The right to bear arms is codified into the very foundation of the USA. It is just as important, if not more important than Freedom of speech and expression because without the means to defend your rights there is nothing stopping someone from taking them from you. Relying on the kindness of tyrants has never been a good idea.
Yeah I guess you're right, it's hard to get guns in other parts of the world so no one ever gets killed...
EXACTLY!
to those people who use the weak 'Guns don't kill people' arguments... what exactly are guns made to do then... spread joy, happiness and life?
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Originally Posted by Rageaholic
The right to bear arms is codified into the very foundation of the USA. It is just as important, if not more important than Freedom of speech and expression because without the means to defend your rights there is nothing stopping someone from taking them from you. Relying on the kindness of tyrants has never been a good idea.
Who's to say that the gun carrying Americans AREN'T the tyrants? All this talk about rights to carry weapons, what about the rights of those that get massacred by the guns and those that could be saved by implementing a gun free zone across the whole USA... imagine how many AMERICAN lives could be saved.
Besides, even with this fundamental 'right', the US government HAS grown tyrannical and dictatorship-like
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Originally Posted by d.rocky
The second AMENDMENT, therefore the constitution has been changed in the past, who's to say it shouldn't be changed again, and on that note, which amendment gave women the right to vote?
Imagine how many lives we could save if we banned motor vehicles, tobacco products, alcohol, unhealthy food and sex outside of marriage. A lot more than if we banned firearms.
Imagine how many lives we could save if we banned motor vehicles
Imagine a United States back in the preindustrial revolution... actually that sounds alright to me, no more American 'supremacy' threatening to plunge the whole world into a nuclear winter
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Originally Posted by Rageaholic
tobacco products, alcohol, unhealthy food
I have to agree on those and I agree they should be banned, the reason they are not banned is because they are too profitable (isn't it always profit over lives though, that's called capitalism)
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Originally Posted by Rageaholic
and sex outside of marriage
uhm, what's that got to do with preventing deaths? Although having said that, religion should be banned worldwide, that would save a hell of a lot of lives across the globe, no more putting women to death for refusing marriage, no more killing of LGBT+ individuals, no more 'holy wars' and a reduced incentive to fight with other countries or indeed your neighbour
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Originally Posted by Rageaholic
A lot more than if we banned firearms.
nope. look at the deaths in other 'developed' (and a fair few 'developing' ones too) countries around the world... a lot less, the only difference between them and the US (since they all share a capitalist culture), the gun culture only found in America
All those things I listed kill more Americans per year than firearms.
So ban 'em all then (and guns)? include vehicles if you don't mind walking everywhere. Besides, religion kills (and has killed) more people worldwide than anything else, so shouldn't that be the thing that is got rid of first?
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Originally Posted by Rageaholic
Sex outside of marriage relates to the contraction of STDs.
But if you have an STI, then any act will transfer it? Or the use of contaminated drugs needles, or accidents. marriage seems to have little impact.
The problem with banning anything is then someone has to enforce that ban, generally people with guns or the ability to call on people with guns. So it's ok to have a heavily armed corrupt government telling people what they can and can't do but an individual with a gun is scary? Add up every mass shooting of all time and I guarantee it won't add up to even one day of state sanctioned murder
The problem with banning anything is then someone has to enforce that ban, generally people with guns or the ability to call on people with guns. So it's ok to have a heavily armed corrupt government telling people what they can and can't do but an individual with a gun is scary? Add up every mass shooting of all time and I guarantee it won't add up to even one day of state sanctioned murder
Beyond that, You're always going to have danger in the world. This fear of guns is irrational at best when compared to all the other things that can kill you that you use every day.
I mean we could possibly take the danger out of every day life, put everyone in their own individual rooms totally padded and only let them be fed some kind of nutritionally balanced loaf to keep up their caloric intake, but what kind of life is that?
I don't want to live in a nanny state where everything that could possibly be bad for me is banned, I want to make that choice for myself as much as reasonably possible. I own several guns and shoot them weekly, I like them and it's my right to have them, if anything the gun bans we have on the books now are unconstitutional and should be repealed, in fact the only control legislation I personally agree with is the Lautenberg Amendment which banned people convicted of domestic violence from owning a firearm.
I don't think people in Europe actually dislike Americans per se, rather their attitudes and the 'American dream'. Freedom to carry guns, homophobia, capitalism, imperialism and a love of war, stuff like that. I know I personally can find their attitudes towards certain things, such as anyone who's not christian or those who are LGBT+ as disgusting and archaic, and don't even get me started on their love of their military forces and military supremacy. The one day-to-day thing about Americans (not America as a whole) that really annoys me though is 'aluminum' (aluminium), 'gotten', 'labor' (labour), omitted small words (like in the phrase 'write (to) me'), 'math' (maths), 'realize' (realise) and other Americanisms.
I saw someone mention that America is a better world superpower than Russia or China... is it? That comment that the opinions of any country that hadn't put a man on the moon is to be disregarded, elitist somewhat?- that sort of attitude is what I don't like about America. On the other hand, America does make good sci-fi 'movies', but they do (almost) always seem to star an American white in the lead role (only examples to the contrary include Independence Day, I Robot and perhaps a few others), regardless of the era or country involved, oh and Brits talk with clear Americanisms.
The biggest things for me by far are the bigotry towards LGBT+ individuals (yes, I realise the law has changed... the attitudes of those that don't like it haven't... westboro 'church' and its followers wouldn't be tolerated anywhere else), the attitude towards other religions, especially Muslims (although not my favourite subject (I don't really approve of the idea of religion as a whole, it causes too much harm) I don't target individual religions and certainly not the individuals who believe in the religion). And, similar to an attitude shared throughout Europe, I of course hate the American love affair with guns and weapons (of mass destruction)
I barely know anyone my own age that has negative attitudes towards the LGBT community. And the majority of my peers are pro refugee status and any religion. I'm 22 so my generation is not quite in any kind of power to truly change the media and government, but I really hope in the next few years and decades you'll see a shift in attitudes. My generation is also realizing the American dream doesn't exist. We're mostly single, saddled with crazy student loans, working low paying jobs, attempting to make it financially on our own, while our parents tell us to get a better job, get more education, get married and have us some grandchildren. I think young Americans are just as discontent with the idea of the American dream. And I'm American and I totally don't understand this fascination with guns and weapons... Although I do believe we should have the right to have some way to protect ourselves. I really appreciate your thoughts! Btw everyone I know is obsessed with a British accent, we're super jealous of how England talks, so we acknowledge our Americanisms are not cool.
Also we're all in trouble if Trump becomes president, some of us might end up trying to escape the bigotry in the US if that happens. My generation seems to be the closest to a positive future for America, yet you cannot even run for president until 35 and our two main candidates are well over 60... Just my opinion though. I know I don't have all the right answers to leading a country, but Trump has repeatedly insulted many groups of Americans and somehow got a nomination.
Also we're all in trouble if Trump becomes president, some of us might end up trying to escape the bigotry in the US if that happens. My generation seems to be the closest to a positive future for America, yet you cannot even run for president until 35 and our two main candidates are well over 60... Just my opinion though. I know I don't have all the right answers to leading a country, but Trump has repeatedly insulted many groups of Americans and somehow got a nomination.
Trump hasn't run on "bigotry" at all. That's the usual media spin. In fact Trump is up 20% with black voters and increasing with Latino voters.
He did say that certain countries send their criminals to the US since its cheaper and easier for them to do that than to pay for their keep. Then the media twisted things and said Trump called all citizens of those countries criminals. That wasn't true. He did also say he would check and limit all immigrants from hostile countries - which the US has usually always done (and Carter banned Iranians in 1970s troubles). That's just being prudent.
Trump has been around for decades. He's had a top TV show for years. The "Trump as Hitler" thing really isn't working and thats why he gets more popular the more the oligarchs attack him. Plus everyone sees Hillary is about to drop over but they keep lying about her health. She's on film collapsing on planes, on sidewalks, on stairs. She froze last week and a helper had to prop her up and tell her to "just keep talking". Yet they deny anything is wrong and claim "health conspiracy". I've never seen anything like it. The New York Times came right out in public and said they were suspending journalism standards (as if that was new) to actively engage in politicking. You can't trust a lot of what you see in blanket media
My semester in Asia was spent in Cambodia, a developing nation. While I'd love to see Europe and the culture would probably be easier to adapt to (German or French would be much less stressful than the Khmer lessons I took) I'd move to Cambodia in a heartbeat. I think we can all agree there's corruption and distortion in our media and politics. I appreciate your comments despite my personal beliefs that neither candidate is a good choice for our nation, but Trump has said some unacceptable things, and whether or not he meant them, people latched onto them.
Now, are you denouncing what he actually said or what you were told he said. I find that very VERY few people actually watch the speeches where he allegedly said some of the things he's accused of saying. They read a headline on Facebook or a 30 second clip from Now This News and think they're informed.
