Tuesday, October 30, 2007

I mean, what could possibly go wrong?


Over at "Halls of Massive Dementia," Neo has his little self an absolute stiffy over the thought of Americans being able to draw down on ... well, whoever the fuck they want:

In Canada, you have to run and hide...

In the United States, you can "stand your ground."

First enacted in Florida in 2005, "Stand Your Ground" bills are now being considered in 21 states including Georgia, according to the National Rifle Association and the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence. The South Dakota senate approved one just last week.

The article is a little dated... there are now 14 states (see graphic below) where you can stand your ground.

These new measures would push the boundaries beyond the self-defense measures already on the books. Twelve states already allow citizens to shoot intruders in their homes, and 38 states permit concealed weapons in public places.

"These laws send a more general message to society that public spaces belong to the public - and the public will protect [public places] rather than trying to run into the bathroom of the nearest Starbucks and hope the police show up," says David Kopel, director of the Independence Institute in Golden, Colorado.


This is, of course, a good idea and a long time coming, since you just never know when some shifty, 16-year-old foreigner is going to assault you in your home. Slant-eyed little Jap wants to party down at your place? I don't fucking think so, Pai-san.

And as for family members? Well, that slutty little tramp had it coming to her, if you know what I mean.

11 comments:

Ti-Guy said...

It's really wearying having to imagine the bleak and paranoid little world that Halls of Cacademia inhabits.

E in MD said...

This is actually one of the few things I agree with the righties on at least to some extent. I don't agree with the 'if you feel like you're in danger.' If some fragger breaks into my home I shouldn't have to worry about whether or not I'm going to jail for putting a bullet in his ass while he's off trying to rape my daughter.

What I do worry about is the shit that will occur when ( for example in the posts you mention ) some trigger happy redneck just decides to shoot somebody for fun. They can just claim that it was in self defense or something. "That colored looked at me like he was gunna keel me! I Sware!"

In my state they'll investigate it and will likely discover what really happened and prosecute your ass for it. I'm sure if you looked you could find cases where someone slips by on a technicality or because someone knows someone but generally Maryland takes it's shit pretty seriously. But the same cannot be said for other states.

In any case any shooting whether ir be in your property or not should be fully investigated. You -should- have to give a warning and -should- give the perp a chance to surrender before accidentally executing your daughter because you're a dumbass or because some Japanese kid shows up on your doorstep and you're 'afraid'. Peairs over-reacted and somebody died which is sad. But why should I have the right to own a gun but not have the right to use it if my life, or the lives of my family are legitimately in danger?

Ti-Guy said...

Yeah, well things are different in this country....there is no assumption that people are walking around carrying deadly weapons, so most people aren't primed to react to minor threats with actions that are completely out of proportion. That's the never-ending escalation of widespread weapons ownership which ultimately results in a vastly higher rate of gun-related homicides and generalised hysteria.

I was stopped by the police in Arizona one time (back in the mid-90's...well before 9/11) because I'd forgotten to turn the headlights on shortly after dusk. The police descended on me like a frikkin' SWAT team, screaming and yelling and demanding to know where my hands were...after being barked at to submit to a field-sobriety test, they simply let me go. The whole experience left me very, very angry and that, definitely, is one of the realities of a highly-armed society that I can do without.

I used to buy into the argument that an armed society was a good protection against an authoritarian government, but since the rise of Bush, I've come to realise that those who love the guns also like the authoritarian governments and it's up to the rest of us (moderates) to make sure they don't get easy access to deadly weapons.

Anonymous said...

Home Invasions are a real threat in Canada despite what you say. I've collected scores of instances in every province in the country, big cities, villages and remote areas. In every case, the homeowners express surprise that they were 'targeted.'

I think there is a good deal of denial on this issue given the gravity of the instances.

You can get more on this here

Ti-Guy said...

Frank Hilliard ~ Author of: Deeley - Motorcycle Millionaire; former television journalist, video producer, magazine editor, security consultant and currently a semi-retired web-database developer. Frank runs a blog at: http://mesopotamiawest.blogspot.com, a home security website at: http://homeinvasion.ca - and at: http://www.frankhilliard.com

Nice interplay between Islamofascist hysteria, home security hysteria and the home security consulting business.

...cha-CHING! Disaster capitalism in the flesh.

E in MD said...

it's up to the rest of us (moderates) to make sure they don't get easy access to deadly weapons.

By Ti-Guy, at 11:27 AM


Thing is, and i'm probably putting myself on 'The List' if I'm not already there by merely saying this... What are the rest of us non-authoritarians supposed to do when Bush decides he's had enough of this whole democracy thing and sends his brownshirts ( Blackwater ) out to start collecting dissidents. I'm sure as hell not going quietly, but without a weapon I might as well just open wide and start sucking off Blackwater contractors. Unarmed mouthy people not in the dictator's pocket die first.

Only problem I see with it is that the Gov's always got bigger and better guns anyway. Why bother rounding up dissidents when you can FAE bomb the neighborhood you suspect they live in.

Ti-Guy said...

What are the rest of us non-authoritarians supposed to do when Bush decides he's had enough of this whole democracy thing and sends his brownshirts ( Blackwater ) out to start collecting dissidents.

Beats me. Move to Canada?

Blackwater shouldn't even exist and should never have been allowed to accumulate the power it has. Didn't Eisenhower warn about that kind of thing, a lot time ago?

Ti-Guy said...

a lot time ago sb. a long time ago.

¢rÄbG®äŠŠ said...

Ti-Guy: "a lot time ago sb. a long time ago."

Oh, you say that now.

orc said...

The joy of living in the United States is dealing with this sort of gun nut bullshit all the time. Notice that all of these threats are things that haven't actually happened, while the US government is cheerfully running around spying on, disenfranchising, torturing, and disappearing citizens? It's because the Gun Nuts will cheerfully go along with whatever insults to civil liberties the government invokes, just as long as they get to keep their Guns!(tm) in the process.

It's a hell of a scam. It boils down to the only thing the right to carry is meant to protect is the right to carry, and never mind any other civil liberties.

Anonymous said...

If everyone is carrying a weapon, then when some nutso cuts sick in a mall, we can all stop him before he kills more than ten or twenty others; let's face it; every man, woman and child on the face of the planet should carry a high powered hand gun.
Here in Australia we have people going berserk all the time - the other day a guy went off tap in a kindergarten (he was a four year old), but luckily he only had a paint brush and some crayons as weapons. If we had more guns it would have been much better - he may have shot one or two first, but at least he'd have been dead meat and not the menace he still is - he's a fuckin' time bomb waiting to explode man, and our liberal, no guns society is leaving people like him to grow up to be some sort of useful human being.....
When are those lefty, liberal, communist, terrorist, greenie wimps gonna get real and realise the reason so many people are killed by guns in the United States is because there are not enough guns out there?