Newtown School Shootings

[ICantSpellDawg]

What town size are we talking about here?

Because it does feel like you're protecting yourself against tigers, even with a zoo nearby. It can happen, but the odds are minimal.

I've always loved guns, ever since I was a really little kid. I've always wanted an ARand was blown away a few years ago when I found out they were legal in NY. I've worked on watches, I research tea ceremonies and I'm interested in the heavy duty militarization of civilians just because. I'm also buying a stripped lower so I can build another one to high end specs. Think of it as model ship building that you can play with

There are about 1.4 million people in Suffolk county which is rather small. Just over 1 hour east to west, 20 mins north to south. now that I recall there was one young kid who killed his ex gf with some sort of gun. The other murders were psychotic breakdown where a wife killed her husband by stabbing him with a knife 30 times and a husband who had a psychotic breakdown and murdered his wife and 10 year old son with a baseball bat like in the shining. 30 years ago there was a satanic ritual where a christian kid who got involved with drugs and the crazy people they come with was stabbed in the woods. Mostly stabbings. I'm not too worried about crime here at the moment

[Greyblades]

I dont think that answered his question.

[ICantSpellDawg]

I dont think that answered his question.

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many "small towns" in the United States would be regarded as villages in the United Kingdom, while many British "small towns" would qualify as cities in the United States.

The "Town" in which I have lived for most of my life contains 203k. The town I now live in contains approx 335k people and is within a 10 minute drive. As almost all of my life has been spent in between or around these towns within Western Suffolk County, my "human settlement that is larger rthan a village but smaller than a city" is Western Suffolk County. As almost all of the population that lives in Suffolk county lives in Western Suffolk county, I decided to use Suffolk county as my "Town". Does this answer the question to your satisfaction?

Just to add, before I moved to my new town, actually before I was born, a classmate of my father in law murdered someone and kept the body in his basement until he was caught years later. Non gunshot homicide. The homicide rate is almost entirely within major metropolitan areas of the United States. It is largely confined to the most impoverished areas which happen to have the largest ratio of non-white to white people. Handguns are most often used, rifles to a much lower extent, semi-auto rifles to a statistically irrelevant.

[Ironside]

The "Town" in which I have lived for most of my life contains 203k. The town I now live in contains approx 335k people and is within a 10 minute drive. As almost all of my life has been spent in between or around these towns within Western Suffolk County, my "human settlement that is larger rthan a village but smaller than a city" is Western Suffolk County. As almost all of the population that lives in Suffolk county lives in Western Suffolk county, I decided to use Suffolk county as my "Town". Does this answer the question to your satisfaction?

Actually, it got me more confused, since that's city size. While it varies a lot by classification, anything above 5.000-100.000 is a city. Not a townie here, you city dweller.

Anyway, more to my point. If I get you correctly, you're living in a middle class suburban villa area with low crime rates (at least of the violent kind). Correct?

Yet you arm yourself to protect against Fallout cannibalistic raiders, since they are such a big threat.
Do you remember any local home invasions? You seem to recall most murders in the area. The urban guy living in the crime ridden areas do at least have a very clear reason for having heavy defense.

You are pretty much classified as a crazy paranoid, by default, in any other western country simply because the attitudes are so different. And the other regions that have a similar gun attitude are unstable/tribal/lacks a functional goverment/overrun by crocks. And that will colour the entire debate.

[Greyblades]

Oh incidentally the NRA are now blaming this on media and video games.

The National Rifle Association held a press conference this morning defending guns rights and pointing the finger at big media. They also called for a national program for schools that would train school officials on how to best protect educational institutions. The program would use local volunteers and participation would be up to local communities and school boards.

But the gist of what we're interested in covering, is the gun lobby's attack on "violent media." Below is the part of the press conference where Wayne LaPierre (executive vice president of the National Rifle Association) aims his guns at movies, video games, and the media conglomerates that he claims give them cover:

"And here's another dirty little truth that the media try their best to conceal: There exists in this country a callous, corrupt and corrupting shadow industry that sells, and sows, violence against its own people.

Through vicious, violent video games with names like Bulletstorm, Grand Theft Auto, Mortal Kombat and Splatterhouse. And here’s one: it’s called Kindergarten Killers. It’s been online for 10 years. How come my research department could find it and all of yours either couldn’t or didn’t want anyone to know you had found it?

Then there’s the blood-soaked slasher films like "American Psycho" and "Natural Born Killers" that are aired like propaganda loops on "Splatterdays" and every day, and a thousand music videos that portray life as a joke and murder as a way of life. And then they have the nerve to call it "entertainment."

But is that what it really is? Isn't fantasizing about killing people as a way to get your kicks really the filthiest form of pornography?

In a race to the bottom, media conglomerates compete with one another to shock, violate and offend every standard of civilized society by bringing an ever-more-toxic mix of reckless behavior and criminal cruelty into our homes — every minute of every day of every month of every year.

A child growing up in America witnesses 16,000 murders and 200,000 acts of violence by the time he or she reaches the ripe old age of 18.

And throughout it all, too many in our national media … their corporate owners … and their stockholders … act as silent enablers, if not complicit co-conspirators. Rather than face their own moral failings, the media demonize lawful gun owners, amplify their cries for more laws and fill the national debate with misinformation and dishonest thinking that only delay meaningful action and all but guarantee that the next atrocity is only a news cycle away."

I particularly like Penny arcade's response to it:

[ICantSpellDawg]

Actually, it got me more confused, since that's city size. While it varies a lot by classification, anything above 5.000-100.000 is a city. Not a townie here, you city dweller.

Anyway, more to my point. If I get you correctly, you're living in a middle class suburban villa area with low crime rates (at least of the violent kind). Correct?

Yet you arm yourself to protect against Fallout cannibalistic raiders, since they are such a big threat.
Do you remember any local home invasions? You seem to recall most murders in the area. The urban guy living in the crime ridden areas do at least have a very clear reason for having heavy defense.

You are pretty much classified as a crazy paranoid, by default, in any other western country simply because the attitudes are so different. And the other regions that have a similar gun attitude are unstable/tribal/lacks a functional goverment/overrun by crocks. And that will colour the entire debate.

Sure. I live in dense suburbia. It is a well-to-do area where people are extremely polite and crime is nearly non-existent. It is also urbanizing quickly. As urban people are rapidly de-armed, I believe that the idea that we should rapidly arm in the face of urbanization isnt a terrible one, especially if it is a hobby. 40 years ago, my neighborhood was farmland occupied a low tens of thousands. It has seen extraordinary population growth and people per square mile. With this has come marked increases in lawlessness, particularly in Nassau county. I look to Queens and Nassau as an example of what to expect in another 10-20 years. It would be best to render city like gun control uselss in advance of eventual bans of lawful ownership.
Again, the people of the 5 boroughs are not allowed to carry a knife in excess of 3 inches with any ability to protect their hands with a lock. The right to defend yourself in NYC to a reasonable extent is non-existant. They also abuse due process with random checks - not for terror related objects mind you - but for small amounts of marijuana.

Also, I'm not paranoid. I have discretionary income, no interest in purchasing a home or fancy car, and an interest in the military - what else am I going to do with my money?
My fear of authoritative government abusing it's power is no greater than yours. My fear of criminal activity is no greater than yours. I simply would like to arm myself to the greatest extent possible. My fear of death is no greater than yours - but I will bet I have more life insurance to protect my wife than you do.
Preparation is not a sign of fear, it's not even an expectation that something will happen. For some it might be. I'm all about dressing well, not being aggressive and having an unimaginable amount of firepower. I have a tea collection and I did nothing beyond buy 2 bottles of smart water before Hurricane Sandy. I didn't regret it.

[Greyblades]

...You're on a gaming website and youy cant think of something better to do with your money than guns.

[ICantSpellDawg]

If I spent any more money on video games and components my hands would fall off. I can only play one computer at a time, but I can fire 30 guns simultaneously.... jk, lol

[Philippus Flavius Homovallumus]

A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size definition for what constitutes a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many "small towns" in the United States would be regarded as villages in the United Kingdom, while many British "small towns" would qualify as cities in the United States.

The "Town" in which I have lived for most of my life contains 203k. The town I now live in contains approx 335k people and is within a 10 minute drive. As almost all of my life has been spent in between or around these towns within Western Suffolk County, my "human settlement that is larger rthan a village but smaller than a city" is Western Suffolk County. As almost all of the population that lives in Suffolk county lives in Western Suffolk county, I decided to use Suffolk county as my "Town". Does this answer the question to your satisfaction?

Just to add, before I moved to my new town, actually before I was born, a classmate of my father in law murdered someone and kept the body in his basement until he was caught years later. Non gunshot homicide. The homicide rate is almost entirely within major metropolitan areas of the United States. It is largely confined to the most impoverished areas which happen to have the largest ratio of non-white to white people. Handguns are most often used, rifles to a much lower extent, semi-auto rifles to a statistically irrelevant.

I live in a small city of 120,000.

A City is actually a settlement with a Civic Charter of some kind - a town is a large settlement with ammenities above those of a village. In the UK Towns are self-proclaimed Civil Parishes which are towns - unless they are Borough Towns - Cities have Royal Charters.

So Winchester, population 42,000 (ish) is a city while Basingstoke, population 140,000 (ish), is only a town.

In the US I would say a good rubric would be whether you have a City Mayor, whether you have regularly sitting upper courts, and a professional Police Dept. as opposed to a Sheriff.

In any case - you clearly aren't in the Wild West and it sounds like you don't need a gun. Or rather, if you need a gun then I need a gun - given the number of people in my city who have been raped or beaten near-to death.

[Brenus]

So the NRA is saying the only solution is to put Armed Guards in the schools. Splendid! Fire fighters were attack as well, so I suppose the solution is to equip the fire fighters with weapons as well. I just want to see them attacking a fire with their live munitions around their belts. ..

Of course to give weapons in schools won’t stop this kind of attack (do we have figures about killing spree actually stop by men or women with weapons. Because I think, (but I am not sure) that a lot of Americans have weapons. So, how many killing were avoided? How many persons coming in a crowd and opening fire were actually prevented to do so by a casual armed Americans (Armericans: sorry, I couldn’t resist)? In the army, attacking even armed people, especially not trained ones, by surprise, is call an ambush. And amateurish fighters can do a lot of damage because they have the surprise. So, how armed guards will stop killing: well, they can’t.

[ICantSpellDawg]

What do you guys think?

[Papewaio]

Annual death statistics for Australia in 2010 with a pretty bubble graph:

http://m.smh.com.au/national/health/...228-2bz8u.html

Picture:
http://images.smh.com.au/file/2012/1...=1356742625991

An Aussie 15 year old boy has an 8% chance of dying by 60. A US 15 yr old boy a 14% chance by 60.