Comments on Bullet Control

Funny, but ... um ... it takes practice to be able to hit a target reliably. Hm.

(Of course, "practical" is probably not the name of the game here ;)

Dated but oh sooo good. Love Chris.

The problem isn't the guns or the bullets, it's the idiots shooting people.

If you outlaw guns the only people who will have guns are the cops and the criminals. The problem with that is that the cops aren't always there when you need them.

Again the problem isn't guns it's people. You might as well outlaw cars because they're dangerous. More dangerous than guns in fact:

http://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm5550a6.htm

smegmalicious, what benefit do cars confer to their owner?

what benefit do guns?

I see a problem here in this very thread. Smegmalicious getting all serious over a fucking Chris Rock clip.

I see the other problem. Gun advocates wanting to ban cars.

I've seen this numerous times between "Bowling for Columbine" and just renting the Chris Rock DVD it's on, but it still cracks me up. I love it.

I too, see the problem with turning a Chris Rock clip into a debate over gun safety.

All kidding aside, can you imagine what America would look like today if all those armed citizens hadn't stopped the government from suspending habeas corpus and wiretapping us at will? Remember when they tried to hold all those Americans indefinitely without trial, and the NRA rose up and said "not so fast!"

I don't like guns, and I don't like all the gun deaths we have, but without private gun ownership, our rights would be history.

I don't want to ban anything other than idiotic behavior.

Cars move you from point to point. Guns protect your life. They both have benefits outside of being dangerous hunks of metal.

The problem isn't guns, its people shooting people. Just like the problem isn't fists it's fist fights.

I'm personally indifferent to guns, but I recognize that they're a tool that protects as well as harms.

Just ask the SPD why muggings and personal attacks are so low in Seattle compared to other major cities. It's because of Washington's policy on concealed carry permits. Criminals know you might be carrying and pick an easier target.

or perhaps its because Seattle isn't that dangerous or crime ridden in the first place? perhaps the socio-economic factors of seattle mean there is less robbery and muggings?

Criminals arent masters of statistics by any means but the odds you mug someone in seattle and they are carrying a weapon are probably lower than the odds you would get arrested for mugging someone. (look up concealed weapons permits per capita vs. arrests for robbery)

in fact criminals are stupid to begin with because you could to a statistical analysis of who actually is most likely to have a CCW and not target them.

@9: It really strains the imagination to think that muggers are stopping to consider concealed carry laws before they approach someone. They're usually high, and all they want is to to get more high. They're not legal scholars, as a rule.

Cars have a non-lethal primary purpose. Their lethality is an unfortunate byproduct. Fists are sort of, like, attached to our bodies, and they have several uses besides slamming into others' faces. Guns have one purpose - they kill things. They're not "tools," they're weapons.

also from a personal finance perspective owning a gun is kind of ridiculous.

it's basically a form of insurance but the premium you pay for gun ownership will seldom outweigh the value of items you are protecting. for instance spending 425 dollars on a handgun (beretta 9000, 9mm) that only insures protection in a few circumstances is stupid if you are never carying anything of value over 425 dollars.

same goes for using guns for self defense and property protection. the cost of a gun to protect yourself in a limited set of circumstances on top of insurance you're already paying for (that covers fire, earthquake, burglary, etc etc) is just a waste of money.

sure you might ward of a home invader but...you would have been covered by insurance anyway. and I dont buy the line that one cant afford rentor's insurance. a gun costs 3 years worth of it.

overall the benefit of owning a gun is protecting yourself from bodily harm which is about 10 million dollars. yes, people are worth about 10 million dollars based on income potential throughout lifetime.

now really though, how often are you actually going to be the target of violent crime? probably never.

the only people that need guns are the ones that are either bad at weighing probabilities and finances or have something to actually fear based on their lifestyle and choices they make.

and sportsmen.

Do a ride along with the SPD sometime and talk to the people who deal with criminals full time and see what they think.

There are lots of dangerous things in life, but if you deny yourself something useful because it's dangerous you're crippling yourself for no reason.

Don't forget that guns have uses other than killing people. Target shooting, sport shooting and hunting are all non lethal ways to use guns safely. Why should people have to give those activities up becasue other people can't control themselves?

Do you really want to rely on the police to be there exactly when you need them? Do you really want to rely on them to always have your best interests in mind?

Again, the problem isnt guns or knives or lead pipes or any other weapon. The problem is the people using them to hurt other people.

elenchos @8 brought up something important.

The second amendment was supposed to be the last resort check against an abusive government.

We've already lost.

@8: Zing! Well said.

But you see, we need more guns otherwise our USA would be an even bigger bloodbath than countries that have strict gun control like Canada and England.

Oh wait, the number of deaths due to gun violence there are infinitesimal compared to our country. Oops.

Welcome to the USA where we proudly do the opposite of what works!!

Amerogance RULZ!!!

Why has there not been a law passed requiring the use of microdots in all firearm ammunition sold "over-the-counter" in this country? For an explanation of what microdots are, check this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdot

I realize that the cost of being able to indiviually track single rounds or even just individual boxes would raise the production cost. The manufacturing process right now churns out thousands of indentical rounds per hour on any given production line. I don't know enough to calculate the additional cost of spraying differently numbered microdots on individual rounds, or even batches of rounds, but I know it would be expensive.

Perhaps gun enthusiasts could register a serial number(s) for any and all ammunition they want, but then you're looking at having to pre-order ammunition, and that could potentially be challenged on Second Ammendment grounds. That argument would piss me off, but it could easliy be made in court. Also, the registered "owner" of a particular microdot would rightfully need to have safeguards in place to ensure that a few cases of Joe Schmoe's ammo don't fall off the back of a truck only to wind up being used during the commission a crime.

A simple google search reveals that there have been patents filed for this sort of thing. Check US Patent 5205183.

None of this would affect people, and there are many of them, who make their own ammunition. But it would make it much easier to tie a slug pulled out of a corpse to the purchaser of the bullet.

I would think that Law Enforcement entities would be all over this--they could still purchase ammunition made without microdots.

Yes, I realize that this could egender the growth/expansion of black market ammunition, but it'd be a start. The usefulness falls prey, as does everything, to the law of diminishing returns, but how many crimes involving ballistics go unsolved currently? What does Chief Kerlikowske and his staff think of this? What do the citizens of Seattle think of this?

@13 - "There are lots of dangerous things in life, but if you deny yourself something useful because it's dangerous you're crippling yourself for no reason."

SWEET - I've always wanted an excuse to try Heroin, thanks Smegmalicious!

Your "Cars kill more people then guns" post is one of the most overused idiotic Straw Man arguments and it seems that it's mandatory that someone always posts it. Give it up.

Then there's also "If people didn't have guns then they'd kill people with knifes!" ~ yea - but you can OUTRUN a crackhead with a knife...

@ 18. How in hell is heroin useful?! Guns can be and are useful. For one, it's used for hunting, which in some rural areas is how people get their food to eat, and some of the furs are used to keep warm in the winter. Personally I'd rather them use guns instead of spears, which only has a guarantee until it breaks then you get to hope like hell you can outrun a wolf.

Of course that's just rural area. In the city, it's a damn sight more useful than the cops. Don't get me wrong, they're good and all, but sometimes they can't be there when you need to. Besides, it's easier to shoot said crackhead who's broken into your house then breaking half of your furniture trying to get your ass (and possibly somebody else's) out of that damn door (if you even make it). At least with a gun all you'll have to do is plaster over the hole in the wall, and possibly pay for a real good carpet cleaner. My opinion at least.

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