Are you responsible?

[Brian37]

I mean, really. Brian is extraordinarily emotive, sure. However, whether onlinebiker intended it to be a bait and switch or not, this is a quite common analogy in the gun debate. It's not like Brian pulled the idea that this could be related out of his ass. He could be wrong, and this could be just a thread about cars. That's great, because this is a legitimate topic, but Brian's not making it up when he says he's seen this argument like a billion times. That said, I've also seen this gun thread like a billion times, and it gets reaaaallll boring, Bri.

Thanks Shell.

I am not a mind reader. But again, over the years, and on different topics, on multiple websites, you do see patterns, and no, they are not always the same people.  And yes, one could argue the person doing it, does not realize they are doing it. 

Humans pass ideas onto other humans and that idea can be spread independently by lots of people over time, so much so the spread becomes so wide there is no direct connection between all who might hold the same idea.

But having said that. Calling our firearm violence problem "boring" doesn't solve the issue. I don't bring it up to "troll" or be "boring". I bring it up because it is a very real problem America needs to face.

It would be "boring" if we only had 1 mass shooting per year. I would call it "boring" if we had the same level of firearm violence as say Japan, or Australia. 

If one wants to claim I am an agitator on this subject, guilty as charged. But if everyone agrees that we should keep firearms out of the wrong hands, then it is a subject that needs to be constantly in the public eye, every day, until the problem truly becomes "boring."

I do take this personally, and do take this issue seriously, knowing my dad was an alcoholic, and if it were not for my mom yanking me out of the house, when he shot his 38 in the room, you might not be reading this right now.

I was lucky.  The Parkland victims, the Vegas victims, The Va Tech victims, the Colombine victims, the Newton victims, were not so lucky. And if they speak out about firearm violence every single day, which they should, it wouldn't be for them a matter of "boring" but a call for prevention.

You've seen this gun thread "a billion times". Yes, and we have had and average of 100 of our fellow citizens die from firearm violence every day 365 days a year. I would love nothing more than to talk about other things. But as long as firearm violence is an issue, and it is, I think it is more important to face reality.