Really Stupid Things You've Heard/Read Someone Say

[The Funslinger]

That's not how it works at all, and it will never work like that.

"Disarming the innocent does not protect the innocent". Or as I like to say, "DUH!"

Except that it does work like in many other countries, criminals are mostly disorganised and to get hold of a weapon with sufficient control and enforcement you have to be very well organised. And, you know what unless in your society is carrying around a handgun at all times, it's more likely that the attacker is going to be the one armed. You stand a much better chance of getting away from someone with a knife than a gun.

I understand that the US is perhaps too far down the rabbit hole for an immediate ban on guns to be effective but phasing them out over a long period of time could work.

There's a little less gun crime in places like here in Britain, but there's plenty of knife crime to make up for that.

I'd much prefer a situation where everyone is encouraged to have carry guns, with an amount of mandatory shooting, safety and situational training. A prospective criminal would think twice, because chances are every target is armed. People say that would just cause more death overall, but that's not necessarily true. If it's the common knowledge that everyone around you can protect themselves, it makes crime as a whole far, far less inviting and over time, there's a good chance it could lower hugely.

Plus I've always held the view that once someone (e.g. a mugger or rapist) puts someone else's base human rights secondary to their own personal wants, they sacrifice priority for their own rights. Fair is fair, after all.

And I have had many conversations with people who, if it weren't for carry weapons, wouldn't be able to safely go out alone at night. One of whom is an escapist here I won't mention because it would probably be quite rude to randomly throw her into this.

With or without weapons, people will find ways to at least have the ability to kill each other. Hell, I know how to kill someone with a damn newspaper. With that in mind, I much prefer a world where your bogstandard guy can protect himself.

Knife crime is much less deadly and it's much easier to escape

Not true, because the mugger isn't going to behave the same with a knife as he is with a gun. They utilize the knife differently, hence why, when it occurs, knife crime is as fatal as gun crime.

there's also less risk of your mugger simply attacking you

I think I've made it clear that if someone has chosen to assault someone or mug them with a weapon, I no longer give a shit about the mugger's safety.

Okay, your first premise: Everyone is armed and trained in the use of a weapon. This means everyone with access to a gun, so both sides of the law. Or, in fact unless you make it mandatory to own a gun it'll go more like this; Your mugger will have a gun and there will be a % of the civilian population who're likely to be armed.

The way it's meant to work is that you can't commit assault/mugging so simply because everyone who sees it has a means to stop it, which is one hell of a deterrent. Anything that was attempted would either quickly end with the mugger being injured or killed (once again, the prevention of that is a low priority to me) or a dragged out hostage situation, which if I were a mugger wouldn't seem worth it, especially because it's almost impossible to get away with.

Now, how does premditated violent crime work?
You take your opponent by surprise, get the situation under control, get what you came for and get out.

So now, still on the criminal:

Your target is probably armed.

Your target is probably not armed.

Shooting someone and using a gun is a risk because it's loud and cam leave evidence so you aren't going to shoot someone lightly. But if they're armed then you have a risk that you probably need to take. Unless you're some sort of soldier or expecting the attack you're safer if your attacker thinks you're unarmed, hell scratch that, everyone is safer if the attacker thinks you're unarmed.

Guns are not good for self defence

You can say that all you like, but as I've said, the fact is I know too many people who are only safe going out at night because they can carry a gun to believe that. Once again, with the proper amount of care, it's the best deterrent, along with the above fact that if everyone carried guns, petty crime would have too great a risk tied to it.

It's irrelevant that you can kill people anyway, deadliness is not black and white, it's more of a scale. A gun is an order of magnitude more deadly than necessary, arming both sides with something so powerful leads to unnecessary escalation and dramatically increases the chance that someone is going to die, essentially for reasons of history and national pride.

But people die anyway. You're just as dead stabbed as if you're dead shot, and once again, my point is that the presence of guns in that world would reduce crime, and therefore reduce death. I'm not claiming it would be a perfect solution, but it's better than removing legal access to weapons all together.

For instance, here in Britain, the country famous for not even arming its police, the black market gun trade for criminals is alive and well. And to that, you're going to say legal guns puts more guns on the black market, but I'm looking more at having a larger percentage of guns present in the hands of innocent people to protect themselves than in the hands of criminals. That, in my opinion, will do more good.

Your bogstandard guy stands a much, much better chance when weapons aren't involved.

True, but there being no weapons involved is a fairy tale state. Unless you're an idealistic six year old, you're aware of this. Once again: Criminals. Black Market.

 

[Realitycrash]

Sorry, but everyone who claims "X is the stupidest thing I have ever heard, because they list Y taste in music/art/movies/whatever as better/worse than Z taste, and thus THEY ARE MORONS!"..Well, it's not exactly the "stupidest thing I have ever heard", but it really grinds my gears..

 

[Realitycrash]

"woman have MORE equal rights then men"

also: most of chris browns fans, since some of them say that his 'incident' NEVER HAPPEND (they think it was all faked)

"Women should have the right to hit men in order to give them a 'warning', but men can never hit a woman, because then it is sexist and just plain wrong, no matter how they do it" - On this very site.

 

[Simonism451]

my favorite stupid quote:

Congratulations, "Mass Effect" crybabies. You've officially set the entire medium back a DECADE as an art form

From our very own Moviebob Chipman!

So folks, how does it feel to be playing 2002 era games again?

Pretty great actually. That Age of Mythology is quite the thing.

 

[Easton Dark]

"Confronting her about it will be best for both of us."

Said by me a few hours ago. Ow, my heart ;_;

 

[Timberwolf0924]

"This gun isn't loaded"
A friend before shooting through his foot.

"The jump isn't that far"
Friend before breaking leg failing to make it to trampolene from 2nd story house
(don't know where he planned on bouncing to though)

"Lets swim out to the sandbar, I don't think there's sharks"
Me 2 hours before we caught a 7ft shart off the back of our dock in Destin.

"Don't worry, I've had my tubes tied"
Ex-girlfriend with 2x kids already. Never wrapped, never pulled. After we broke up, found out she got pregnant from her new boyfriend #LUCKY

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

"Confronting her about it will be best for both of us."

Said by me a few hours ago. Ow, my heart ;_;

I'm going to hazard a guess and predict that you're no fun at parties.

Seriously, man. ...way to be a downer.

 

[newdarkcloud]

In freshman year of high school, the following were things I heard my fellow students say:

"Do cows exist in other countries?"
"Do plants have noses?"

I am not making this up!

 

[itsausernamewhatofit]

I take it its pretty easy to get guns in America?

I don't know...in Australia we have stricter gun laws and its not exactally mad max over here

Well its not walk in and buy it like a coke-a-cola.

There are age restrictions, like when you're 21 you can own a handgun. Then there is the whole state laws of what KIND of guns you can have. (No Sawed-offs no silencers). Then there is the whole being able to afford it, then lastly is all the paper work that says the gun you bought is specifically yours. That way, if something happens and they find your gun, it can be traced back to you etc.

Though, you don't see many people having something complex, most people in the U.S. just have something like a family revolver/pistol or a hunting rifle or shotgun. Assault rifles are found but Automatics (That are not made in the US) are outlawed.

Just a few additions to your post:
Handguns are at 21, but you can obtain a rifle or shotgun at 18
Gun law varies quite a bit by state. Some states require a licence or permit to own a gun (mine does not) but all states require a licence for concealed carry.
Those age restrictions are the ones applied to businesses with an FFL (Federal Firearms Licince). For sale or transfer between individuals there is no age restriction on the signing over of firearms not defined as pistols, so it is possible to own a rifle, shotgun, or similar firearm under the age of 18.

Slight nitpick, the term "automatic weapon" refers to any firearm that chambers another round after being fired. Automatic firearms are very common now and one of mine was not manufactured or designed in the US. I hate to be this picky but it's just that it seems like automatic is a very broad term that is often thrown around to mean fully automatic.

 

[Korak the Mad]

There was a kid I knew who went on the same high school bus as me and he said alot of stupid things but this one I will always remember. It was "Turkeys aren't birds because they can't fly, but penguins are because they can."

 

[BakaMick]

This has been going arround the internet for the past few days, as far as I can see

Spoiler: Image Inside

 

[bat32391]

At my high school there was this one girl when I brought dinosaurs in a conversation she butted it and said:

"Dinosaur bones aren't real! They're just tricks the Devil put in the ground to steer the faithful away from the truth of Christianity!"

I shit you not, this crazy ***** was serious. Well this is what I get for living Texas.

Yep, that's my insanely backwards home state for you.

Yeah I know I was born here its really amazing some of the crazy the stuff I hear.

 

[BakaMick]

At my high school there was this one girl when I brought dinosaurs in a conversation she butted it and said:

"Dinosaur bones aren't real! They're just tricks the Devil put in the ground to steer the faithful away from the truth of Christianity!"

I shit you not, this crazy ***** was serious. Well this is what I get for living Texas.

Yep, that's my insanely backwards home state for you.

Yeah I know I was born here its really amazing some of the crazy the stuff I hear.

I was in Texas last year, and I was thrown out of 2 diners and refused service from an entire town we were passing through becasue my friend had a bumper sticker that said

"My version: Millions of years of a complex process that we can test and see.
Your version: MAGIC MAN DID IT! LALALA, I'M NOT LISTENING!!"

 

[Toaster Hunter]

From High school: Austria is where kangaroos live. Australia is apparently a fictional location.


Also, there was one student who thought that a nuclear submarine could be eaten by a shark and that buffaloes actually have wings. Even the teacher called him a moron.

 

[bat32391]

At my high school there was this one girl when I brought dinosaurs in a conversation she butted it and said:

"Dinosaur bones aren't real! They're just tricks the Devil put in the ground to steer the faithful away from the truth of Christianity!"

I shit you not, this crazy ***** was serious. Well this is what I get for living Texas.

Yep, that's my insanely backwards home state for you.

Yeah I know I was born here its really amazing some of the crazy the stuff I hear.

I was in Texas last year, and I was thrown out of 2 diners and refused service from an entire town we were passing through becasue my friend had a bumper sticker that said

"My version: Millions of years of a complex process that we can test and see.
Your version: MAGIC MAN DID IT! LALALA, I'M NOT LISTENING!!"

Wow really? What part of Texas were you in? I just got a nasty look for saying that only idiots watch Fox News.