Text 31459, 109 rader
Skriven 2009-04-19 11:16:26 av Robert Bashe (2:2448/44)
  Kommentar till text 31433 av Roy Witt (1:397/22)
Ärende: Crazies
===============
Roy Witt wrote to Robert Bashe on Saturday April 18 2009 at 16:17:

RW>>> I think that's an ignorant point of view. People who're licensed to
RW>>> carry firearms don't do so without knowing how to handle a firearm.

RB>> Ignorant? Maybe. Who says you're "licensed" to carry a firearm if you
RB>> have one?

RW> Mine was issued by the state of Texas.

Who's talking about you? And that doesn't answer my question.

RB>> Or that you know how and when to use it?

RW> The state of Texas. (I already pointed out to you the criteria for
RW> getting such a permit)

Roy, "you" in English is neutral and _can_ mean you as a person OR the general
public. I wasn't writing about you personally here either.

RB>> Roy, you seem like the computer expert who is trying to tell a modern
RB>> teenager how to write a batch file. As far as I can see, you're
RB>> simply assuming too much.

RW> If you could see what you're writing from my point of view, you'd know
RW> better. My interest in firearms didn't stop when I attained adulthood.

Which has what to do with what I wrote above? We're still not talking about you
personally.

RB>>>> So who is responsible for public safety? If _your_ government isn't
RB>>>> doing it's job, I would suggest applying some pressure to _get_ it
RB>>>> done.

RW>>> What good would that do?

Might help avoid crazies getting guns and going on a shooting spree.

RB>> The whole idea is that things should never come to that point.

RW> Wishful and idealistic thinking. It will get and stay worse for a
RW> long, long time before it gets any better. If it ever does.

Maybe. I'd be a liar if I told you I thought you were wrong on that score. No
"quick fixes" here either. But something has simply _got_ to change before the
crazies take over the entire society.

RB>>>> Roy, you're the worst advertisement for anyone contemplating a move
RB>>>> to the US I can think of.

RW>>> I'd be afraid like you, if I were as ignorant about gun laws and how
RW>>> people react to shootings as if they're no big deal, when a country
RW>>> has laws that don't allow everyone to have a firearm.

RB>> The difference is that _I_ know how to use guns. Most people don't.

RW> That doesn't say much about your knowledge of the gun laws today.
RW> Those who are licensed do know how to handle a firearm and do it very,
RW> very professionally.

<Sigh> OK, I give up. You _will_ not understand that I'm not talking about you
and me personally, nor about "licensed" gun owners, but about the idiots
without a criminal record who go to a gun store, buy a gun and proceed to shoot
up the neighborhood.

RB>> My son plans to visit New York this summer (in a group). He's
RB>> handicapped (autistic). Should I warn him of anything specific?

RW> Stick with the group and he'll be fine as long as they're only out in
RW> the daylight.

That's comforting, a little like the advice people get in wildlife parks in
Africa where lions roam around unhindered. Hell, this depressses me even more
than I already was.

RB>> As an aside: I had a German girlfriend in the early 70s who visited
RB>> New York on vacation and wrote me she'd walked back to her hotel
RB>> through Harlem. I wrote her that "God protects little children and
RB>> Germans". The thought of a single white woman, at that time around
RB>> 23, walking through Harlem, curdled my blood. She didn't
RB>> understand...

RW> Perhaps she wanted to see what it was like to be in a city of
RW> criminals.

Actually, she didn't know about anything and thought the US was as civilized as
Germany.

RW> There are places in San Antonio where even I won't go after dark.
RW> That's not an exclusive to SA, because there were places in San Diego
RW> I wouldn't go after dark either. In that area (SD), the shooting
RW> started at sundown and went all night, every night. If I was there
RW> during the daytime, I made a point of leaving by the backway, where
RW> one didn't have to run the gauntlet to get out of there. And I was
RW> armed.

You know, you scare the hell out of me with such remarks. I lived in Texas for
around 15 years, in Oklahoma for 5 and in Boston for 4 years, and then - in the
period from my birth in 1941 until 1966 - there was nothing at all that even
approached what you describe. To read your posts, the States must be a real
jungle nowadays. I'd like to disbelieve that, but have to bow to your more
recent experience.

Dammit!

Cheers, Bob

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