I hate the DPRK (humorous rant)
And by DPRK I mean the Democratic People's Republic of Kalifornia, oherwise known as the PRC (People's republic of California), sometimes referred to as the state of California.
Why such hatred? Why because one of my hobbies is shooting guns and you can't buy any decent guns here. Now don't get me wrong- I am not some gun crazed NRA member who thinks that we all have a moral obligation as American citizens to shoot weapons. I just like going to the local range and practicing my aim because it brings back childhood memories of me shooting things (ahem.. flying bird like things) in my back yard with my bb gun. I don't even store ammunition with my gun at home. I just have fun firing weapons and where that undoubtedly makes me a bad person in the minds of many people, I am not a looney guy but am quite nice, kind, and reasonable. My neighbors like me I don't harbor any repressed demons that wake me up in the middle of the night.
So I want to buy some more guns because my venerable HK USP .45 is fun, but it just isn't a shotgun or a rifle. If I lived anywhere else in America (barring perhaps New York) this would be very simple. Sadly, I live in the DPRK where there is an amazing array of convoulted laws that ban quite a few things. For example, there is the simple Penal code 12020 which amongst other things makes it a felony to posess the deadly menaces of... cane knives, nunchucks, and shurikens.
Just in case you are wondering what a shuriken is, the law makes it very clear:
(11) As used in this section, a "shuriken" means any instrument, without handles, consisting of a metal plate having three or more radiating points with one or more sharp edges and designed in the shape of a polygon, trefoil, cross, star, diamond, or other geometric shape for use as a weapon for throwing.
That's right, the deadly shuriken menace that we keep hearing about on the nightly news. All those ninja assassins in CA had better throw out their shurikens or face felony charges. Reading this penal code makes it clear that somebody decided to outlaw all the weapons used in cheesy 70's kung-fu action flicks. Nice of the state of CA to ban anything that can be thrown as a weapon that has a geometric shape (duh, everything that physically exists has a geometric shape you mathmatically challenged morons! Any shape with more than one side is a polygon you idiots!).
While we are at it, it is illegal to own nunchuckau (two sticks with a rope connecting them, ala Bruce Lee), but it is perfectly kosher to have them at a martial arts training facility. You can learn how to kill with them, but you can't own them.
The really sad thing is that I have friends in The Wild West (Arizona) who offer to buy anything that I want. Thanks for the offer guys, but as stupid as the law is, I don't want to break it. Nice to know that anyone who wants to break the law just has to go on a road trip, but that because I actually respect the law (even the silly ones) that I can't have fun in life.
What really cracks me us is that I can write software that guides cruise missiles onto targets, helps tanks know where they and all the other tanks are in realtime, and that is used by many of the secretive three letter government agencies (in addition to all the nice and firendly agencies as well), but I can't go out and buy a carbine rifle that has both a detachable clip and a pistol grip because having a weapon with these two characteristics is somehow much more evil than a weapon with just one of them. Oh well, I guess it is ok to export death, but not to hav anything to do with it within our borders.
Hmmm... I notice that .50 caliber sniper rifles can still be bought... I wonder if .50 Cal SLAP rounds are illegal?
<homer>mmm destruction</homer>
Why such hatred? Why because one of my hobbies is shooting guns and you can't buy any decent guns here. Now don't get me wrong- I am not some gun crazed NRA member who thinks that we all have a moral obligation as American citizens to shoot weapons. I just like going to the local range and practicing my aim because it brings back childhood memories of me shooting things (ahem.. flying bird like things) in my back yard with my bb gun. I don't even store ammunition with my gun at home. I just have fun firing weapons and where that undoubtedly makes me a bad person in the minds of many people, I am not a looney guy but am quite nice, kind, and reasonable. My neighbors like me I don't harbor any repressed demons that wake me up in the middle of the night.
So I want to buy some more guns because my venerable HK USP .45 is fun, but it just isn't a shotgun or a rifle. If I lived anywhere else in America (barring perhaps New York) this would be very simple. Sadly, I live in the DPRK where there is an amazing array of convoulted laws that ban quite a few things. For example, there is the simple Penal code 12020 which amongst other things makes it a felony to posess the deadly menaces of... cane knives, nunchucks, and shurikens.
Just in case you are wondering what a shuriken is, the law makes it very clear:
(11) As used in this section, a "shuriken" means any instrument, without handles, consisting of a metal plate having three or more radiating points with one or more sharp edges and designed in the shape of a polygon, trefoil, cross, star, diamond, or other geometric shape for use as a weapon for throwing.
That's right, the deadly shuriken menace that we keep hearing about on the nightly news. All those ninja assassins in CA had better throw out their shurikens or face felony charges. Reading this penal code makes it clear that somebody decided to outlaw all the weapons used in cheesy 70's kung-fu action flicks. Nice of the state of CA to ban anything that can be thrown as a weapon that has a geometric shape (duh, everything that physically exists has a geometric shape you mathmatically challenged morons! Any shape with more than one side is a polygon you idiots!).
While we are at it, it is illegal to own nunchuckau (two sticks with a rope connecting them, ala Bruce Lee), but it is perfectly kosher to have them at a martial arts training facility. You can learn how to kill with them, but you can't own them.
The really sad thing is that I have friends in The Wild West (Arizona) who offer to buy anything that I want. Thanks for the offer guys, but as stupid as the law is, I don't want to break it. Nice to know that anyone who wants to break the law just has to go on a road trip, but that because I actually respect the law (even the silly ones) that I can't have fun in life.
What really cracks me us is that I can write software that guides cruise missiles onto targets, helps tanks know where they and all the other tanks are in realtime, and that is used by many of the secretive three letter government agencies (in addition to all the nice and firendly agencies as well), but I can't go out and buy a carbine rifle that has both a detachable clip and a pistol grip because having a weapon with these two characteristics is somehow much more evil than a weapon with just one of them. Oh well, I guess it is ok to export death, but not to hav anything to do with it within our borders.
Hmmm... I notice that .50 caliber sniper rifles can still be bought... I wonder if .50 Cal SLAP rounds are illegal?
<homer>mmm destruction</homer>
Comments
Originally posted by Yevgeny
I am not some gun crazed NRA member who thinks that we all have a moral obligation as American citizens to shoot weapons. I just like going to the local range and practicing my aim because it brings back childhood memories of me shooting things (ahem.. flying bird like things) in my back yard with my bb gun. I don't even store ammunition with my gun at home. I just have fun firing weapons and where that undoubtedly makes me a bad person in the minds of many people, I am not a looney guy but am quite nice, kind, and reasonable
My only concern with your position Yevgeny is that you seem to be making a distinction between yourself and other gun owners.
There is a distinct contradiction in the fact that John Kerry holds a fake hunting trip showing him carting around a shotgun, and yet seems to think that other firearms need to be banned.
They don't just want the "assault rifles." They want the deer rifles. They want the pistols. They want your grandfather's antique rifle from WWII. They want your shotgun.
People everyday use firearms for hunting. People everyday use firearms to protect themselves and their families from those who would do them harm. It is not just the police who are in danger from criminals, you are too.
And beyond even those two reasons, it's not about the guns. It's about the control. Government doesn't really want to be weak. It wants to be strong, just like Microsoft.
Don't believe me? Then read history and see what happens when a people are disarmed. Or ask and you shall receive.
Originally posted by jessearl
My only concern with your position Yevgeny is that you seem to be making a distinction between yourself and other gun owners.
There is a distinct contradiction in the fact that John Kerry holds a fake hunting trip showing him carting around a shotgun, and yet seems to think that other firearms need to be banned.
They don't just want the "assault rifles." They want the deer rifles. They want the pistols. They want your grandfather's antique rifle from WWII. They want your shotgun.
People everyday use firearms for hunting. People everyday use firearms to protect themselves and their families from those who would do them harm. It is not just the police who are in danger from criminals, you are too.
And beyond even those two reasons, it's not about the guns. It's about the control. Government doesn't really want to be weak. It wants to be strong, just like Microsoft.
Don't believe me? Then read history and see what happens when a people are disarmed. Or ask and you shall receive.
Well, I am not a crazy member of the NRA. That's what my grandfather was. I think that in the end what keeps me from being a crazy member of the NRA is that I think that where we have a constitutional right to a weapon, that this right can and should be regulated by the government and that a sincere and profound level of certification should be required to get such a weapon (but that such certification should result in getting the weapon, and not be a convenient way of excluding everyone from getting a weapon). Some NRA toting people ala my ad hominem caricature think that people should be able to buy grenade launchers from Wal Mart with no background check.
Originally posted by jessearl
My only concern with your position Yevgeny is that you seem to be making a distinction between yourself and other gun owners.
There is a distinct contradiction in the fact that John Kerry holds a fake hunting trip showing him carting around a shotgun, and yet seems to think that other firearms need to be banned.
They don't just want the "assault rifles." They want the deer rifles. They want the pistols. They want your grandfather's antique rifle from WWII. They want your shotgun.
People everyday use firearms for hunting. People everyday use firearms to protect themselves and their families from those who would do them harm. It is not just the police who are in danger from criminals, you are too.
And beyond even those two reasons, it's not about the guns. It's about the control. Government doesn't really want to be weak. It wants to be strong, just like Microsoft.
Don't believe me? Then read history and see what happens when a people are disarmed. Or ask and you shall receive.
Ah yes, paranoia...
The least effective argument ever concieved...
Originally posted by jessearl
My only concern with your position Yevgeny is that you seem to be making a distinction between yourself and other gun owners.
There is a distinct contradiction in the fact that John Kerry holds a fake hunting trip showing him carting around a shotgun, and yet seems to think that other firearms need to be banned.
They don't just want the "assault rifles." They want the deer rifles. They want the pistols. They want your grandfather's antique rifle from WWII. They want your shotgun.
People everyday use firearms for hunting. People everyday use firearms to protect themselves and their families from those who would do them harm. It is not just the police who are in danger from criminals, you are too.
And beyond even those two reasons, it's not about the guns. It's about the control. Government doesn't really want to be weak. It wants to be strong, just like Microsoft.
Don't believe me? Then read history and see what happens when a people are disarmed. Or ask and you shall receive.
Mel? Is that you? Your movie sucked, btw.
What "good" guns are you unable to get? (I have no idea)
You mentioned rifles but cited bans on nunchucks and such. You can't buy a rifle in California? Or is it just that you think they make you jump through too many hoops?
Or you can buy a rifle but they restrict you to rifles that don't shoot straight and occasionally blow up in your hands?
I also can't stand bullshit arguments about handguns only being used to kill people. What about my bow? Do people only own bows to kill people or animals? No. I like sticking arrows in targets. What's wrong with that?
However, anyone who lives in an urban area knows why guns need to be regulated.
Originally posted by jessearl
People everyday use firearms for hunting. People everyday use firearms to protect themselves and their families from those who would do them harm. It is not just the police who are in danger from criminals, you are too.
You know anyone who's been murdered by a gun? Chances are pretty good that you haven't. My current neighborhood has double the crime of the national average and it's a nice neighborhood. If you are worried about getting mugged, buy pepper spray and don't talk to strangers. I've lived in far worse and realized a gun would do no good. What, do you really think that by the time you realize someone has a gun pointed at you that you will be able to pull yours out and fire it, especially considering the stress? Unless you've trained for it, you are living in fantasy land if you think that's realistic.
Anyway, if you are around that many trigger-happy people with handguns that you need to worry about it, there are better ways to solve your problem, like moving to a different neighborhood.
But back to the original point: WTF is wrong with them that they ban nunchucks?
A bit off topic... but am I the only one who can't view gun auctions on eBay? I can't even view things like war helmets.
Originally posted by billybobsky
Ah yes, paranoia...
The least effective argument ever concieved...
Do you know how you can tell when you are entering a battle of wits with someone unarmed?
When they attempt to attack you ad hominem.
Try again.
Originally posted by Akumulator
I have no problems with guns and there are a few that I actually want to buy... I love to blow shit up. But at the same time, if there was a ban on guns I also would have no problem with that. They are fun but not necessary. Sure some will get pissed at the idea of outlawing guns, but you're more of a man if you can kill with your bare hands.
That's basically exactly how I feel.
Originally posted by jessearl
Do you know how you can tell when you are entering a battle of wits with someone unarmed?
When they attempt to attack you ad hominen.
So you don't know what ad hominem means.
Originally posted by giant
You know anyone who's been murdered by a gun? Chances are pretty good that you haven't. My current neighborhood has double the crime of the national average and it's a nice neighborhood. If you are worried about getting mugged, buy pepper spray and don't talk to strangers. I've lived in far worse and realized a gun would do no good. What, do you really think that by the time you realize someone has a gun pointed at you that you will be able to pull yours out and fire it, especially considering the stress? Unless you've trained for it, you are living in fantasy land if you think that's realistic.
giant,
Here are 1000 documented stories of armed American citizens using firearms for the defense of themselves or others for your perusal.. I don't know where you live, but I'm sure you can probably find a story in there from your city or nearby.
http://www.healylaw.com/self-def.htm
The story in 2001 of the the 77-year old man defending his home from an intruder is particularly enlightening.
And yes, I've met someone who an attacker tried to murder. In the city of Crystal River, FL, in 2000 I think, a man entered a pawn shop and attacked the owner with a samurai sword. He was stabbed through the chest and only then he was able to retrieve a pistol in the back of his shop and defend himself. He survived.
Just think about it.
Originally posted by giant
So you don't know what ad hominem means.
Friend, I really do.
You labeled me as paranoid, a personal attack, instead of attempting to provide evidence against the thoughts I have on the matter.
Originally posted by jessearl
giant,
Here are 1000 documented stories of armed American citizens using firearms for the defense of themselves or others for your perusal..
And I can find many, many more cases of people getting killed driving a car or crossing a street, but that doesn't mean I'm going to stop doing either one.
And that's the problem of your whole position. You have a MUCH, MUCH higher chance of dying from any of a wide range of accidents, but you are focused on this issue because it's dear to you. Whoopty doo. You have fun with that.
Since you are so concerned about your safety, make sure you get extra padding in that suit of armor for when you cross the street. And wear those little arm floaters when you go swimming.
a man entered a pawn shop and attacked the owner with a samurai sword. He was stabbed through the chest and only then he was able to retrieve a pistol in the back of his shop and defend himself.
Yeah, I stay up late at night worrying about getting attacked by some lunatic with a sword. I better stockpile the arms to keep away the army of samurais.
Originally posted by giant
Yeah, I stay up late at night worrying about getting attacked by some lunatic with a sword. I better stockpile the arms to keep away the army of samurais.
"What, do you really think that by the time you realize someone has a gun (read: sword )pointed at you that you will be able to pull yours out and fire (read: swing) it, especially considering the stress? Unless you've trained for it, you are living in fantasy land if you think that's realistic."
It's a pretty dangerous world out there, giant, as you've said yourself. You better stay behind your Mac screen and hide there for protection. Don't worry, it'll protect you.
Originally posted by giant
Yeah, I stay up late at night worrying about getting attacked by some lunatic with a sword. I better stockpile the arms to keep away the army of samurais.
at least they couldn't legally buy shuriken or nunchucks to attack him with!
what possible legitimate reason could a person have for buying a .50 cal Sniper rifle?
(except for the fact that if you're hunting with it, you need the scope to hit your target, since the deafening report of the fifty would spook all wildlife in the neighbouring states)
home defense? maybe if your property is 4 miles long and you want to get them as they jump your gate.
Google results for "Sniper rifle ownership death" don't bring any stories of happy homeowners secured by their big piece, but plenty of stories about a certain Mr Malvo and his gas-station spree.
for most inexperienced gun owners (ie: non police/military trained), I think the odds are higher you'll have it taken away from you and you'll be killed by your own weapon (or kids will get it) than that you'll actually use it for its "intended" purpose of home defense.
Originally posted by jessearl
Do you know how you can tell when you are entering a battle of wits with someone unarmed?
When they attempt to attack you ad hominem.
Try again.
Perhaps you should re-read what I wrote. I didn't call you paranoid. I simply pointed out that your arguments reek with paranoia. And by definition, they do.
If you believe yourself to be so wise, then why argue on the basis of induction of fear? Surely there are arguments that take the higher ground in this case. For instance, personal freedom. But, no, you argue the point by expounding on the dangers of criminals and the big bad bogey man government. And then you cite history, which, my dear friend, isn't on your side.