Official Off-Topic Thread

[Feron]

Guns are illegal here, not impossible to get but difficult enough that a student wouldnt really have a chance of getting one and enough ammo to take out 30 people.  Guns are for wars and for defensive uses, and posibly sport and farmers, not for anybody to buy from a shop.  In some states you must be older to buy alcohol than you must be to buy a gun - now thats just sick.

[Rox]

You need a license to own any kind of potentially lethal firearm here. You have to earn that license, so weapon crimes aren't that common here. In fact, crimes performed with airsoft weapons are REALLY common, because people just seem to NEED to be illegal, but they're forced to do it with toys.

And some politicians are like "AUGH BAN AIRSOFT GUNS" which is sad, because what they don't realize is that very little harm is done when criminals only have the fear factor on their side. If airsoft weapons weren't so easy to find, they'd have to find some other sort of weapon - makes me think of knives and stronger air powered rifles, if not actual real firearms. If we ban the harmless replicas, the criminals would have to find other weapons. Because I think, if one's set on being a criminal and robbing banks and crazy stuff, one would keep doing it even if one suddenly has no fake gun to wave around to get ones cash.

[Xion]

Wasn't there a ban on fully automatics thats like...warranty (?) wore off because Bush didn't resign it back into law or something? (Sorry, I ain't so keen on all this pullitikal terminoligy.)
I say tighten the control like a madman, and ban fully automatics. I'm all for constitutional rights, but why the hell would any man or woman in his or her right mind have need of a fully automatic weapon? Even semi automatic. What, you gonna go huntin' and litter the deer with like twenny rounds? Self defense? That's called overkill. Most of those incidents listed in that wiki arcticle were probably carried out by people who had no thought of what they were doing, so consumed by emotion and feuled by hopelessness that they exploded. If guns were harder to get a hold of, they probably would have ended up committing suicide without the massacres. Not a happy ending either way, but I'd rather that than this.

Why the hell does the NRA hold so much influence in America?

[AdamAtomic]

While the constitution does specifically provide the right to bear arms in order to raise a militia to protect the populace from the government, it IS important to realize the context in which that amendment was written.  The US was still under the impending threat of takeover by massive, global empires, and had no infrastructure for a standing army.  So, to defend this amendment by claiming that this is a right we still need, over 200 years later, you are assuming the following things:

1 - That US citizens would actually have the ambition to rebel
2 - That US citizens would not be able to acquire arms despite the ban (because surely, none of the US's many, many enemies around the world would help to overthrow the govt)
3 - That outside forces would not interrupt the process in our moment of greatest weakness anyways

I'm not ready to say we should outright ban weapons, but I do happily support rigid licensing AND limitations on the quantity of weapons you can own.

[Larwick]

Aaaah guys! I don't know whether i've just become utterly idiotic or not, but i can't seem to find anywhere that lets me change my avatar.. I went on profile and clicked all the links down the side but couldn't find the option. Hm..   

[Stwelin]

It's missing.

[The B.O.B.]

It's not missing. I used my awesome telepathic powers to make you think that it's missing.

But seriously, it's not there anymore. I guess poor old Snake's future avatar will never see the light of day.*le sigh*

[Razz]

I don't know if this was mentioned already, but does anyone find it at all funny that the new Pixelation banner pixel mixes?
Or maybing I be trip'n. Dawg.

[Helm]

yes, mixed resolutions. Can be done tastefully.

[Razz]

Heheh. I guess it just boasts the talent that this board holds.