On Sat, 20 Dec 2014 11:23:41 +0000, Stephen wrote:

> On 19/12/2014 16:30, Jim Henderson wrote:
>> That often can help, but not always.  I know in one instance, those who
>> robbed the place broke in while they were off camping, and they took
>> *everything*  - computers, software, etc.  Alarm system on the building
>> was useless.
>>
>>
> That can happen anywhere.

Sure.  But you or I would be likely to report it to the police.  Where 
she lives, reporting it to the police is not likely to help, because 
there's apparently a good reason the police were involved in the theft (I 
don't remember the details, but she's lived with it for long enough to 
know what she can and can't expect from her local law enforcement).

>>> >Remembering the gun laws, I made my excuses and left. No offence
>>> >intended but I felt out of my depth and thought it the better part of
>>> >valour, to be somewhere else:-)
>> Oh, sure, the gun laws here in the US are*nuts*, and there are a lot of
>> truly crazy people here who manage to build arsenals that go far beyond
>> personal safety.
>>
>>
> Or hunting. How can you say that you need a machine gun to hunt. Unless
> you are hunting mince or ground meat.

I still like Robin Williams' (I think it was) suggestion that we should 
give Bambi some serious firepower to even out the odds.

>> I was in Arizona about 15 years ago for the first time, and one of my
>> coworkers (who lived there) said "if someone cuts you off on the road,
>> just let it go - don't flip them off, don't lay into your horn -
>> because you never know who's going to be armed and decide to shoot you
>> for doing even that much."
>>
> Is that not the reason given by the pro gun lobby?
> The black hats won't know which white hat is carrying.

It's one of several excuses, yeah.

>> Yet if you try to get any kind of even sensible dialog going about gun
>> control, you get people saying incredibly stupid things like "if you
>> take guns away, only criminals will have guns, because you can't stop
>> the flow of guns"
> 
> Easy peasy, shoot everyone who is carrying a gun. By definition they are
> criminals. And since guns are designed to kill not incapacitate I am
> sure that they won't mind having done to them what they intend to do to
> others.

Ah, but you can't shoot everyone who's carrying a gun without carrying a 
gun. ;)

>> or even worse "someone who's determined will find a way.
> 
> Well that is true but it takes away the unpremeditated aspect.

Yep, agreed.

>> They'll use a knife if they have to."
>>
>>
> Then they will need to get up close and personal. So it is not so
> attractive a proposition.

Also agreed.

>> Yeah, but how often is a knife-wielding lunatic going to take out a
>> classroom of 45 students + teacher?  Answer:  Not bloody likely.
> 
> Unless they are wearing a bandoleer of throwing knifes. ;-)

I don't know anyone who can throw as many knives as fast as even a non-
automatic weapon, much less a semi- or fully automatic weapon.

> The one thing that I have not heard, is about teaching children how to
> shoot. Gun safety is one thing you should learn if you have to have a
> gun. But no one mentions adolescents with hormone surges. I know that
> during that phase young people are not the most rational creatures in
> the world. Yet some are given guns and rifles before they are tall
> enough to see over them.

I do agree with that.  I grew up with a friend whose dad served in 
Vietnam, and he (with parents' permission, naturally) taught a number of 
my friend's friends how to shoot, and about gun safety.  He was an 
awesome instructor.

I don't have a gun, but I know how to use a number of different varieties 
because of him.

The closest I get to guns these days, though, is playing Borderlands. ;)

Jim
-- 
"I learned long ago, never to wrestle with a pig. You get dirty, and 
besides, the pig likes it." - George Bernard Shaw

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