This particular weapon is not only a phallus.
It has testicles too.
"What Second Amendment Evangelists Fail To Understand About Their Opposition"
"Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"
The Conservative Dream
Absolute Safety vouchsafed by ubiquitous firearms.
(The impossible quest to make Reality safer than God intended is the core appeal of fascism.)
If every airline passenger can "pack," then every terrorist would have a firearm and only a small percentage of citizens.
Would you, for example, take a firearm on board a plane?
Didn't think so...
The percentage of American households with handguns at home has plummeted since the 1970s.
"Since 1973, The Number Of Gun-Toting American Home Has Fallen By 35%"
Those who think ubiquitous firearms are a solution to any of life's problems contribute to the problem.
The possibility that well-armed citizens will perform acts of sudden, salvific heroicism once a thug with murderous intent "has the drop on them" is vanishingly remote.
Such wishful thinking is the product of arrested development, the vestigial puerility of children playing at "cowboys and Indians," "cops and robbers," "white hats and black."
Many more innocent Americans are killed by firearms "in the home" than the piddling number of Americans saved by domestic firearm heroics.
"The Number Of People Who Use Guns In Self Defense Is Negligible"
And when, at rare intervals, such heroics do occur, they frequently result in the death of property thieves who harbor no violent intent.
I know no one who has used a gun in self-defense, but I do know someone who was killed while robbing a grocery store.
It is overwhelmingly likely that neither you -- nor anyone you know -- has successfully "defended themselves" with a firearm.
Americans refuse to heed "the numbers."
"Gun Cartoons and Gun Violence Bibliography"
The Conservative Dream
Absolute Safety vouchsafed by ubiquitous firearms.
(The impossible quest to make Reality safer than God intended is the core appeal of fascism.)
If every airline passenger can "pack," then every terrorist would have a firearm and only a small percentage of citizens.
Would you, for example, take a firearm on board a plane?
Didn't think so...
Would you, for example, take a firearm on board a plane?
Didn't think so...
The percentage of American households with handguns at home has plummeted since the 1970s.
"Since 1973, The Number Of Gun-Toting American Home Has Fallen By 35%"
Those who think ubiquitous firearms are a solution to any of life's problems contribute to the problem.
The possibility that well-armed citizens will perform acts of sudden, salvific heroicism once a thug with murderous intent "has the drop on them" is vanishingly remote.
Such wishful thinking is the product of arrested development, the vestigial puerility of children playing at "cowboys and Indians," "cops and robbers," "white hats and black."
Many more innocent Americans are killed by firearms "in the home" than the piddling number of Americans saved by domestic firearm heroics.
"The Number Of People Who Use Guns In Self Defense Is Negligible"
And when, at rare intervals, such heroics do occur, they frequently result in the death of property thieves who harbor no violent intent.
I know no one who has used a gun in self-defense, but I do know someone who was killed while robbing a grocery store.
It is overwhelmingly likely that neither you -- nor anyone you know -- has successfully "defended themselves" with a firearm.
Americans refuse to heed "the numbers."
Americans Think Foreign Aid Consumes One Third Of GNP.
This % Is Totally Hallucinated
If you ask each and every friend and associate until the day you die, the chances are virtually nil that you will come across someone (outside the military) who has repelled an aggressor with a firearm.
The belief that Americans use firearms in self-defense is mostly Middle School fantasy conjured by essentially fearful people trapped by arrested development.
I am 68 years old and have friends "on both sides of the aisle."
Yet I have never heard any of them say that a firearm saved their life.
I have never heard any of them say that they know someone who was saved by a firearm.
And in those rare instances of "salvation-through-firearm," it remains over-archingly true that isolated anecdotes do not establish "general rules."
On the other hand, I have heard several friends say that firearms were used by family members to kill themselves and one friend whose neighbor's boy accidentally killed a friend by putting a bullet in his head.
Whether by accident... sudden eruption of anger... or by psychological disease... firearms in the home exact a terrifyingly high toll with correspondingly trivial benefit.
The belief that "individual heroes" will "save the day" is essentially self-ish, a subset of rugged individualism.
Yes, an occasional hero will "save the day."
Guns Save Lives
The Number Of People Who Use A Gun In Self-Defense Is Pretty Much Negligible
But choosing to arm an entire society only increases the cumulative carnage.
Gun Tweet In Wake Of Umpqua Slaughter
Opportunities for "gun-toting heroism" are vanishingly rare, and when they do present, they are likely to exacerbate the violence-in-progress.
Consider the following case in point.
If you ask each and every friend and associate until the day you die, the chances are virtually nil that you will come across someone (outside the military) who has repelled an aggressor with a firearm.
The belief that Americans use firearms in self-defense is mostly Middle School fantasy conjured by essentially fearful people trapped by arrested development.
I am 68 years old and have friends "on both sides of the aisle."
Yet I have never heard any of them say that a firearm saved their life.
I have never heard any of them say that they know someone who was saved by a firearm.
And in those rare instances of "salvation-through-firearm," it remains over-archingly true that isolated anecdotes do not establish "general rules."
Yet I have never heard any of them say that a firearm saved their life.
I have never heard any of them say that they know someone who was saved by a firearm.
And in those rare instances of "salvation-through-firearm," it remains over-archingly true that isolated anecdotes do not establish "general rules."
On the other hand, I have heard several friends say that firearms were used by family members to kill themselves and one friend whose neighbor's boy accidentally killed a friend by putting a bullet in his head.
Whether by accident... sudden eruption of anger... or by psychological disease... firearms in the home exact a terrifyingly high toll with correspondingly trivial benefit.
The belief that "individual heroes" will "save the day" is essentially self-ish, a subset of rugged individualism.
Yes, an occasional hero will "save the day."
Guns Save Lives
The Number Of People Who Use A Gun In Self-Defense Is Pretty Much Negligible
But choosing to arm an entire society only increases the cumulative carnage.
Gun Tweet In Wake Of Umpqua Slaughter
Opportunities for "gun-toting heroism" are vanishingly rare, and when they do present, they are likely to exacerbate the violence-in-progress.
Consider the following case in point.
Armed Veteran Explains Why He Didn't Confront Oregon Shooter With His "Good Guy" Gun
http://paxonbothhouses.blogspot.com/2015/10/armed-vet-at-umpqua-explains-why-he.html
The human psyche prefers "clutching at straws" to admitting the unpalatable truth that many threatening situations are simply "outside our control."
Furthermore, attempts to "control the uncontrollable" -- either by enhanced "security" measures "taken in advance" or "taken while an aggressive act is unfolding" -- do not contribute to security and routinely become risk factors in themselves.
Consider the flood of handguns in American homes, a deluge whose potential benefit pales alongside the actual number of American suicides and "domestic homicides" that would not have taken place if handguns were not in the home.
The situation is analogous to the conservative desire to disenfranchise 11% of American voters in order to prevent several hundred cases of demonstrable voter fraud - a textbook illustration of "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face."
How Frequent Is Voter Fraud?
How Frequent Is Voter Suppression?
Voter I.D. Laws Could Disenfranchise 11% Of The Electorate
In the absence of firearms, most young people who attempt suicide do not succeed.
Keep in mind that the suicides I am focusing are not "potential threats" like an attack on your neighborhood school.
Rather, they are "done deeds."
Dependable statistics year in, year out.
Needless statistics year in, year out.
Lamentably, most Americans believe that "heroic last minute intervention" will prevent criminals from perpetrating carnage -- which is highly unlikely to occur in the first place -- simultaneously ignoring the actual avalanche of carnage in American homes - carnage that would not take place if the availability of handguns in the home did not facilitate suicide.
The make-believe heroicism that afflicts Second Amendment Evangelists recalls the bizarre supposition that the violent overthrow of Saddam Hussein (Ronald Reagan's geopolitical ally) would "make the world safe for democracy."
"Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"
George Will Documents Reagan's Collusion With Saddam Hussein's Use Of Chemical Weapons
"If An Abundance Of Guns Makes Us Safe,
Why Isn't The United States The Safest Place In The World?"
I await your reply.
The human psyche prefers "clutching at straws" to admitting the unpalatable truth that many threatening situations are simply "outside our control."
Furthermore, attempts to "control the uncontrollable" -- either by enhanced "security" measures "taken in advance" or "taken while an aggressive act is unfolding" -- do not contribute to security and routinely become risk factors in themselves.
Consider the flood of handguns in American homes, a deluge whose potential benefit pales alongside the actual number of American suicides and "domestic homicides" that would not have taken place if handguns were not in the home.
The situation is analogous to the conservative desire to disenfranchise 11% of American voters in order to prevent several hundred cases of demonstrable voter fraud - a textbook illustration of "cutting off one's nose to spite one's face."
How Frequent Is Voter Fraud?
How Frequent Is Voter Suppression?
Voter I.D. Laws Could Disenfranchise 11% Of The Electorate
In the absence of firearms, most young people who attempt suicide do not succeed.
Keep in mind that the suicides I am focusing are not "potential threats" like an attack on your neighborhood school.
Rather, they are "done deeds."
Dependable statistics year in, year out.
Needless statistics year in, year out.
Rather, they are "done deeds."
Dependable statistics year in, year out.
Needless statistics year in, year out.
Lamentably, most Americans believe that "heroic last minute intervention" will prevent criminals from perpetrating carnage -- which is highly unlikely to occur in the first place -- simultaneously ignoring the actual avalanche of carnage in American homes - carnage that would not take place if the availability of handguns in the home did not facilitate suicide.
The make-believe heroicism that afflicts Second Amendment Evangelists recalls the bizarre supposition that the violent overthrow of Saddam Hussein (Ronald Reagan's geopolitical ally) would "make the world safe for democracy."
"Bush's Toxic Legacy In Iraq"
George Will Documents Reagan's Collusion With Saddam Hussein's Use Of Chemical Weapons
"If An Abundance Of Guns Makes Us Safe,
Why Isn't The United States The Safest Place In The World?"
I await your reply.
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