Buriram Expats
Buriram Province - General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Adam on October 03, 2015, 12:10:20 AM
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Guys first let me point out, I am not trying to start the argument for or against guns in the US. We know everyone's views on that, let's agree to disagree.
But as Oregon mourns more dead, what can be done to stop these events from happening. It seems to be happening on a regular basis and all seem to be remarkably similar. Loner with a stash of high powered weapons, how can this be brought under control?
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When I worked for an american company my ceo's motto was : keep it simple, make it happen.
Take the guns away so they cannot shoot each other ... or is this too simple ?
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Perhaps it is too simple. The only place these tragedies are taking place are in designated "gun free zones"; the places where the only ones with a gun is the bad guy. Not happening where concealed weapons are ok.
Here's a recent Australian Gun Law Update;
"Here's a thought to warm some of your hearts....
From: Ed Chenel, A police officer in Australia
Hi Yanks, I thought you all would like to see the real
figures from Down Under. It has now been 12 months since gun owners in Australia were forced by a new law to surrender 640,381 personal firearms to be destroyed by our own
government, a program costing Australia taxpayers more than $500 million dollars.
The first year results are now in:
Australia-wide, homicides are up 6.2 percent,
Australia-wide, assaults are up 9.6 percent;
Australia-wide, armed robberies are up 44 percent (yes, 44 percent)!
In the state of Victoria.....alone, homicides with firearms are now up 300 percent.(Note that while the law-abiding citizens turned them in, the criminals did not and criminals still possess their guns!)
While figures over the previous 25 years showed a steady
decrease in armed robbery with firearms, this has changed drastically upward in the past 12 months, since the criminals now are guaranteed that their prey is unarmed.There has also been a dramatic increase in break-ins and assaults of the elderly, while the resident is at home.
Australian politicians are at a loss to explain how public safety has decreased, after such monumental effort and expense was expended in 'successfully ridding Australian society of guns....'
You won't see this on the American evening news or hear your governor or members of the State Assembly disseminating this information.
The Australian experience speaks for itself. Guns in the hands of honest citizens save lives and property and, yes, gun-control laws affect only the law-abiding citizens.
Take note Americans, before it's too late!"
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Another part of this issue is often overlooked. Several years ago, governmental assistance along with insurance coverage in the area of mental health was drastically cut back or dropped altogether, in the U.S. State mental hospitals closed, state after state. If any one thing would make a difference other than doing away with "safe zones", it would be to greatly improve and expand mental health care, services and providers.
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I'm not an Obama fan but the measures that he tried to introduce regarding gun control were reasonable and rational.
One item from his proposals was: Bans military-style assault weapons and limits magazines to a capacity of 10 rounds.
from http://www.ncsl.org/research/civil-and-criminal-justice/summary-president-obama-gun-proposals.aspx
This subject has been discussed many times on this forum and it often descends into an exchange of insults.
I am not against guns, just against letting mentally unstable and criminal elements get hold of them.
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I'm not trying to start that argument again, just wondering what you guys think could put an end to this. We know already who is for and against them. The big problem does seem to be these assault weapons getting into the hands of idiots like this last one (British born).
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Feds: All of Oregon Shooter’s Guns Were Purchased Legally.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2015/10/02/feds-all-of-oregon-shooters-guns-were-purchased-legally/
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I am not against guns, just against letting mentally unstable and criminal elements get hold of them.
This, in my opinion, is exactly the primary issue. Not enough is done to keep guns out of the hands of mentally incompetent. And that shifted into an all new gear when funding for mental health treatment centers was eliminated, several years ago.
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When I worked for an american company my ceo's motto was : keep it simple, make it happen.
Take the guns away so they cannot shoot each other ... or is this too simple ?
Not that simple Dundee.. As long as the borders of America remain totally open, where anyone can simply walk across them you will never get rid of the guns.. You would have to totally disarm North, Central and South America.. Those guns will be there no matter what you try to do.. So it's not that simple and never will be.. The first thing that needs to be done is stop advertising where the gun free zones are.. All that means to the bad guys is that they have a soft target with no resistance.. Like it or not you're going to have to beef up security and it needs to be armed security.. The third things is to repeal the second amendment of the constitution and I can guarantee you that will never, ever, happen...
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Sydney shooting: Gunman, 15, kills Parramatta police HQ employee.
http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/sydney-shooting-gunman-15-kills-parramatta-police-hq-employee/story-fnhocwho-1227555135798
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Gotlost that's a Baseless Argument.. It happens everyday in the U.S.. Probably happens once every few months in OZ
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Gotlost that's a Baseless Argument.. It happens everyday in the U.S.. Probably happens once every few months in OZ
It just to show that it happens in a country that has some serious anti gun laws and it did not help. Baseless..not even close. These kind of incidents will go on until the culture and the society changes.
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Usually when reporting gun deaths suicides are included, which really skews the data.
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Oregon Shooting Survivor Rejects Gun Control
Shelby Wambolt, who managed to flee the murder scene, says new measures will not stop mass killings, as nine victims are named
http://news.sky.com/story/1563130/oregon-shooting-survivor-rejects-gun-control
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A couple of quotes from Mr President's speech on the Oregon shootings:
“We are not the only country on earth that has people with mental illnesses or want to do harm to other people,”
“We are the only advanced country on earth that sees these kinds of mass shootings every few months.”
"I praise the UK and Australia – “countries like ours” – in having come up with “ways to prevent” mass shootings.
"“When Americans are killed in mine disasters, we work to make mines safer. When Americans are killed in floods and hurricanes, we make communities safer. When roads are unsafe, we fix them to reduce auto fatalities; we have seat belt laws because we know it saves lives."
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Obama: Mass shootings are 'something we should politicize'
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255723-obama-mass-shootings-should-be-politicized (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255723-obama-mass-shootings-should-be-politicized)
His administration started the motto: Never let a crisis go to waste. Per Rahm Obama's first chief of staff.
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DONALD TRUMP will sort all these problems out!!
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Obama: Mass shootings are 'something we should politicize'
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255723-obama-mass-shootings-should-be-politicized (http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/255723-obama-mass-shootings-should-be-politicized)
His administration started the motto: Never let a crisis go to waste. Per Rahm Obama's first chief of staff.
Good idea too. Why not use a terrible, too frequent, situation to create puclic awareness and possibly near a solution.
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Well, looks like the Aussies need more gun control.
Sydney shooting has terror links, police chief says
The Australian
October 4, 2015 2:55PM
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/terror/sydney-shooting-has-terror-links-police-chief-says/story-fnpdbcmu-1227555246864?sv=a5951b3ae143e1ae3f8645e39211205a (http://www.theaustralian.com.au/in-depth/terror/sydney-shooting-has-terror-links-police-chief-says/story-fnpdbcmu-1227555246864?sv=a5951b3ae143e1ae3f8645e39211205a)
Foreign Minister Julie Bishop says it’s time for “the whole nation to take stock” after the cold-blooded murder of a police employee by a radicalised teen.
Ms Bishop could not comment on specific details of the ongoing investigation into Curtis Cheng’s death, which authorities and political leaders say appears to be an act of terrorism, but described the crime as “a tragic incident”.
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DONALD TRUMP will sort all these problems out!!
Wow, even Nookie can get it right:
Trump: Armed teachers could have stopped Oregon massacre
Washington (CNN)Donald Trump said Saturday that had teachers been armed at Umpqua Community College in Roseburg, Oregon, the deadly shooting there this week would not have been as tragic.
http://edition.cnn.com/2015/10/03/politics/donald-trump-oregon-shooting-armed-teachers/
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Wow, new light on the problem.
British-born gunman Chris Harper-Mercer kills 9 after 'targeting Christians' in Oregon college shooting
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-born-gunman-chris-harper-6558370
Chris Harper Mercer, who was killed in a shootout with police, was born in England before moving to the States as a young boy, according to reports in America
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Has anyone considered making gun ownership "mandatory"? After all this solved the "health care problem" in the states.
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Has anyone considered making gun ownership "mandatory"? After all this solved the "health care problem" in the states.
Yup, Switzerland.
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Has anyone considered making gun ownership "mandatory"? After all this solved the "health care problem" in the states.
Yup, Switzerland.
So, I would guess that IS where we need to go.
Thank you for your input Urleft
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Wow, new light on the problem.
British-born gunman Chris Harper-Mercer kills 9 after 'targeting Christians' in Oregon college shooting
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/british-born-gunman-chris-harper-6558370
Chris Harper Mercer, who was killed in a shootout with police, was born in England before moving to the States as a young boy, according to reports in America
Great new light indeed. Born in England BUT brought up the American way. Just goes to show.
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Born in England and would never have committed the crime there as he would never have access to a Gun.. Just shows you get Access to guns so easily in That Redneck country and everyone kills everyone over stupid things
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An informative read
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list
• The US has the highest gun ownership rate in the world - an average of 88 per 100 people. That puts it first in the world for gun ownership - and even the number two country, Yemen, has significantly fewer - 54.8 per 100 people
• But the US does not have the worst firearm murder rate - that prize belongs to Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica. In fact, the US is number 28, with a rate of 2.97 per 100,000 people
• Puerto Rico tops the world's table for firearms murders as a percentage of all homicides - 94.8%. It's followed by Sierra Leone in Africa and Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean
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An informative read
http://www.theguardian.com/news/datablog/2012/jul/22/gun-homicides-ownership-world-list
• The US has the highest gun ownership rate in the world - an average of 88 per 100 people. That puts it first in the world for gun ownership - and even the number two country, Yemen, has significantly fewer - 54.8 per 100 people
• But the US does not have the worst firearm murder rate - that prize belongs to Honduras, El Salvador and Jamaica. In fact, the US is number 28, with a rate of 2.97 per 100,000 people
• Puerto Rico tops the world's table for firearms murders as a percentage of all homicides - 94.8%. It's followed by Sierra Leone in Africa and Saint Kitts and Nevis in the Caribbean
Good read indeed iammike.
It would probably be wise to look into the political stability of those other countries. Also the levels of development within the country and also the poverty levels. I t would be plausible to ascertain that in poor countries the guns would be used for crime and maybe in one on one situations. Drugs crime could also be to blame in some of the countries mentioned.
Barak Obama, in his speach, did say "we are the only advanced country...."
Also it would be interesting to know how many of the countries listed have regular mass murders?
As an example, a reference to a shooting in Australia is about "a (as in 1) police officer".
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Hardcore criminals in the UK use the guns to shoot each other.. They don't go into schools and kill children that's a fact.. Big Difference between a mafia man and a kid who steals his parents weapons or buys them and goes onto kill in schools.. What Don't you understand about that??
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As an Aussie, I'm reluctantly contributing to this post, as Australia has been erroneously mentioned by several posters.
1996 Australia officially banned guns for the general public.
1 - Reply#2 ... the "letter" quoted was first distributed online and in the media before 2002. It was quickly dismissed in Australia as a bogus media release. Aust Police Forces have never heard of the "police officer" author. The stats quoted were completely false. Official records proved that way back in 2002. Reply#2 should be dismissed from any debate in this thread, as it's totally incorrect.
2 - Now, 20 years has passed since the ban law started, and gun related homicides and crime has dropped dramatically. There are 2 official Aust Govt websites that will prove this, if you need confirmation.
www.abs.gov.au www.aic.gov.au
3 - Owning a gun has never been a priorority for any Australian that I know. Certainly I have never felt the need to carry a weapon for personal security. It's just not in the Oz culture. Never has been ... even way back when guns were legal. So ... perhaps it's better to leave any Australian situation out of the debate. We simply don't have a "gun problem"
We like it that way. No guns ... works for me.
Knives and beatings are the 2 biggies for homicides in Australia.
The USA situation may be vastly different. I don't know. Never lived there and experienced daily life.
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Seems this subject is just too immotive to have a sensible discussion. I was hoping somebody might come up with sensible suggestions rather that the usual name calling etc.
So let me ask the advocates of gun ownership this. I see the problem as being high powered rifles and assault rifles getting into the hands of unstable individuals. Do you need an assault rile to hunt squirrels? I do not know as I have never killed anything. I assume an assault rifle is not used for hunting, so why sell it? If it is to be sold, there needs to be a more substantial examination before allowing people to take them home. As was pointed out in the thread all of this idiots guns were legally purchased. Could there be some kind of background and mental check before allowing ownership of this type of gun.
Please no more name calling and points scoring.
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Seems this subject is just too immotive to have a sensible discussion. I was hoping somebody might come up with sensible suggestions rather that the usual name calling etc.
So let me ask the advocates of gun ownership this. I see the problem as being high powered rifles and assault rifles getting into the hands of unstable individuals. Do you need an assault rile to hunt squirrels? I do not know as I have never killed anything. I assume an assault rifle is not used for hunting, so why sell it? If it is to be sold, there needs to be a more substantial examination before allowing people to take them home. As was pointed out in the thread all of this idiots guns were legally purchased. Could there be some kind of background and mental check before allowing ownership of this type of gun.
Please no more name calling and points scoring.
Below is an answer I gave over the SF form. It is not a knee jerk answer left or right but factional.
QuestionI: I for one, have no idea what the answer is. It was incorporated into the Constitution but it's too late to correct that now.
"You are are not to far off the mark. There is serious dysfunctional cultural attitude in the US society and until that changes nothing will happen. We have a serious dysfunctional government at the moment and that will not change at least until after January 21, 2017. Unfortunately there will be more of these mass murders. I do for see some states arming teachers in the classroom and supplying armed guards on campus."
Also I'll add the 2nd amendment of the US Constitution will not be changed
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Seems this subject is just too immotive to have a sensible discussion. I was hoping somebody might come up with sensible suggestions rather that the usual name calling etc.
So let me ask the advocates of gun ownership this. I see the problem as being high powered rifles and assault rifles getting into the hands of unstable individuals. Do you need an assault rile to hunt squirrels? I do not know as I have never killed anything. I assume an assault rifle is not used for hunting, so why sell it? If it is to be sold, there needs to be a more substantial examination before allowing people to take them home. As was pointed out in the thread all of this idiots guns were legally purchased. Could there be some kind of background and mental check before allowing ownership of this type of gun.
Please no more name calling and points scoring.
Define exactly what you mean by assault rifle.
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I would define an assault rifle as follows : a gun that can shoot many bullets quickly without the need to recharge.
I cannot see the point as said kind of weapon is needed for hunting or sport or even for defending yourself.
You need proper training to be able to use said weapon effectively.
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I would define an assault rifle as follows : a gun that can shoot many bullets quickly without the need to recharge.
I cannot see the point as said kind of weapon is needed for hunting or sport or even for defending yourself.
You need proper training to be able to use said weapon effectively.
Does that mean the rifle shoots while the trigger is held down? Or does that mean a fast finger pull for each individual shot?
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Yes urleft, that is what I meant : while the trigger is held down ... forgot to mention it ... sorry.
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I own several. They are not assault weapons. They are defense weapons. I do agree we need to keep them out of the hands of the mentally ill. When crazy moms buy them for their crazy kids, bad things happen.
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Yes urleft, that is what I meant : while the trigger is held down ... forgot to mention it ... sorry.
Automatic weapons in the USA have been banned (except by special license) for almost 1/2 a century. The so called assault weapons ban is against guns that are scary looking or look like military rifles. For example, the AR-15 looks like a US Military M-16, but does not fire automatic, but he media would have you believe it can.
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DD & I was thinking you were somewhere being near to nearly normal!
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Nearly Nookie only nearly!
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It is safe to say that America needs get "tougher" on mental health issues.
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Yes urleft, that is what I meant : while the trigger is held down ... forgot to mention it ... sorry.
Automatic weapons in the USA have been banned (except by special license) for almost 1/2 a century. The so called assault weapons ban is against guns that are scary looking or look like military rifles. For example, the AR-15 looks like a US Military M-16, but does not fire automatic, but he media would have you believe it can.
My son was a professional soldier (captain) and he was told never to use the automatic setting on his SIG SG 550 , that would be a panic reaction emptying the magazine. Usually on single fire or three round burst. So what's good enough for the military should be good enough for any would be assassin. Plenty of stuff on the internet telling you how to modify your semi automatic to automatic. Hunting rifles and hand guns, that's discussable but assault rifles? No.
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Yes urleft, that is what I meant : while the trigger is held down ... forgot to mention it ... sorry.
Automatic weapons in the USA have been banned (except by special license) for almost 1/2 a century. The so called assault weapons ban is against guns that are scary looking or look like military rifles. For example, the AR-15 looks like a US Military M-16, but does not fire automatic, but he media would have you believe it can.
My son was a professional soldier (captain) and he was told never to use the automatic setting on his SIG SG 550 , that would be a panic reaction emptying the magazine. Usually on single fire or three round burst. So what's good enough for the military should be good enough for any would be assassin. Plenty of stuff on the internet telling you how to modify your semi automatic to automatic. Hunting rifles and hand guns, that's discussable but assault rifles? No.
Well I was a professional soldier (27 1/2 years) what you are quoting from your son is incorrect. Ask your son if:
1. When employing final protective fires should you use weapons in the automatic mode.
2. When conducting SEAD (Suppression of Enemy Air Defenses) should you use weapons in the automatic mode?
3. When initiating an ambush should you use weapons in the automatic mode?
4. Is the automatic weapons section of a patrol restricted from using the automatic mode?
Email you son those questions and see what he responds. But when I was the patrol leader I (like your son) restricted soldiers to semi-automatic (except for designated individuals).
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Ok, maybe you are right. He was in a Stinger unit, so maybe there was less accent on ambush / patrol missions. I will mail him.
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https://www.facebook.com/OccupyDemocrats/videos/964786396947748/
Funny and some very valid points.
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Urleft, you are the weapons expert, we know this. Let me ask you a direct question and see if you can give a straight answer for a change.
What needs to be done in the US to stop these incidents happening over and over again. How can someone who is obviously mentally ill be allowed to own 13 guns?
That is what I am asking, I am not attacking gun laws in the States, we have done that to death. I want you as a strong advocate of gun ownership to tell us what can be done to stop this happening in the future.
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While we are waiting for Keith can I ask if Tasers would satisfy the "Right to bear arms"?
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Ok, maybe you are right. He was in a Stinger unit, so maybe there was less accent on ambush / patrol missions. I will mail him.
Then he should be very familiar with SEAD where the object is to put as much lead into the air as fast as possible.
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Urleft, you are the weapons expert, we know this. Let me ask you a direct question and see if you can give a straight answer for a change.
What needs to be done in the US to stop these incidents happening over and over again. How can someone who is obviously mentally ill be allowed to own 13 guns?
That is what I am asking, I am not attacking gun laws in the States, we have done that to death. I want you as a strong advocate of gun ownership to tell us what can be done to stop this happening in the future.
Fair enough. There are over 300 million people in the USA, let's just suppose that .1% are crazy, that is over 300,000 people. Basically impossible to identify them all.
However, as someone mentioned there appears to 1 glaring commonality in the shootings, they are almost all done in Gun Free Zones. Eliminate them. And secondly as Trump stated, train and arm the teachers.
No matter what country, there are always going to homicidal crazies and there are not enough police to be everywhere. Citizens must be ready to protect themselves. IMHO overwhelming in our countries people are good and decent, they should be allowed to protect themselves from the nutcases. Like today, over 80 million US gun owners committed no crimes. For example, I was a concealed weapons permit holder for over 1/2 my life, and fortunately never encountered a situation that required it, and I have never committed a gun crime. But most nutcases hesitate to put themselves in a situation where they can immediately lose.
In addition, the media is complicit. Their sensationalizing these shootings encourages copycats. The late Paul Harvey (a famous American commentator) used to say "He would want me to mention him name", then Paul would move onto another subject without providing the name.
And as I taught my son, don't be a sheep. If you are in a situation where a crazy is killing those around you, take action. Start throwing things at him, books, cell phone, car keys anything, yell at other to do so, and charge him. One of my combat instructors was Robert Howard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Howard (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_L._Howard)) he taught us that he survived an ambush by charging and getting among the enemy, and we trained to that.
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I enclose my son's comments. Obama wanted to stop people with a history of mental problems not to be allowed to buy or use guns, seemed like a good idea to me. Nothing personally or nationalistically insulting on my side should be deduced from this.
May I further remark that my son was the first, and probably the last, Captain Cook(e) that the Swiss army ever had and I often joked that that was why he was never going to get promoted.
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The Swiss Army does very well use their SIG SG 550
in automatic modus. There are 3 positions on the safety catch: 1-shot, 3-shot auto and full auto:
1-shot is used in peace time (guard service), close combat (3 single shots in under 2s, going "body-body-head") or snipper precision shooting up to 600m.
3-shot auto is used in war time only, mainly for sustained covering fire during an attack (while 1 group advances or prepares a bigger weapon system, the other covers).
full-auto is also used in war time only, mainly in urban close combat (cleaning a building goes like this: room by room, one guy throws a grenade into the room and colleague "cleans" it up with a burst in full auto. In full auto, a 20-round magazine is empty in 2s
Soldiers in the Swiss Army are very well trained on their SG 550, using a method developped by Chuck Taylor. I had the personal honor to be trained by him and Alain Baeriswyl
, combining SIG P226 pistol and SG 550 shooting, HK MP5 with silencer and Remington 870 pump-gun. We also got to know and shoot non-ordonance weapons, such as the AK47, Famas (french), AR15 etc.
Remember that I became an Instructor for tactical combat myself, so I have pretty good knowledge of handling with any weapon:
A weapon is not dangerous by itself nor is it when held by trained personel, it is dangerous when in the hands of idiots
I personnaly think that the US should keep their 2nd amendment, but prior to be allowed to carry a weapon you should be trained with the Taylor method with Instructors from his school, and not some paranoïd ex-Marines. If you do not complete, you're not ready to carry a weapon. And believe me, the failure rate is high: from 10 in our group by then, only 2 became Instructors, 4 monitors (2 of them beeing French Parachute Regiment) and 4 failed. I remember one exersize that said "only shoot when the opponent still shoots at you" and Alain was shouting "still shoots" but later he went to "still moves", that's when you stop shooting (the guy moves but is no threat anymore). A guy from our group was still shooting as Alain repeated "still moves". He got desarmed on the shooting range and asked to go home.
So what I'm saying is training is ALL. But when you look at US-training grounds and stats
, you can seriously ask yourself how it is possible that so many cunts are allowed to carry weapons, and even without any training.
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I'm a firm believer that all able bodied males should be required to go through military training. This would go a long way towards training.
Unfortunately you can't make things idiot proof because idiot's are so ingenious.
you can seriously ask yourself how it is possible that so many cunts are allowed to carry weapons drive, and even without any training.
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interesting vid here, especially at the end where Cooke says nothing Obama proposed would has stopped the latest shooting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfcWNFPSGVA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfcWNFPSGVA)
https://youtu.be/lfcWNFPSGVA
But then some just like the sound of a failed plan without doing any cerebral action as to its validity. This is kind of like Croc (I am not trying to insult you here bud) believing that Assault Weapons need to be banned, when they already have been banned. The US liberals and media use of "assault weapons" means "scary/military looking", it has nothing to do with being able to fire continuously.
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A quick look on Google and Wikipedia shows that assault weapons have not been banned.
Assault rifles (capable of sustained bursts) and machine guns have been tightly regulated, but not banned, since 1934.
It doesn't matter what people think assault weapons are, it matters what comes before the legislature. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban ran out after 10 years and was not renewed after 10 years. Another attempt was made after Sandy Hook and that, as we know, als0 failed. Only a small percentage of the gun shot deaths that occur in the USA are caused by assault weapons but they are the weapon of choice for would be mass killers.
Many Yanks seem to lose all common sense when you even mention gun control. Possession of guns needs to be controlled,
The difference between cars and weapons is that weapons are specifically designed to harm living beings. Of course cars kill many more people in the USA than guns but that really is side tracking the argument.
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All the same; when I'm in the US, I stay away from "Gun Free Zones".
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A quick look on Google and Wikipedia shows that assault weapons have not been banned.
Assault rifles (capable of sustained bursts) and machine guns have been tightly regulated, but not banned, since 1934.
It doesn't matter what people think assault weapons are, it matters what comes before the legislature. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban ran out after 10 years and was not renewed after 10 years. Another attempt was made after Sandy Hook and that, as we know, als0 failed. Only a small percentage of the gun shot deaths that occur in the USA are caused by assault weapons but they are the weapon of choice for would be mass killers.
Many Yanks seem to lose all common sense when you even mention gun control. Possession of guns needs to be controlled,
The difference between cars and weapons is that weapons are specifically designed to harm living beings. Of course cars kill many more people in the USA than guns but that really is side tracking the argument.
Effectively what I said:
Automatic weapons in the USA have been banned (except by special license) for almost 1/2 a century. The so called assault weapons ban is against guns that are scary looking or look like military rifles. For example, the AR-15 looks like a US Military M-16, but does not fire automatic, but he media would have you believe it can.
There is more to the story not worth getting into all the details but the Feds have made legally obtaining automatic weapons an exercise in futility. I have about 20 Army buddies I keep in email contact, we own hundreds of guns between us (one of the guys brother own a gun store). No one owns a machine gun, and I don't personally know anyone that does.
And I can picture the horror on a lot of your faces wonder why 20 guys need hundreds of guns. Because we can. I went skeet and trap shooting a while back with 2 of them that own over 100 between them. Both are retired US Army LTCs, Vietnam Veterans and still working at an Engineering firm, one of them is a VP (and his brother owns the gun shop), and the other was on the Marine Corps rifle team (before he transferred to the Army). We were shooting so they could determine which was the best choice of weapons to take on a vacation to pheasant hunt.
From an article: I can see the reasoning for making individuals jump through some hoops to own full auto weapons, as there are some people who you wouldn't want to own one, but it really pi$$es me off that individuals are limited to only owning pre-1986 transferable weapons that now command ridiculous price tags, if you can find them. For example, anyone care to guess the price of a real, transferable Russian or Bulgarian AK-47? If you could find one, figure on maybe $10K for a nice, rare example. Law enforcement can buy dealer samples brand new for 500 bucks. Now maybe it's just me, but reason tells me that if I pay the tax, pass background checks and get law enforcement to sign off on me so that I am considered worthy to own a class 3 firearm, I should be able to order the brand new $500 rifle myself. Check the prices on transferable HK MP5s as well, it's ridiculous the difference an individual and LE will pay for a piece of stamped sheet metal.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/795497/posts
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A quick look on Google and Wikipedia shows that assault weapons have not been banned.
Assault rifles (capable of sustained bursts) and machine guns have been tightly regulated, but not banned, since 1934.
It doesn't matter what people think assault weapons are, it matters what comes before the legislature. The 1994 Federal Assault Weapons Ban ran out after 10 years and was not renewed after 10 years. Another attempt was made after Sandy Hook and that, as we know, als0 failed. Only a small percentage of the gun shot deaths that occur in the USA are caused by assault weapons but they are the weapon of choice for would be mass killers.
Many Yanks seem to lose all common sense when you even mention gun control. Possession of guns needs to be controlled,
The difference between cars and weapons is that weapons are specifically designed to harm living beings. Of course cars kill many more people in the USA than guns but that really is side tracking the argument.
I neglected to address the "Assault Weapons Ban" you mention was not renewed. That ban had nothing to do with banning guns capable of automatic fire, it bans "scary/military" looking guns that only fired in the semi-automatic mode. No assault weapons (i.e guns that can fire in the automatic mode) have been used in any of these shootings.
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i would be interested in your criticism of this video:
http://youtu.be/YJvmdUv8pDE
Warning: my son hates it!
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i would be interested in your criticism of this video:
http://youtu.be/YJvmdUv8pDE
Warning: my son hates it!
I will defer to your son's expert judgement on that. While I had lots of military training my actual hands on was in the late 70s where we trained for either the Russian Hoard attack in Europe or Jungle Warfare (e.g., Vietnam), the military likes to train for the last war. And I have no knowledge of Chuck Taylor. In the late 80s and 90s I was promoted to my level of incompetence and kicked upstairs to "high" level assignments.
My criticism is with the name "Assault Rifle Drill". It is a scary looking military style weapon, but never fired in the automatic mode. US Politicians and the media have been fostering the notion that automatic weapons are flooding the USA when in fact they are legally very difficult and expensive to obtain.
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Fair enough. This is supposed to be level 4 and my son would have taken his weapon away after 5 seconds.
In your Youtube clip there is a supremely arrogant guy asking 'what is the solution?' and insisting on a reply. There is no single solution, no 'magic bullet' ha ha. I cannot see any valid reason for permitting people to have assault weapons, they are there for assaulting people. I knew a few hunters back in Switzerland and they were all 'one shot' guys, like in the Deer Hunter.
Obama's proposals were perfectly reasonable in my opinion. Individual states making their own laws is ridiculous.
End of discussion for me, nice to0 stay civilised for once.
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But you are missing a fundamental element, most Americans believe gun ownership is a right, not something the Government permits.
I would be hard pressed to come up with rationale for me personally to have an automatic weapon, except there were times I would like to use one just like this guy:
https://youtu.be/ezXxiD83HBA (https://youtu.be/ezXxiD83HBA)
Now what I want is the 50 cal sniper rifle. No real reason other than I want one. However, so far I have not been able to justify the expense, legal issues of getting one here, and the range safety requirements (you need about 6 KM of safe distance to shoot). The range requirements are what kept me getting one while I was in the USA, made little sense to get it and then not be able to fire it.
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But you are missing a fundamental element, most Americans believe gun ownership is a right, not something the Government permits.
I think that's a fundamental difference between the way Americans and our brethren elsewhere think. We believed there are rights that the government has no say about at all. In other places they believe that "rights" are granted by the government. Those were called "privileges" by Americans.
Sadly, I think the US is getting closer to their way of thinking, rather than them getting closer to ours.
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If you own a gun in Australia , has to be stored under lock and key , if someone has 100 guns in America , how are they stored.
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If you own a gun in Australia , has to be stored under lock and key , if someone has 100 guns in America , how are they stored.
It's none of yours, nor the governments, business. There your have the full explanation of inalienable rights.
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If you own a gun in Australia , has to be stored under lock and key , if someone has 100 guns in America , how are they stored.
Depends. A lot of them are stored at strategic places around the home loaded and ready for use. However the more valuable weapons are usually in a gun safe or gun room.
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'The President is not welcome here': Roseburg residents angry that Obama is traveling to visit the victims of the UCC shooting
In Jaques' opinion, the press conference was too soon.
'We haven't even identified bodies, we've still got incident command trying to contain the scene, and he's holding a press conference 3,000 miles away from here, telling — almost implying that he could have single-handedly prevented this if the Congress would have listened to him.'
'I think he admitted it himself.
'His visit here isn't a re-election campaign stop, but it is a campaign stop for an agenda that he and his associates believe is important.
'And that is to take away Americans right to own firearms.'
Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3261458/The-President-not-welcome-Roseburg-residents-angry-Obama-traveling-visit-victims-UCC-shooting.html#ixzz3nmv0SCS6 (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3261458/The-President-not-welcome-Roseburg-residents-angry-Obama-traveling-visit-victims-UCC-shooting.html#ixzz3nmv0SCS6)
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Slightly contrived but I enjoyed it:-
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/features/6678274/An-American-tourist-made-a-list-of-100-quirky-things-about-Britain-and-he-was-incredibly-accurate.html?CMP=spklr-_-S9SunSocial-_-FBPAGE-_-TheSun-thesun-_-20151006-_-News-_-250004645-_-Imageandlink
AN American tourist’s 100 wry observations about Britain has gone viral after he posted them to Facebook.
Scott Waters was visiting our country from Florida, staying with family and friends around the country for a few weeks.
On his return to America he posted a list of 100 things about the British and Britain, many of them are very true.
He obviously struck a chord because his post has now been shared nearly 80,000 times.
Here’s the full list of 100, see how many you agree with (any typos are Scott's own).
Over to you Scott:
"I was in England again a few weeks ago, mostly in small towns, but here's some of what I learned:
* Almost everyone is very polite
* The food is generally outstanding
* There are no guns
* There are too many narrow stairs
* Everything is just a little bit different
* The pubs close too early
* The reason they drive on the left is because all their cars are built backwards
* Pubs are not bars, they are community living rooms.
* You'd better like peas, potatoes and sausage
* Refrigerators and washing machines are very small
* Everything is generally older, smaller and shorter
* People don't seem to be afraid of their neighbors or the government
* Their paper money makes sense, the coins don't
* Everyone has a washing machine but driers are rare
* Hot and cold water faucets. Remember them?
* Pants are called "trousers", underwear are "pants" and sweaters are "jumpers"
* The bathroom light is a string hanging from the ceiling
* "Fanny" is a naughty word, as is "shag"
* All the signs are well designed with beautiful typography and written in full sentences with proper grammar.
* There's no dress code
* Doors close by themselves, but they don't always open
* They eat with their forks upside down
* The English are as crazy about their gardens as Americans are about cars
* They don't seem to use facecloths or napkins or maybe they’re just neater then we are
* The wall outlets all have switches, some don't do anything
* There are hardly any cops or police cars
* 5,000 year ago, someone arranged a lot of rocks all over, but no one is sure why
* When you do see police they seem to be in male & female pairs and often smiling
* Black people are just people: they didn't quite do slavery here
* Everything comes with chips, which are French fries. You put vinegar on them
* Cookies are "biscuits" and potato chips are "crisps"
* HP sauce is better then catsup
* Obama is considered a hero, Bush is considered an idiot.
* After fish and chips, curry is the most popular food
* The water controls in showers need detailed instructions
* They can boil anything
* Folks don't always lock their bikes
* It's not unusual to see people dressed different and speaking different languages
* Your electronic devices will work fine with just a plug adapter
* Nearly everyone is better educated then we are
* If someone buys you a drink you must do the same
* There are no guns
* Look right, walk left. Again; look right, walk left. You're welcome.
* Avoid British wine and French beer
* It's not that hard to eat with the fork in your left hand with a little practice. If you don't, everyone knows you're an American
* Many of the roads are the size of our sidewalks
* There's no AC
* Instead of turning the heat up, you put on a jumper
* Gas is "petrol", it costs about $6 a gallon and is sold by the liter
* If you speed on a motorway, you get a ticket. Period. Always
* You don't have to tip, really!
* Scotland, Wales, Ireland and Cornwall really are different countries
* Only 14% of Americans have a passport, everyone in the UK does
* You pay the price marked on products because the taxes (VAT) are built in
* Walking is the national pastime
* Their TV looks and sounds much better then ours
* They took the street signs down during WWII, but haven't put them all back up yet
* Everyone enjoys a good joke
* There are no guns
* Dogs are very well behaved and welcome everywhere
* There are no window screens
* You can get on a bus and end up in Paris
* Everyone knows more about our history then we do
* Radio is still a big deal. The BBC is quite good
* The newspapers can be awful
* Everything costs the same but our money is worth less so you have to add 50% to the price to figure what you're paying
* Beer comes in large, completely filled, actual pint glasses and the closer the brewery the better the beer
* Butter and eggs aren't refrigerated
* The beer isn't warm, each style is served at the proper temperature
* Cider (alcoholic) is quite good.
* Excess cider consumption can be very painful.
* The universal greeting is "Cheers" (pronounced "cheeahz" unless you are from Cornwall, then it's "chairz")
* The money is easy to understand: 1-2-5-10-20-50 pence, then-£1-£2-£5-£10, etc bills. There are no quarters.
* Their cash makes ours look like Monopoly money
* Cars don't have bumper stickers
* Many doorknobs, buildings and tools are older than America
* By law, there are no crappy, old cars
* When the sign says something was built in 456, they didn't lose the "1"
* Cake is is pudding, ice cream is pudding, anything served for desert is pudding, even pudding
* BBC 4 is NPR
* Everything closes by 1800 (6pm)
* Very few people smoke, those who do often roll their own
* You're defined by your accent
* No one in Cornwall knows what the hell a Cornish Game Hen is
* Soccer is a religion, religion is a sport
* Europeans dress better then the British, we dress worse
* The trains work: a three minute delay is regrettable
* Drinks don't come with ice
* There are far fewer fat English people
* There are a lot of healthy old folks around participating in life instead of hiding at home watching tv
* If you're over 60, you get free tv and bus and rail passes.
* They don't use Bose anything anywhere
* Displaying your political or religious affiliation is considered very bad taste
* Every pub has a pet drunk
* Their healthcare works, but they still bitch about it
* Cake is one of the major food groups
* Their coffee is mediocre but their tea is wonderful
* There are still no guns
* Towel warmers!
* Cheers”
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Yes, I agree, slightly contrived.
Contrary to probably popular belief here you can walk through about any US City and never see a gun and if you do it is most likely on a lawman. For the most part Americans do not carry guns around as part of a normal day.
However, there are exceptions, go to Arizona, they have open carry there so it is not unusual to see guns, but then AZ was part of the wild west.
And "You're defined by your accent" doesn't begin to cover it, I was amazed when dealing with the Brits how everyone seemed to have a different accent, astounding for such a small place. In the US there are maybe 4 or 5 accents. I have said before, My Fair Lady with the song "Why can't the English Speak English" can only be truly appreciated after being among the Brits.
And British food, well difficult for me to say it was outstanding, but to each their own, but I appreciate the joke:
What is the Definition of Hell:
Where Germans are the Police, the British are the cooks, and the French run the Railways.
What is the definition of Heaven:
Where the Germans run the railways, the British are the Police, and the French are the cooks.
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Good post Ray. thumbup
Some funny observations in that lot. What do you English think of the list ?
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I read a set of top 10 lists of other nations perceptions of America/Americans that was pretty funny, too.
I wish I had kept the link.
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If you own a gun in Australia , has to be stored under lock and key , if someone has 100 guns in America , how are they stored.
No one. On your property you decide.
Some make poor decisions, and that's how we ended up with a Kenyan POTUS.
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Welcome, glad to see you on the board.
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Well said Adam.
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thumbup A man of few words. Nobody likes a blabbermouth.