FYI 14 dead, 50 wounded
- Thread starter fly
- Start date
Mean Mr. Mustard
Always shouts out something obscene
Mean Mr. Mustard
Always shouts out something obscene
Ah, we've just discovered the flaw in your reasoning-- Most Americans are unenthusiastic about soccer.
After reading through most of this thread, I've come to the conclusion that both sides are posting an obscene amount of bullshit and garbage in this thread.
Simple fact for Non-Americans to grasp about America's gun culture. It is what makes America, America. It has been apart of their society and culture since the very beginning. Not now, nor will there ever be laws banning the ownership of firearms. Period.
Simple fact for Americans to grasp about anti-gun cultures abroad. These countries have had the means to implement a system of vigorous check and balances on gun ownership, and thus they have done it. The people of said countries wanted it, and their governments did it.
Both anti-gun nations, and America are the way they are because their respective people want it that way. And that's the greatest part we should all recognize about each other.
Simple fact for Non-Americans to grasp about America's gun culture. It is what makes America, America. It has been apart of their society and culture since the very beginning. Not now, nor will there ever be laws banning the ownership of firearms. Period.
Simple fact for Americans to grasp about anti-gun cultures abroad. These countries have had the means to implement a system of vigorous check and balances on gun ownership, and thus they have done it. The people of said countries wanted it, and their governments did it.
Both anti-gun nations, and America are the way they are because their respective people want it that way. And that's the greatest part we should all recognize about each other.
Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski
Clam whisperer
Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski
Clam whisperer
Flop pretty much already said that.
Why say in 30 words what you can do in 150 instead?
Mean Mr. Mustard
Always shouts out something obscene
Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski
Clam whisperer
This nails it 
The senseless and horrific killings last week at a movie theater in Colorado reminded Americans that life is fragile and beautiful, and we should not take family, friends, and loved ones for granted. Our prayers go out to the injured victims and the families of those killed. As a nation we should use this terrible event to come together with the resolve to create a society that better values life.
We should also face the sober reality that government cannot protect us from all possible harm. No matter how many laws we pass, no matter how many police or federal agents we put on the streets, no matter how routinely we monitor internet communications, a determined individual or group can still cause great harm. We as individuals are responsible for our safety and the safety of our families.
Furthermore, it is the role of civil society rather than government to build a culture of responsible, peaceful, productive individuals. Government cannot mandate morality or instill hope in troubled individuals. External controls on our behavior imposed by government through laws, police, and jails usually apply only after a terrible crime has occurred.
Internal self governance, by contrast, is a much more powerful regulator of human behavior than any law. This self-governance must be developed from birth, first by parents but later also through the positive influence of relatives and adult role models. Beyond childhood, character development can occur through religious, civic, and social institutions. Ultimately, self-governance cannot be developed without an underlying foundation of morality.
Government, however, is not a moral actor. The state should protect our rights, but it cannot develop our character. Whenever terrible crimes occur, many Americans understandably demand that government “do something” to prevent similar crimes in the future. But this reflexive impulse almost always leads to bad laws and the loss of liberty.
Do we really want to live in a world of police checkpoints, surveillance cameras, and metal detectors? Do we really believe government can provide total security? Do we want to involuntarily commit every disaffected, disturbed, or alienated person who fantasizes about violence? Or can we accept that liberty is more important than the illusion of state-provided security?
Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.
The senseless and horrific killings last week at a movie theater in Colorado reminded Americans that life is fragile and beautiful, and we should not take family, friends, and loved ones for granted. Our prayers go out to the injured victims and the families of those killed. As a nation we should use this terrible event to come together with the resolve to create a society that better values life.
We should also face the sober reality that government cannot protect us from all possible harm. No matter how many laws we pass, no matter how many police or federal agents we put on the streets, no matter how routinely we monitor internet communications, a determined individual or group can still cause great harm. We as individuals are responsible for our safety and the safety of our families.
Furthermore, it is the role of civil society rather than government to build a culture of responsible, peaceful, productive individuals. Government cannot mandate morality or instill hope in troubled individuals. External controls on our behavior imposed by government through laws, police, and jails usually apply only after a terrible crime has occurred.
Internal self governance, by contrast, is a much more powerful regulator of human behavior than any law. This self-governance must be developed from birth, first by parents but later also through the positive influence of relatives and adult role models. Beyond childhood, character development can occur through religious, civic, and social institutions. Ultimately, self-governance cannot be developed without an underlying foundation of morality.
Government, however, is not a moral actor. The state should protect our rights, but it cannot develop our character. Whenever terrible crimes occur, many Americans understandably demand that government “do something” to prevent similar crimes in the future. But this reflexive impulse almost always leads to bad laws and the loss of liberty.
Do we really want to live in a world of police checkpoints, surveillance cameras, and metal detectors? Do we really believe government can provide total security? Do we want to involuntarily commit every disaffected, disturbed, or alienated person who fantasizes about violence? Or can we accept that liberty is more important than the illusion of state-provided security?
Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.
Dory Berkowitz-Bukowski
Clam whisperer
This nails it
The senseless and horrific killings last week at a movie theater in Colorado reminded Americans that life is fragile and beautiful, and we should not take family, friends, and loved ones for granted. Our prayers go out to the injured victims and the families of those killed. As a nation we should use this terrible event to come together with the resolve to create a society that better values life.
We should also face the sober reality that government cannot protect us from all possible harm. No matter how many laws we pass, no matter how many police or federal agents we put on the streets, no matter how routinely we monitor internet communications, a determined individual or group can still cause great harm. We as individuals are responsible for our safety and the safety of our families.
Furthermore, it is the role of civil society rather than government to build a culture of responsible, peaceful, productive individuals. Government cannot mandate morality or instill hope in troubled individuals. External controls on our behavior imposed by government through laws, police, and jails usually apply only after a terrible crime has occurred.
Internal self governance, by contrast, is a much more powerful regulator of human behavior than any law. This self-governance must be developed from birth, first by parents but later also through the positive influence of relatives and adult role models. Beyond childhood, character development can occur through religious, civic, and social institutions. Ultimately, self-governance cannot be developed without an underlying foundation of morality.
Government, however, is not a moral actor. The state should protect our rights, but it cannot develop our character. Whenever terrible crimes occur, many Americans understandably demand that government “do something” to prevent similar crimes in the future. But this reflexive impulse almost always leads to bad laws and the loss of liberty.
Do we really want to live in a world of police checkpoints, surveillance cameras, and metal detectors? Do we really believe government can provide total security? Do we want to involuntarily commit every disaffected, disturbed, or alienated person who fantasizes about violence? Or can we accept that liberty is more important than the illusion of state-provided security?
Freedom is not defined by safety. Freedom is defined by the ability of citizens to live without government interference. Government cannot create a world without risks, nor would we really wish to live in such a fictional place. Only a totalitarian society would even claim absolute safety as a worthy ideal, because it would require total state control over its citizens’ lives. Liberty has meaning only if we still believe in it when terrible things happen and a false government security blanket beckons.
Yeah, if you completely disregard that many states are so lax with gun ownership rules that they aren't trying to protect their citizens in any way really. Just that little tidbit and it nails it for sure. And no, freedom isn't about non-government intervention, without government intervention often you would have no freedom. When someone is oppressing you, harassing you or otherwise making your life miserable you go to the police, the law, the government to help out if you're unable to help yourself. That's freedom, freedom from having to put up with assholes regardless of whether you can stand up to them as an individual or not.
Wut?
We weren't 'given' guns. It's not like they just hand them out on streetcorners.
And no, guns were part of how american survived, through HUNTING. Not for self defense against the government. How retarded.
PS, at the time, the only government american's needed defense from was YOURS. So, basically, England is the reason American culture has been one of guns since it's founding.
What an idiot. Fuck a government that tells me what I have to wear every day. That's just as bad as the pinko liberals trying to prevent ANYONE from carrying a gun.
