Premier Rock Forum

The macho man culture is ubiquitous and global. Mass shootings are not. It's an american problem. Weapons like AK-47s at home. It's ridiculous.

I mean, put me down for an assault weapon ban as well. It's just that it's incredibly dispiriting to think how unlikely meaningful firearm reform will be, but at least what I can try and do raise a son who doesn't buy into all this crap.

twelvepoint wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 12:49 pm It's just that it's incredibly dispiriting to think how unlikely meaningful firearm reform will be

I hear ya.. I'm not optimistic.

The last few years of complete public health disregard (Covid), police thuggery, gun violence, and AAPI hate (more applicable to my partner than I) mean we're barely venturing out into The Land of Freedom for the most part, and are thinking hard about where else in the world we could live.

Despite the fact that red states produce little, have small populations, and suck the tax revenues of blue states, Republicans (and craven Democrats) have rigged the government to put their collective will above public opinion and sanity. Until the white boomer rulers die off, government in this country is irrevocably fucked.

Krev wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 2:42 pm Despite the fact that red states produce little, have small populations, and suck the tax revenues of blue states, Republicans (and craven Democrats) have rigged the government to put their collective will above public opinion and sanity. Until the white boomer rulers die off, government in this country is irrevocably fucked.

While I hope you are right that it'll end with the Boomers, I have Gen Z cousins with the same attitudes who are are VERY pro Trump, anti-immigrant, pro guns, and "I'll shoot anyone on my property."

tommy wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 2:52 pm While I hope you are right that it'll end with the Boomers, I have Gen Z cousins with the same attitudes who are are VERY pro Trump, anti-immigrant, pro guns, and "I'll shoot anyone on my property."

Yeah.. there are no shortage of Americans under 45 who believe (or pretend to in order to obtain power) this horseshit: the Josh Hawleys of the world. It's not even close to the majority of younger people, but a rigged system doesn't require a majority.

What with "the state of things" in America, I understand the tendency toward insularity; it's not unwarranted, and overall I'm not one to talk.

But despite a mook or two, in my dealings with people IRL over the past several months, I've found very, very few people have been dickheads to my face. (Other than my family busting my balls, which is pretty much inevitable and not that big a deal.) On the contrary, most people seem to be pretty happy to interact and there's been little static in either direction. The sample size hasn't been huge, mind you, and I haven't spent much time in densely populated or godforsaken areas, or in what could be called "high-profile" or status-oriented situations, or in situations is which I've been sociological minority, under the the thumb of a bad boss, etc. But face to face people have been overwhelmingly alright.

The argument can always be made one way or the other whether people "mostly want to get along." I've waxed and waned on this. Maybe the jury's still out. Politics, the internet, matters or taste, various disparities, a certain tendency toward resentment--these could point toward a divisiveness that might be deeply ingrained in a lot of us at this point. It might still be there somehow in a more healthy society. Who knows? But probably most reasonable people don't want to see America devolve into a de facto "Wild West," assuming it hasn't already.

The overriding factor here, with gun violence, is that we have created a culture in which (a) guns are everywhere, and (b) no amount of innocent people dying seems to be enough for Republicans and the gun lobby to finally admit things have gotten out of hand. Until they're willing to concede the latter point, nothing will ever be done. Not as long as they hold power. It's the first rung of a ladder they're deeply afraid of climbing. Doesn't matter how many people die. It could be millions and they just. won't. care.

Republicanism is a death cult, and as I said before, weirdly anti-American.

motorbike guy wrote: Fri May 27, 2022 10:56 am As much as I hate to dive in, everybody in the US needs to understand the difference between a single shot bolt action hunting rifle:

and a semiautomatic AR-15 style assault rifle:

They are not the same thing, and they are not designed or used for the same purposes.


Handguns are an entirely different ball of wax. I see no reason for anyone to own a handgun unless they are outdoors a lot in wolf/bear/mountain lion country.

Well said.!

One of my brothers in law, who I barely know, was an avid hunter and has amassed a huge collection of guns. He also went off the deep end a number of years ago, but my wife said that, for many years, he was a very careful, conscientious gun owner.

Recently, he developed early-onset dementia. After a lifetime of moderate drinking, he also became an alcoholic and pill addict. (I think the boozing might have started after his doctor cut off his pills.)

Last year, in the throes of dementia, he came to believe that his own son was conspiring against him and threatened to kill his own son. The police were called, and my brother in law went to jail. The rest of his family hustled all of the guns out of the house.

Here’s another story: the brother of a relative was the son of a cop. When he was 13, he wanted to show off to a friend and found his dad’s handgun. He accidentally shot and killed his best friend.

I despise guns.

A few years ago, I had a few conversations with… acquaintances… that more-or-less shamed me for not having a gun in the house as a measure to protect my family from potential intruders.

At the time, it upset me, and I looked into what all I needed to do in Illinois to legally acquire a gun.

At some point, I also crossed paths with some of the same research previously alluded to in this thread with respect to suicide by gun in the USA.

Several of the four of us in the family have officially been diagnosed with anxiety and/or depression, though all of us probably have both to an extent.

As someone who has had impulses to jump off balconies and high places before, I concluded that acquiring a gun was a bad idea and didn’t pursue it further.

To this day I have never held, let alone shot a gun, and currently have no plans to do so.