Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Don't the majority of Israelis have to do national service in the military though? In spite of Israel's close relationship with the US, it's a very different culture.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Yeah, Israel has mandatory military service, with some exceptions (ethnic and religious minorities, from Arab Israelis to Ultra-Orthodox Jews, don't have to serve if they don't want to).

I'm not saying Israel is just like the US. I'm just saying that open-carry isn't inherently bad; it's just a matter of what you're used to, because open-carry doesn't necessarily lead to higher crime (crime in Israel, except for terrorism-related violence, is very low).

PASmith suggests it might be a sign of "issues" in society and thus offensive for that reason, but one could argue the same about closed-circuit television cameras watching your every move in public. Some people find that very offensive too. Others say so long as it's not hurting anyone, what's the harm.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Not offensive. But not something that should be used as a barometer of what is acceptable, desirable or normal either.
As far as I'm concerned the right way to proceed is to look around the world and see what other countries are doing right (and what they are doing wrong) and try to learn from what we see.
To aspire to be as good as we can be.
IMHO bringing up Israel (a country embroiled in a deadly and, seemingly, never ending war of attrition with people almost exactly like them) in order to justify gun ownership in some way is misguided.
We should be attempting to emulate countries where people don't have to carry deadly weapons as a matter of habit.
Looking upwards rather than sinking down.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

I don't understand why people focus on the "military-style" aspect so much. Yes, it's got a wood stock and a 10-20 round magazine instead of a 30-round magazine. So what? So did the rifle Anders Breivik used.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Just in case you forgot Hitler was elected to his position by a majority of fawning supporters. He gained power by blaming the problems of the society on a cultural group and was protected by a press corp that supported his every move.Hmmm..... Sound familiar?
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Yeah. Sounds like just about every politician ever. Next point?
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Nothing we've ever seen is like the love affair the media has with Obama...well except Hitler. I'm not comparing Obama to Hitler, but no other politician in my lifetime has been courted by the media like Obama. A CBS reporter has laid out a strategy for Obama to destroy the Republican party. Since when is it the media's job to push political strategies, how can we trust them to report the truth.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Well...I think that's what the media has done since there's been media.
Not saying that's right but it's pretty well linked.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Let's be realistic, the media's job is to make money, they are a business. If you can make more money by pandering to one group or another then that is what they will do. There are plenty of media outlets, press, radio, internet and TV, that pander to any and all groups.

As far as I know in the history of the US the media has never had a great relationship with the "truth", whatever that might be.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Thank God for Fox News, then eh?
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

You force them to report the truth or be fined for reporting untruths. Then you prevent networks like Fox News from implying that they are a News network unless they comply with those reasonable restrictions. It is outrageous that Fox can get away with telling lies because they are classified as an entertainment network.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

FoxNews has backed the Republicans and MSNBC has backed the Democrats since...well, since I started watching the news. It's not supposed to be the media's job, but it's always been this way.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Could you please correct your statistics. "Per capita" means per PERSON. (In Latin, it literally means "per head".)

I sincerely doubt there are 200 registered firearms per person in the US or 7 million registered motorcycles per person.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

You clearly already knew that the first "per capita" was just a typo, right? Then why have this post?

There's 1,500 accidental deaths per year for 200 million firearms, and 4,500 accidental deaths per year for 7 million motorcycles in the USA. Hence, motorcycles are ninety times more likely to kill their owners in an accident than firearms are. Bickering about a typo in my post doesn't change that. Hence, it's hard to back a gun ban in an attempt to prevent accidental deaths if we're not out there banning motorcycles. It's inconsistent.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Of those 4,500 motorcycle deaths, I'm guessing the victim was the rider in 90% of them (if there are definitive stats, then someone can correct me), but I'm also guessing that the 1,500 accidental gun deaths include a very large number of victims who were not the original gun owner. When you ride a motorcycle, you accept that you might take a spill, one day. But the people killed with guns, accidentally or otherwise, don't get to make that choice.

That's why it's different, IMHO
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

Mitlov, I'm sorry if my question offended you. I was simply asking you to clarify your statistics, which you did. I find 7 million motorcycles in the USA to be a surprisingly LOW number, and the "200" you wrote could have been 200 per 100,000 people, 200 per million people, etc.

And I agree with your reasoning on gun bans. All I wanted was a clarification on the statistics. I was not disagreeing with anything you said. I just wanted the statistics clarified so I could put the numbers into perspective.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

I wonder how many of those guns allow their owner to get to work every day?
Like bikes do?

That always bothers me when people try to compare guns to other things.
Those other things always have very useful uses beyond causing death (cars, swimming pools, fertilizer, fuel, bikes etc).
Which is what most guns are designed for of course.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

I've ridden motorcycles for fifteen years. Like most American motorcyclists, I did it purely for recreation, not as a commuter tool. When I was in the UK, I was surprised to see so many people using scooters and motorcycles as commuting devices. That phenomenon is all-but-nonexistent here in the USA.

In addition to recreational shooting, guns are used for hunting. I know more people who hunt (and eat what they hunt) than people who commute on a motorcycle.

And self-defense is utilitarian. 100,000 instances per year according to the FBI.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

How many people commit murder with a bike though?
How many children get killed by bikes?
How many abused wives have a bike shoved in their face when their husband is drunk?

Because accidental death is only one factor when looking at gun usage.
As I've said before...I see no real point in trying to compare guns with other things that also kill people.
Guns aren't like anything else people have access to.
Isreali's aren't sat on motorbikes or brandishing step ladders in order to protect themselves even though those things can kill people.
 
Man arrested for 2x4 labeled "High Powered Rifle"

A drunk man who is abusing his wife can use any number of implements of harm to intimidate, injure, and kill his abused wife. It's not like you take the gun out of your fact pattern and all of a sudden the woman is in a stable, healthy relationship; her life is still being threatened because (assuming the abuse is happening in private and the husband is larger and stronger) he can just as easily kill her by choking her.

For a woman who is being stalked by an abusive ex-husband, a firearm combined with proper training is the best form of self-defense there is.

Seems to me the woman loses a lot more ground than she gains if we deny both the woman and the man access to firearms.
 
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