Is this website making America better?

Well, Te, I must say, that was QUITE a detailed, entirely hypothetical situation you described, but I'll try to cooperate, even though you have really made this one a stretch, to say the least....

Nobody comes wandering in my house without my express permission, but if they were staying with me, I would surely remember that if I heard a glass breaking or some other disturbance. The pistol I use for at-night protection is equipped with a laser targeting module, so I would be able to target a threat specifically and not just "letting loose the entire magazine" as you suggest.

Depending on the SITUATION, I might fire any number of shots -- but neither more nor less than needed! My hypothetical antagonist could easily be carrying a pistol with a 19-round magazine, plus one cartridge already in the chamber. If I'm equipped with anything less (such as activists against self-defense rights advocate every chance they get) , my enemy already has a built-in advantage over me, correct? BTW, here in Colorado in 2013, liberal Democrats in the Colorado Generally Assembly rammed through legislation that cut back severely on the capacity of ammunition magazines, and -- yes -- I'm still REALLY pissed-off about it....

The police? I can tell you very, very truthfully, Te, that it is a very, very RARE thing to see a police car anywhere in my neighborhood, but if they were going to come charging into my house because a fire-fight here had prompted calls for 911 response, they'd get on the bull-horns and announce themselves, and their squad cars would be lighting everything up, etc.! The criminal who broke into my house would flee, and either the police would shoot him, I'd shoot him, or he'd get away, but in any event, no innocent person would be likely to be shot. Truthfully, Te, you'll get more traction with a more plausible hypothetical scenario....

Gotta tell this -- once, a LONG time ago, a buddy of mine who was staying overnight with us was kinda drunk, and somehow, while stumbling around in the house in the middle of the night, he managed to pull a big cuckoo clock down off the wall. Quite a hell of a lot of racket, but nobody got killed, and no shots were fired!

 

Yes, the hypothetical was intended to stretch your imagination and now we need to take it to the next level. You are a responsible person but that makes you the EXCEPTION rather than the rule.

Take the same scenario with the average person who does not have your high tech advantages or live in your neighborhood? I can recall a couple of decades ago reading about how innocent children were killed by stray bullets from gang warfare in NYC. Nowadays that does not happen and it is largely because of more stringent gun control in that area. And here is statistical data to BACK THAT UP.






If the entire nation were to adopt the same NY regulations and law enforcement practices we would have a far safer nation for We the People.

You would not NEED that high capacity magazine because the crime rate would not justify it any longer.

 

Absolutely false claim. Crime dropped in NYC because of stepped up enforcement of the law, not because of gun control. Rudy Giuliani specifically based his crime reduction policy on the article "Broken Windows", in which it was theorized that the reduction in enforcement of small laws like laws against vandalism led to widespread disrespect for the law and out-of-control criminality. The NYPD specifically targeted stile jumpers, those people who would jump over the subway stile without paying. Amazingly, a high percentage of those people turned out to have outstanding warrants or were wanted for questioning. One in twenty was wanted on a serious felony charge. Rounding those people up went a long way to reducing crime in NY. Meanwhile, I could find no new gun control laws that were passed in NYC during Giuliani's regime. Gun control laws fail every time they are tried. Enforcing the law works.

 

To return to the original topic for a sec.

Speaking only for myself... I first came to PF as someone not very politically sophisticated, having become rather apathetic towards politics in general do to the soul numbing 'same ol same old'.

Nothing we did, no matter how we voted, seemed to change a damn thing. Political debates were boring, stale and predictable.

Everything just kept getting worse and worse...year after year...

(The Bushes and Clintons seemed to be going for a monarchy at one point even Ha!).

I know a lot of people in real life, who felt the same way...just tired of it all. Seemed like there was no real hope.

Even Obama, who had a great social media team, but no real hope in there anywhere, and he proved worse than expected. Didn't improve crap and told us all to just except it, basically, and the mess we were in, just got worse still..

And then Trump declared. And a buzz was created. Oh, sure people laughed at him, but he was the first candidate who wasn't from old political families, or beholden financially to the DNC or any big money campaign financial backers.

He was... interesting... at the start that was really all I thought, but not long after, myself and a lot of people I know, started to see a glimmer of of hope, that began because Trump was different in a way we had never seen before.

Where for so many years, there seemed no hope, no way out of the corrupt old money political system and the subsequent depressing state of the country getting worse by the day, here was the first real chance to blast through the old monopoly and get the changes people in THIS country really needed.

But he was a wild card, a risk to be sure, and even as interest turned to excitement, (that their might be a way out of the hopeless political nightmare we were living!) we had keep our growing enthusiasm on the down low, (We were, "deplorable" after all).

so I came here to learn more. Quietly.

I didn't register, or post for a long time, well after he won, because I felt intimidated by the more worldy, politically savvy posters. But I read and learned. Eventually, I felt comfortable enough to join in some.

And I learn from all the posters, even if all they do is repeat, "Trump is a Baby" several times in the same thread.

I learned what TDS is and how to spot those will never acknowledge Trump's strengths, regardless of any success, or growth, because they can't. I certainly have cringed at his lack of sophisticated decorum but I see him working his butt off and getting **** done.

So while I don't love every little thing about the guy, (and you know, those of us who voted Trump, we are always accused of "Worshiping our Orange God" when mostly we don't, we just got sick of the Yellow Belly cowards that came before him!).

So, yeah I think this site makes the world a better place. At least it helps in my little corner of the world.

 

Which part of the term LAW ENFORCEMENT needs to be explained?

https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/you-and-your-kind/

Strict gun laws COMBINED with ENFORCING those laws WORKS!

Passing them is meaningless unless they are applied.

So nothing in your kneejerk reaction pablum REFUTED what I posted.

 

As before, Te, I remain open to all logical, sensible suggestions about what we can do to improve our lives here in the U. S. -- and that is what I hope that a forum like this one contributes our thoughts and ideas towards....

We do appear to have reached a consensus on the need for greatly more rigorous, in-depth background checks -- for the purchase of both firearms and ammuntion. But I still say that I don't need anybody telling me what the capacities of ammuntion magazines for my weapon(s) should be. Stubbornly, I persist in saying, "It's none of their damned business!" If I recklessly fire all the ammo in a magazine, and cause any unjustified, indefensible harm to anyone, there is no doubt in my mind that the law will make me answer for that!

 

I am sure that accidently shooting the wrong person is a tremendous fear that gun owners have when defending their household and most are very careful to NOT shoot a drunk grandson coming in late at night.
I did have an incident where someone was in my PU , late at night, prowling around.. I carried my pistol at my side (finger OFF trigger and not pointed at subject) was my renter/friend looking for a cigarette! LOL Most people are going to make a positive ID and then shoot for mass if it is a true threat (which also means giving the threat an opportunity to surrender, nobody wants to kill another human being unless absolutely necessary).. no "spray and pray"!

 

This does:



While I certainly agree that those with illegal firearms ought to go to jail, the numbers aren't showing any spike from 2009-2016 to coincide with reduced firearm enforcement. Maybe it's all those other laws that are being enforced that make the difference, and not New York's draconian gun laws, eh? Meanwhile, in West Virginia, the murder rate is about the same as in New York while having some of the least restrictive gun laws in the country. Wonder why that is.

 

No.

No website makes ANYTHING better.

Just being honest.

Anyone who thinks any website can change anything... especially for the better, hasn't been online long.

 

It all depends on where you spend your time .

"If you enter A Vipers Den you're gonna find Vipers"

As the saying goes...

 

Name one website, that has helped the world. I'm talking social site, or discussion forum.

 

While I agree that there are huge downsides to social media in general, (Obama's social media campaign largely influenced his being elected ,he even did an AMA (Ask Me Anything ) on Reddit! . So... clearly there are downsides.

I've also seen the great benifit of social networking, world wide, on people in the areas of connecting with others, when they feel alone and need support, from personal or career advice to shared hobbies and interests.

There are people all over the globe, from the young, to the very old, who are isolated and lonely, for various reasons, in their real lives.

Support is available 24/7, No appointment, transportation or insurance needed. Feeling suicidal at 3am? someone is here, ready to listen. we can agree to disagree but I have seen the ripple effect and helping even one person does benifit us all in my opinion.

 

None of this makes the Globe, or our nation better.

Individuals lives perhaps... some. And phone help lines are open 24/7.

Just going by the question in the OP for my reply.

 

Wasn't that drastic drop in murders(bar graph) when Giuliani was Mayor? And wasn't it credited to stronger Policing policies.

 

Yes it was. Stop and Frisk primarily.

 

Ah. Ok. I was going by your post for my reply.

 

I don't see how that changes much really.

The telephone deals with the issues you brought up just fine. Has since before Al Gore invented Teh Interwebz

 

Fair enough.

Next question that I wanted to ask is about the reasonableness of the "stand your ground" law. What are your thoughts and where do you draw the boundaries?

 

Great seeing you again.. been near 2 years..

Anyway, LOL just wanted to say "Hey!"!

Oh, and my take is Stand your ground laws should be national.

I would draw no lines...

But anyway, back to your convo!

 

Duly noted that you once again abjectly FAILED to even attempt to provide any substantiation for your allegations so they are nothing more than your OPINION.

 

Why set the bar so extremely high?

How about if a website helped a single individual?

What many people do not know about PTSD is that one of the most effective treatments is to discuss how you feel but for many guys that makes them feel vulnerable so they don't want to do it in person. However they can do it anonymously on websites set up for that purpose. That can help reduce suicides that are common amongst those suffering from PTSD.

https://blog.feedspot.com/ptsd_blogs/

Then there are websites dedicated to other causes that provide helpful and useful information. New mothers can share experiences and provide support groups for common issues. Home schooling groups provide support for educating their children. There are Caregiver support groups for those are dealing with sick children and/or aging parents.

Those and other websites are all helpful in small ways and combined they do "help the world".

 

I was answering the OP... well, standing my position on my answer to the OP, and the member I was discussing it with, was on that same line as the OP

They set the bar.

I cover your points, in another reply I think

 

Yes, ENFORCING the gun laws did result in a drop.