Nataly

Holy crap!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I think I was pretty clear when I stated that I wasn't convinced banning them would *actually* make people safer, especially if the laws aren't or can't be enforced. To me, it's pretty obvious a lot of people shouldn't own a gun - any gun. A lot of people also shouldn't be parents, but just as it's not for me to decide who should procreate, it's not for me to detect who is "safe" around weapons... I'm not sure how the US could be better at keeping firearms away from "crazy" people - especially when it's so easy to acquire one and so hard to determine who's crazy and who's just your average moron (but poses no danger to society). Paradoxically, if nobody has a gun, nobody needs a gun to be safe. If everybody has a gun (and is prepared to use it), everybody needs a gun to be safe (but then no one is really safe). The ideal IMO is to have a balance where people are safe enough not to need a gun, but may have one "just in case" (or just for fun). Some US cities have LOADS of guns/riffles per person and nothing ever happens because people use them only for hunting and/or recreation. Some US slums have an especially high crime rate and you grow up with weapons not to shoot bambi, but to shoot people. One blanket rule for everyone is not going to magically fix all the gun-related problems... The US is a big and diverse country. If there was a way to really restrict weapons that can be used in a mass shooting, (or keep them out of the hands of people who would commit a mass shooting), personally, I would rather give up some of my fun for the added safety (especially in areas with a high rate of gun-related crimes). But realistically, I don't see any obvious/effective/realistic solutions to achieve this. Those people who quote "I prefer dangerous freedom over peaceful slavery"... Wow... I've been to places where there is A LOT more freedom than in the US and many of those people would LOVE to give up some freedoms in exchange for all the benefits of civilised/safe existance. True freedom comes with a heavy dose of selfishness/corruption/anarchy/chaos (not to mention poor health, poverty and low life expectancy), unfortunately. I know it's supposed to be the "land of the free" but you are sooooooo far from being free (in a good way) it's not even funny. And thank goodness for that, too... Lawlessness is great for some, but pretty shitty for most. Yes, I do have experience with guns. C-7, glock.22, AK47, .22 LR, C-8, 12 gauge double barrel shotgun, to name a few. Was selected in 2004 to represent my country in the military shooting competitions with both the C-7 and the glock.22 (but as I resigned from the military in January 2005 and the international competition was in Scotland a couple of months after my exit date I was replaced). Much like I haven't jumped in a few years, I haven't shot in a few years. So I'm not current and I'm not a gun-geek, but I also don't need people explaining to me how they work, thanks. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Nope. I just can't stand people bringing up bogus or irrelevant arguments and I expect some people to be capable of using better reasoning. Some people live in la-la land and there is little point in arguing with those people. They get enough bashing on here and don't "learn" anything new if I just add to it. Some people I just don't care to hear from - I leave them and their arguments alone. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Because I'm the expat but I like to see *others* as being the problem Depends... Some expats never leave... Or stay long enough almost be considered locals... Almost. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

But we have to put up with the locals... I think the real issue is the locals (who were clearly there first) having to put up with the ex-pats, but I guess it's all relative. Hey!!! Why burst my bubble??! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Serious question here: does it really? Or do people who don't know you just look at you with pity and feel awkward about mentioning it (in case you wanted kids and due to something horrible like cancer or being a careerist or your husband dying or just missing the boat you didn't manage it)??? "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

But we have to put up with the locals... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Well, there are proponents for both sides... Young girls do WAY better in school than do boys right up to university, and even at university. Some people work hard to find ways to get boys interested in school... Many people don't see the value in this, given boys out-perform girls in "real life" (and so the argument is that the gender gap in school is irrelevant and we should focus on the gender gap in the job market). But what Oprah says about girls and education is true. Perhaps boys simply take for granted what has always been available to them, or girls have been socialised to give back or maybe it shows girls' gratitude after years of never having access to education or maybe it's a "natural feminine instinct"... Who knows. Maybe it sounds sexist but the research and the results of educating girls speaks volumes, especially in poorer countries when women have traditionally not been given an education. If you're interested in the topic, I can link a couple of Ted talks (for both sides - boys' education and girls' education). "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Guilty (sometimes)... It *is* annoying and I will try to be less lazy about selective quoting. Sorry "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

If we had the ability to control the weather, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Who would get to control it and why? Or should NO ONE be allowed to tamper with it. EVER. Hmmmmm... (Please don't take this to SC - please keep it light, friendly and ideally entertaining... Plllleeeeeeeeeeeease

I probably would jump... My friends have never once told me what to do, so if they all felt jumping was absolutely crucial, I don't see how my instincts would be better than all my friends'... Maybe they'd all be wrong, or maybe I'd be thanking my lucky stars I trusted the people who have never let me down before... (Or maybe curiosity would get the better of me, I'd turn around and get eaten by the demon/ogre/troll/yeti...) Kind of a strange question to ask!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Tell that to the people in Luby's Diner. Or the students at VaTech. Or the folks at Hartford Dostributors in Mass. Or the victims of Fort Hood. Educate yourself. It'll save you embarassment. I think all of those involved several weapons... And yes, you can have several magazines ready and take the time to inflict a lot of wounds... You can also have terrible spray patterns and hit one person in the head and fire the rest of your rounds progressively up to the ceiling - or hit no one at all... There is also theoretically no limit to the number of times you can stab someone (or many people) with a knife... But a high-capacity semi or fully-automatic weapon is still far easier to use if your aim is to cause mass damage. As for "minding my own business"... I'm not telling anyone to do anything. Who the hell would listen anyway??!!! Asking a question is not simply stirring up shit - it's a discussion. Now if someone brings up ridiculous arguments to the table, why shouldn't I point out its irrelevance, if only to keep the discussion on track?? And to all of you who assume (wrongly) to know my position you should refer to what my Sgt used to always say: "assume makes an ass out of u and me"!! I am merely bringing up food for thought. No more, no less. Finally, I don't give a rats ass about semantics. Useless details (unless you're a lawyer, in which case the devil is in the detail...). Function over form, people. Do you understand my point? Good. So stop fussing over whether I should have used the word "federal law" instead of "rule" or "illegal" as opposed to "banned"... Stop nit-picking on the irrelevant boring stuff and get to the core of the matter - it makes for more intelligent discussions (as opposed to wasting 1000 words on explaining grammar... Sheesh... ) "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

You just make that up? You have any ballistics data to back that up? Any statistical analysis of fatalities due to firearm or caliber types? Didn't think so. Oh come on, seriously? Do you think that guy who shot people in a cinema would have hit 71 people and killed 12 had he been armed with a glock instead of an AR-15? Really? Don't think so. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

On the iPad, all of it is clearly visible... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

I normally just say "I have my reasons", but sometimes when pressed I'll expound on those reasons. Usually that ends the conversation Here's the thread I made in WO on the subject: I knew I liked Cameron... “defends women shunned by society” http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=3603041;page=unread#unread I remember that thread and I remember some people (yourself included) being touchy and even a bit disrespectful. I do get that some people just will never understand a lack of desire to have children. Heck, some people still believe that it's your main "duty" as a human being to procreate... That's fine. I don't care if they ever "get it." I look at my brother (who got married young and has 2 daughters, a great career and a solid marriage) and think: he seems so happy - great for him

There we go, the question has been answered: "population control." "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Wrong. There have been good, ok, and bad answers. I have not argued with everyone who answered my question. I have argued with people who are not answering the question, not answering the question with logical arguments, or just making ridiculous or irrelevant statements. There is no fight - we're all just killing time here... As for the comment (by captain_stan) about foreigners butting out of American business... You can calm down... Many foreigners are all too happy for the US to allow their citizens to own weapons they can use for killing each-other off (That last bit was a joke, in case anyone didn't get that.) "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Believe me, the criticism doesn't come from my friends "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

It's funny... Many people think it's perfectly acceptable to criticise my life choices (and some even feel the need to openly do so), but imagine if I criticised them for getting married and having children??? BOY would that be offensive... I've heard a lot of things over the years... Oh, you just haven't met the right man. Oh, you're just selfish. Oh, you think that now, but wait until you're older. Oh, it's different when it's your own kids (assuming I hate kids - I don't). I'm not that fussed about marriage. I personally don't see the point, but I'm not so much against it that for practical reasons or if it meant a great deal to my partner I wouldn't do it. That's not to say I would do it lightly, however, because there are serious implications when things go pear-shaped... As for kids, people generally want me to come up with a good reason not to have them, when the simple truth is just that I don't want them. Would I feel different if I suddenly realised I was pregnant?? Who knows. I might want it, I might not - hard to speculate. All I can say is that not wanting kids does not mean I hate kids, I had a bad childhood or some kind of trauma in my life, or that I'm selfish, or that I haven't met Mr. Right. People who wanted kids didn't one day decide to want them - they just wanted them. I didn't decide one day I didn't want them, I just don't. And BOY could I come up with a lot of reasons some people shouldn't have kids, but wouldn't it be AWEFUL of me judge these people?? Well, it's just as rude to do the same to me. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Like what? Hahaha. Touche' Nunchucks. And to answer other questions: - I didn't pick th AR-15, Piers Morgan did. Please actually read my post before making silly comments on it. As to why Piers Morgan picked that particular weapon, well, something to do with its use in a number of recent mass murders. - Why are people explaining guns and "semi-automatic" and what is and isn't a "scary" weapon to me?? Stop making dumb assumptions - I don't need these thing explained, thank you very much. - As for the argument that "needs" have nothing to do with it... I must disagree... Some things are NECESSARY evils. You can't take them away because people NEED them. The bottom line here is not whether or not they are necessary, but "please come up with a good argument against banning/restricting these types of weapons." (Given they are not at all necessary for civilians.) - Also, all your examples of things that could hurt 1 or 2 people (and usually just the person directly involved - like skydiving) are BAD examples. They do not have the potential to seriously and easily maim/kill a lot of people at once. - Finally: rights... These are not rights. They are laws/privileges. And they can be taken away. Nobody can take away a right. Please don't bring up semantics... The fact is that your laws currently prohibit things that used to be rights - like owning a slave... And thank goodness this is no longer the case. Your "right" to bare arms can also be taken away if too many people abuse it. Whoever came up with the statistic of 20-ish ppl killed per year by assault riffles... Somehow that doesn't sound right... Please post where you found this statistic. "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

It's not worse, it's just that he's so utterly clueless!! Look... If a brainless attractive woman attracts a brainless guy with money, I say they deserve each-other!! This guy, OTOH doesn't seem to realise that the kind of lovely, selfless, beautiful, smart woman he describes is unlikely to fall for a narcissistic asshole... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

His website is probably edited (by other people) - unlike that letter... Assuming he really wrote that letter... The thing is, maybe he's just not very good at social media... When taken individually, his main focus is on finding a woman who is kind, altruistic and pretty (but not so much so that she is self-absorbed)... She should be educated, worldly and goal-oriented... She should be family-oriented... Those are all good, legitimate qualities to look for in a partner. Unfortunately, his communication skills are not great... You could probably get away with *saying* all of those things out loud, but writing them down like he did takes away any warmth or humour or context and he just comes out looking like a douche-bag... His biggest mistake? Not being savvy with social media... It's a learning curve... A lot of newbies on here get persecuted at first because they haven't "learned" yet how to "properly" write in this medium. A good example: "I almost died today"... Maybe good for a blog, but HORRIBLY wrong for this site... Then again... Maybe he's just a douche-bag... "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Oh my, that was funny!!! I clicked on this link: http://www.marcensign.com/memarketing-and-the-worst-it-was-nice-meeting-you-e-mail-you-will-ever-read/ which has his full letter... Then this link: http://www.dremilchynnmd.com which apparently is his personal website. Either the guy is totally deluded, or he has a friend/enemy who has pulled off a VERY nasty prank!!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

Again, when is the last time a person armed with a parachute attacked 71 people (with said parachute)?? Come on people, these are BAD comparisons!!! "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss

These are not civilians, though... The point being that these "toys" can do some serious damage... More than your average handgun. We give up A LOT of personal freedoms in the name of safety... A simple every-day example: you can't drive a car at whatever speed you like... As a society, we have decided that beyond a certain speed is just too dangerous. Even though most of the time nothing at all happens, it is just not worth the risk. In a similar way, some people would ban semi or fully automatic riffles for civilians - because the potential harm that can be done is too big. Do people who drive still speed despite it being illegal? Yes. Do people still own/use illegal weapons? Yes. Most people would agree that speed limits, annoying as they are, *do* increase safety. Why are gun lovers so reluctant to admit that some limits in gun ownership would do the same? Now if the law is not enforced and the crime is too rampant, they may be right... But at what point is personal freedom (to own a gun for "fun") overridden by safety (because too many people who SHOULDN'T own one CAN get one - totally legally)? "There is no problem so bad you can't make it worse." - Chris Hadfield « Sors le martinet et flagelle toi indigne contrôleuse de gestion. » - my boss