DrewEckhardt

What law would you propose that would have stopped this man from doing what he did? for example, the ones that are in place in countries with 10-20 times less gun homicides (most of Europe) There aren't any countries with 10-20 times less gun homicides among their white population with European ancestry. White Americans get murdered with a gun at a rate of about 2.2 in 100,000 per annum with a total murder rate of 3.3 in 100,000 (Uniform Crime reports circa 2005). The EU average murder rate is about 2.4 per 100,000. The Greeks do the best at .76 per 100,000. White Seattle residents got murdered less often than white Vancouver residents, in spite of those of us in Washington being able to get concealed carry permits while people can't really get legal handguns in Vancouver. The 15% of our population who are black kill each other 7X more often than whites and account for 50% of the total. I think race isn't the right metric to use, and that it's socio-economic since studies have shown murder rates increasing with economic disparity but the Justice Department doesn't break things down that way. The anti-gun people like to quote Kellerman's study showsing Seattle having a higher aggregate murder rate; although where the Vancouver minorities have a higher than median income, the median (half the people earn more, half less) black per capita income was half the white population's. Europe probably suffers less because of income redistribution. There's less spread. You can live a relatively comfortable existance with the minimum wage and social housing, etc. Since Bill Clinton's wellfare reform that hasn't been the case in the US especially in the metropolitan areas where crime and murder rates are highest. Given a choice between living with a few people in a room while slaving at McDonald's and getting in a street gan which would get me my own apartment, I can't say that I'd choose the former. Fortunately, I grew up in a yuppie breeding ground where the parents cared about the schools and paid high taxes for them and over 95% of my graduating class went on the post-secondary education which got us better jobs.

No. Get something cheap enough to resell quickly without loosing enough money it hurts. That's probably not a skyhook equipped rig. People buying new gear which may loose a few thousand dollars (there are lots of nice nearly new rigs for $3000 and change sans AAD, although you can spend $5000 for new in your colors) are a lot more likely to get something they can "grow into." Given the number of fatalities that occur under fully open functioning canopies compared to the number of skyhook saves that's not the right trade off to make since you're more likely to be killed or injured by a canopy you can't fly well than you are to be saved by a skyhook. Especially as a beginning skydiver where you're likely to deploy at a reasonable altitude and will be jumping canopies with relatively benign malfunction characteristics.

It doesn't take much to become an AFF instructor . A few thousand jumps as an instructor isn't always enough to actually learn anything. I know one AFF-I with thousands of jumps who broke her pelvis because she didn't know how to fly parachutes and make safe braked turns. Instructors who haven't travelened haven't seen that much. Given a huge rural landing area with predictable winds people should stay out of trouble, but the skills needed to survive in that situation won't help you when you go someplace with constantly changing winds and a tiny landing area with pitbull and alligator farms on either side. Instructors at small DZs don't see enough students to figure out the statistics of what's happening even if they have the disposition to do so. Brian Germain has over 10,000 jumps, designs parachutes, builds parachutes, teaches canopy flight around the world, writes books on sports psychology, etc. He knows more than your instructors. Start with his recomendations: http://www.bigairsportz.com/pdf/bas-sizingchart.pdf If one of your instructors tells you that you should jump a bigger canopy, listen. If they tell you to jump a smaller parachute don't. People (including rating holders) told a small woman at my DZ that she should downsize (still under a pound per square foot) because it would make landings (which she was having problems with) easier. She broke a wrist or two because she couldn't land. After upsizing and learning to fly parachutes she was fine. If you're a guy sufferring from merely average levels of testosterone poisoning you'll go through 6-7+ canopies and 2-3 rigs getting to the size you stick with indefinitely. That's fine. Provided that you start with used gear, you'll be spending a couple bucks a jump on depreciation regardless of how many rigs you go through. If you are patient and do a good job shopping it'll be less. What's safe now is different than what will be safe in 100 jumps. Buy what you can jump now (used) and sell it when you have motivation, training, and experience to jump something smaller. Less than a pound per square foot (a 240 for you once you add gear) is still more than enough to break your leg bones into a handful of pieces and run up $30K-$40K in medical bills for you and your insurance (Really, I did that).

You can start with some new laws for home kerosene heaters. "Seven die, two hurt in intense blaze" http://www.philly.com/philly/hp/news_update/Seven_die_in_intense_S_Philly_blaze.html When 11,000 homicides are committed annually with flame throwers and kerosene heaters combined, then we will have a problem as serious as the problem we have RIGHT NOW with guns. Until then, you are just trying to distract from the serious issues concerning your playthings. We have FORTY THOUSAND fatalities from other peoples' motorized playthings. White people with an average chance of murder risk factors like being in a youth gang are SIX TIMES more likely to die by one of these play things than they are to be murdered with a gun. With such a huge problem, why focus on guns? Very few people need to own their own vehicle. Professionals like contractors and chaufers need to own trucks and cars. The rest of us can move within walking or bicycling distance of a bus stop or train station.

The FAA only cares that you have a certified container/harness, reserve, and additional parachute that you intend to land. It would seem that the jumper landed the canopy held together by Mendit, although it was deployed out of a D-bag at low speed to limit opening forces and stress on the canopy topskin. Perfectly legal.

How about both sides? I made a few jumps out of the Northwest Skydivers porter with sliding doors and porches on both sides. You could put half the jump out the left side, half out the right side, and then fly the two pieces together. Or the bomb bay? I took a tour of the B17 and then decided the jump ticket was worth the $300+ upgrade. Never did get my T-shirt.

As of what date? The Javelin, Wonderhog (a 30 year old design as far as the FAA is concerned which is now sold as the "Vector 3"), and Mirage (also legally interesting) wouldn't be too good from free flying in their older forms either.

Only if they're not doing anything stupid that would lead them to bounce in real life. When your friends are being stupid, you need to give them grief about it and hope they'll have a minor incident which causes them to listen to you before something really bad happens. Dude, I had this dream where you were pulling low like you usually do except in my dream you bounced....

It's important for wayward guns to be adopted into loving homes so they don't end up on the street. Remember, happiness is a warm gun!

Sure, provided you can read the manual. Since the FAA requires you to follow the manufacturer's instructions, you better have a copy to go with the strange parachute, container, or AAD. When problems crop up it's not necessarily because of what riggers know, but what they do. When the manufacturer specifies a specific bridle routing, it might be there for a reason. When the manufacturer specifies a specific closing loop configuration, it might be there for a reason. When the manufacturer says to stow the excess plot chute mesh "between the coils" instead of "under the decorative cap" it might be ther for a reason. Actually following the instructions is enough to avoid all those problems. Maybe a surprise inspection of N pack jobs in the first few years would do it where a deviation from the manufacturer's instructions is a fail. Requiring specific knowledge may even be counter productive when more people "think" they remember how something is supposed to work (they did pass the test) and then do it wrong based on their faulty memory instead of reading the instruction manual because they know they don't remember.

No, but it is sad that the cost of complying with the regulations has reduced the number of IPOs, moved them to foreign stock exchanges, and has made things like mergers and selling the company more attractive to small public companies.

Well yeah. In the last US presidential race we had blacks and women. Surely we could have an aetheist (Democrat) versus a gay (Republican) and we're not yet ready for an aetheist. A gay neo-con behind the button could lead to the end of the world.

www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gEmTNUBTKTgCNcd9ZgYJnCNlbPOwD958G9PG0 I wonder why this nutter in traffic didn't use his truck. People these days are just sheep with no creativity. Fed a steady diet of TV shootings from an early age he probably just imitated what he'd seen.

Yes. Either because you'll be slamming into your front and back side (Snowboarding) or pointing a pair of skiis at each other in the infamous beginner's "Snow Plow" position while inching down the hill. They are fun sports.

Given when sort of performance $1600 million in bonuses buys us, do you REALLY want to see what would happen if the banks were forced to make do with less valuable executives?

Buy a Spectre Those open too slow and don't land well.

What do I have to do to get standing there to press charges for some one being a schmuck in public on the internet? Would routing my packets through a machine there do the trick? If so, maybe they could do like those little islands do in offering internet services. Instead of routing your services through some podunk island to get around gamling laws, you could route through the US midwest to get added legal protections and have any one on this web forum fined $500 for being anoying in public. The mind boggles.

Dead is dead. As long as I die quickly it doesn't matter to me whether I get run down by an SUV or shot dead with a gun. Since I'm six times more likely to be killed by some nutter in traffic with a car, I worry more about that. I agree. No limits on type types we can own, background checks, or national registration except for ones we want to use in public for which we'll be granted an inexpensive license valid in all 50 states for the next 10 years following a simple practical and written test.

You can use it places where only pistol calibers are appropriate. like on inexpensive steel targets and at many indoor ranges. And pistol calibers are a bit more fun to shoot than .22. Some day I'll get an 1892 Winchester in .44 magnum to go with my Super Blackhawk.

Brian wanted reasonable opening distances, so the Samurai doesn't snivel that long. I'd expect that Lotus is similar but haven't jumped one personally.

Right. The US is NOTHING like the UK. The US is nothing like Australia. The US is NOTHING like California (where there were problems with SKSes that got reclassified). The US is nothing like Louisiana. So what. As a white guy my chance of being killed by one would be .003% if I had an average chance of being involved in the illegal drug trade (except I don't do drugs), joining a youth gang (I'm too old for that), etc. It's basically zero.

Lots. I know more people with Toyotas (including the Hilux pickup and Land Cruisers) and Hondas (like the Accord) which have made it to 150,000-250,000 miles on the first engine than American cars. Most people don't need a big diesel pickup.

That is incorrect. It's correct. The 4473 is filled out every time a _licensee_ makes a transfer. Import/export, manufacturer, or dealer. The LEO goes to the manufacturer, distributor, dealer, and first retail purchaser. Multiple crime guns from the same original retail purchaser without a reasonable explanation (sold the whole collection when Grandpa died; filed a police report for burglary) lead to a felony investigation for making straw purchases or dealing without a license. Obviously it's imperfect, as any law will be in a country which eschews prior restraint and protects its citizens from potential government abuses.

It's a felony to make straw purchases or engage in the business of selling firearms without a license. A Form 4473 gets filled out every time a licensee makes a transfer. If 30% of the guns sold were ending up in criminal hands, the government would be following the 4473 trail from the manufacturers to the first retail purchasers and prosecuting them for those felonies. That's not happening.

Not in America. Per the Uniform Crime Reports the numbers were 10,086 in 2007 and 10,177 in 2006. While not good it's a whole lot less than the 42,642 people killed in 2006 traffic deaths and 365,000 who lost their lives to poor diet and obesity in 2000. It's just like the budget. We need to focus on the biggest problems first and firearms murders are way down the list.