Nightingale

Of course it resembles what you suggested. You suggested placing the burden of proof on the gun owner to prove they properly secured their gun. As the victim in my scenario removed the gun from the safe when she heard the perpetrators enter her home, she has no way to prove her gun was secure.

In the mythology of the movie males and females are usually paired with daemons of the opposite gender.

I thought this was really cool... In the Golden Compass movie, part of a person's spirit lives in the form of an animal guide who accompanies them through life. They've got this little web tool that asks you personality questions and then introduces you to your guide, or "daemon" as they're called in the movie. http://www.goldencompassmovie.com PS - since the other thread is bound for Speaker's corner, can we keep this fun, pretty please?

N/A

What a cop-out. If you keep a gun for personal security, then why is keeping IT secure impossible? What could happen, under your proposed "solution": Four armed men break into Katie's house. Katie hears them, opens her gun safe, gets her .40 Glock, and calls 911. She locks her bedroom door and hides in the closet, waiting for the police. The men break down Katie's door. They ransack her bedroom. They enter the closet. Seeing their weapons and fearing for her life, Katie lawfully fires her weapon at the men, killing two and wounding a third before being incapacitated and raped by the third and fourth attacker. The attackers leave, taking Katie's jewelry, electronics, and her weapon. The police finally turn up forty five minutes later and find two dead perpetrators, a blood trail leading out the door, and Katie in a coma. She wakes up a week later handcuffed to her hospital bed because the weapon she had removed from her gun safe to lawfully defend herself was stolen by her attackers and used in another robbery the next day. That is why I don't like your "solution."

Because "madmen" by definition are "mad" and therefore unpredictable and uncontrollable and nobody can possibly plan for every contingency?

I think the problem most people are having with your proposal is that if you make a gun impossible to steal, you also make it impossible to get to if you need it.

Well, they did say the took out direct references. But the books are very anti-Christ. Let me know what you think of the religious aspect of the book. No, I have not read nor seen the movie. Just did some reading up on it since my son came home talking about it one day. I will be happy to PM you when I'm done with the books, but I'm not going to post it here, because I want to keep this out of speaker's corner since everyone seemed to be having fun with the little daemon generator. In the meantime, why don't you read the book and decide for yourself?

The movie wasn't religious at all. The magesterium is presented as a corrupt and controlling government, not a church.

Don't tigers eat guppies?

Matches you perfectly!

I want a shape changing critter! Their website is really cool. It asks you a bunch of personality questions and gives you your own daemon! www.goldencompassmovie.com

I don't think there's a good way to keep guns out of the hands of loonies and criminals, so I think the best alternative is to make sure that the sane and law abiding can shoot back if they want to.

Do you have a way to disarm the criminals and the general population simultaneously, and ensure that no more weapons enter the country?

I saw this movie on Saturday! Loved it! Anyone else seen it yet? I've just gone out and gotten the books.

"Police arrived to find that the gunman had been killed by a member of the church's armed security staff, Myers said. "There was a courageous staff member who probably saved many lives here today," Myers said." __________________________________________ I'm glad to see that the pro-active security measures taken by the church and the competent actions by the armed guard saved lives. This could have been a whole lot worse. Apparently the gunman and a ton of ammunition.

I think we may start to get our rights back when a competent CCW holder puts a bullet in one of those psychos and saves ten lives. I think the trend may be beginning to reverse. I've seen several people in my own life flip on their gun stance because of what happened at Virginia Tech... they've decided they don't like being helpless when someone else is armed, and have realized that "Gun Free Zone!" signs don't work.

I love my video iPod. I can download tv shows and watch them on a plane or on a road trip (as a passenger, not driver!). I also use it to hold files, photos and all that stuff too. Oh, and it plays music.

http://kiva.org/ I heard about this and thought it was really cool. It seems like a fabulous alternative to just handing out food and clothing to the poor in other parts of the world! Kiva lets you lend money to an entrepreneur in a developing country. $25 goes a lot farther there than here, and they combine a bunch of $25 loans into meeting whatever that person needs. You get to choose who your money goes to, so you can pick the person or cause that you feel is best. The default rate for most of these loans is zero. The money is virtually always paid back within the specified time, and the person gets to start their new business, expand their old one, and feed their family through their own hard work. I really like stuff like this. It's not just a handout, but it gives someone the means to improve their situation and stimulates economic development in the region. The people receiving the money have to have a solid plan about what to do with it, and they know they have to work hard to repay it. Has anyone else heard of or participated in programs like this?

I don't think anything should be a "hate crime". What matters is the crime, not the person's motivation (self defense excepted, of course). "Hate crime" amounts to putting someone's thoughts on trial.

No, but I am a member. Have you thought about teaching your kids to be water safe? http://www.infantswim.com/ There's a couple of little ones who have gone through this program here, and they're amazing to watch!

I'm so glad he's doing better!

I'd feel better about chiropractors if someone could show me some solid science behind what they do.

Chiropractors are scary... One of the professors at the university where I went to law school was paralyzed by one, and apparently that isn't too uncommon... http://www.chiropracticstroke.com/ http://www.chirowatch.com/cw-main.html

Thanks, everyone!