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> but at least with the machete they are going to have to physically work quite a bit to kill each person they want to kill. Without meaning to be glib, this i

> but at least with the machete they are going to have to physically work quite a bit to kill each person they want to kill. Without meaning to be glib, this is exactly the reason I would not recommend a machete to my grandmother for personal defense, but I would recommend her a Ruger LCR, or a Smith & Wesson M&P. The fact that she is physically disadvantaged against almost anyone would do her harm is a use case that the firearm solves quite nicely.

maxerickson 9y ago
I'm happy to be glib about it. Undermining your grandmother's ability to defend herself is worth it if the policy that does so statistically reduces violence (or even statistically reduces the consequences of violence).
- Karunamon 9y ago
  This exchange is a case study in why people who cherish their gun rights don't care one iota for the opinions of people who don't.
  - maxerickson 9y ago
    So what's your point? I'm certainly not expecting any of my comments here to persuade someone who cherishes their gun rights. But I don't believe that such people come anywhere near representing a majority, so I still see value in staking out a clear position.
    - Karunamon 9y ago
      Perhaps an attempt to ask you to zoom out and see some perspective. You just told someone that you're totally okay expecting someone's family to be unable to defend themselves from an attacker. But, if you were just blasting an opinion out there rather than attempting to have a discussion - why are you here again? - fine. Can't argue with an opinion, even if it comes off as completely insensitive and tone-deaf.
      - maxerickson 9y ago
        It goes both ways. People project their gun attitudes onto their grandma's that have never been attacked anyway and demand that we live in a less safe society because of it. My mom was pretty unnerved when her house got broken into (she was there, asleep, didn't wake up, wasn't attacked). She wouldn't be any better off with a gun because she isn't prepared to use it. Effective restrictions on guns would be a 100% win for her. So do I lack perspective? Or have I maybe come to different, reasonable conclusions and am sick of people making absurd emotional arguments about how guns make people safer?
        Karunamon 9y ago
        Effective restrictions on guns would be a 100% win for her "Effective restrictions on guns" don't exist in the same way that "effective restrictions on drugs" don't exist. So no, your conclusion is not "reasonable". It is completely unrealistic and runs contrary to the most basic laws, not to mention the culture of the country. I'm much more interested in realistic solutions that don't involve trampling on basic rights and removing the ability of people to defend themselves from an assailant. If you expect such discussion to be not emotionally loaded, your conclusion is unrealistic twice over.
        maxerickson 9y ago
        I initiated my comments in this thread by proposing to change the basic laws (or at least, acknowledging that they are a big factor). And it isn't that I expect such a discussion to not be emotionally loaded, I'm just going to reject assertions that only one sort of emotional loading is warranted. I agree it will take a long time to impose effective restrictions on guns in the US, we should get started as soon as possible. I think looking at Britain and Australia make it clear enough that gun restrictions do make a difference (even if their more generous social welfare systems tend to lead to lower general levels of criminal violence to begin with).
        Karunamon 9y ago
        So allow me to get meta for a moment here. Do you want to be right, or do you want to change people's minds? Ignore the fact that we see this on two different levels and don't even agree on first principles for a moment. Let's just talk about the pure practicality and rhetoric involved. From a purely objective standpoint, a great many people in this country believe in the 2nd amendment as written. There is no legislative solution that doesn't involve their consent. As much as you'd like to drag them over kicking and screaming, you can't. Our legislative system has safeguards in mind to prevent minority opinions from being imposed on the rest of the country. You're talking a 2/3 majority in both houses of Congress, or a constitutional convention involving 2/3 of states, to amend the constitution. Please realize this. It's important. There's your goal which even I can agree is admirable, and then there's talk of realistic ways of achieving it, which is a much more interesting conversation, and one you sadly don't seem to want to have. So that said - why the tone-deaf posturing? Do your comments here advance your goal of reducing gun violence in any way? Or rather, do they confirm every stereotype of anti-gun people ever cooked up? Do you realize your earlier conversation could be run verbatim by the freakin' NRA as an example of what they fight against, generating more support for the exact opposite of what you hope to accomplish?
j9461701 9y ago
Hence the old saying "God Created Men and Sam Colt Made Them Equal!". My approaching-70 year old father will be retiring to the middle of nowhere, along with his wife. What's he going to do if someone breaks in - fight them? He's an old man with COPD. Call the police? They're an hour away. But with a good dog to alert him to intruders, and a good gun he can reach for? He can protect himself against anyone, no matter how much of a physical advantage they might have.

maxerickson 9y ago

I'm happy to be glib about it. Undermining your grandmother's ability to defend herself is worth it if the policy that does so statistically reduces violence (or even statistically reduces the consequences of violence).

Karunamon 9y ago
This exchange is a case study in why people who cherish their gun rights don't care one iota for the opinions of people who don't.
- maxerickson 9y ago
  So what's your point? I'm certainly not expecting any of my comments here to persuade someone who cherishes their gun rights. But I don't believe that such people come anywhere near representing a majority, so I still see value in staking out a clear position.
  - Karunamon 9y ago
    Perhaps an attempt to ask you to zoom out and see some perspective. You just told someone that you're totally okay expecting someone's family to be unable to defend themselves from an attacker. But, if you were just blasting an opinion out there rather than attempting to have a discussion - why are you here again? - fine. Can't argue with an opinion, even if it comes off as completely insensitive and tone-deaf.
    - maxerickson 9y ago
      It goes both ways. People project their gun attitudes onto their grandma's that have never been attacked anyway and demand that we live in a less safe society because of it. My mom was pretty unnerved when her house got broken into (she was there, asleep, didn't wake up, wasn't attacked). She wouldn't be any better off with a gun because she isn't prepared to use it. Effective restrictions on guns would be a 100% win for her. So do I lack perspective? Or have I maybe come to different, reasonable conclusions and am sick of people making absurd emotional arguments about how guns make people safer?
      - Karunamon 9y ago
        Effective restrictions on guns would be a 100% win for her "Effective restrictions on guns" don't exist in the same way that "effective restrictions on drugs" don't exist. So no, your conclusion is not "reasonable". It is completely unrealistic and runs contrary to the most basic laws, not to mention the culture of the country. I'm much more interested in realistic solutions that don't involve trampling on basic rights and removing the ability of people to defend themselves from an assailant. If you expect such discussion to be not emotionally loaded, your conclusion is unrealistic twice over.
        maxerickson 9y ago
        I initiated my comments in this thread by proposing to change the basic laws (or at least, acknowledging that they are a big factor). And it isn't that I expect such a discussion to not be emotionally loaded, I'm just going to reject assertions that only one sort of emotional loading is warranted. I agree it will take a long time to impose effective restrictions on guns in the US, we should get started as soon as possible. I think looking at Britain and Australia make it clear enough that gun restrictions do make a difference (even if their more generous social welfare systems tend to lead to lower general levels of criminal violence to begin with).
        Karunamon 9y ago
        So allow me to get meta for a moment here. Do you want to be right, or do you want to change people's minds? Ignore the fact that we see this on two different levels and don't even agree on first principles for a moment. Let's just talk about the pure practicality and rhetoric involved. From a purely objective standpoint, a great many people in this country believe in the 2nd amendment as written. There is no legislative solution that doesn't involve their consent. As much as you'd like to drag them over kicking and screaming, you can't. Our legislative system has safeguards in mind to prevent minority opinions from being imposed on the rest of the country. You're talking a 2/3 majority in both houses of Congress, or a constitutional convention involving 2/3 of states, to amend the constitution. Please realize this. It's important. There's your goal which even I can agree is admirable, and then there's talk of realistic ways of achieving it, which is a much more interesting conversation, and one you sadly don't seem to want to have. So that said - why the tone-deaf posturing? Do your comments here advance your goal of reducing gun violence in any way? Or rather, do they confirm every stereotype of anti-gun people ever cooked up? Do you realize your earlier conversation could be run verbatim by the freakin' NRA as an example of what they fight against, generating more support for the exact opposite of what you hope to accomplish?

j9461701 9y ago

Hence the old saying "God Created Men and Sam Colt Made Them Equal!". My approaching-70 year old father will be retiring to the middle of nowhere, along with his wife. What's he going to do if someone breaks in - fight them? He's an old man with COPD. Call the police? They're an hour away. But with a good dog to alert him to intruders, and a good gun he can reach for? He can protect himself against anyone, no matter how much of a physical advantage they might have.