
I can't argue with this and why I'm not sure why I took up the argument. I was born in an era where socialism/communism was a thing to be feared and that Freedoms were God given rights and every time we traded God given Freedoms for government granted rights we simply slip closer and closer to those "Godless" communist.
Something does need to be done. I don't know what that is. I know my generation got the best of America. I'm saddened that my children and grandchildren seem to be facing way less.
