David13

Chuck Norris carries a gun in case he wants to do less damage than his fists are capable of.
One of the best things about working on releases and balance breaks is that so many of them lead naturally into getting the opponent either on the ground or staggering away long enough to draw a gun.

A fight avoided is a fight won.
Lehi

That's why there is no such thing as an "unarmed attacker".
That's why everyone should carry a weapon that can stop the attack.
Lehi

Of course we try to reduce it.  "It" being crime not guns.  Gun laws is not the answer.  The problem with gun legislation, of course, is it doesn't address the real issue - why people kill people.  You'll get more success sending out missionaries than making more gun laws.
Immigration control will get more success than gun control.  And you're not infringing on the rights of Americans.  You can't bring in more immigrants faster than they can assimilate.  Multi-culturalism fosters division.
Improving the economy will get more success than gun control.  People who are busy working have lesser time shooting each other.  And the satisfaction of productivity elevates all people.
Stopping politicians from dividing the country by voting blocs will get more success than gun control.  Gays versus straights, pro-life versus pro-choice, rich versus poor, blacks versus whites, etc. etc. etc.  There should only be one identity promoted by politicians - AMERICAN.
And so on and so forth.

When the government fears the people, there is freedom. Where the people fear the government, there is tyranny.
Wish I'd said it first (well, not really: I'd be 250 years old).
Lehi

See, now that right there makes me wonder if you ever handled a gun in your life.  Because I know a lot of people who own a lot of guns, and frequently buy and sell them, and go to gun ranges in many locations and shoot and handle guns, and reload, and work on guns, and I don't know of any instance where they think that. Nor did I.
And I guess all their guns were defective, cause I don't think any of them ever shot anybody with their guns, except for a few of the cops.
And most of the gun owners I know are not cops.
dc

(never heard that before - I like it)

Perfect!!!
Lehi

Well, there is your problem. 
LEGISLATION DOES NOT, CANNOT AND WILL NOT STOP THESE THINGS.
California, Chicago and many other places have laws up and down the pine tree, and yet, you have drawn the real conclusion.
"We" can never stop this.  The legislation does not stop it. 
Maybe, let me suggest to you that it could be stopped WITHOUT legislation beyond what is on the books today IF THE LAW WAS ENFORCED.
California has undertaken a serious program of releasing violent offenders from prison.  On a wholesale basis.  Guess who commits the crimes.
Why is it that people like you believe you have the solution to every ill in the world in your pocket?  You don't. 
Your very own William "Slick Willie" Clinton has stated that one of his greatest political errors was ... the ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 1994!  Why!?  It lost him a great many political allies in the government AND ... IT HAD NO EFFECT ON CRIME.  He understands that.  Why can't you?
Your very own Gerald "Jerry, Governor Guru" Brown stated some years ago, after a casino extortion bombing "we don't need any more laws.  What we need to do is enforce the laws we have".
Of course you will never find that anywhere in the media.  Why not?  Because the agenda does not call for truth. 
In Orlando, the shooter UNDERWENT AND PASSED A BACKGROUND CHECK.  What's your brilliant idea?  Two background checks?
At some point in time you have to put your feet back on the ground and accept reality.
The gun didn't commit the crime.
dc
 
 

The gun is a tool in a crime.
Chasing the tool is a wild goose chase.  A fool's errand.
Imagine yourself as Dick Tracy on a burglary case.  Going after the screwdriver used to pry open the door.
There you are.
dc
 

By arguing facts.  People wet their pants over "assault rifles" but in an earlier post I showed data that proves they're used in only a minuscule portion of murders committed with guns.  In light of that, it's hard to sound rational when claiming that banning them will somehow make a real difference.  Compare the number of murders committed with guns in general and it's comparable to the number committed with bare hands and feet.
If you want to keep the gun grabbers on the defensive where they belong, make them explain why they focus their attention on one category of tools that don't even make up the majority of murder weapons.  Make them explain why they use "think of the children" as a rallying cry for gun control when more kids die each year in swimming  pools and bicycle accidents than from guns.
Demonstrate this:

Well, there is your problem. 
LEGISLATION DOES NOT, CANNOT AND WILL NOT STOP THESE THINGS.
California, Chicago and many other places have laws up and down the pine tree, and yet, you have drawn the real conclusion.
"We" can never stop this.  The legislation does not stop it. 
Maybe, let me suggest to you that it could be stopped WITHOUT legislation beyond what is on the books today IF THE LAW WAS ENFORCED.
California has undertaken a serious program of releasing violent offenders from prison.  On a wholesale basis.  Guess who commits the crimes.
Why is it that people like you believe you have the solution to every ill in the world in your pocket?  You don't. 
Your very own William "Slick Willie" Clinton has stated that one of his greatest political errors was ... the ASSAULT WEAPONS BAN OF 1994!  Why!?  It lost him a great many political allies in the government AND ... IT HAD NO EFFECT ON CRIME.  He understands that.  Why can't you?
Your very own Gerald "Jerry, Governor Guru" Brown stated some years ago, after a casino extortion bombing "we don't need any more laws.  What we need to do is enforce the laws we have".
Of course you will never find that anywhere in the media.  Why not?  Because the agenda does not call for truth. 
In Orlando, the shooter UNDERWENT AND PASSED A BACKGROUND CHECK.  What's your brilliant idea?  Two background checks?
At some point in time you have to put your feet back on the ground and accept reality.
The gun didn't commit the crime.
dc
 
 

It's an important distinction because it shifts the discussion and weighs in favor of those who argue that guns are inherently evil.
Thomas Szasz is too often forgotten: "In the animal kingdom, the rule is kill or be killed. In the human world, it's define or be defined." If we ceded the vocabulary, we lose the argument.
Guns are tools. The user defines the purpose. It is the user's design that makes the difference. The gunsmith only provides that tool.
Lehi

So, there's this bit that was going around in the news about the changes to the conceal carry law... someone said something about it being like a journalist carrying a camera.  And somebody replied but cameras don't kill people.
My 14-year-old son looked at me and said... cameras don't kill people but guns do?  Wouldn't it be funny if some guy puts his handgun on the table and shoves a camera down someone's throat just to prove them wrong...

There is no such thing as gun violence.  It's amazing that you would even use the term "common sense".
Apparently you know nothing about guns, and have never shot or perhaps even touched one, yet all of a sudden you are an expert.  It's more than your lack of knowledge of God that you have here.
What you saw was people violence.  Religious fanatic violence.  Terrorist violence.  Islamic violence. 
No gun ever did any violence.   UNLESS someone was in control of it and used it for their purposes.
It's a fools errand to look at the instrument used, rather than who and why violence was done.
It's like calling a drunk driver (dui) hit and run killer ... car violence.  Would you call that car violence?  No?  Well then you see how idiotic it is to call this ... gun violence. 
Would you call a stabbing knife violence?  No? 
The tail doesn't wag the dog.  The gun doesn't do anything.
And the NRA follows it's members, not leads them.
dc

There is no such thing as gun violence.  It's amazing that you would even use the term "common sense".
Apparently you know nothing about guns, and have never shot or perhaps even touched one, yet all of a sudden you are an expert.  It's more than your lack of knowledge of God that you have here.
What you saw was people violence.  Religious fanatic violence.  Terrorist violence.  Islamic violence. 
No gun ever did any violence.   UNLESS someone was in control of it and used it for their purposes.
It's a fools errand to look at the instrument used, rather than who and why violence was done.
It's like calling a drunk driver (dui) hit and run killer ... car violence.  Would you call that car violence?  No?  Well then you see how idiotic it is to call this ... gun violence. 
Would you call a stabbing knife violence?  No? 
The tail doesn't wag the dog.  The gun doesn't do anything.
And the NRA follows it's members, not leads them.
dc

There is no such thing as gun violence.  It's amazing that you would even use the term "common sense".
Apparently you know nothing about guns, and have never shot or perhaps even touched one, yet all of a sudden you are an expert.  It's more than your lack of knowledge of God that you have here.
What you saw was people violence.  Religious fanatic violence.  Terrorist violence.  Islamic violence. 
No gun ever did any violence.   UNLESS someone was in control of it and used it for their purposes.
It's a fools errand to look at the instrument used, rather than who and why violence was done.
It's like calling a drunk driver (dui) hit and run killer ... car violence.  Would you call that car violence?  No?  Well then you see how idiotic it is to call this ... gun violence. 
Would you call a stabbing knife violence?  No? 
The tail doesn't wag the dog.  The gun doesn't do anything.
And the NRA follows it's members, not leads them.
dc

Installing a toilet is not difficult, especially in the all-in-one kits available at most home centers. Everything's included, even the seat and the wax ring. Instructions, too.
Lehi

So... the 911 calls the killer himself placed, claiming that it was about ISIS isn't proof?
One wonders what, exactly, it would take.

ISIS has been calling for lone wolf attacks for quite a while now.  So, despite the idiot in the White House statement that there was no external direction from ISIS, that is very much open to debate. 
I would go with an ISIS related lone wolf terrorist attack to describe this event.  I base that opinion on my training and experience.

We may not be "experts", but that doesn't mean we are ignorant, either.
I don't claim to expertise on Islam, but I did take two classes in it back in 1978~9, and the focus was on the positive side of Islam. We barely covered the evilocity thereof. When the atrocity of 2001 occurred, my family (including grandchildren and spouses) were on vacation/family reunion in Salt lake City. We woke up to the news just before the second plane hit the Trade Center. We watched that one live.
When we came home, I taught my Primary class what I knew about Islam. I regret that because what I knew was a lie, at least it was only a tiny fraction of the truth — a lie by omission. It old them that Islam was a religion of peace and that Muslims weren't violent. I have learned otherwise in the intervening decade plus.
Most Muslims are probably peaceful, but a minority do not support violence tacitly. Most (<90%, by some measures) want to replace whatever government they live under with Sharriah. Most tolerate rape, honor killings, murder (in the name of compassion), and a host of other insanities because of their religion. And almost none would defend Christians or Jews who opposed this transition.
I don't claim to be an expert, but what I do know is that Islam is scary. It is not a religion of peace.
Lehi

carlimac
It isn't "homophobia".  It's homo hatred.  Islams believe that homo ism is a sin punishable by death. 
dc

Yeap.  The only reason someone deserves death is if they have killed another person. Homosexual behavior is a gross moral sin, but as long as it does not infringe upon another's rights there is no reason to deprive the person committing the action of their life, liberty or pursuit of happiness.  
We all have the God-given right to screw up our own life however we see fit as long as we don't physically hurt someone else or their property in the process.

Yes and no. Indisputable fact #1. The good 'ol US of A created the environment for ISIS to grow and become a major player.  The US used and coordinated with elements of Al-Qaeda in Iraq (former ISIS) to overthrow Assad in Syria. John McCain met with and helped to fund the Free Syrian Army, which later ended up joining ISIS.  Check any pictures of ISIS rebels they are using US military equipment . . .equipment that was either left in Iraq or given to "rebels"
http://www.breitbart.com/national-security/2014/07/08/us-backed-moderate-free-syrian-army-factions-join-islamic-state-terror-group/
 The US has stuck it's nose into the quagmire of Middle Eastern politics and has no idea who is friend or foe, funds both side when it suits us and then wonders why it gets stabbed in the back.
So yes, you are right destroying ISIS in the middle east won't do much except create more chaos.  The people over there need to solve their own problems.
Radicalization inside the US can be a little bit of a challenge, but many of these US citizens were born outside the US and then became a citizen (the wife in the San Bernadino was born in Pakistan). It's a problem based on very bad US policies.  Up until about the 1960s the only people who were really allowed to immigrate into the United States were people from Anglo-Saxton countries. There were a couple of reasons for this that our forefathers realized.  1) It is much easy for individuals to assimilate into a country when they look like everyone else. 2) It is much easier to assimilate when the cultures have basic things in common like religion. Go most places in the world and they recognize these facts.  A homogenous culture ends up causing less conflict and strife.  Unfortunately, the US immigration policies went haywire and now it doesn't matter, we accept anyone into this country and consequently we are having some serious cultural issues.
People hate Trump b/c he supposedly says "racists" things . .. it ain't racist it's a fact.  When you show up to a political protest of an American President and you are waving a Mexican flag, something is seriously wrong. When you have a completely different set of underpinning moral/religious values (i.e. Muslim) combining cultures is very, very difficult.

Orlando was one of the towns back in the '80's that gave new life to conceal carry.  They were having serial rapes happening, big news story for months and months.  Then there was a very publicized "All the women in Orlando come to this park and learn how to use your conceal carry gun" event.  Very well-covered in the news.  Rapes went down 80% and stayed there.  The total number of rapes in Orlando and the surrounding area stayed about the same, meaning that the rapists just sought victims outside of Orlando, but yes, Orlando fixed their rape problem.  I think John Lott coined this the "Orlando effect" in one of his books.