Has anyone heard about....

[Mormacil]

Beeing or beeing not offended got nothing to do with beeing openminded. Openminded means you're willing to chagne your views based on other peoples opinions and arguments.

[Thrignar Fraxix]

Originally posted by Zarf
It's true that we have problems to fix. But do you really think the murder rate is going to go down because we have decided to take weapons away? Because we have suddenly decided to drop a 230 year tradition? No, people can easily find other ways to kill other people.

Many killers buy their guns legitimately. Taking away the ability to buy guns legitimately would substantially reduce the number of murders by disgruntled employees, cheated on spouses, and probably even murder suicides just to name a few. Another thing to note, is that a knife generally is not a ranged weapon.

Originally posted by Zarf
Then let's look at some other "values" then, shall we? Look at what happened during prohibition. Now, I'm not saying I agree with this stuff... but the culture of drinking alcohol was here in far too great of numbers for the ban to work. The ban was repealed because a dangerous black market was shoving in.

Prohibition found it's base in religion and had supporters on both sides of the spectrum. It was famous liberal Franklin Delano Roosevelt that repealed it. Quoting prohibition only strengthens my arguement that liberals consistently support the repealing of laws that limit self destructive behavior. Another thing to note is, despite it later being repealed, I am certain many people did stop drinking because of prohibition.

Originally posted by Zarf
Apparently they don't have to worry about spiked drinks or food where you come from.

In the case of spiking food and drink, with what I will assume you mean date rape drugs, the use of those drugs is the only possible malicious use of drugs I can think of, however legalizing drugs is not going to turn anyone into a rapist that wasn't already.

Originally posted by Zarf
I'm not sure what you are trying to get at here.

I think he was saying the same thing I was. One can not find a pattern with only a single term.

[Seniosh]

Ok, here's some statistics for you. Since 1992, there have been 363 deaths from school shootings. There are 75,780,000 children enrolled in schools. If we say that there are an average of 24 deaths a year, and the number of children in schools is 75,780,000 for any given year, then doing some division gives us that you have a 1/3,157,500 chance of being killed each year.

To give some reference, 5777 people between 1-20 died in 2004 in car accidents. Given a population of around 80,000,000 1-20 year olds, that means there's a 1/13,848 chance of being killed while driving. That means you are 228 times more likely to die in a car accident than in a school shooting. You know what? I feel pretty damn safe in school now. People are blowing this out of proportion. Look at the statistics for yourself. School shootings are scary, yes. But likely? HECK NO! Just some reassurance, and if you don't trust me, i have every source i used below. They aren't in order, but you can tell by the URLs what they are. At least i took the time to organize them. Pretty OCD eh? Well i was bored, so enjoy

Population statistics
http://www.census.gov/cgi-bin/ipc/idbpyr...s&ymax=250
http://www.census.gov/population/socdemo...b01-01.xls

Accident Statistsics
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/...809918.pdf
http://www-nrd.nhtsa.dot.gov/pdf/nrd-30/...809906.pdf
http://www.disastercenter.com/cdc/1motorac.html

School Shooting Statistics
http://www.schoolsafety.us/School-Crime-...s-p-9.html

[KuKulzA]

yea...

then again, more people are killed by lightning than sharks...
would you rather walk outside at night ina thunder storm
or jump into the aquarium with a shark?

some things are just more menacing, but within our control.. and thus more terrifying

but people crashing autos, lightning striking, feels abstract... we know it happens, but most of us around talking about it haven't been in that situation bad enough to truly feel SAFE if confronted with the other danger...

if you were driving a car... would you feel more endangered than if a psychopathic kid was shooting at you?


it's all from different perspectives... and yes there are the statistics... but chances are if you are a careful person in general, you won't get in with psychos and you won't drive crazy nor try to drive near those who do... and chances are, you will probably not get killed... cause you try not to

[Seniosh]

When you think about it, getting shot by a psycho kid is just as uncontrollable. You may not know him, or why he wants to kill you. It just comes out of the blue. Best not to live in fear, lest it mar the living.

Don't get me wrong, this stuff is horrid, it's just that the media makes all of us so afraid of being murdered by a gang/psychopath/school killer/druggie/terrorist, or being kidnapped/raped/abducted, when the chances are very unlikely. My philosophy is that it's best not to worry about things you have little or no control over, because worrying will do nothing but make life less enjoyable, and then what's the point?

[KuKulzA]

I agree...
but if you are man to man with a psycho danger, and then a guy is about to smash into your car at 95 miles an hour... I think its easier to try to detain the psycho or even kill them, but a car crash is hard ot survive from.. thats where I was coming from... and that, most people fear the psycho more cause its more upfront violence I guess? like thats the intent... to kill....

lightning and car crashes don't usually intend to kill folks... irritated and hungry sharks and psychos do...

[cruxvader]

tranquilizer guns work well why not just use those

[Seniosh]

well sharks don't really want to kill you... humans taste icky, but you are right, we percieve the psycho as more dangerous than the car crash, but i'd personally rather our government spend 2 billion to reduce car accidents than reduce school shootings, because car accidents are more avoidable, and happen more frequently.

It's all about prioritizing, and America doesn't have it's priorities straight

[KuKulzA]

Originally posted by SenioshIt's all about prioritizing, and America doesn't have it's priorities straight

thanks to the media

[Seniosh]

They do a pretty good job of screwing our country don't they? Between biased coverage, and coverage only of the things that don't matter.

No matter how devestating X fire in Y city was, it'll never be more important than the 400,000 people who have died in Darfur.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why america makes bad choices.