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[Aria Jenneth]

Economic: -8.00
Social: -5.23

Heh. Fun! ... and pretty accurate, as far as it goes. I am indeed suspicious of both corporate and governmental power, but much more of the corporate.

[Boma Airaken]

LEO's for the most fart are very fair people if treated with the respect they deserve.

Hah, you said fart.

Fart. Hah.

LOL. But... How the fuck did I even manage that typo? Those keys are nowhere near each other. Awesome.

[Graelyn]

I figured I'd be a couple more points to the right.

[Morwen Lagann]

I generally avoid thinking or talking about politics much, but that's where the thing put me.

[Ashar Kor-Azor]

On a side note, Ashar is of course the one to bring up old as hell posts. wtg.

Necroing is allowed on backstage.

I was involved in the discussions that birthed both the forums and this policy. It has not yet changed, and likely won't because the old community forums would wield the no-necroing attitude or whatnot like a bludgeon and this resulted in less than stellar interaction with new users.

So deal with it.

[Benjamin Shepherd]

I was being sarcastic. Perhaps /this/ is better for sarcastic remarks.

Anyway, any Canadians here? Would like to discuss what's going on there.

[Zuzanna Alondra]

I'm suprised Havo's and mine came out so similar considering we would debate politics and disagree.

Never sure what else to say really.

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Benjamin Shepherd]

Where the hell is Istvann's? I must know for the lulz.

[Boma Airaken]

Where the hell is Istvann's? I must know for the lulz.

[Boma Airaken]

Kamiko, about your gun control views (and I DON'T want to pen that can of worms thank you, just a simple question will do), how do you feel about the US Supreme Court ruling that the police are not responsible for the safety of US citizens?

[Benjamin Shepherd]

Kamiko, about your gun control views (and I DON'T want to pen that can of worms thank you, just a simple question will do), how do you feel about the US Supreme Court ruling that the police are not responsible for the safety of US citizens?

Kamiko = Me

I feel that the ruling does not represent the 300 million people in this country. Unfortunately for right-wing libertarians, not everyone wants to have such an extreme limited government that doesn't protect its citizens, and as a public service, the police shouldn't even think twice about protecting someone.

I do not believe in banning all firearms, but I don't think it's necessary to have an armory's worth of shotguns, rifles, assault rifles, what have you. In my opinion, I feel that there should be adequate yearly psychological testing, further proficiency tests conducted by police officers, and a national gun registry list. As I said before, for such a large country, we cannot just resort to firearms for protection; if someone openly carries a firearm, that person is more likely to take unnecessary lethal action against a perceived criminal, on the basis that the firearm is easy access.

In Greek, polissoos means "guarding a city". And that's all I have to say about that, sorry for the long answer. Also, thank you Wikipedia for word histories.

EDIT: I'm not saying that officers should be personal bodyguards to private citizens, I'm just commenting that what you're saying should not justify a lack of firearm regulations.

[Boma Airaken]

Kamiko, about your gun control views (and I DON'T want to pen that can of worms thank you, just a simple question will do), how do you feel about the US Supreme Court ruling that the police are not responsible for the safety of US citizens?

Kamiko = Me

I feel that the ruling does not represent the 300 million people in this country. Unfortunately for right-wing libertarians, not everyone wants to have such an extreme limited government that doesn't protect its citizens, and as a public service, the police shouldn't even think twice about protecting someone.

I do not believe in banning all firearms, but I don't think it's necessary to have an armory's worth of shotguns, rifles, assault rifles, what have you. In my opinion, I feel that there should be adequate yearly psychological testing, further proficiency tests conducted by police officers, and a national gun registry list. As I said before, for such a large country, we cannot just resort to firearms for protection; if someone openly carries a firearm, that person is more likely to take unnecessary lethal action against a perceived criminal, on the basis that the firearm is easy access.

In Greek, polissoos means "guarding a city". And that's all I have to say about that, sorry for the long answer. Also, thank you Wikipedia for word histories.

EDIT: I'm not saying that officers should be personal bodyguards to private citizens, I'm just commenting that what you're saying should not justify a lack of firearm regulations.

I *REALLY* like how you laid this one out Benjamin. A few counterpoints though since the question wasn't really answered, at least in my mind.

The ruling was that the police was there to enforce the law, and bring justice to those who do harm to others. If we don't have personal bodyguards when it comes to law enforcement, what are we supposed to do?

You also mentioned "such a large country" which also comes back to the fact that it would be quite literally impossible for the police to even come close to protecting people. So what are we supposed to do?

I REALLY liked your comment about open-carry. I despise it. I despise the people who do it. I can't stand it. Which is why I only carry concealed. Guns are VERY offensive to a large demographic and these dickbuckets aren't helping their cause at all. I hope they all die in a fire.

*BUT*

I have a very serious argument about certain things. You are attacking ownership, not carry, with the idea of bans, psychological testing, a registry, and range qualification by police officers. I see this often, and would love to get some insight. So let us start small with bullet points, no pun intended.

What does banning any sort of firearm achieve in your opinion?

Concealed carry permits already check local, state, and federal databases for a variety of crimes and psych issues, so why the need?

A firearms registry. What does it actually do?

Now I have to be a total jerk, because I swear I will fly you out to Seattle for dinner, take you to a badass nudie bar on my dime, and set you up in the best hotel in the city for two days with five grand in spending cash if you can find me a police officer that can shoot anywhere near as good as my range club. I know 14 year olds that make most LEO marksman look like idiots.

I need to reiterate here, I really like how you are presenting your case, you seem to know the subject, you seem to have common sense and genuine concern. But I have to ask you this one question.

We already have highly restrictive firearms regulations in the US, in many circles even the liberals agree that we have gone overboard in some respects. We have had them since an act in the 30's, and an act in the 60's, and another in 1986, another in 1984, and the harder we crack down, the more gun violence we see.

I would be very pleased to see your opinion on this (rather upsetting to a gun enthusiast) trend.

[Benjamin Shepherd]

And herein lies the dilemma.

It's a catch-22: Ban the guns, the criminals still have them. Extend police control, personal liberties are taken away.

Which is why I don't take any drastic views on gun control. As someone who hunts for small game every few months or so, I appreciate the intelligent views one must have to operate and understand the ethics and consideration of owning a firearm. So, questions:

What we are supposed to do for not having "personal bodyguards" is improve awareness of crime via advocacy groups, improved street lighting, and public funding of defensive assets for stores (more panic buttons, etc). Guns meeting guns = more violence, more problems.

What we are supposed to do for the lack of police in certain jurisdictions is expand laws that help with local law enforcement budgets. This can be done by moving local government money around, so the costs wouldn't jump skyhigh.  It's late, so I won't go into detail.

Open-carry firearm owners are the douchebag tools of America, but I also feel that concealed is a problem. I'm not sure what Washington's state laws are about gun ownership, but compared to someplace like Georgia, I'm sure they're not as lax.

Banning weapons? Simple: Are semi-automatic rifles even necessary? I mean, Jesus. You're not going into a group of twelve soldiers about to Rambo their asses.

A gun registry enables the states to see who has weapons, and who doesn't. This can help with combating violence, by looking at statistics, who owns what, and focusing on specifics, so that criminals can be targeted. Again, not going into detail because it's late.

Aside from that, I've no problem. I'm just not that into firearms. They're a tool to kill, nothing else.

[Ashar Kor-Azor]

Incidentally, I'm in my neighborhood watch, and they don't shut up about this shit, ever.

What do the two of you have to say about Switzerland? Treat it as a prompt, if you're willing to humor me.

[Benjamin Shepherd]

Incidentally, I'm in my neighborhood watch, and they don't shut up about this shit, ever.

What do the two of you have to say about Switzerland? Treat it as a prompt, if you're willing to humor me.

You mean besides the fact that their politicians look like a bunch of happy serial killers?



The only place where true direct democracy is practiced, and I love it. I don't like that they banned those Islamic veils, but my atheism says "Yesssss." My egalitarianism says "Nooooo." But it's a chill place, one of the highest quality of life countries, and 4 languages means lots of cultural exchange.