Discussion
  • Read More
    Misteaks were madeAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 1:30pm

    This doesn’t just mean marches and protests. It means constant marches and protests, and open and blatant harassment of your political opponents. It means protesting at the homes of gun manufacturing company executives and trying to shut down gun stores. It means very publicly making a scene at as many gun shops as possible, and personally attacking—verbally, but bordering on physically—people trying to enter those stores to legally purchase guns.

    Someone physically assaulting me attempting to stop me from getting into a gun store or shooting range is getting a pistol-case or a rifle butt to the head. Your right to protest stops when you touch my person...I will stand my ground and make sure you walk away bloody and with a nice new scar to show your friends.

    This guy’s an idiot to suggest getting physical with any one.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NicoMisteaks were made
      10/06/15 1:38pm

      Yea, someone screams in my face anywhere they’re getting pepper sprayed, and possibly bashed in the face with the window breaker on my pocket knife. If I’m on my way to the range, they’re getting knocked out with one heavy ass revolver (or more likely its case).

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Misteaks were madeNico
      10/06/15 1:41pm

      I’m not one to let little barking dogs bother me. It’s only so much noise in the wind. But when they attempt to bite is a different matter.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Bull MooseAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:45pm

    I think one reason gun control has failed is that no one really knows what “gun control” means. Is it responsible legistlation like background checks and ending gun show loop holes? Or are we talking Australian gun control where guns are banned except for the occasional hunting rifle?

    I think conservatives are so defiant about gun control is because when they hear those words they see federal agents kicking in their doors and confiscating their weapons. When progressive hear it, they think of restrictions on magazines and bans on automatic weapons. They are the same words, but mean very different things to different people.

    We need to start being very specific about what we mean by gun control.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      ISAYIMPORTANTTHINGSBull Moose
      10/06/15 12:52pm

      ‘murrica!

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Hobo EmbraceBull Moose
      10/06/15 12:55pm

      Ive made similar pleas here several times in the past and judging from the lack of responses I get people only seem to be interested in “good job gun nuts” or “second amendment man wins gun battle over first amendment man”

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    levarienAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:40pm

    300,000,000 guns: That’s the problem. I don’t care what laws you make, how many mental health facilities you open, how many background checks you force. There are 300,000,000 guns to keep out of the hands of the “bad” guys. It’s an impossible task. The time for gun control was years ago. This is the end result of doing nothing.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      DashleyinCalilevarien
      10/06/15 12:45pm

      Better not try anything, then.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      MockingbirdHilllevarien
      10/06/15 12:51pm

      There are plenty of things you could do with legislation, TODAY, that would not infringe on the rights of legal gun owners. For instance, make a mandatory federal law requiring all guns confiscated during the course of a class C felony or higher must be destroyed if the owner is found guilty. As it stands now those guns are just out there on a carousel of sadness. You’d hike up the price of illegal guns real quick and bring that 300,000,000 number down fast.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    LongSnakeAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:41pm

    Dumb, irresponsible article that gives the fringes of the pro-life movement waaaaay too much credit. You’re advocating violence (one of the principle tactics of these fringe groups) to combat violence. Not only that, but the success of these groups are marginal at best, as abortion is still legal in this country. It’s a complicated issue yet your hypothesis lacks any sort of nuance and your logic is faulty at best. Waste of time for both the reader and writer.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      DashleyinCaliLongSnake
      10/06/15 12:50pm

      That’s what stood out to me as the missing piece of this - anti-choice groups are violent to the point that they stoop to terrorism. Tiller got shot, PP clinics are getting burned down all across the country, and they spread blatantly untrue propaganda.

      Could the gun control movement use a little more grassroots passion? Absolutely! But it’s a movement built on top of the moral high ground. We can’t let the high ground erode, or there’s no movement at all.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      LongSnakeDashleyinCali
      10/06/15 12:54pm

      Exactly. What Alex is foolishly advocating will get people killed, both activists and gun owners. It’s such an incredibly short sighted train of thought I’m amazed it left his head and ended up on the page. Do we need organization? Absolutely! But I can’t think of a worse model than pro life fringe groups.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Silver Gleaming Death MachineAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:37pm

    And until the balance of the court is shifted, there are numerous gains to be made at state and local levels, just as the anti-abortion movement chips away at abortion access, working slowly toward the big prize. Sufficiently motivated state legislatures could regulate gun sellers practically out of business. Licenses to sell guns could be made nearly impossible to obtain. Gun stores could be required to comply with onerous “security” and “safety” laws making it practically impossible to make money selling guns.

    On one hand, on a gut level, I just feel like this is a shit way to practice democracy. On the other hand, fuck ‘em, they’re doing this to women’s right to choose.

    So I’m torn.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      DarkPrince010Silver Gleaming Death Machine
      10/06/15 12:46pm

      I knooow.

      It’s like, part of me is going “Oh god, I hate it when they do that.” And then the rest of me is nudging the squeamish bit and going “But it is damned effective, innit?”

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      TimF101Silver Gleaming Death Machine
      10/06/15 12:53pm

      On one hand, on a gut level, I just feel like this is a shit way to practice democracy. On the other hand, fuck ‘em, they’re doing this to women’s right to choose.

      So I’m torn proving his point.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ReburnsABurningReturnsAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:53pm

    Out of curiosity, I flipped on Mark Levin during President Obama’s address on the day of, and as soon as Obama started to point out the usual that we are the only advanced country where such acts happen, Levin started muttering “here it comes ...” and once the words escaped Obama’s mouth, he started spouting all of the usual anti-gun control rhetoric, or rhetoric designed to stop the debate altogether (remarks about how “It hasn’t even been a day!”) without even disputing or addressing the inescapable truth of the President’s remarks.

    I kept listening to his rant and stayed around for the commercials. There was a commercial hawking gold, a commercial for the identity theft “protection” service LifeLock. Basically selling insurance of dubious value based on fears of social and moral decay.

    It was remarkable. Americans have, by voting with their ears and eyes, created air tight enclaves of like minded people who have, over time, developed a set of reflexive answers to any calls for reasonable and even moderate reforms that have made them impervious to contemplating that they are wrong.

    I think the American left has done this, though not in the same extreme fashion and not on nearly as many topics as the American right.

    The other commercial that came on that I caught was an ad for Casper Mattresses. Perhaps the far right and Gawker commenters could find find some common ground discussing how they are having trouble sleeping.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      VeeKaChuReburnsABurningReturns
      10/06/15 1:06pm

      You’re a better man than I- that asshole’s voice is an aural migraine; I swear it could be weaponized.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ReburnsABurningReturnsVeeKaChu
      10/06/15 1:39pm

      The thing about his voice is, on days when things aren’t going in favor of the tea party movement, such as the Friday when gay marriage was legalized, his voice gets a high pitched whine to it that makes him sound like a slightly older version of Eric Cartman.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    MattAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:40pm

    I get what you're going for but at the same time, I don't think being rabid about gun control is likely going to work too well. Keep in mind that we're talking about a group of people that respond to calls for even the most mild, common-sense calls for gun control like closing the gun show/person-to-person loop hole by going off on slippery-slope conspiracy theories about how it'll not stop there and next thing you know jack-booted government agents will be coming to confiscate all guns. Trying to match their crazy will do nothing but reinforce their fucked-up world view.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      NicoMatt
      10/06/15 1:14pm

      States like NY that keep piling on extra nonsense gun laws after already being well regulated aren't helping either. The safe act just re-enforced the belief that if you give them an inch they'll take a mile.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Kip Russell: Has Spacesuit, will babbleNico
      10/06/15 2:47pm

      You mean the NY that has the third-lowest per capita gun-related death count in the country?

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    ╰( ´◔ ω ◔ `)╯< Woke and BokeAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:37pm

    Yes, what this country needs is more fanaticism. That will solve our problem of violent fanaticism.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      Nico╰( ´◔ ω ◔ `)╯< Woke and Boke
      10/06/15 1:23pm

      It's only a matter of time before liberals decide they need guns to protect themselves while being fanatics against fanaticism.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      ╰( ´◔ ω ◔ `)╯< Woke and BokeNico
      10/06/15 1:24pm

      If you think there aren’t armed liberals in this country, well, step into my cross hairs.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    Dr. Artemis JonesAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 1:22pm

    In addition to all the others pointed out, I think another important difference between guns and abortion is that no one considers abortion a part of their way of life. Guns have a certain place in the lives and cultures of millions of Americans that will be hard to overcome with political tactics; in fact, strategies like those described above may cause many of those people to dig in their heels.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      pigsareflyinglookupDr. Artemis Jones
      10/06/15 1:31pm

      I agree with this, there are no Cowboy movies about abortions. It’s marketing, for decades even hundreds of years in our country- the image of the cool ranger or sheriff with his gun. Manifest Destiny requires bullets.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Brian, The Life ofDr. Artemis Jones
      10/06/15 1:54pm

      You know what else used to be “part of [the American] way of life?” Owning slaves.

      Reply
      <
  • Read More
    toothpetardAlex Pareene
    10/06/15 12:32pm

    It’s not like they’re trying to hold us hostage or anything.

    Reply
    <
    • Read More
      VtDkDudetoothpetard
      10/06/15 12:35pm

      This has such a MSPaint vibe to it. It must be the pixels.

      Reply
      <
    • Read More
      Hooneriphictoothpetard
      10/06/15 1:29pm

      Side note rant: Why is the Glock the quintessential Murican handgun? It’s not even an American brand. It doesn’t make sense to me that a group of people who constantly recite the 2nd amendment don’t at least carry that patriotism over to their brand of choice for hand guns.

      Reply
      <