It's been a healthy discussion so far, which I'm glad it's remained civil. I just have nothing more to add other than: please consider donating to the victims.
I will just add two other ideas that I read in arguments about gun control recently: Register all guns anf gun owners- issue certification every year, and make people have to show their up to date certificate before buying a gun. Someone suggested having police stations keep ammo (and issuing a permission slip to buy more when needed, to prevent stockpiling of ammo), but in cases of personal defense, I don't think that would work.
This one reminds me of the stand your ground laws in florida.
Walk up to anyone then shoot them dead, then say the (dead) guy made you you "feel threatened". The dead guy won't be in a position to argue and you'll have legally done nothing wrong and can't be prosecuted.
Sadly, for those wishing to arm everyone, there was also an incident in Oklahoma this week where a 3 year old went to his Uncle's house and found a gun lying on a table in his Uncle's bedroom (his Uncle was a policeman) and shot and killed himself with it.
It happened on Sunday, and they released the boy's name Tuesday. I feel sorry for the family, but, as I commented in response to this story- the Uncle is ultimately responsible for his death. He's a policeman, and they are supposed to know about gun safety (and presumably set an example for others). He knew his nephew was coming over, and didn't put the gun away or lock it down so that the nephew couldn't find/handle it. And then he left his nephew alone (apparently- it's not clear from the story, but if he was there, I am sure he would have warned his nephew away from trying to pick up the gun) and the tragedy happened. The Uncle needs to be prosecuted for manslaughter- in this case, causing a death by negligence.
@LadyRhian: See, that's what I was talking about earlier. The death of that kid is what I call a 'stupid death', because it could have been prevented so easily, but nobody gave a damn to take precautions. That uncle deserves to get out of his job as a policeman. I wouldn't trust such a person with so little responsiblity as a policeman anyway. It only shows his carelessness and lack of professionalism.
Unfortunately, there are tons of people who are just that stupid when it comes to guns. They don't think it could happen to them, they don't care to be safe because they don't think it matters and so on. There was also a man who was killed showing off his new gun's safety. He wanted to show off how safe his new gun was, so he set the safety, pointed the gun at his face and pulled the trigger. Needless to say, the gun went off and killed him.
So I've been at the parents' visiting family, and unable to post or even check the forums. Well, I probably could have checked earlier but it's just a forum and as fun as this place is, I have had other priorities you know?
113 notifications waiting for me. ;_; The vast majority of them were this thread. Just saying.
@sandmanCCL: No problem. It's better to enjoy the holidays now instead of talking about depressing things, as selfish as that might sound.
We could certainly ruin our whole holidays by mourning the loss and dwelling on it, but it wouldn't bring them back to life or really help in any other way either.
Comments
It's been a healthy discussion so far, which I'm glad it's remained civil. I just have nothing more to add other than: please consider donating to the victims.
And with that, I'm out
You're right: it's like a thousand words each.
Walk up to anyone then shoot them dead, then say the (dead) guy made you you "feel threatened". The dead guy won't be in a position to argue and you'll have legally done nothing wrong and can't be prosecuted.
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/boy-3-killed-playing-uncle-gun-article-1.1223270?localLinksEnabled=false
It happened on Sunday, and they released the boy's name Tuesday. I feel sorry for the family, but, as I commented in response to this story- the Uncle is ultimately responsible for his death. He's a policeman, and they are supposed to know about gun safety (and presumably set an example for others). He knew his nephew was coming over, and didn't put the gun away or lock it down so that the nephew couldn't find/handle it. And then he left his nephew alone (apparently- it's not clear from the story, but if he was there, I am sure he would have warned his nephew away from trying to pick up the gun) and the tragedy happened. The Uncle needs to be prosecuted for manslaughter- in this case, causing a death by negligence.
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-12-17/news/chi-joliet-man-shoots-himself-20121217_1_joliet-man-safety-mechanism-new-handgun
113 notifications waiting for me. ;_; The vast majority of them were this thread. Just saying.