Why Atheists Need Guns

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

I adjust my opinion of politicians based on how my BS detector reacts when I hear them speak. I give them very little leeway before deciding if they are in politics for themselves or are actually wanting to resolve a real issue.

If I hear too much about Jesus or crime and not enough about human rights and green policies then they can just fuck off already.

[jakelafortParticipant]

Reg, your linked article is blocked.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Not sure why – this is the link;

https://www.thecut.com/2017/06/a-beginners-guide-to-calling-b-s.html

@jakelafort – I suspect you will find little to learn from it. You seem to be able to spot it 5 miles out 🙂

 

 

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Unseen,

I hope you’re not billing for your very presumptuous, condescending, and crappy prognosis of either my mind or my vision, because I wouldn’t pay for either one.

[UnseenParticipant]

TheEncogitationer wrote:

Unseen, I hope you’re not billing for your very presumptuous, condescending, and crappy prognosis of either my mind or my vision, because I wouldn’t pay for either one.

If guns make us all safer, and with so many guns out there with more widely available, why is Australia so much safer from gun deaths and gun-related crimes than the United States? I mean, of all people on Earth, the Aussies are probably more like Americans than Canadians. (????)

[UnseenParticipant]

Any legal scholars here who can explain why the 2nd Amendment denies me the right to own a hydrogen bomb (an “arm” by any standard) but but gives me the right to have a pistol or long gun? I mean if  the wording “bear” refers to weaponry you can carry, then what about a mini hydrogen bomb. Do I have a right to keep and bear hand grenades?

[UnseenParticipant]

The 2nd Amendment is legal gibberish:

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

My position on crime and the right to keep and bear arms comes from a place of battle-hardened experience.

Throughout my Junior High School years, I was the target of homophobic bulling including not just taunts, but thumping my head repeatedly, knocking over my books as I carried them, stealing from my locker, and a gang of four bullies attempting to force me to participate in stealing school PA equipment.

Cheek-turning Christianity and prayer never helped me, but getting up courage, turning in the thief ring, kicking one bully in the gut, and a pencil stabbing in the arm for the tallest bully-boy in school did work. I never had any more Goddamn trouble in school after that.

I have been chased down on the road at night twice.

I have been a victim of workplace violence twice. I suspect once was from one of the persons chasing me down on fhe roadway.

I work in a store which has gone without bonuses for years because around $1.5 Million disappears out the door every year, which has sporadic fights both in the parking lot and even inside the store, with unarmed mall-cops for security.

I also live in an area that per capita has crime rates comparable to Chicago (a City, which, along with Washington, DC, Baltimore, and New York City, has some of the strictest firearms laws in the nation and piles up bodies like cordwood every Summertime.) And, of course, my area has a house of worship on every corner, fat lot of good that does.🙄

Needless to say, I am not too keen on hearing about crime and gun policy from sheltered people, whether MAGA or DNC, whose whole life is a Paul Simon lyric:

“Never been lonely,
Never been lied to,
Never had something to fear.
Nothing denied to.
Born at the instant
The Church bells chime.
The whole world whipering:
‘Born At The Right Time.'”

Not saying you’re doing this, Reg, but I’m also not too keen on unsolicited psychologizing from people I’ve never met and who have never met me. I try to judge people only by explict, known words and deeds, not conjecture on what’s in their head and always appreciate others doing the same.

It’s not “paranoia’ if someone really is out to get you, Unseen, and stop buying into pseudo-medical MDM.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

Your Ukrainian friend has a super weapon. The U.S. Marines are now making it the official rifle based on feedback from Marines who used it.

He also has the advantage over both Putin’s forces and fellow Ukrainians. Both sides are using antiques from the 19th Century, which says something both very resourceful and courageous about Ukrainians and something very awful about how Putin regards his own troops.

Needy Ukrainian Reserve Units Could Be Armed With Pre-World War II DP-27 Machine Guns
https://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/44034/pre-world-war-ii-dp-27-machine-guns-could-go-to-needy-ukrainian-reserve-units

Russian Conscripts Given Guns From 1800s To Fight In Ukraine: Report
https://www.ibtimes.com/russian-conscripts-given-guns-1800s-fight-ukraine-report-3461615

[—Participant]

TheEncogitationer wrote:

Reg, My position on crime and the right to keep and bear arms comes from a place of battle-hardened experience.

The right to bear arms wouldn’t be relevant to most of the cases you cited. Unless you are trying to establish your own bias, it’s not clear why a number of them are there.

a City, which, along with Washington, DC, Baltimore, and New York City, has some of the strictest firearms laws in the nation and piles up bodies like cordwood every Summertime.

State level gun control laws aren’t going to be all that effective when straw purchases are still relatively easy in many cases, when loopholes exist, firearms can be stolen from lawful owners, and firearms can be acquired across state lines. Y’all fucked up long ago on this, and there isn’t going to be a simple piece of legislation that walks you back from the edge.

 

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

@theencogitationer – I don’t have a problem with the right to bear arms or the right to use all necessary force in order to protect oneself and family or even a defenseless stranger who is under attack. I take that as a given.  But the 21 victims in Uvalde were defenseless. The NRA and its political wing, the GOP, should not see them as strangers. They are their fellow citizens just like their own children. And yet none of them is prepared to do anything meaningful to improve the situation. Ted Cruz and his mob are morally weak and gutless. I even think they are a disgrace to honest and decent Christians who, like the majority of Americans, want to see some changes made. Why does an 18-year-old in small town Texas need military grade weapons and why can he basically buy one over the counter, with no background check and no mandatory training?

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  Reg the Fronkey Farmer.

[Reg the Fronkey FarmerModerator]

Your Ukrainian friend has a super weapon. The U.S. Marines are now making it the official rifle based on feedback from Marines who used it.

Even with the latest weaponry the Red army would still be ineffective as it is poorly trained and very undisciplined. The Ukrainians are very adaptable, mobile and have an ingenuity bred from necessity that is admirable, especially when it comes to drone warfare. “How do you like these apples!”

I am not happy that they just lost their world cup soccer match to Wales (but well-done Wales).  It would have been great that Ukraine was playing in Qatar and representing their own independent nation. My friend is now back down in the bomb shelter. The air raid sirens are sounding again.

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Reg,

The children in Uvalde, Texas were indeed helpless.

They were helpless because they were compelled by law to attend a school that was a “Gun-Free Zone,” where there was not even an armed security guard present, where Keystone Kop Flatfoot police officers with firearms waited outside and did nothing except forcibly prevent parents and guardians from recuing children.

Also, both the Uvalde Police and school equally refuse to account for themselves before Texas Public Safety and The Texas Rangers.

And under the doctrines of Qualified Immunity and Sovereign Immunity, neither the Police nor the school will probably never be held civilly or criminally liable.

Therein is the real problem, not 397 million guns in the hands of millions of people who would never initiate harm against anyone.

Incidentally, the minimum age for enlisting in the U.S. Military and bearing arms, including nuclear weapons, is 17. Magic Military Pixie Dust, sadly, does not determine who does or does not commit murder.

The following seems like a valid argument:

We must do something!;
Gun control and confiscation are something;
Therefore, We must do gun control and confiscation.

…But it’s not valid. The first premise is emotionalism, the second is worse than a False Binary, it’s a False Uniary. It’s no different than Fundamentalist Christians saying that State-sponsored school prayer is the solution.

Many more things can be done which are consistent with both Reason and Freedom to assist in keeping children safe. I’ve suggested abolishing compulsory schooling and abolishing special immunity for Government agencies, and, of course, there are other possibilities, all worth examining.

• This reply was modified 2 years, 3 months ago by  TheEncogitationer. Reason: Spacing

[TheEncogitationerParticipant]

Jake, God and guns do not go together. Guns exist and Gods,do not exist, M’Lady. *Tips Kevlar helmet.*

One of these things is not like the other. One of these things do not belong in the Natural Universe.

Now go figure out whether you have a self, then you can join us 4-D children and say something about self-defense.

[—Participant]

TheEncogitationer wrote:

They were helpless because they were compelled by law to attend a school that was a “Gun-Free Zone,” where there was not even an armed security guard present, where Keystone Kop Flatfoot police officers with firearms waited outside and did nothing except forcibly prevent parents and guardians from recuing children.

Schools are gun-free zones in many places around the world and exist without getting shot the fuck up.

https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/school-shootings-by-country

Apparently that data set is far from incomplete. It would be difficult to compile all that data, and it doesn’t measure total fatalities or injuries; however, any way you slice it, the picture doesn’t look great for the US.

For some additional context:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/05/26/fact-check-school-shootings-far-more-common-us-than-elsewhere/9944841002/

[Author]

Posts