The Assault Weapons Ban
POSTED BY: AnthonyT
UPDATED: Friday, December 5, 2008 17:22
VIEWED: 10930
PAGE 16 of 17
Awesome. Not the crappy stuff, the details.
I see how your mind can lean one way or another when talking about the crimes and violent activity where you have lived.
Those things exist everywhere to some degree. And yes, I see how your vantage point definately points the US out as being violent in some aspects and insecure and others.
Canada is vastly less poulated than the US. It is not as "culturally rich" as the US. And they have done more for their people as a whole than the US has.
But they still have ALOT of illicit activity that goes unreported throught the whole country. People have opted to brave the Canadian wilderness rather than the Mexican border due to the lack of boarder enforcement and law enforcement. People, weapons, drugs, and even trade contraband is a rising concern with the Canadian border.
And that stuff is coming to the US, not going to Canada.
But the safety thing is true for parts of the US as well. Not everywhere is like that. In fact most places aren't like that. It just sucks that we have a few making us all look bad.
But isn't that the case with so many things.
Quote:
Not really. I worked in a county ER in one of those slum type neighborhoods. Guns are far worse.
Guns were probably also more prevelent in the cases involved.
Culture does have a lot to do with weapons involved. Mexican women, lesbian women, and hispanic males had many knife related crimes a few years ago. Reason: Power. The use of a knife has more power behind it in some cultures than others. Females are vain (not all) and cutting a womans face is far worse than killing her. Hispanic males (not all) live in a machismo society. To cut someone is more powerful because it is done by hand, not from a distance. It displays their power over another individual. Some stereotypes had concrete reasons behind them. But as a whole society has become more lazy and less proud. Firearms have their own special tier of personification in criminal culture.
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The country is making a big mistake not teaching kids to cook and raise a garden and build fires.
-Loretta Lynn
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I see you have some misconceptions about Canada and Toronto.
Toronto is a world-class city. It has 2.8 million people, the greater metro area has 5.5 million. That puts the city proper on par with Chicago, the metro area surpasses Los Angeles.
Thanks to Commonwealth immigration policies, Toronto is extremely cosmopolitan. You'll find large numbers of people from all over the globe there.
More murder occurs in the Canadian hinterlands (the far northern parts of the provinces) than in the cities - the cities are not hotbeds of murder or indeed violent crime as people assume (as much crime as Canada has, anyway).
The information I have from a family member is that most of the illicit border activity comes through Canada, but does not originate there, and mostly, it's drug trafficking due to the voracious US appetite for drugs. Parenthetically - the supposed unrestricted border has a lot more radar, IR and other sensors than most people realize (from the same family member).
I'm not dreaming it, nor is this a matter of outlying statistics. The entire country of Canada had just 597 murders in 2007. Los Angeles City (not county) had 396. Canada IS a less violent culture, and the US IS, sadly, an extremely violent one.
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Hello,
Most of the violence I experienced in my life was in my youth. I used to get beat up fairly regularly in middle school. That stopped abruptly in High School.
I think the improvement was a combination of a change of environment and a massive growth spurt that caused me to tower over all my classmates. There were bullies at my High School, but those bullies no longer seemed interested in me, even though I was the exact kind of geek they targeted. I suppose it's easier to target the weak. In High School, I was safe, and anyone with me was safe.
As an adult, my life has been fairly free of violence. I spent most of my life in Hialeah, Florida, a city with a fair crime rate. It's physically connected to Miami, which is a place you may have heard of. When I came to Arizona, I lived in various 'questionable' neighborhoods before buying a house in one of them. I say 'questionable' because it's one of those areas that everyone 'knows' is bad because of the large immigrant population there.
I generally leave my doors unlocked until I go to sleep. Most people would say I'm nuts, and that evil men could burst in at any moment to take what's mine. Well, they could. Statistically, it happens.
The singular problem I've had in my neighborhood didn't come from the immigrants or the gangs who supposedly roam around where I live, looking to cause crime. The one problem I had in my neighborhood came from my neighbor.
One night, when I wasn't home, our dog got under the fence and entered the neighbor's property. He was upset about it, and he had a right to be. My dog doesn't belong over there. He started shouting and hollering about it, which got the attention of my wife. She went out back to see what was going on, and the neighbor said he'd shoot the dog if she didn't come by to get it. Well, my wife went right over to get the dog.
As she herded the dog back to our property, the neighbor's tirade continued. He said that not only would he shoot the dog, but he'd shoot her, too. And he had a real gun, he said, and went into the house to get it. Then he brought the gun out and fired off a shot, presumably to demonstrate the seriousness of his intention. My wife finally fled with the dog into our house, locked all the doors, and waited for me to come home.
When I got home I found her there, covered in dirt and pieces of grass, my dog happily panting as she quaked and told the tale. I was rather shocked to hear of this kind of behavior. It wasn't what I considered to be 'rational.' And she hadn't called the police, even though the incident had happened hours before I got home. Why? Because she was afraid of losing the dog. Since it got out of the yard, she was afraid the dog-catcher would take it away or somesuch. Women... Sometimes I just don't understand them.
She still didn't want to call the police, and I must admit I was a bit incredulous myself. I'd never met the neighbor man since moving in, but I'd met his wife and she seemed friendly and rational. I wondered if in the heat of the moment, with an angry man shouting, my wife hadn't gotten over-excited and used hyperbole to describe the situation. Surely, this neighbor hadn't actually shot a firearm? Surely if he had, she'd want to summon the police immediately. Surely she wouldn't put the well-being of a dog above her own safety. Surely other neighbors, hearing a firearm discharge, would have called the police themselves? Surely.
The next morning, we purchased many rods of rebar from Home Depot, and I went into my back yard, revolver on hip, hammer in hand, to hammer the rods into the ground along my side of the fence. I figured it would make a good temporary barrier to prevent the dog from undermining the fence in the future, until I could make more permanent improvements. I honestly still didn't quite believe my wife's version of events, but since she didn't want to involve the law to sort it out, I figured I'd better take precautions.
As I set to work hammerin
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You are right on all accounts. I'm glad you brought up the fact that the crime does not originate there. Well, most of it doesn't. we all have our dirtbags, even Canada.
But like Mexico not all drugs coming from the Canadian border come from Canada. People are just utelizing the weaker boarder control to their benefit. In fact if we looked at the numbers there are probably more drugs brought in through legal trade sources than the Canadian Border.
I'm not sure how diverse or embedded varying cultures are in Toronto. Also, it seems the Canadian government takes better care of it's citizens than the American government. And doesn't Canada have a stronger European influence than America?
Canada has one tenth the population of the US. America has been more racially diverse than Canada for quite some time. America is defiantely more violent than Canada.
Looking at the numbers the murder rate is predominant around urban centers which account for how much of the total US land mass and population?
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The country is making a big mistake not teaching kids to cook and raise a garden and build fires.
-Loretta Lynn
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AnthonyT
Thanks for the story. It was interesting and quite evocative, though probably not enjoyable to you.
I'd have to think hard, but off hand I don't believe I have ever had a confrontation with a neighbor. All of my crime or violence-related experiences have been with strangers.
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Consider yourself lucky. You know a lot of good people. Over half the crimes committed against women are perputrated by people thay know.
That may also be an indicator of out culture and the prevelant sexism within. Many women are assaulted by people they know well. It shows a defiante lack of regard for the women in modern culture. Traditionally my culture had the stricted mantra against violating a woman. They are the life givers, a step down from the creator. That seems to be a dying belief after looking at the last years worth of Tribal court docketts.
Alot of the numbers we've been looking at state somewhere something about crimes that go unreported. Let's say the crime was reported and the neighbor was actually an ex felon. He would be guilty of another crime which would put him back in prison.
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The country is making a big mistake not teaching kids to cook and raise a garden and build fires.
-Loretta Lynn
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NVGHOSTRIDER
I'd like to get to some of your specific questions later, but I need to drop out for the rest of the day. Since I am quite liable to forgetting, if you're interested in continuing the conversation, might you pop this back up on top tomorrow ? Thanks, I'd appreciate it if you care to.
Oh - I like to think I'm a good judge of character and only pick the best ! 
(But, ahhh, that doesn't explain my good history with neighbors ... 
Well, I'm just lucky, I guess.)
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Silence is consent.
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Awesome. My brain is a little picked now anyhoo.
And Kudos on your people picking skills.
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The country is making a big mistake not teaching kids to cook and raise a garden and build fires.
-Loretta Lynn
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Quote:
Originally posted by pizmobeach:Quote:
Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
Why should I settle for a revolver when the stick-up men can use an AK?
I think you're pretty well f*cked if you come up against people with AKs - you may buy some time but you will eventually end up with your empty gun scenario. If you have people armed like that in your neighborhood I'd seriously consider moving - no joke.
Dude, I AM armed like like that. Hell, most of the homes in my towm have more guns in them than people.
Crime of the week in my town? A couple of broken windows at a local car dealership.
Quote:
Originally posted by Wulfenstar:
Why should I make myself publicly known to the government as owning a weapon, when none of the political/sports/movie figures do?
They should have to register, plain and simple.
Yes, they should. But things that should happen very rarely do. If they don't register, whats a $500 fine to them (assuming they can't get out of it)?
As it happens, I have registered myself as a firearms owner with the Texas Dept of Public Safety. Not registered per se, but I got a concealed handgun license, which kinda assumes I own at least one handgun.
I've no issue with mandatory training for gun owners. I had to take a class for my CHL, and another for my hunting license, so it's no big deal for me. I had no problem getting fingerprinted for my CHL either.
The reason? Texas is a "shall issue" state when it comes to concealed handgun licenses. You get a printed, get a background check, take the class, pass the tests (a written test and a shooting test), and pay the fee. Then, unless something pops up in your background check (which in more extensive than the instant check you get when buying a gun), Texas MUST issue you the license to carry.
If gun registration were set up along those lines, i.e; register the OWNER, and make gun purchase/ownership licenses SHALL ISSUE, then I doubt may firearms owners would have much of a problem. What pisses folks off are the "may issue" areas, where you have to convince the local head LEO that you have a pressing need for the gun, and all this other bullshit that basically leaves it up to local law enforcement whether you get the gun or not.
I thought some hear might like to read this:
http://cowtowncop.blogspot.com/2008/07/ccw-permits-from-law-enforcemen
t.html
Mercy is the mark of a great man.
Guess I'm just a good man.
Well, I'm alright.
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The great thing about CCW's (at least the way I've seen generally) is that the persons posessing one is constantly being checked. Once a week, once a month, whatever has been determined by the municipality issuing the permit. Not at all a bad thing.
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The country is making a big mistake not teaching kids to cook and raise a garden and build fires.
-Loretta Lynn
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME