How to hold a civil dialogue with with gun nuts

Filed in National by on April 19, 2018

The recent gun nut riot at Middletown HS has me wondering if it is even possible to talk with people so utterly out of their minds. Trying to think through strategies to dialogue with these deranged morons got me thinking through some possible avenues. *crossfade to a public forum*

ME: Okay, thank you all for coming. I see the NRA is well represented here, I hope we can keep this civil and productive.

Random Gun Nut (RGN)1: Shut up, Fag!

ME: Okay, well let’s get started by seeing if there is any middle ground at all. I mean we are all Americans after all and our system of government depends on coming to a consensus on tough…

RGN2: Go back to China you fucking piece of shit!!

ME: …coming to a consensus on tough issues. So, let’s see – by a show of hands – who thinks murdering children in schools is wrong? OK. Keep them up for a second. I see we are mostly in agreement with a couple of people over here with their arms adamantly crossed. Sir, you there with the confederate flag may I ask, why you disagree with the statement that murdering children in schools is wrong?

RGN3: What if the so-called children were about to murder you or your family? Or what if they were holding a stick? I have the right to protect my family.

ME: Well that’s reading a lot into the premise of a pretty simple questions, so I’m mostly going to be talking with the people who agreed that murdering children in schools is wrong. And to these people, I’d like to ask another question – who thinks that there should be no licensing, background checks or any limits on gun ownerships AT ALL?

RGN ALL: (Yelling, stomping)

ME: That looks like about half, I’d say.

RNG4: SECOND AMENDMENT, YOU COMMIE DICK! Hitler took away all the guns, you know!!

RGN ALL: (Yelling, stomping) HITLER! HIT-LER!, HIT-LER!

ME: Wait, are some of you with your arms raised cheering for Hitler? Uh..nevermind…Okay, I’m just talking to the people here who think some limits on gun ownership…

RNG4: SLIPPERY SLOPE. GOOGLE IT!!!

ME: …who think that some limits one gun ownership are possible.

[This goes on until I find the one person in the audience who thinks mentally ill people should not own guns, or I am shot.]
————————————
Editor’s Note: I shouldn’t have to say this, but some readers need some hand holding. This blog post is an imagined public forum held by me on the topic of gun control in Delaware. If you see yourself in this among the very small minority of gun nuts who favor child murder over sensible gun control, or among the gun nuts who don’t believe in ANY kind of restriction on gun ownership, that’s on you.

About the Author ()

Jason330 is a deep cover double agent working for the GOP. Don't tell anybody.

Comments (83)

Trackback URL | Comments RSS Feed

  1. Bill says:

    Have you ever thought that maybe you are the people out of your minds? I would like to see the transcript you got your comments in the article from, I watched the town hall on Facebook and your post here is pure fiction.

  2. jason330 says:

    No.

    Being on the side of not wanting children to be murdered in schools by people with machine guns makes me confident that I am not out of my mind. If anything, being on the side of not wanting mentally ill people to have military weapons with high capacity magazines makes me feel like I have a firm grip on reality.

  3. Jason says:

    Machine guns aren’t legal in Delaware. You cant legally own one at any level as a civilian.

    This leads me to believe you truly aren’t versed in the laws of Delaware.

  4. RE Vanella says:

    I’ve always admired Commie Hitler. He took the guns away in Australia I think. I hear it’s a god-awful place somewhere “down under.”

    Bill, be honest, were you playing with your gun while you watched the FB live stream? Did you softly flick the barrel with your tongue? Or us that pure fiction?

  5. RE Vanella says:

    Ha! See you said “machine guns” & that’s not the proper nomenclature!

    Jason, your comment leads me to believe quite a bit about you.

    Did you know AR doesn’t stand for assault rifle? Who gives a shit… You know what the fuck we’re talking about.

  6. Jason330 says:

    Not buying into their dumb nomenclature games is kinda my thing. It quickly reveals the programming.

  7. Jason330 says:

    I love that Bill read this as reporting.

  8. Paul says:

    My take on this “conversation” is to ask to change lenses for a minute. If we look at the school shootings through a public health and safety lens, we must start out by admitting that these shootings are like an outbreak of a deadly disease, like ebola. We can’t ignore it. Also, we would be forced to conclude that no matter what else, right now we cannot either predict who will become a shooter or interdict a shooter before they shoot. Given that, were we talking public health crisis, we would say, what do we need to do right now to stop this disease (killings)? One suggestion would be to ban assault rifles (because they are deadly in the school context and seem to be the weapon of choice of shooters) until we can predict who is a shooter and develop the capacity to interdict the shootings. Then we would say perhaps we can lift the ban. That would be the rational choice, and should satisfy both sides.
    At the same time, I have watched the pro-gun people perform, and many mimic Alex Jones’ histrionics. In the face of slavering rage, no conversation works. It is not talk. It is threatening gesture. It is a tactic. It is chosen behavior, not out of control. The point of the enraged slavering is to make the rest of us shut up. But we cannot. We are facing a problem of the magnitude of an ebola outbreak in our schools. Who can ignore that? We must try to talk. Lenses are a useful metaphor in this conversation.

  9. Alby says:

    “your post here is pure fiction.”

    And here I thought they were stupid. He figured that right out.

  10. RE Vanella says:

    He’s a sharp boy.

  11. Robert says:

    WOW!!! So clearly lying is the new truth to liberals and everything is make believe land. Sinse we are discussing people’s mental instability I would like the writer and owner of this page to be evaluated. Hence, we have the true problem in this country exposed. The tyranny of the few blatantly making lies and infatuations. The lefts agenda is to do do whatever it takes to get their way and this proves that lying is one of those ways. They are a sick and demented people bringing blight to our society.

  12. Coopinde says:

    The whole article is an insult from the outset. ” Deranged Moron”, “Random Gun Nut” and people that dont care about school children being murdered. How could you possibly expect to establish a dialog with that preamble? It is plain to me that you dont really expect a reasoned factual conversation. Too bad because as a father and grand father I am very concerned with the schoolchildren’s safety.

  13. RE Vanella says:

    This guy lives in a fantasy world to own the libs.

    “The tyranny of the few.” Cool…. I think we found our new tagline, folks.

  14. RE Vanella says:

    A few dozen turds turn up in Dover last week kitted out like tier one operators, but Jason’s satire is what’s scrutinized. You guys are pretty dumb.

  15. Alby says:

    The time for civil dialogue is long past. We tried for decades and got nowhere. So now we’re taking the gun nut route and just running over those who disagree.

    As for “keeping the children safe,” we can change everything else about America, including human nature, or we can get rid of the guns. Only gun nuts think the former would be easier.

  16. Paul says:

    @Robert “since”, insinuations replacing infatuations, left’s

  17. Jason330 says:

    Yeah. I don’t really give a fuck about some gun nut’s idea of what constitutes reasonable. They showed how reasonable they can be at Middletown.

  18. Alby says:

    Let’s also discuss education level, using Robert as our example.

    “So clearly lying is the new truth to liberals and everything is make believe land.”

    Two blatant errors here, one of judgment, the other of logic. First, calling obvious satire “lying” shows an inability to recognize satire. Taking everything literally is one of the hallmarks of the not-so-bright right, which nearly always misses irony and satire. Second, extrapolating from a single piece of satire to what all “liberals” think and believe shows a mind incapable of measuring things in degrees.

    “Sinse we are discussing people’s mental instability I would like the writer and owner of this page to be evaluated.”

    Writer doesn’t know how to activate spellcheck, another sign of not-so-brightness. Content shows a tendency to magical thinking — he doesn’t even know the writer’s identity, but wants him evaluated.

    “Hence, we have the true problem in this country exposed. The tyranny of the few blatantly making lies and infatuations.”

    At first, this seems like typical conservative projection. The few “blatantly making lies” are heavily concentrated on the right. But the misuse of the word “infatuations” identifies Robert as the kind of person who would like to use big words, but can’t be bothered knowing what they mean.

    “The lefts agenda is to do do whatever it takes to get their way and this proves that lying is one of those ways.”

    Another example of using a word without knowing its meaning. If that were true — and it’s not, of course, he’s projecting again and describing his team, not ours — it would be their method, not their agenda.

    “They are a sick and demented people bringing blight to our society.”

    I would try to explain “projection” to him, but he’d probably think I was making lies and infatuations.

  19. Phil says:

    Great Mills High School in Maryland, 3/20/18.. A student opened fire and was stopped with in 60secs from a student resource officer, gee, no one is still talking about that and I’m soo curious as to why not one of the gun laws of Maryland applied to this, or actually worked and why isn’t it still being referred to in the media as a win for the good guy with that gun?

  20. Jason330 says:

    What? Take a deep breath, and maybe take another run at that.

  21. Alby says:

    They must be really scared to be flocking to this post like this.

    Booga-booga, gun huggers! The libs are coming to take away your guns! Run, run for your lives!

  22. Jason330 says:

    Do you mean this?

    WASHINGTON – A 17-year-old shooter has died and two other students were wounded in a shooting at Great Mills High School in St. Mary’s County, Maryland, Tuesday morning.

    St. Mary’s County Sheriff Tim Cameron said Tuesday that Austin Wyatt Rollins, a student at the school, fired a Glock semiautomatic handgun at a girl in a hallway at about 7:45 a.m., at the beginning of the school day. The girl and another student, a boy, were wounded.

    This is a great example of gun control working. Maryland prohibits the possession, sale, offering of sale, transfer, purchase, receipt, or transportation into the state of an assault weapon – so this gun nut only wounded 2 instead of killing 20.

  23. mouse says:

    I heard November 6 is the secret gun confiscation day. Hide in your shelters that day

  24. RE Vanella says:

    Will Phil, in the spirit of civility, admit he didn’t know the details of that incident?

    I mean if we don’t refer to Moloch by it’s proper name… Well, you know.

    http://www.nybooks.com/daily/2012/12/15/our-moloch/

  25. RE Vanella says:

    mouse, well done. But your lies and fictions are tyrannical!

    …these scrotelicks are really triggered, eh. Out of the woodwork like roaches today.

  26. Paul says:

    Also, the shooter at Great Mills used a pistol. Had he used an assault weapon, the outcome may have been very different, including the shooting of the SRO.

  27. Chris French says:

    Aside from a few outbursts the conversation was very civil by both parties, there were a lot of points agreed on by ALL in attendance. Calling it a riot is pure sensationism at it’s best.

  28. RE Vanella says:

    Everything here is the best. Thanks for noticing.

  29. Dave says:

    My thought the other day was that not even uncivil dialogue is possible at this juncture. I don’t even bother to have any conversation about the subject any longer. I will use my vote and my money as I think best.

    Litmus testing has always been anathema to me, but I’ve changed my tune. I won’t support Ernie Lopez. That’s why I am working to elect Dave Baker for the 6th Senate.

    https://votedavebaker.com/

  30. Alby says:

    “Aside from a few outbursts the conversation was very civil”

    Relativism at its finest. Aside from a few shootings, Wilmington is very safe, but I betcha the gun nuts don’t agree.

  31. Alby says:

    @Dave: Dialogue is impossible because pro-gun people are not speaking from an intellectual position but an emotional one. They are afraid, and their fear responses leave no room for an intelligent one.

    They won’t admit they’re afraid. They’re “concerned” or are taking “common-sense precautions” — as if concern was anything other than fear you feel justified in feeling, and as if gun ownership made you less likely to be shot (common sense to the contrary, gun owners suffer more gunshots than non-owners).

    There was a piece in the News Journal a couple of weeks ago by a guy claiming his AR-15 had protected his sister-in-law from her abusive ex-husband after she came to live with him. The idea that a shotgun would have sufficed never entered his mind, and the ex-husband had never come around the place so no gun at all was needed. But in his mind, only his ownership of the AR-15 had saved her.

    Dialogue with that pre-intellectual, fear-addled mindset is impossible.

  32. Alby says:

    And didn’t hit him. The shooter was interested only in killing his ex-girlfriend. But you keep on believing your version of reality, because it justifies your existing prejudices.

    The story you linked to is from 6 days before the one I linked to. The one I linked to is the answer to your question about why the media stopped talking about it. Real media, as opposed to right-wing media, stops reporting news once it’s been revealed as false.

  33. Phil says:

    At Vanila, maybe we could also state man’s wisdom is Moloch to the liberal/progressive’s as well… Maybe if we looked further into the Florida shooting we’ll find that the Obama (Promise Program) had more to do with that shooting lasting as long as it did…Or even happening for that matter… Seems several law enforcement offices were on site and didn’t bother to come to the aide of the students as the school admin didn’t want law enforcement intervention… Maybe Moloch here is the school administration desire for money over students serving time for the wrongs they commit.

  34. Alby says:

    Right Phil, it had nothing to do with resource officers armed with pistols facing a gunman with a battlefield rifle. Nothing at all.

    A desire to blame it on Obama shows that you are not capable of intelligent discussion of the issue.

    Given that PROMISE is a program that seeks to end the school-to-prison pipeline, I’m gonna go ahead and guess that you Fear the Black Man.

  35. Phil says:

    @Alby, please assist me with a link to your quote as i’ve not found it presently… As even CNN has it wrong in your opinion..https://www.cnn.com/2018/03/20/us/great-mills-high-school-shooting/index.html

  36. Phil says:

    @Alby, fear only lies in your assumptions..

  37. Alby says:

    Do you own guns? Then you’re afraid. You wouldn’t slag Obama for something he has less than nothing to do with if you weren’t just a wee bit racist, would you?

    The link is in my comment above.

    Once again, your new link is from March 20. The story I linked to is from March 26. Here it is again:

    http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/maryland/crime/bs-md-great-mills-shooting-update-20180326-story.html

    The SRO confronted the shooter and fired at him, but did not hit him. The gunman killed himself.

    Just by the by, every Delaware high school has one of these officers, a full-time state cop. As Parkland showed, they are useless against battlefield weapons. The Maryland shooter had a handgun, as another commenter noted.

    Actually, reading this over again, “gunman” is the wrong term. The shooter was a child.

  38. Phil says:

    btw, was the last survivor wrong about blaming the sheriff and superintendent? https://www.yahoo.com/news/florida-school-shooting-hero-blames-sheriff-superintendent-224054106.html

    I know he was fearful of blacks too!

  39. Alby says:

    I haven’t studied it enough to know, but anyone who thinks this way is going to have to explain how many people who make threats they are willing to lock up for it, and for how long. Most of the people who want to “do something” about mental health are entirely unwilling to spend the amount of money it would take.

    You don’t know any such thing about anyone else’s fears. I said my take on yours was a guess, because I don’t actually know you. And you don’t actually know that kid.

    If you want me to think you’re not afraid of blacks, explain why you dragged Obama and PROMISE into this.

    Your problem, Phil, is you want to blame a PERSON for this, when the GUN was the problem. Leave 300 million guns lying around and someone is bound to misuse one.

  40. Phil says:

    Alby, My Parents taught me to respect guns at 10yrs of age… I owned my 1st rifle at 12 and my 1st pistol was given me by my uncle at 14…At 14 I had my 1st official fire arms training so I could get my N.Y. big game license..btw, we used to bring our shotguns to school every day during hunting seasons.. I later spent 4.5yrs in the military, 3 in the far east…While there, I signed up for a special program which turned out to be a search and rescue operation… 3 more months of weapons training… It’s now 40yrs later and have never lost my desire or pleasure from a family shooting event… I’ve never hunted since the military, killing without need is not needed… I would and will continue to own guns for safety of home, property, and neighborhood security… I’ve had a CC in Delaware for 24yrs now.. You’d be more then welcome to stop by my home for an instruction in firearms training… It seems you could use a little wisdom from the opposite side of this issue…

  41. nathan arizona says:

    You seem a little fanatical about guns, Phil.

  42. Phil says:

    Alby, I have only found displeasure in anyone who’s not willing to work together and get along… I’ve hired over 20 Blacks in the past 40yrs… i’ve attempted to train each one for an exceptional trade in HVAC, I’ve also trained another 50 white’s, 5 Local Indians, a gentleman from India, and 7 women… I believe that prejudice is childish, and selfish as we all bleed the same, breath the same air, and have the same red blood… However, if your blood is green i respectfully request a sit down to discuss that…
    Now for Obama, he wasn’t my choice as he couldn’t make a decision during his short stint in congress… 118 present votes and 4 up or down votes, swayed my opinion of his lack of leadership skills.. Besides in his book (Dreams of my Father) he surmised that if things went sideways he was going to side with the muslims… He was a worldly educated individual but his anti-colonialism shown through too often.
    He lacked American Pride, far to often…
    The Promise Program, isn’t even a worthy program as it’s socialized platform isn’t even worthy of the time and energy to start it up… It dis-ables the students and offers only irresponsibility and disrespect of Law enforcement… It’s motivation for the school networks is to turn a blind eye to leadership and responsibility for the promise of grants from federal and state agencies, per attendance…

  43. RE Vanella says:

    Glorious gun nostalgia! Many men fetishize their boyhood. It’s completely normal.

  44. RE Vanella says:

    Yeah, I’m mean pro colonialism is coming back in a big way!

  45. Alby says:

    Thank you for the offer, Phil, but I have no need of firearm training because I have no need for firearms.

    You probably wouldn’t like me, either, because of my dislike of colonialism and not just a lack of American pride but a positive distaste for it. Americans like to tell themselves how wonderful their country is because it’s too painful to admit that “Americans” wiped out one race and enslaved another rather than pay their taxes.

  46. RE Vanella says:

    He lacked American pride!

  47. Phil says:

    nathan arizona , in my brief 60yrs, fanatical is anyone who doesn’t own a weapon… I’ve been honored to live in 6 countries, visited 12 more…I spent 4yrs visiting 36 of these United States of America.. I’ve been educated by those cultures and States, on the freedoms of America, and have lost brothers to the struggle to maintain freedom in other lands… As a Purple Heart recipient and a DAV, I believe I have a fairly definitive understanding and respect for my loyalty to firearm ownership…

  48. Alby says:

    “fanatical is anyone who doesn’t own a weapon”

    That’s a majority of Americans you’re talking about there. Meanwhile, 50% of the estimated 330 million firearms in the country are owned by just 3% of the population.

    Also, I would like to thank you for showing that civil discussion, while rare, remains possible. And that’s coming from someone who finds it hard to have a civil discussion with anyone.

  49. RE Vanella says:

    Also, joking aside. I wish he really did disrespect “law enforcement”.

  50. RE Vanella says:

    Phil is a victim. He’s been fed a steady diet of American made horseshit so long he’s poisoned.

    I have sympathy for Phil. Imagine thinking cops are good people. Poor fella.

  51. Alby says:

    I have been friends with more than a few cops. Most of them are good people; virtually all of them are suffering from untreated PTSD which none of them can admit they have. Think about it –every day you are called on to deal with humanity’s most destructive behaviors. You don’t have to watch many episodes of “Cops” to know you don’t want that job.

    Most of their prejudices come from the bunker mentality that comes with the job. Most of the guys who have killed unarmed black men are operating from fear and unconscious bias, not white supremacy.

    But of course, as in any human population, at least 3% of them are total dickheads.

  52. Phil says:

    @Vanella, I didn’t stutter… There are many ways to be wise, I hope someday you come to the true wisdom as your source pool is tainted… I see you can’t even use your own name out of fear, sorry for that… Never have I fetishized my boyhood and if you have then I hope you find help… it’s quite perverse that you’d even offer that insight… cease posting to me!

  53. RE Vanella says:

    I have zero respect for any group who demand we rat on each other while holding sacred never ratting on themselves.

    Also, their an instrument of white supremacy and capitalism.

    I’ve known a few in my time. Now I make it a point not to ever associate with any of them.

  54. Alby says:

    Actually, Phil, that’s his real name.

  55. RE Vanella says:

    That’s my name motherfucker. True fact stated. Ask around. What’s yours? Phil blank?

  56. RE Vanella says:

    You have a little fetish. It’s ok. I’ve known tons of dudes like you. You think “wise” and “patriotic” and you fly the flag of the 4th of July.

    You’re an idiot who uses words like anti colonialism and you don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about…

  57. Alby says:

    It’s your curse, Rob. Everybody thinks it’s a made-up name until you set them straight. You probably didn’t have this problem until the internet came along.

  58. RE Vanella says:

    I like it actually. Cause people think they know. But they don’t know. Like old Phil here got that respect for guns and the flag from his pappy. Now he thinks he’s fucking Joe American.

  59. RE Vanella says:

    I demand an apology, Phil !

    Are you a man of ethics!

    🙂

  60. Alby says:

    Before I met you I thought it was an ironic moniker. Because while you’re Vanella, you’re certainly not vanilla.

  61. RE Vanella says:

    It always tweaked me that vanilla is a synonym for plain or ordinary…

    Also, for Phil or any of you other dolts out there wondering, that’s my name.

    And in the immortal words of the late great Bernie Mac…

    I ain’t scared of you motherfuckers. And I ain’t come for no foolishness.

  62. Phil says:

    Alby says:
    April 19, 2018 at 6:11 pm

    Thank you, had a beloved DSU professor friend for 23yrs who was on the opposite side of the fence from me politically… We spent almost every wednesday night discussing the worlds issues over a few brews… I miss him he died almost 2yrs ago now… We would have had a blast with Trump…

    I’d like you to recheck your stats on the 3% ownership of guns, I believe you may find new facts…

    PTSD has been over used… many professions, or even accidents victims can claim it… While officers, military, and professionals may possess it it’s manageable..

    As for latent unconscious bias, I believe we did very well, electing an almost black President, and still believe we will someday have a fully Black President, just like a Woman President… Personally I wanted Condalisa Rice for President as she has bigger cahonas then 90% of most men..

    ps, i’ve taught my neighbors whom are both teachers how to shoot, and now they’ve both bought a gun… lol,, funny how over a 100 folks i’ve taught to shot, who’ve never owned a weapon are now owners… Guns are truly fun… 1st and foremost one must respect them.

  63. RE Vanella says:

    Why no last name Phil?

  64. RE Vanella says:

    Also, I find it absolutely rich that every old patriotic cracker who loves guns and cops always mentions either Condi Rice or Colin Powell.

  65. Phil says:

    So it’s Rob Vanella, Well let me humbly apologize. I know family name issues… Daisey is my family name, here is De is not an issue, but living and traveling around, lets just say it’s been demanding… Possibly you might not start off name calling before your familiar with whom your posting… plus, your vulgar tone is family with me as I’ve been part of the world for some time now, and it only shows lack of respect for those whom your conversing with..

    your turn sir.

  66. RE Vanella says:

    Fair play.

    Don’t tell me how to use the internet, though. This is how I talk too. Civility is overrated.

    Plus, based on your comments I don’t really respect you, so I got my point across.

    All the werpy shit about respect for guns and training people.

    The dumb shit you said about Obama…

    I don’t even really like Obama, but for like real reasons. That anticolonialism bit took the cake.

  67. Phil says:

    RE Vanella says:
    April 19, 2018 at 7:05 pm

    Fair play.

    childishness by the worldly Moloch clan… is see…

  68. RE Vanella says:

    You love Moloch.

  69. Alby says:

    Phil: It’s 3% who own half the guns. The other 35-40% who are gun owners only own one or two.

    https://www.npr.org/2016/09/20/494765559/nearly-half-of-guns-in-u-s-owned-by-3-percent-of-population-study-finds

    This link cites the study and the woman being interviewed explains what that means: 7.7 million people own an average of 17 guns apiece. I know hunters and I understand that you want different guns for different purposes. But you and I both know that a military-style rifle is not meant for any of those purposes.

    If it’s for target shooting, fine, but leave the arms locked up at the gun club. That’s how a lot of countries manage it. You can have your shotguns and handguns for personal protection, but people don’t own those rifles for personal protection, just as a guy who owns a Lamborghini might use it to go to Wawa, but that’s not why he bought a Lamborghini.

    Here’s what I wish gun people would understand: The only time guns really make the news is after a mass shooting, which is almost always carried out with these high-powered, fast-firing rifles. If those guns disappeared, so would most of the bad publicity about guns.

    Our other gun problems are mostly handguns used by criminals, and I don’t think those are going away. Certainly hunting guns aren’t. I believe Americans have enough ingenuity to protect themselves with those firearms.

  70. RE Vanella says:

    Last 2 graphs there are right on the money.

    Hunting long guns and hand guns I think are here. We do have a 2nd Amendment, as vague as it is. And it’s a compromise.

    But these wild death machines gotta go.

    When you’re argument boils down to scolding people for calling it the wrong name…and showing off at a “gun rights” rally… You must know you look stupid.

  71. Phil says:

    @Alby: thank you for the education

  72. jason330 says:

    Did Phil even pass the test qualifying him to comment here? I haven’t been diligent in proctoring this.

    1) Is easy access to guns in the United States a problem that needs to be solved? Yes/No

    2) Other than “enforcing laws already in the books,” list five gun control initiatives that you could potentially support. (If they can’t list five, they fail)

  73. Alby says:

    I didn’t ask. Since it said “civil dialogue” in the headline, and a lot of newbies came here straight from Facebook, I thought I should engage in some.

  74. Liberal Elite says:

    @RE “But these wild death machines gotta go.”

    That’s just the visible tip of the iceberg.

    The sad truth is that 90% of all gun deaths in the US are family and friends.

    And as such, it’s actually a major health crisis. We research the hell out of nearly every other health crisis, but not this one… This one we somehow seem to like just fine.

  75. spktruth says:

    The best one I heard from a gun totin nut in Sussex: “hey we might have to overthrow the government”? Talking to a gun nut, is like talking to an evangelical pentecostal, there is no reasoning, their brains are locked in tight.

  76. Ben says:

    Yo. Phil is hilarious.

  77. J meng says:

    Everyone thinks school shootings are a horrible tragedy, pro-gun, anti-gun alike. All school shootings had one thing I common…the shooters were all bullied regularly. Maybe we ought to do something about that?
    Punishing law abiding gun owners for the actions of deranged kids is ridiculous. What did I do? Why am I being punished? The answer is NOTHING! And you wonder why there isn’t a thoughtful dialog? I’ll gladly take the blame for things I’ve done, but don’t punish me for the behavior of others.

  78. J meng says:

    Everyone thinks school shootings are a horrible tragedy, pro-gun, anti-gun alike. All school shootings had one thing I common…the shooters were all bullied regularly. Maybe we ought to do something about that?
    Punishing law abiding gun owners for the actions of deranged kids is ridiculous. What did I do? Why am I being punished? The answer is NOTHING! And you wonder why there isn’t a thoughtful dialog? I’ll gladly take the blame for things I’ve done, but don’t punish me for the behavior of others.

  79. Alby says:

    Not being allowed to own a military-grade rifle is not a “punishment.”

    Are you claiming it’s easier to change human nature (end bullying) than to stop selling a lethal weapon that nobody has a legitimate use for?

    And you are wrong about all shooters being bullied. The Columbine shooters were not bullied. The fact is that access to high-powered, fast-firing rifles designed for the battlefield leads to far greater casualty counts than would other firearms.

    We’re taking them away from you. Learn to live with it.

    PS: the Las Vegas shooter was a law-abiding gun owner, until suddenly he wasn’t.

    PPS: Kids are bullied all over the world. Only in the U.S. does it result in school shootings.

  80. Liberal Elite says:

    @Jm “Punishing law abiding gun owners for the actions of deranged kids is ridiculous.”

    How, by any stretch of the imagination, is banning assault weapons a “punishment” for you or anyone???

    Which of your deep seated needs would be denied to you if you lost your ability to kill 30 kids in 5 minutes? Your sanity? Your sleep? What???

    And some people wonder why we call them “gun nuts”…

  81. RE Vanella says:

    If you think not being able to own a rapid-fire death machine is punishment, you need to reevaluate your life.