big kahuna wrote:
tritimmy wrote:
Dan, serious question. Do you have any gun experience? Many of the things you say about guns and ammo decry ignorance about both guns and ammunition. The ammo used in the olympics (.22) is not designed to inflict mass damage, true, but it is responsible for more deaths than any other caliber. Some of your arguments and comments about guns and ammo would not be dissimilar to me trying to argue with you about bicycles and their many facets. With your type-a personality, I think if you ever had the chance to learn marksmanship and the ins n outs of reloading, long range shooting, and the skill it takes to hunt certain animals...you would love it. Much like the skills for proper bike fitting/set up/build it is a skill that takes much time and effort and is very fun/challenging/intriguing.
Before retiring two months ago, I was a law enforcement officer in SoCal. If you asked me, based on all the terrible things I saw over those 27 years what I would address first, guns or alcohol, I'd reply "alcohol" without even thinking about it. Did I see lots of carnage from guns? yes, mostly in the form of suicides though although I saw quite a few gun homicides. But.......the carnage from alcohol though....oh my gosh...in the form of innocent lives killed by drunk drivers to families and lives left decimated by it. Just my opinion and my experiences....no stats....alcohol was exponentially worse.
Do I think we could pass some better laws? Yes. If you can't drink till you're 21 then how about not being able to purchase a gun until you are 21? There's one for starters (although that one needs to leave some room for obviously being able to shoot/hunt under supervision etc). But at the same time,,,,easy access to alcohol, drugs, lack of parenting and many other things have been much more devastating to our kids than guns.....but I'm not downplaying these shootings either so please don't twist my words. I'm just purely speaking from experience. I think you are a great guy, but I also think you are speaking from a very inexperienced position about something you know little about. :-)
I'm with you all the way about the devastation wrought by alcohol, sir. It's an observation I tangentially alluded to over in the "Bahhhh, medical science" thread about pot. I remarked that I scratch my head over our acceptance and legalization of alcohol and tobacco, both of which are proven killers (tobacco usually over a much longer timeline, admittedly), versus how a majority may conceive of marijuana (and I'm not advocate for dope, either, believe me).
Alcohol and alcoholism creates practically a society-wrecking phenomenon. Violence, domestic (and child) violence, billions annually lost in productivity, shortened lifespans, huge medical costs... you name it. Far, far more than all the gun violence in US history combined, I'd hazard a guess.
It's acceptable Big K because "they" drink alcohol as well. If "they" didn't drink alcohol (just like they don't own guns) then "they" would be on the same soap box about alcohol that they are on about guns! -----Over 1,000 kids under the age of 21 killed by drunk drivers in 2016. What are we hearing about that?