Pro-Gun Children's Book Explodes In Popularity After Media Ridicule

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: Lolliek
Yeah I hear ya. I was raised on guns, knives, bows, and various other tools that a whole lot of city folks would be mortified hearing about kids using. I learned to drive way before I was legally able to. Driving on our property, then going on offroading adventures with the family. It's a whole different way of life, and if the tools are to be blamed, the country would be a blood bath, yet all the bloodbaths seem to take place in big cities.

I could have written this myself. It's a different way of life out in the country I think. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I can outshoot any man, I can hunt, I can fix cars, etc. There is more self sufficiency taught to those out in the boondocks than there are in big cities. Maybe it's because those in the city have access to everything they could possibly need 24 hours a day? I don't know... But I can't imagine sending my daughter out into the world without that kind of knowledge. Teaching someone how to use a gun safely does not mean that they are going to be a future murderer. It may prevent them from becoming a future statistic themselves though and that's all I need to know.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe
City folks think they don't need to know how to grow and preserve food, since they got walmart and the A+P up the raod. Same as water filtration and storage etc etc. Look at what happens in them cities during disasters, they are beating and killing eachother over crap. Hell, they are beating and killing each other on black friday over total crap.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

I think you are getting a bit far into generalizations. I have always lived in the city or close-to-city-suburbs. I don't know if self-sufficiency can be solely claimed by those who live in the sticks. You, like I, became self sufficient in our own environment. I was taught that it was always a waste to pay someone if you can do it yourself. I can work on cars (assuming they are carbureted - screw fuel injection), carpentry, landscaping, etc. But the tools of my trade include computers and other modern electronics that I will always take apart and fix before throwing away to buy a new one. In many ways this comes from our parents (as my self-reliance and technical know-how does). But we live in a disposable society now, with cheaply made products that are designed so that the consumer cannot fix them, and must purchase anew. And laziness for learning is everywhere, out in the sticks as well.

I will say this though, I've lived in DC when it was the murder capital, and in NYC and in LA. Never once did I feel like I needed a gun (although I shot them as a kid, and as a adult at gun ranges, but did I really need to? Nope). I recognize that this is an issue of constitutional interpretation. And to me, the arguments for unregulated gun ownership are ridiculous, at best. Our founding fathers got a lot right, but they got a whole lot wrong too. Society evolves.

a reply to: TKDRL

Uh, Walmart is in the cities and not in the sticks? I think you have it backwards buddy. I've driven across this country many times and you know what I've seen… rural Walmarts that have wiped out all the mom and pop stores (and all local economy). So who is buying all the disposable junk again?

There are actually tons of city vegetable gardens in most cities. And you've gotta stop playing the elite card. You know as well as I do that most people who live out in the sticks are not growing their own vegetables, meat, etc. either. They are buying it at Walmart.

All people are under desperate measures during disasters. Out in the country or otherwise. We have a lot of people in this world. I know it's hard to tell out there in the middle of nowhere, but a lot of us are really good at living around other people. You should try it sometime, might make you a little more understanding of others.

Also, this is all thread drift.

a reply to: okrian
How do you justify your BS? You lived in the cities of the US that have the strictest gun control, yet have that highest gun crimes.... Maybe you were lucky to live in the whitewashed good areas that get nice police response, and trust those police to have the best intentions. I have had guns pointed at my face not many times living in NY, and the majority of those incidents where pigs pointing the guns. I am glad you had better experiences than me, I hope your luck continues.

a reply to: okrian
Sounds like we live in different realities then.

originally posted by: TKDRL
a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe
City folks think they don't need to know how to grow and preserve food, since they got walmart and the A+P up the raod. Same as water filtration and storage etc etc. Look at what happens in them cities during disasters, they are beating and killing eachother over crap. Hell, they are beating and killing each other on black friday over total crap.

I agree. If the system ever fails I hope that I am not in any city area. That last bout where the food stamps didn't work for what... Not even 24 hours... People went absolute ape shiite. If there is one thing in this world I don't worry about, it is being able to eat and feed my family. Would I hate not being able to go to the store and just pick up food? Absolutely. Would I survive? Absolutely... Probably in better health on top of that!

The whole Black Friday thing is beyond me. Unless they were selling kidneys and a loved one needed one there is no way in hades I would take part in that mess. It goes way past absurd and shows an animalistic quality in some folks that can be down right scary. It is the exact same sight we saw during the food stamp fiasco and the exact same thing we would see in just a small type disaster happening in any populated area.

a reply to: okrian

I , by no means meant all. I do mean a hell of a lot though. There are losers in the sticks as well, but you know good and well that most folks brought up in the city have no idea how to kill and gut a deer in a safe manner (as in not making you severely ill or killing you). How many know what water is safe to drink and what will give you parasites if they can't boil it? How many know how to rebuild the engines in the taxis they ride in? What berries can you eat and which ones will kill you? That's the point I am making. Most of us know the answers to these because it is where we were born and raised.

I did not mean for my post to put down city dwellers but there are differences and if you deny that then I don't know what to tell you. If I had to survive in the city, I would want someone from the city to show me the ropes on how to get around, which areas I should stay away from, etc. I know nothing about the city. I can absolutely admit that. It's highly likely that I would find myself in a dangerous situation if I didn't know what I was doing. There's no point in pretending (for me at least) that the two are the same.

a reply to: TKDRL

The old argument about cities that have strict regulation having high gun crimes is moot. These cities do not exist in a vacuum. There are no walls around these cities to prevent guns from coming in. Who cares if they have high gun regulation? That doesn't matter when it's not universal, or said regulation doesn't exist 2 miles away. You are trying to oversimplify a problem. Why are there so many gun crimes? Do you think poverty has anything to do with it? Do you think corporations, greed, and forced economic segregation have anything to do with it? And then the beaten down populace with heightened emotions plus guns does what?

And you should do yourself a favor and not make assumptions about other people you don't know. I certainly didn't live in any white-washed areas. Again, I think I'm better for it because I didn't. Sure helps to understand what is really going on on the ground. Admittedly, the DC cops were a terrible institution a while back, and for the most part, those were the guns pointed at us.

a reply to: Kangaruex4Ewe

Of course. Totally understand and totally agree. I guess I'm in a weird position because although I have pretty much always lived in cities, I have also spent my entire life camping, hiking through the wilderness with everything I need to survive on my back etc. So I may be a city person coming from a different angle (and likely in the minority).

Although I gotta say, all the survivalist shows have really captivated a lot of my city friends. Not like that is sufficient training for running off into the woods naked or anything, but just saying.

a reply to: HauntWok

Where do you come up with this crap?


Care to provide examples of such BS?

The only person that has exhibited fear throughout any of these Anti-2nd threads is YOU.

a reply to: okrian

When those neighboring cities don't have both the restrictive gun laws and high crime, it is an issue.

All of these Progressive Utopian Cities are crime havens, and have the most restrictive gun laws. They neighbor freer states and cities without the problem......

When i was young we had the green cross code, "look both ways" adverts on TV with Alvin Stardust road safety. Not any more though, however we do have "look out for motorcycles" advertisements for car drivers instead now. We have more safety aimed at adults than kids, like smoking kills and such. None aimed at the kids any more and they certainly watch more tv than ever, though possibly the internet and games are reversing that.

Thats yeeeeaaaars before handguns were banned.

Yet we never had any "dont touch daddys guns" advertisements.

originally posted by: okrian
a reply to: Kangaruex4EweI recognize that this is an issue of constitutional interpretation. And to me, the arguments for unregulated gun ownership are ridiculous, at best. Our founding fathers got a lot right, but they got a whole lot wrong too. Society evolves.

I wrote quite a lengthy, serious piece of academic work on nation states and the US constitution formed a significant part of that. Even as an outsider, the inevitable conclusion when you consider what it means to be a nation, is that the Second Amendment is one of the most important legal and philosophical statements every made. It is the only legal recognition that I was able to find that openly acknowledges the fundamental power balance (or imbalance, rather) that defines what it means to be a nation.

So, no, your founding fathers did not get that wrong. Whether or not "society evolves" has no impact on the fundamental principle that it addresses, because that principle always, always applies. In fact, it's the same principle that governs every law of physics and chemistry, ever interaction down to the subatomic level and beyond, every social interaction we ever have, every father and son, every employee and employer, every citizen and government. Whatever brings the most effective influence to bear, determines the course of events. Sometimes called the "big stick" rule - the person with the biggest stick, makes the rules. The Second Amendment was an attempt to make sure the American people always had a bigger stick than the government, so the people always retained the ability to exert the greatest influence.

An example I often use is a father, a son, and a car. The father owns the car, but he doesn't want to spend his entire time driving his son to different place, so he trusts him with the keys to drive himself. He's not giving the son his car, he's just letting him drive it. If the son isn't responsible with it, or misbehaves at home - well, the father will stop letting him drive the car.

This goes on for a while. Eventually the kid stops asking for the keys and just takes them when he needs them. The father says nothing. The son drives the car more and more often, and after a while he stops thinking of it as "my father's car" as starts to think of it as "my car".

One day, the father has had enough, and demands the keys for his car back. The son just smiles at his father and says "It's my car now, and there's nothing you can do about it. If you want a lift, you can beg me for it. If I'm not too busy, that is."

That's you, your government, and your country. The country is yours, not the government's. Sure, you let it "borrow the keys to the car" because you have your own life to lead and you don't want to personally deal with every little thing, it would be ridiculous to have a public vote over every single administrative decision. So, you give the government the "keys to the car", you let it handle the day to day stuff as long as it isn't abusing your trust.

The Founding Fathers fully recognised, however, that there was always the risk that, one day, the government might forget who owns the car. The Second Amendment was the advantage they gave you over the government, to ensure it would always return the keys when asked. This doesn't mean you have to use it, but you have to have a real and credible ability and will to do so, if required. The government needs to know that when say "give me my keys back", you mean it and you can enforce it if necessary. It doesn't matter how big the stick is if you don't intend to use it. If the kid knows that it's all empty threats, either because you can't or won't do anything about it, he's just going to laugh in your face and walk away with the keys.

The Second Amendment is there to ensure that the country belongs to you, not the government. If you've allowed it to become diluted to the point where you can no longer get your keys back, that isn't a failure of the Founding Fathers, it isn't "society evolving", it's a fundamental failure of you as a people and you as a nation.

If the Second Amendment falls, whatever is left is no longer America - because the nature of the relationship between the people and the government was the unique and the defining element that made your nation different to any other nation on this planet. That is what made America, America. Without it, you're just another country of subjects and monarchs. Sure, you might have a revolving monarchy rather than a hereditary one, you might call them Presidents instead of Queens, but the fundamental relationship is just the same.

a reply to: HauntWok

I'm asian, so it's not possible for me to be racist--and I love guns and the 2nd amendment.

a reply to: okrian
Typical, shirking the responsibility and pointing fingers when the strict laws don't work. I guess y'all should set up some TSA nazi checkpoints for people entering and exiting the cities then. That's about the only way you might make a dent in gun crimes. Then it will just be knife crimes you have to worry about.

Of course poverty has something to do with it, and the pseudo-segregation that goes on with the housing projects. Let's toss all the poor scum in a tiny little area so we don't have to lay eyes on that filth, then wonder why those areas are violent as #.

originally posted by: LewsTherinThelamon
a reply to: HauntWok

I'm asian, so it's not possible for me to be racist--and I love guns and the 2nd amendment.

I assume the comedy in this post was deliberate?

originally posted by: macman
a reply to: HauntWok

Where do you come up with this crap?


Care to provide examples of such BS?

The only person that has exhibited fear throughout any of these Anti-2nd threads is YOU.

Heck, he even got upset about question he thought were "too aggressive." LOL. I think we an see where the paranoia and fear is, and it ain't us.

originally posted by: okrian
a reply to: TKDRL

The old argument about cities that have strict regulation having high gun crimes is moot. These cities do not exist in a vacuum. There are no walls around these cities to prevent guns from coming in. Who cares if they have high gun regulation? That doesn't matter when it's not universal, or said regulation doesn't exist 2 miles away. You are trying to oversimplify a problem. Why are there so many gun crimes? Do you think poverty has anything to do with it? Do you think corporations, greed, and forced economic segregation have anything to do with it? And then the beaten down populace with heightened emotions plus guns does what?

And you should do yourself a favor and not make assumptions about other people you don't know. I certainly didn't live in any white-washed areas. Again, I think I'm better for it because I didn't. Sure helps to understand what is really going on on the ground. Admittedly, the DC cops were a terrible institution a while back, and for the most part, those were the guns pointed at us.

However, the point fails in that nothing, anywhere is a vacuum. Ban all guns in the US? Guess what, crime will go up because they will come across out southern border along with the drugs and illegals.

Ban all gun ownership in the world? Guess what? Criminals will make them in the garage.

The only thing gun bans do is disarm those who you don't have to worry about--the law abiding.

originally posted by: ScepticScot

originally posted by: LewsTherinThelamon
a reply to: HauntWok

I'm asian, so it's not possible for me to be racist--and I love guns and the 2nd amendment.

I assume the comedy in this post was deliberate?

Everyone's a minority on the internet.