All-purpose news and politics thread: Two Steps Beyond!

[ouroboros]

I think I read a few years ago a black college professor was arrested for breaking in to his own home (He had forgotten his keys). You'd think the cops could have asked to see his ID and relaxed after seeing the address on the license - or at least merely had him wait to ensure there weren't any restraining orders against him and then helped him enter the house.

I gave the Henry Gates piece a quick re-read. Gates broke into his university-owned dwelling with the help of his driver, having no idea that a neighbor would mistake it for a break-in. When an officer came to check out the situation, Gates eventually showed his ID but one or both of them had his/their dander up-- accounts vary-- and the cop arrested Gates for disorderly conduct. Charges were dropped and Obama had them both visit the WH for a sit-down. Wiki says that the prof and the cop remained cordial in later encounters, probably because neither of them would have got face-time with a President were it not for their untimely meeting.

[Iron Maiden]

You have to start somewhere. Banning an extremely dangerous weapon no one needs to own is a pretty good place to start.

The likelihood of banning all small firearms in America? Well, less likely.

The more I think about how Australia got their population to accept the gun buy back part of the strict gun controls the more I despair that it would never happen here. All it took was one mass shooting to do it. I've lost count how many we've had since 1996 when the Port Arthur shooting happened in Australia

[ouroboros]

Wanna have a laugh? Forget Wikipedia, check "White Privilege" on the Urban Dictionary.
That's what you're arguing against.

Thanks, enjoyed it.

[Iron Maiden]

A congressional candidate is being called "tone-deaf" after refusing to stop an "AR-15 Giveaway" he announced one day before the Florida school shooting where 17 people were killed with the same type of rifle.

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/nati...icle-1.3823045

He calls him self an avid sportsman....what do you hunt with an AR-15. Oh, how manly it would be to kill rabbits and deer with one

[ouroboros]

I think you might be arguing against points I haven't made.

I am aware that the official definition of white privilege is things that would apply regardless of social, political, or economic circumstances. I don't need to learn more about the definition.

I've even read 1988 essay in which the term originated.

http://www.ywca.org/atf/cf/%7B6EDE37...20Knapsack.pdf

The point of contention isn't about the definition, or about the merits of the perspective.

Would you remind repeating the point of contention, then?

[Iron Maiden]

"Accused Parkland Shooter Nikolas Cruz Was a Member of White Supremacist Group"

"The leader of a white nationalist militia says Florida school shooting suspect Nikolas Cruz was a member of his group and participated in paramilitary drills in Tallahassee.

Jordan Jereb told The Associated Press on Thursday that his group wants Florida to become its own white ethno-state. He said his group holds “spontaneous random demonstrations” and tries not to participate in the modern world.

Jereb said he didn’t know Cruz personally and that “he acted on his own behalf of what he just did and he’s solely responsible for what he just did.”

He also said he had “trouble with a girl” and he believed the timing of the attack, carried out on Valentine’s Day, wasn’t a coincidence.

Nineteen-year-old Cruz has been charged with 17 counts of premeditated murder in the shooting."

http://time.com/5160819/parkland-sho...emacist-group/

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"Cruz, 19, is accused of opening fire inside Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida. Prior to the shooting, he trained with the Republic of Florida, the group’s captain Jordan Jereb said (as first reported by the Anti-Defamation League). The RoF seeks to create a “white ethnostate” in Florida, according to its website, a view that Cruz supposedly shared.

“I don’t know precisely what he believes,” Jereb said. “I know he knew full well he was joining a white separatist paramilitary proto-fascist organization.”

Cruz “seemed like just a normal, disenfranchised, young white man,” Jereb said.

While no motive has been described by police, Jereb speculated that Cruz may have allegedly committed the massacre out of hatred for Jews or women.

“There’s a very real sense of feminism being a cancer. That could’ve played into what he did, but we have female members of RoF,” Jereb said, adding that “we’re not a big fan of Jews. I think there were a lot of Jews at the school that might have been messing with him.”

Jereb said Cruz belonged to a RoF “cell” from Clearwater and drove up with members to Tallahassee to do paramilitary training. RoF was recently operating in Tallahassee and attempting to court new members, according to a local news report from last year. The group posts videos of training montages on the internet with members in fatigues brandishing weapons.

“I’m not trying to glorify it, but he was pretty efficient in what he did,” Jereb said. “He probably used that training to do what he did yesterday. Nobody I know told him to do that, he just freaked out.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/nikola...p-leader-says/

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http://www.newsweek.com/far-right-al...er-hate-628829

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/wo...-a7894271.html

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-u...-idUSKBN15G5VO

http://thehill.com/policy/national-s...-wing-violence

smh.......I'd say this is a sample of the deplorables that Hillary was talking about but I don't think deplorable even describes this group

[The Question]

Regulate Guns Like Cars



I like driving cars. And as a driver, I have no problem registering my car in each new state I move to, keeping my insurance up to date, having regular required inspections and submitting to a driver’s test to get my driver’s license. Driving a big piece of metal and glass at high speeds should rightly be a big responsibility that folks should take seriously, that should be regulated to ensure appropriate safety for everyone on the road. Owning a gun should require a similar level of responsibility.

As a native Southerner, I like shooting guns. I shot my first gun at Camp McKee, a Boy Scout camp, when I was 12. One of my favorite places to go while living in Houston was the Top Gun shooting range, where it was easy to spend a lot of money on renting out a shooting gallery, buying several boxes of ammunition, and shooting the day away with friends. Both cars and guns are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans every year. Owning and using either one should require strict regulations.

I once had a Smith & Wesson .40 caliber pistol that I named Joe, after a friend of mine who served in Korea. I bought Joe at a gun show in Mississippi, along with several boxes of ammunition, for approximately $300, which I paid in cash. The gun merchant asked for my driver’s license, made a phone call, and I walked out with a weapon less than 15 minutes after walking in. I could have just as easily dreamed up a plan to murder a large group of people that morning, bought a gun that afternoon, and massacred dozens by nightfall.

Like any driver, before even getting my driver’s license, I had to take a written test to get a learner’s permit. This meant I could drive a car, but only with a licensed driver in the car with me. Then after 6 months of waiting, I could take an actual driver’s test with a police officer in my passenger seat, and only become a licensed driver if I drove, parallel parked, and did a turnabout absolutely flawlessly. And if I ever moved to a new state, I would have to get a new driver’s license within 30 days of relocating, keep my license and registration up to date, get yearly inspections, and have liability insurance for my car. The same should be done with guns.

Anyone who wants to own a gun should likewise take a written test on gun safety, proper means of carrying, loading and unloading, and turning the safety on and off to get a gun owner’s permit, though actually shooting it must be done with a licensed gun owner. After an appropriate waiting period, gun owners should take an actual test involving everything from loading and unloading, proper storage, even shooting proficiency. And each gun should be registered in each state it travels to, each gun owner should submit to an annual inspection for their weapon, and each gun purchase should come with mandatory liability insurance. Also, the assault weapons ban should be reinstated, because nobody who isn’t in the military or on the police force should ever need an AK-47 or an AR-15 to hunt deer or protect their families.

Of course, gun lobbyists would likely argue that such regulation is an infringement on our 2nd Amendment rights. I would ask gun lobbyists if their inability to buy an M1A1 Abrams tank is an infringement on their 2nd Amendment rights. Car crashes and guns are responsible for the deaths of thousands of Americans every year, and both should be regulated appropriately.

I’’m not arguing nobody should be able to own a gun. I’m simply arguing that if you want to operate a device that can take lives with the movement of an index finger, you should be willing to submit to the same regulations as you would by operating a device that can take lives with the turn of a steering wheel.

C. Robert Gibson

[WestPhillyPunisher]

He calls him self an avid sportsman....what do you hunt with an AR-15. Oh, how manly it would be to kill rabbits and deer with one

Indeed. Anything worth killing is worth overdoing it. That’s what manly, virile he-men do, don’t you know.

[numberthirty]

Regulate Guns Like Cars

Like any driver, before even getting my driver’s license, I had to take a written test to get a learner’s permit. This meant I could drive a car, but only with a licensed driver in the car with me. Then after 6 months of waiting, I could take an actual driver’s test with a police officer in my passenger seat, and only become a licensed driver if I drove, parallel parked, and did a turnabout absolutely flawlessly. And if I ever moved to a new state, I would have to get a new driver’s license within 30 days of relocating, keep my license and registration up to date, get yearly inspections, and have liability insurance for my car. The same should be done with guns.

About this...

A driver's license is state property. That is why testing comes into play. You are being tested to be allowed to have something that is not a Constitutional Right be the state that will be allowing it.

If you are talking "Testing" when it comes to being able to exercise a Constitutional Right...

- Should I have to be able to pass a test to invoke my Fifth Amendment Right?
- Should I have to be able to pass a test in order to exercise my Right to vote?

[mojotastic]

How many mass shootings are carried out by a criminal? I specifically asked about those situations.

I feel that teaching people how to react to a mass shooting rather than doing ANYTHING AT ALL to try and prevent them is the wrong way to go in every way.

Most gun instructor tend to teacher the former than the later, but still there is people like Larry Correia, a certified guns instructor from Utah, who has gone to schools and has taught the staff on what to do in cases of emergency, and all for free

[Kirby101]

About this...

A driver's license is state property. That is why testing comes into play. You are being tested to be allowed to have something that is not a Constitutional Right be the state that will be allowing it.

If you are talking "Testing" when it comes to being able to exercise a Constitutional Right...

- Should I have to be able to pass a test to invoke my Fifth Amendment Right?
- Should I have to be able to pass a test in order to exercise my Right to vote?

But you have to register to vote and the right can be taken away for things like felony convictions or outdated info on your registration. Also some votes can be restricted, like where you vote and what elections you can vote in.

The idea that the second amendment should be unrestricted is an invention of the modern NRA. And slavishly followed by the GOP.

[numberthirty]

But you have to register to vote and the right can be taken away for things like felony convictions or outdated info on your registration. Also some votes can be restricted, like where you vote and what elections you can vote in.

The idea that the second amendment should be unrestricted is an invention of the modern NRA. And slavishly followed by the GOP.

Registering to vote does not create the Right to vote any more than registering for something like a FOID card creates the Second Amendment Right.

In addition to that, restriction is different than making it so that being able to exercise/invoke a Right should hinge on some sort of testing. While I have no problem with it for something where a state is creating your ability to do it(Say, being able to pass a health inspection to keep a place that serves food licensed), I get a little uneasy at "Testing" coming into play when Rights are already being messed with.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

Anyone who wants to own a gun should likewise take a written test on gun safety, proper means of carrying, loading and unloading, and turning the safety on and off to get a gun owner’s permit, though actually shooting it must be done with a licensed gun owner. After an appropriate waiting period, gun owners should take an actual test involving everything from loading and unloading, proper storage, even shooting proficiency. And each gun should be registered in each state it travels to, each gun owner should submit to an annual inspection for their weapon, and each gun purchase should come with mandatory liability insurance. Also, the assault weapons ban should be reinstated, because nobody who isn’t in the military or on the police force should ever need an AK-47 or an AR-15 to hunt deer or protect their families.

I’ll go one step further. If you own a gun of any size or type and it’s stolen, you’d be required by law to report the theft to the police within 24 hours, if you don’t, you’d be held liable for any crimes committed with that weapon because you didn’t alert the authorities. Harsh? You bet your ass, but that should come with the territory when you’re a gun owner.

[Carabas]

The idea is that the criminal wont be able to take the training, i have posted an article and an idea to prevent them to get the guns.

These shooters are overwhelmingly not criminals. At least not before their big day.

The training is suppose to help you to how to handle a weapon and take care of it, there are 2 step you have to consider before start shooting if you ever find in those situation.

Most people don't want one to carry around everywhere they go. Because it is insane.

[SUPERECWFAN1]

Why do conservatives believing comparing common sense gun laws to people who have forks and spoons ? Its the stupidest thing I have seen today on FB and a couple have posted that as responses. "Like what about folks who own forks & spoons ?" Like what the **** are you serious ?