There's a rational explanation...it's just a fundamentally depressing one.  As far as western gun slingers...funny you should mention that, as the 20 years or so of he "cowboy era" that;s been mythologized (first in paperbacks and then in film) was when we had some of the strictest gun control laws that have ever been on the books in the US, and no one seemed to think that their rights were being infringed.

(November 7, 2017 at 4:44 pm)Lomd Wrote: This virtual worship that exists towards the Second Amendment in the USA is certainly remarkable.

Even leaving aside (as apparently everyone does) the plain fact that the Amendment proper is hardly suitable to support gun ownership by common civilians, it is still a piece of 18th century legislation that can hardly be expected to extrapolate properly to the parameters established by the firearms and military industries of the 21st century.

Somehow that is rarely even raised, despite being such an obvious and utterly relevant fact.  Ditto for the plain and all-too-manifest dangers of having so many firearms floating around.

I can only assume that the appeal of western gun-slingers tales goes a long way indeed.  There is no rational explanation for the complete lax of necessary regulations for firearms in the USA.

Well, for starters it's not so universally worshipped as uninformed people would believe. Most Americans own either one gun or no guns. Three percent of Americans own an average of 128 guns.

LOL, that scene in fear and loathing, about the tendency to go overboard in a good collection of drugs.  It's like that.

Quote:I can only assume that the appeal of western gun-slingers tales goes a long way indeed.

If you ever read any actual historical accounts you'll see that the "western gun-slinger" model is a dime-novel and Hollywood invention.  The gunfight at the O.K, Corral was about the Earp's intention to enforce a gun control ordinance.

http://articles.latimes.com/2011/jan/23/...e-20110123

Quote: And one fact is usually ignored: Back then, Tombstone had far stricter gun control than it does today. In fact, the American West's most infamous gun battle erupted when the marshal tried to enforce a local ordinance that barred carrying firearms in public. A judge had fined one of the victims $25 earlier that day for packing a pistol.

"You could wear your gun into town, but you had to check it at the sheriff's office or the Grand Hotel, and you couldn't pick it up again until you were leaving town," said Bob Boze Bell, executive editor of True West Magazine, which celebrates the Old West. "It was an effort to control the violence."

They lived a long time ago but they weren't stupid.  Whereas today Arizona's legislature has actually allowed guns in bars.  What we have today - a republicunt majority of course - are dumb fucks.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alyssa-scot...olice-say/

15 year old girl killed in a hunting accident.

Isn't one of the common rules of Gun Safety NOT to hand someone a loaded gun? These things could be prevented, if only we required some sort of... I don't know licensing and training. But that's just fucking crazy. What's next? Licensing and training required to drive a car? Pfft!

"Youth hunt" gone wrong. Here in California, there is a required hunter safety program that is required before acquiring a hunting license. It doesn't train stupidity out of the hunters.

(November 15, 2017 at 2:03 am)Divinity Wrote: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alyssa-scot...olice-say/

15 year old girl killed in a hunting accident.  

Isn't one of the common rules of Gun Safety NOT to hand someone a loaded gun?  These things could be prevented, if only we required some sort of... I don't know licensing and training.  But that's just fucking crazy.  What's next?  Licensing and training required to drive a car?  Pfft!

In the context of a youth hunt you pretty much have to hand the kid a loaded gun.  The alternative is to let them waltz around in the woods with the gun themselves.  A bad idea.  In this case....they were climbing trees with a loaded gun, safety off, and somebody..apparently, grabbed it by the fucking trigger.  This is far more idiotic than handing someone a chambered round. Were they worried that the deer might attack on their descent or something..had to keep their rifle at the ready for a counterassualt?

I find that stories like these commonly employ euphemisms like "went off" or "handed x a gun" and "accident"..effectively masking how stupid, and criminal, the whole sorry affair actually was. Sounds like manslaughter to me. If I was the girls father, I'd be contemplating a "tragic accident" of my own involving the "family friend". I somehow doubt that the law, or society, would grant me the sort of leniency that we routinely parse out for "accidental" shootings.

I've never accidentally shot a thing in my fucking life. I don't believe that it's possible. The mechanics of it are too ridiculous to entertain as an actual thing that happens. People -negligently- shoot things, and get negligently shot..however....with some regularity.

I worked an entire summer shoveling cow shit just to get the privilege of firing a gun.

(November 15, 2017 at 10:14 am)Khemikal Wrote:

(November 15, 2017 at 2:03 am)Divinity Wrote: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/alyssa-scot...olice-say/

15 year old girl killed in a hunting accident.  

Isn't one of the common rules of Gun Safety NOT to hand someone a loaded gun?  These things could be prevented, if only we required some sort of... I don't know licensing and training.  But that's just fucking crazy.  What's next?  Licensing and training required to drive a car?  Pfft!

In the context of a youth hunt you pretty much have to hand the kid a loaded gun.  The alternative is to let them waltz around in the woods with the gun themselves.  A bad idea.  In this case....they were climbing trees with a loaded gun, safety off, and somebody..apparently, grabbed it by the fucking trigger.  This is far more idiotic than handing someone a chambered round.  Were they worried that the deer might attack on their descent or something..had to keep their rifle at the ready for a counterassualt?

I find that stories like these commonly employ euphemisms like "went off" or "handed x a gun" and "accident"..effectively masking how stupid, and criminal, the whole sorry affair actually was.  Sounds like manslaughter to me.  If I was the girls father, I'd be contemplating a "tragic accident" of my own involving the "family friend".  I somehow doubt that the law, or society, would grant me the sort of leniency that we routinely parse out for "accidental" shootings.  

I've never accidentally shot a thing in my fucking life.  I don't believe that it's possible.  The mechanics of it are too ridiculous to entertain as an actual thing that happens.  People -negligently- shoot things, and get negligently shot..however....with some regularity.

I'm an NRA Certified Firearms Instructor for rifle and shotgun. Anyone makes a claim of "accident" while on a range I'm running is ejected and never allowed back, even if nobody got hurt.

-and then they take their rifles into the woods with a teenage girl. Because why not..there's no law against it, and it's not like there's a license they can lose on account of a history of infractions.