Yet another US shooting

[Binos]

28 minutes ago, IrishBhoy said:

Ive only ever been to America once, and it was for work purposes. It was in a town in North Philadelphia where I think the gun laws are much stricter than Texas etc., but if you have the correct license you are allowed to own a gun, but not carry it in public. 
 

One of the guys we were working alongside was an ex marine, Jason Smyth, who had been in Iraq and Afghanistan. He was also the biggest psycho I’ve ever been in the company of, and the only stories he told were of him shooting people in the head. The manager of the company had took us out for a meal one night and we got talking about this Jason character, saying he was a good worker but also maybe a complete mental case. The manager agreed and said when he received his CV, the first page was about his career and achievements and the next 3 pages were a list of guns he was qualified to shoot. This was for a job repairing compressors. 
 

This guy had all the licenses to own basically any weapon he wanted, and kept 2 handguns and a rifle in his car that he said was for his protection. I wouldn’t have wanted to be in the vicinity of this guy if he had a biro pen in his hand, never mind a gun, but that’s the sort of people you’re unknowingly surrounded by in America. 

These are the kind of guys that will be hired by the next trump administration to defend primary school 

[BFTD]

6 hours ago, Inanimate Carbon Rod said:

I also absolutely do not get the whole elected sheriff thing. 

Elected positions can be absolutely insane in some states. You can be elected as a coroner with absolutely no medical training whatsoever, and there are plenty of people who have been. Sometimes sheriffs do double duty, so when somebody is killed by the police, the sheriff is responsible for investigating how the person died, and the answer is usually "not due to anything my colleagues did, nosiree".

Recommended watching below, as it's both hilarious and horrifying. Stick around for the bit where autopsies are performed by untrained outside contractors in office facilities with no suitable storage for human remains.

 

[sparky88]

Training people how to use guns would allow the US to operate within the confines of the constitution and keep gun deaths low. See Switzerland which has more guns per head than US but similar gun crime stats to UK. 

Also the handgun legislation passed after Dunblane hasn't made much difference. There were hardly any gun deaths in UK before there are still hardly any now. And there is still over a million guns in the UK. 

 

[welshbairn]

8 hours ago, sparky88 said:

Training people how to use guns would allow the US to operate within the confines of the constitution and keep gun deaths low. See Switzerland which has more guns per head than US but similar gun crime stats to UK. 

Also the handgun legislation passed after Dunblane hasn't made much difference. There were hardly any gun deaths in UK before there are still hardly any now. And there is still over a million guns in the UK. 

 

I'm not sure training would have stopped people shooting up schools and grocery stores, it's not like they didn't know it was a bad thing to do. And there were plenty trained and armed people around the Texan school, it's just that they didn't want to risk getting shot themselves.

Edited May 29, 2022 by welshbairn

[Loonytoons]

Also the handgun legislation passed after Dunblane hasn't made much difference. There were hardly any gun deaths in UK before there are still hardly any now. And there is still over a million guns in the UK. 
 

So removing handguns has definitely not caused an increase in gun crimes is something that could possibly be taken from that.

[welshbairn]

Australia's probably a better example than the UK.

Quote

In Australia, a 1996 massacre prompted mandatory gun buybacks that saw, according to some estimates, as many as one million firearms melted into slag. The rate of mass shootings plummeted from once every 18 months to, so far, only one in the 26 years since.

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/25/world/europe/gun-laws-australia-britain.html

[sparky88]

4 hours ago, Loonytoons said:

 

 

So removing handguns has definitely not caused an increase in gun crimes is something that could possibly be taken from that.

 

Absolutely. It's not a bad thing that they are banned. But it hasn't caused a decrease in gun deaths. In fact, Derrick Bird managed to kill 12 folk in Cumbria with a sawn off shotgun 12 years ago so gun crimes still happen, albeit at the same low level. 

[BFTD]

We had a poster on here years ago who was for taking to the streets with his shotgun if Yes won the referendum, so just as well that didn't happen, eh.

[welshbairn]

I don't think even in Switzerland someone could walk into a store and buy 2 semi-automatic assault rifles and a huge amount of ammo on their 18th birthday, just by filling in a form and showing ID. 

[carpetmonster]

 

[LondonHMFC]

 

[Unleash The Nade]

21 hours ago, sparky88 said:

Training people how to use guns would allow the US to operate within the confines of the constitution and keep gun deaths low. See Switzerland which has more guns per head than US but similar gun crime stats to UK. 

Also the handgun legislation passed after Dunblane hasn't made much difference. There were hardly any gun deaths in UK before there are still hardly any now. And there is still over a million guns in the UK. 

 

You’re forgetting that in all probability , the US has more fucking idiots per head owning guns than Switzerland 

[Dunning1874]

Remember, more police in US schools will protect children and stop mass shootings, rather than creating an even more dangerous environment for children.

[Mark Connolly]

1 hour ago, LondonHMFC said:

 

I’d be willing to bet that, in that smattering of applause, more of the people clapping thought he was being sincere than realising what was actually happening

[peasy23]

Don't think you would want too many of the folk on this thread living nearby.

[stevieKTID]

13 hours ago, welshbairn said:

I don't think even in Switzerland someone could walk into a store and buy 2 semi-automatic assault rifles and a huge amount of ammo on their 18th birthday, just by filling in a form and showing ID. 

 

[Salt n Vinegar]

9 minutes ago, Mark Connolly said:

I’d be willing to bet that, in that smattering of applause, more of the people clapping thought he was being sincere than realising what was actually happening

The absurdity of the "thoughts and prayers" BS can be pretty easily spotted. When has anyone ever heard one of these disaster charity appeals on TV ask for viewers "thoughts and prayers" and not mention money? Why is it, that in any situation where some form of actual action is required, thoughts and prayers are not mentioned? Paul O'Grady seems to want cash for the cats and dogs at Battersea; oddly, thoughts and prayers never come up. 

Trump didn't ask his supporters for thoughts and prayers when he lost the election.  Politicians seemed pretty keen on a vaccine when covid started.  Maybe prospective Republican candidates should just ask their supporters for thoughts and prayers and tell them to keep their cash in their pockets?

[Sergeant Wilson]

1 hour ago, peasy23 said:

Don't think you would want too many of the folk on this thread living nearby.
 

That dug knows what's coming.

[DiegoDiego]

Mocking the "thoughts and prayers" chat is getting beyond worn out. Our politicians love a bit of "Our thoughts are with..." but that never seems to be ridiculed.

[Sergeant Wilson]

2 minutes ago, DiegoDiego said:

Mocking the "thoughts and prayers" chat is getting beyond worn out. Our politicians love a bit of "Our thoughts are with..." but that never seems to be ridiculed.

Aye it does!