Comments On: This American Death by Dan Savage http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2013/01/11/this-american-death Comments On: This American Death by Dan Savage en-us Copyright 2013 The Stranger. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, The Stranger readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact The Stranger. webmaster@thestranger.com (The Stranger Webmaster) Mon, 20 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Mon, 20 May 2013 15:30:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> http://www.cadothethao.org

Posted by Victor1122]]> Sat, 27 Apr 2013 04:35:37 -0700 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by ringo]]> Thu, 24 Jan 2013 10:19:10 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
Don't even get me started on swimming pools.


That's a stupid, stupid example. See, the thing is, every goddamn state and county building code controls swimming pools, requiring safety devices. You absolutely cannot build a swimming pool without also forking out the expense of several safety measures that the law requires. Fences. Stairs. Things designed and required BY LAW to make your pool safer.

The 'Yay Guns' crowd absolutely does not want to see any safety laws passed ever that would make guns any bit safer. Can you imagine the shitstorm they would have if your local county council passed laws incorporated into their building codes that required gun owners to do things like keep trigger locks on their guns, keep their guns locked in safes, and undergo mandatory gun safety training?

Can you imagine that, Haley?

The 'swimming pools kill people too' analogy is utterly stupid and false.
Posted by Dr_Awesome]]> Mon, 14 Jan 2013 05:23:16 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Great70.com
Posted by mas789]]> Mon, 14 Jan 2013 03:29:25 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by Haley]]> Sun, 13 Jan 2013 23:03:48 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
NO ONE should have a gun that is accessible to ANYONE who cannot be trusted 100% to only use it responsibly, and that includes leaving the gun vulnerable to theft when they're outside their home or having it accessible to ANYONE under 18 or ANYONE who has displayed a modicum of imbalance or irresponsibility in any way. When my home was burglarized, and I told my brother about it, the first thing he said was "good thing you didn't have a gun in the house." I kind of scowled at him and he said "yeah, I guess it would have been locked up, huh?" Um, yeah. Even though I didn't turn into a sportswoman, I learned the same lessons you did. I won't have a gun, but if I decided I wanted one for some strange reason, you bet your bottom that it would take a heroic effort for anyone besides me to get to it, and the same effort to get to the ammunition.
Posted by Ms. D]]> Sun, 13 Jan 2013 19:31:50 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40678788/ns/…
Posted by gromm]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 20:20:40 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by Backyard Bombardier]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 20:18:50 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> But we got spankings, too, when things wrong were done.
@36- It's the impulse shootings that cause me to think some amount of gun sales regulation, safety training, and yes, even licensing requiring X amount of training to own one.
I do not own a gun for the simple reason that I don't trust my self not to use one in a state of frustrated rage- either on others or myself. Yet, as John Stewart says, the NRA-ers will not bring ONE GODDAMN THING to the table to talk. NOT ONE THING, in the face of a slaughtering of 6yo's. This is the price for Freedom, as the NRA nuts like to say; live with it Amurika.
Posted by OutInBumF]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 19:16:27 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
@10 Obesity kills a lot more Americans than drunk driving ever did. I take it you're in favour of the right to drive while drunk?

@30 That's a pretty bigoted statement. And what does cousin marriage have to do with anything? How does it hurt you if two cousins want to marry? Or is that an argument that only applies to the marriage of people you like (gays) and not people you don't like (Alabamans)? Lots of cultured people have married cousins (e.g. Charles Darwin).

Not marrying your cousin isn’t an imposition for people living in large, modern cities with excellent mass transportation and communication. It was a bit more of a hassle if you lived in a rural area during a time when rich people could travel by horse and snail mail and rumor were the only means of communication with the outside world. And no, the eugenics argument is very weak at best and opens up a whole lot of other cans of worms.

Posted by Old Crow]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 16:55:49 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> An 'older child'? No.

Though, the difference can be hard to tell sometimes.
Posted by NotSean]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:29:47 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
@everyone else: The Future Mrs. Dr. Awesome's one-year-old nephew got a 22 rifle for X-mas last year. The kid was one year old.

Now, Dad will keep the gun from him until he's actually old enough to use it (at, I dunno, seven maybe). But to think that Dad believes a one-year-old should even be gifted a gun is boggling.

Oh. And the kid is now two, and knows how to cock and shoot a gun. He's never fired a real gun, but he can mimic all the required actions necessary. At two years old.


Posted by Dr_Awesome]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 14:26:12 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by sperifera]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 12:08:50 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> #7

Causes of accidental death by age group

File:Causes_of_accidental_death_by_age_group.png">http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Causes…
Posted by Supreme Ruler Of The Universe]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 09:44:33 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by Ziggity]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:59:16 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by Skye Blu]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 08:08:16 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
My gun was *my* gun, but it lived in my father's locked gun cabinet.

I don't think there's anything inherently wrong in an older child owning a gun. I think there's something seriously wrong about any person of any age owning a gun who doesn't respect it as the deadly tool that it is and handle it in a safe manner.

I also think that gun ownership should be contingent upon completion of a seriously stringent training program and psychological evaluation.
Posted by MarleyBarley]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:44:25 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
"Surely, hopefully (?) this would be one area where both sides could agree. Seems there would be very little downside and plenty of upside to making it against the law to provide children with access to guns."

One would think that. But a couple years ago in Alaska, I read an editorial in the Anchorage Daily News that talked about how requiring everyone to have a license before they had a gun was going to ruin Christmas because the writer could no longer surprise his children, 12 and 8, with guns, they were going to have to know in advance.
Posted by Angela P]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:12:26 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
of course, all the gun safety practices in the world are not 100% safe, so i guess we'll just have to live with a certain percentage of rural 12 year olds killing playmates. or 8 year olds bringing unsecured handguns on the school bus. or 16 year olds mistaking hikers on a trail for a bear. or 60 year old vice presidents shooting friends in the face.


Posted by Max Solomon]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 07:00:59 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
I got my first - and only - gun (a 20-gauge shotgun) as a Christmas gift when I was 12 - because I had finished a gun and hunting safety course and wanted to go deer hunting with my father and brother. I live in rural SE Ohio where people who don't hunt are much more the exception than people who do. I grew up around other kids who participated in hunting. Every single one of us treated guns with the utmost respect.

My experience growing up with guns has much in common with @20's - we were taught that guns are dangerous tools, they must be kept locked away safely, they must never be left loaded, they must be stored in a separate place from the ammunition.

It is basic gun safety and common sense - the VERY FIRST thing you do when you pick up a gun is to point it in a safe direction and check to see if it's loaded, and remove all bullets/cartridges from the chamber if it IS loaded and you are not prepared to shoot at your carefully-chosen target. It is absolutely negligent and horrific that this child was allowed to hold and own a gun without having had that simple rule drilled into his/her head until it was instinct.

You touch a gun. You check the chamber. First thing, every time.
Posted by MarleyBarley]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 06:11:00 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
How hard is it to gift a fishing rod instead of a gun to your 12 year old ?
Posted by sissoucat]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 04:29:29 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
Read 23 and understand what a child is.

@21 I totally agree with you.

I was raised and live in a place with no gun culture. Some people had hunting guns in the country, true - guns that can only shoot twice, and with cartridges containing many 2mm diameter pellets. Not before 16 or 17 would they gift their children with one. Even then, there were accidents.

Not many people here like hunters, because of their guns. They are seen as potentially murdeous assholes with anger issues.
Posted by sissoucat]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 04:24:56 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by Downlow]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 03:12:14 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]>
Fuck that. They're all victims.
Posted by mr. herriman]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 02:50:24 -0800 The Stranger <![CDATA[Re: This American Death]]> Posted by NotSean]]> Sat, 12 Jan 2013 00:59:54 -0800 The Stranger