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Post by Prometheus on May 25, 2021 7:32:33 GMT
If I were POTUS, it wouldn't be me. Well, it's not just the US, you know. I know, but they won't let me be dictator for the whole world for some reason... ![[giveup]](//storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/FSYefibmKqtatIXMgHZg.gif) |
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Post by papamihel on May 25, 2021 8:04:42 GMT
Well, it's not just the US, you know. I know, but they won't let me be dictator for the whole world for some reason... Well, good luck in your political career then. |
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Post by abbey1227 on May 25, 2021 8:54:13 GMT
Well, it's not just the US, you know. I know, but they won't let me be dictator for the whole world for some reason...
It's cuz you're an older white male! F'n sexist racists, the lot of them!
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Post by abbey1227 on May 25, 2021 8:57:21 GMT
Keep your fight to your own back yard.
We'd love to but someone always interferes.
This seems to go with the assumption that Israel has not been on a somewhat shortened leash when it comes to defending itself.
I'm all for removing the leash.
Decimate an entire zone around the country, salt the Earth in the end resulting wasteland.........and shoot anything that moves thereafter.
Just as a dryly humorous addition........ aren't there several religious beliefs/predictions that it will take the destruction of Israel to pass before the End Times can come about?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on May 26, 2021 18:16:28 GMT
I stay Switzerland.
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Post by abbey1227 on May 27, 2021 1:51:34 GMT
sooooooooo........... you're cooperating with the Nazis?
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Post by ant-mac on May 27, 2021 1:55:01 GMT
sooooooooo........... you're cooperating with the Nazis?
And storing their stolen gold, building and worse of all... creating Toblerone chocolate bars!  |
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Post by abbey1227 on May 27, 2021 2:15:25 GMT
sooooooooo........... you're cooperating with the Nazis?
And storing their stolen gold, building and worse of all... creating Toblerone chocolate bars!
The free healthcare makes up for it all
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Post by Prometheus on May 27, 2021 3:29:14 GMT
I know, but they won't let me be dictator for the whole world for some reason... Well, good luck in your political career then. Thanks. ![[cheers]](//storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/engyBVslEdpmpmdnBwZQ.gif)
When I'm dictator of the world, you can be governor of the newly created province of Oilensandistan. I'm a pretty hands-off leader so.... Have fun!
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Post by ant-mac on May 27, 2021 3:35:59 GMT
And storing their stolen gold, building and worse of all... creating Toblerone chocolate bars!
The free healthcare makes up for it all
Actually, in Australia, it does.  It helps to balance out all the gun crime... Oh, wait...  |
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Post by Prometheus on May 27, 2021 4:51:15 GMT
The free healthcare makes up for it all
Actually, in Australia, it does. It helps to balance out all the gun crime... Oh, wait... Gun related homicides in Oz in 1989: 24% of total homicides. Seems Aussies weren't using guns to kill that much in the first place.
But, to be fair, now, guns are only used in about 13% of homicides.
In '96 (the year of the massacre) there were 354 total homicides, which was still only slightly above average of 350 at the time.
The average number of murders in Oz these days is between 280 and 290 annually. You may have halved the number of gun homicides but it seems to have done little or nothing to stop knifings, beatings, and burnings.
In the end, Australia's gun ban can honestly say that it has saved the lives of about 45 lives a year since it went into effect. Tough luck for the other 290 - 305.
And just so you don't think I left out suicide: the suicide rate in 1996 in Oz was 13.2/100,000. In 2019 it was 12.9. Gun accessibility seems to have done fuck-all to affect suicide rates.
On the flip-side - just to show you I'm fair - a much larger percentage of homicides in the US are caused by firearms: about 75%. I'll bet you thought it was higher.  And I'm sure that you think that a gun ban would eventually cut that number in half (like Oz) and that thousands of lives every year would be saved.
Here's the glitch: Gun bans would really only affect legal ownership and only about 3% of all gun-related homicides in the US are committed with legally-owned guns in the hands of their legal owners... less than 500 a year in a bad year. There would still be thousands of people dying from gunshots, maybe even more than before since victims would have no way of defending themselves.
"Buyback" programs? Those would probably only net firearms that were already damaged beyond the repair skills of criminals anyway. The illegal guns that still worked would still be on the streets.
More facts: about 90-95% of all homicides in the US occur in the same 31 counties year after year and those 31 counties already have the most stringent gun control laws in the country.
It's not the guns, Moose. It's income inequality. It's race inequality. It's educational inequality. It's the inequality of opportunity. Etc.
I'd like for the homicide rate to go down too, but banning guns isn't the answer. It's a Band-Aid. It's not even a proper Band-Aid. It's one of those cheap knock-offs that loses its stickiness about ten minutes after you put it on and falls off.
If homicide were a disease, banning guns would be like treating a symptom instead of trying to find a cure for the underlying cause and eradicating it, or at least vaccinating against it.
The problem is - and always has been - people.
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Post by ant-mac on May 27, 2021 5:37:45 GMT
I'd still prefer to take my chances here than almost anywhere else on the planet. And you've got more chance of outrunning a beating, a burning or a knife, than you have of outrunning a bullet.
Port Arthur was a massacre, not the massacre. Smaller ones had occurred previously to this, in earlier decades. However, Port Arthur was the defining event that led the federal government at the time to introduce stricter gun control. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, memories dim and people work at loosening the strict gun control, because they've forgotten why it was put there in the first place. And saving 45 lives a year - under any circumstances - is still better than nothing. Every little bit counts.
About 650 000 legally owned guns were peacefully seized, then destroyed, as part of the buyback. According to one academic estimate, the buyback took in and destroyed 20 percent of all privately owned guns in Australia. So the various gun buybacks - there have been more than one since Port Arthur - seem to have been fairly effective. And while it might not be 100 percent effective, that's still no reason not to do everything possible to improve circumstances. Once again, every little bit counts.
Yes, I've heard - via jpat99 - that there are certain problem areas in the US that are consistently overrepresented in gun crime statistics. It's a shame that the authorities - federal, state and local - can't do more to address the problem. And these inequalities you mention have been the source of greater difficulties for generations now. Again, where are the authorities... and why aren't they doing more?
I'm an advocate for gun control, not gun banning. Although I do believe in restricting access to the civilian population of inappropriate firearms. It has certainly had a positive effect here... although I'm not sure for how much longer. If people are the problem, then that sounds like a good reason to restrict their access to things that can cause harm.
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Post by abbey1227 on May 27, 2021 12:18:26 GMT
I'd still prefer to take my chances here than almost anywhere else on the planet. And you've got more chance of outrunning a beating, a burning or a knife, than you have of outrunning a bullet. Yes, I've heard - via jpat99 - that there are certain problem areas in the US that are consistently overrepresented in gun crime statistics. It's a shame that the authorities - federal, state and local - can't do more to address the problem. And these inequalities you mention have been the source of greater difficulties for generations now. Again, where are the authorities... and why aren't they doing more? I'm an advocate for gun control, not gun banning. Although I do believe in restricting access to the civilian population of inappropriate firearms. It has certainly had a positive effect here... although I'm not sure for how much longer. If people are the problem, then that sounds like a good reason to restrict their access to things that can cause harm.
Your chances are as good or better here in about 3000 counties.......... just stay out of those 31 trouble spots.
Those generations of inequality are primarily in areas that our Democratic Party has been controlling for decades and promising to cure.
Please, never support the banning of things like 'Assault Weapons' or 'Weapons of War'......as this is all just another smokescreen. The vast majority of criminal possession and gun homicides is with the most popular handguns sold........with good reason.
Maybe if we got back to 'taking out' those who commit the worst of crimes, a. They'd never get a chance to repeat.......and b. others might start taking murder charges more seriously
I'm often shocked at how little time behind bars some of these killers have to spend
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Post by ant-mac on May 27, 2021 18:30:14 GMT
Sounds like I'll need a map. Navigating the US is like navigating a minefield... and almost as dangerous.
Which they probably would've managed to provide, if it hadn't been for Republicans undoing all the good work. Seriously, with the way the political system operates in the US - or fails to - I'm surprised anything ever gets done.
It's not just about controlling the range of weapons available to consumers, but controlling which consumers have access to weapons. Prevention is better than cure.
Maybe if you got back to providing for all of the basic needs and rights of the citizens, other problems might not be quite so bad.
I'm often shocked at how much time behind bars small time perpetrators of minor, non-violent crimes have to spend.
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Rissa
Dryopithecus
Original Eight
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Post by Rissa on May 27, 2021 22:43:51 GMT
I think both sides are wrong, but I’m leaning more towards supporting Palestine.
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Post by Prometheus on May 28, 2021 6:43:26 GMT
I'd still prefer to take my chances here than almost anywhere else on the planet. And you've got more chance of outrunning a beating, a burning or a knife, than you have of outrunning a bullet. Port Arthur was a massacre, not the massacre. Smaller ones had occurred previously to this, in earlier decades. However, Port Arthur was the defining event that led the federal government at the time to introduce stricter gun control. Unfortunately, with the passage of time, memories dim and people work at loosening the strict gun control, because they've forgotten why it was put there in the first place. And saving 45 lives a year - under any circumstances - is still better than nothing. Every little bit counts. About 650 000 legally owned guns were peacefully seized, then destroyed, as part of the buyback. According to one academic estimate, the buyback took in and destroyed 20 percent of all privately owned guns in Australia. So the various gun buybacks - there have been more than one since Port Arthur - seem to have been fairly effective. And while it might not be 100 percent effective, that's still no reason not to do everything possible to improve circumstances. Once again, every little bit counts. Yes, I've heard - via jpat99 - that there are certain problem areas in the US that are consistently overrepresented in gun crime statistics. It's a shame that the authorities - federal, state and local - can't do more to address the problem. And these inequalities you mention have been the source of greater difficulties for generations now. Again, where are the authorities... and why aren't they doing more? I'm an advocate for gun control, not gun banning. Although I do believe in restricting access to the civilian population of inappropriate firearms. It has certainly had a positive effect here... although I'm not sure for how much longer. If people are the problem, then that sounds like a good reason to restrict their access to things that can cause harm. Sadly, the areas where most gun violence occurs are also the places where the police are the most hated and feared. |
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Post by Prometheus on May 28, 2021 6:44:07 GMT
I think both sides are wrong, but I’m leaning more towards supporting Palestine. I'm here so I'll ask first:
Why?
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 3, 2021 15:01:32 GMT
sooooooooo........... you're cooperating with the Nazis?
Basically. Both sides are going beyond goofy. |
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Post by abbey1227 on Jun 3, 2021 22:36:18 GMT
sooooooooo........... you're cooperating with the Nazis?
Basically. Both sides are going beyond goofy.
Get in good with the Commies, too.
It pays off in the long run.
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Jun 13, 2021 23:02:42 GMT
Basically. Both sides are going beyond goofy.
Get in good with the Commies, too.
It pays off in the long run.
Nah man, this new left is something else. The religious right used to piss me off. Now the current left does.... Not all of them, usually the Bernie bro types. This 2 system sucks. |
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![[giveup]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/FSYefibmKqtatIXMgHZg.gif)
![[cheers]](http://storage.proboards.com/7182076/images/engyBVslEdpmpmdnBwZQ.gif)
And I'm sure that you think that a gun ban would eventually cut that number in half (like Oz) and that thousands of lives every year would be saved.
Jun 1, 2022 23:27:03 GMT