Darn. I’m sorry you’re short of time, cause your comment tells me, you could have told me more about the gun culture component of these videos. Another commenter, Michelle, pointed out there were five, not three videos on guns, so the chances of persuading you to watch and report are now nil.
Darn. I’m sorry you’re short of time, cause your comment tells me, you could have told me more about the gun culture component of these videos. Another commenter, Michelle, pointed out there were five, not three videos on guns, so the chances of persuading you to watch and report are now nil.
You and I come from different cultures – you are city and I am country. I’ve never understood gun culture in cities any better than city people understand gun culture in the country.
At home, I see people carrying guns and think bobcats, cougars, bears, rattlers, coyotes, racoons, elk, deer, quail, and mercy for sick or injured livestock, horses, cats and dogs. And it ain’t no racial thing here either; black, brown, Asian, white, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Atheist, liberal, conservative, educated, and un-educated people carry guns. When we are hunting, we advertise it so loudly, you can see our fluorescent vests a mile away. Our kids and dogs stay behind us, not in front of us, beside us, or who knows where? We don’t have the luxury of forgetting to clean and oil our guns.
Our game wardens are more heavily armed than our police. Game wardens are coping with illegal hunters, who are definitely carrying guns. Like Africa, big game hunting in the states – moose, elk, wolves, grizzles and bison – has turned into a rich man’s sport. They hunt by helicopter, super-tricked out high speed all-terrain vehicles and the hire of super gifted trackers.
The police out here are a whole lot more respectful, than cops I’ve run into in cities. Why? What made people think, that cities would give up hundreds, let alone thousands of acres of land for prisons? Cities ship their inmates to rural America.
Putting 5,000 inmates in wide open country is going to have an impact. Escapes are rare, but what it does to your mind is constant.
From my balcony on one mountain range, I looked across a valley filled with farms. On the far side of the valley sat the prison, nestled at the base of the next mountain range that rose 8,000 feet in the air.
Of course, I could see the prison, it’s 1,650 acres big. 5,000 inmates live there, and 5,000 employees work there. This valley has some of the richest soil, dedicated to organic farming in the country. I don’t care where you live, you’ve seen our produce in the grocery store every time you shop. And yet, 2,000 acres of this farmland has been dedicated to housing inmates from the cities.
Supplying water and managing the sewage for this prison, is paid by YOU. You are paying higher prices for your food, to fund prisons.
Our prison includes a SHU, which is a jail, within a prison. Yup, inmates in prison, can get sent to jails – in prisons. Some get sent to prison jail to protect them from inmates in the general population, and others get sent there to protect inmates in the general population. And prisons without jails, send their inmates to prisons with jails. In other words, the most dangerous people and the most endangered people live in prison jails. Our SHU is very large.
Our county is huge, over 8,000 square miles. Less than one million people live here, but there are 19 prisons and 2,176 jails in our county alone.
Our sheriff’s patrol more than 8,000 square miles. Detroit police patrol a puny 143 square miles.
I tell you, I just don’t get city people and their guns.
Whenever I see city people carrying guns I think, umm the only thing to hunt ‘round here are people. Heck, city people can’t even put their old, sick or injured cats and dogs down themselves; they take them to vets who put them down with needles (then call it putting them to sleep?).
How is that city people can’t bring themselves to put their own beloved pets out of misery, but they can fly to Africa and shoot down elephants and giraffes and call it a sport? The attitudes of city people who come to the country to hunt elk and wolves is abominable. It’s like they got some kind of blood thirst dis-ease – killing is all they talk about. They do not sound human to me.
When city people “claim” they do not understand why there’s an epidemic of mass shootings in cities, I can’t help but ask, what did you people think your gun culture was all about? When kids grow up in cities where killing another human being is the only reason to own a gun, why are people surprised when kids shoot people?
City’s shooting ranges are bizarre. Why are people shooting at human silhouettes, instead of bullseyes? Cities are packed with moving traffic, pedestrians, stores, trees, etc. and yet gun owners practice shooting in empty cement boxes with fixed targets. Please explain that to me.
In city’s endless rows of cookie-cutter homes, apartment buildings and housing developments, someone is bound to walk into the wrong home, thinking it was theirs. Do city people really think their homes and apartments look unique?
In the country, someone entering your home is NO accident. If someone gets past the dogs outside, they won’t get past them inside. Teenagers are idiots, but if they sneak into your house to visit your teenager and wake you up, they announce themselves straight away, cause they know they’ll get shot if they don’t.
The whole point of those videos boils down to this: The problem is gun culture. Whatever went wrong in urban culture, is coming out the end of mass-shooters guns.
Last thoughts on the videos. We have a great deal in common in our views on the issues. We also don't have a workable solution, just a view of what should be.
My daughter became interested in her ancestry and had us do the DNA thing. My ancestry was not a big surprise. She was interested in her mother's heritage because she knows so little of it. There were surprises, but nothing that changed her view of who she is. As more people with African roots test, the data will better be able to inform their tribal roots.
Speaking of roots, I'm old enough to remember the TV mini-series "Alex Haley's Roots." I was living in Georgia as a displaced Yankee at the time. It created quite a stir at the time and the bros were going "Kunta, Kunta-Kinte" while out of sight for the white people to hear. The message most got from it was the in-your-face awfulness of slavery. I learned the history in school, there isn't really anything new history-wise being presented today, but people prefered to not think about it too much. What people didn't seem to get was the point of the movie. Alex Haley was trying to learn about his ancestral roots that were stripped from his knowledge. I understand people wanting to know it. What they have now in America is at best, a sub-culture.
Years ago, while in Brazil I went to a club/eatery and mentioned that in America the food we were eating was called "soul food." The Brazilian man's reply, "Slave food. We have a parallel history with America and slavery existed longer here." The influence was not Africa, it was slavery. I find it interesting that lobster was fed to slaves, a crustation underwater bug. Now it's a delicacy served in restaurants at a higher expense than steak. They say in the South that the only thing not eaten from a pig is its squeal. I've eaten chittlins, ONCE.
Just watched #4. I don't get stopped as often now as when I was younger, but the last time I was stopped I did my standard actions. While he was running my plate and checking me out, I got my license, registration, proof of insurance and concealed weapons permit out. Rolled down my window and had the documents in my hand with both wrists on the top of my steering wheel. That was to make myself as non-threatening as possible. If you think that only black people need to do that you read too many Medium articles. He asked if I had a firearm with me. I told him there was one in the car and would tell him how to access it if he wanted to. I preferred to not touch it. He said he didn't need to. I will never understand why people think it's OK to give a cop a blast of shit.
Most of my friends who are black also are veterans and gun owners. I once saw a black man walking out the door of a Wall-Mart with an open carry Glock on his hip. Nobody was paying attention to him. Arizona before the great influx of "Oh my God, he has a gun" Californians. I won't do a rant on the issues with firearms and people who are black with the police. I think it more complicated than "race."
I'm influenced by personal experience more than anything I read. My last interaction with the police was not a good one.
I was pulling away from the curb, when a woman leaving the hotel across the street, tried to beat traffic. She was pulling a 20 foot trailer behind her F-350 and could not make the turn and slammed into my car in the parking lane. The woman stopped and flew out of her truck screaming and yelling and running straight at me. I locked my car doors and wound up the windows. That woman was crazed. The police showed up, took her down the street and calmed her down.
Eventually, the cop came to ask if I was okay. I was fine, but the woman had put a fright in me and I was shaking. Take your time, he said, she hit you pretty hard. I was confused when the cop asked how far my car spun around. I finally got out of my car, and he showed me the back of my car, where her trailer had hit me and stopped my spin. The crazy woman walked towards us, and I got back in my car and the cop walked over to her and told her to stay on the sidewalk.
He turned around and I rolled the passenger window down and he asked for identification and insurance card. That's when my boss drove up. The cop takes one look at the man exiting the truck, unsnaps his holster, puts his hand on the pistol grip, stands up, and backs up and tells the boss to stop where he is. He's my boss, officer, he's my boss, we work right there I say pointing down the street. That's his company. My boss is standing there, his arms held out to his side, and the cop is staring at him with his hand on his pistol. It was a frigging Mexican standoff I slowly got out of my car, walked towards my boss and wrapped my arms him. "ABC" says the boss, "ABC". The boss spent 20 years in the air force, and quietly de-escalated the situation.
Police officers bring their cars to our shop all the time. We service prison and game warden vehicles as well. This cop was young, and new to town, and he brought his lousy attitude with him.
A week later, my insurance company informs me that the cop had reported the accident was 100% my fault.
As you've probably guessed by now, my boss is a black man. Everyone I work with is black or Hispanic and like any other auto repair shop, their friends and families hang out at the shop. From kindergarten to high school, our kids went to school together. Our families have been friends for years. I don't need people on Medium telling me what happens to black and brown people in this country. I've spent seven years seeing it and hearing it with my own two eyes and ears. That was not the first standoff in our shop, not by a long shot. The only time the county sheriffs ever drive by our ranch, is when we're having one of our big picnics. Apparently, its okay when we're miles apart, but when a bunch of us gather together, they think they better check on us. Dave, a whole lot of country folk, are ex-military and ex-police and they carry guns. They also know HOW to behave around the police. They also know how to de-escalate bad situations.
You can't tell me that a man who spent 20 years as a homicide detective in Los Angeles, doesn't know a racist cop when he meets one. And yet, one of those Mexican standoffs between a cop and that black homicide detective happened right in front of me in the lobby of our shop. The cop walked in saw a black man and unsnapped his holster. One wrong move and Dex would have been dead. And yes, Dex was carrying.
Now back to the subject at hand. What is causing these mass-shootings?
Personal experience is a big influence on me, but I'm not statistically relevant, especially since my life has been somewhat atypical. But I get what you are saying.
If the "real" fix requires a change in perception of the relationship between violence and masculinity, it is one that will be agonizingly slow in coming, like other big issues where people want quick fixes now. Is there a way to speed the process if that really is the root cause? If we can't find that it will be denied as a root cause, and we'll be back to "gunz!"
I've watched #2 & #3. I pretty much agree with all that. There are no Mr. Tactical pictures of me and like him, I cringe when I see them. One of the main reasons is that the people who post those for the most part have never been in combat. They are wannabes living in a fantasy world who pass that fantasy to the next generation.
There are, to the best of my knowledge, no veterans on my father's side of the family. It was a tradition on my mother's side of the family. It ended with me. I was the last to serve in the military. No siblings, children, grandchildren, cousins or nephews. While I am happy that my kin are no longer marching off to war, the decreasing number of combat veterans in society does have a downside. We are not the ones wearing "tactical" (I hate that word) crap with a penis that shoots bullets. I'll be interested to see where he goes with this. The media (social and otherwise) sells the idea of an association between manhood and violence.
I am a lifelong martial artist who's primary arts are Southeast Asian with blade and bludgeon orientation. As time went on, those weapons went behind the veil. Interestingly, long term martial artists are often anti-violence just as combat veterans become anti-war. But we recognize that violence is a thing that we can't just wish away. I hope we can resolve it before it takes the Biblical swords into plowshares horror to do that. It's complicated.
I spent three years in martial arts classes and if I were dictator for a day, every student would be required to take two semesters of martial arts classes as part of their phys ed requirements for high school graduation.
Like you, Steve QJ is also a martial artist. I have a hunch, that factors into both your views on guns, far more than you've considered.
WAIT a minute here. STOP and think this through.
STEVE and DAVE, has this discussion hit on some kind of a solution? Is martial arts classes in high school a way to start addressing violence and bullying in boys?
Martial arts have a place, I'm a fan. Sadly, there is a certain degree of fantasy there too. There are "experts" teaching martial arts who have never been in a real fight or self-defense situation, and it sometimes shows. While I spent years studying bladed martial arts, I haven't been in a real knife fight. I saw several in high school. They were sudden, Pearl Harbor affairs. Once in the boy's room in a dispute while rolling bones. Another in the locker room where a guy caught someone stealing his lizards and got cut from eyebrow to belly. There was no "fight" or defense, just a stabbing and slashing. Real world violence!
Facebook has street fight pages showing people getting hurt bad, maybe killed after the video stops (why do they allow that shit?). Comments are discouraging. A part of the virtual bad-ass world for people who have never experienced it, and some who have.
We do need to address bullying. I started my daughters in Taekwondo at the ages of 7 & 6. They had to use it to defend themselves. Not a world I wanted for them, but the world as it was. There's the issue. The world as it is, vs the world we wish it to be. Finding ways to change the world are difficult.
I spent my teen years in a really rough city neighborhood. It was gang territory and there was no escaping them. Seen more fist, gun and knife fights than any kid should ever see. I ended the only fight anyone started with me and ended up with assault and battery charges. My mother filed charges against the one who'd attacked me, and they cut a deal and the DA dropped the charges. Some things never change.
A young man I've known since he started kindergarten with one of my kids, was bullied something awful. One night, three bullies came to his grandmother's house and started a fist fight. The bullies went too far. Sammy loved his gramma and as they say, he ended the fight. It was three against one. Sammy did not start that fight. Those bullies had hunted him down for fun. But Sammy served three years in prison. He came home on parole and kept his hunting rifle in a steel box on a shelf, in his garage. He knew the rules, but he loved that stupid rifle. He got a call at work, the cops had broken down his front door. A few minutes later, Sammy was in handcuffs in the back of a cop car. The cops had arrested his wife and thrashed their home. Sammy was sentenced to another 3 years for having that gun at his home. He was out in a year, but... he's a two time felon. He's down in Texas now, and I'm here in Kentucky. Like clockwork, he calls once a week and we talk a while. Sometimes we talk a long while. We talk about America a lot.
Just an hour ago there was a report of an assault at the frisbee golf course at the park I walk in in the mornings. This was about 100 meters from my house. Homelessness and drug addicts attracted to the meth clinic they put in about a half a mile away. Most of this violence does not involve guns, but it's getting worse.
A habit I picked up in the land of Dixie is that I speak to people I encounter. Mostly they are cordial and speak. I've only had one incident where I seriously thought I would have to fight. He was cussing up a storm at me. I think he had mental issues, many of the homeless do.
I recently read that over 500 homeless people have died here in Phoenix in the first six months of this year. It said 10% violence but mostly drug addiction. Most of our violence does not involve guns, but I see more and more people talking up guns on the neighborhood ap to defend themselves. That's not about the "gun culture", it's a response to crime that is ramping up. The police recruiters are paying top dollar because nobody wants to be a cop.
Dave, did you not read what you wrote? My word, man, your gun knowledge and experience puts you in the smallest gun owner category imaginable. Not a word I said was about you, or aimed at you. Also, I don't believe in monoliths, so I don’t think that way. Put two human beings together and we’ve got two monoliths.
I’m not interested in guns. I leave guns to people who know what they’re talking about and that ain’t me.
What I’m trying to get at here, is what is causing these mass shootings? I think something went seriously awry in American culture and I’m trying to figure out why it’s coming out the barrels of guns aimed a little children. I live in the country. I know what happened in my part of this country and Beau pretty well nails it. You live in the city, and you are a gun expert. That’s why I’m asking you what the heck happened in city culture?
Looking at the FBIs published statistics, we have a violent society where the issue is beyond guns. We often don't see it because in general the media reports guns and cops killing people, but not the guy I saw lying dead a few days ago who appears to have been beaten to death.
I can't really say what happened, but it did happen on my watch. Availability of firearms certainly are a factor, along with the glorification of violence (gangstas and Mr. tacticals). Not a popular view but I think that Rambo movies and World at War video games are a part of the problem. I don't see them being banned. I wish I could fix it.
I started watching them. It will probably be reasonable, but I'll add a bit of clarity to the beginning of the first one.
Before the advent of the M-16 the military had switched from the M1 Garand's 30.06 round because it was too long to for magazine fed rifles. It had an 8 round clip. The 7.62 mm NATO round was adopted because one round could be used for a battle rifle (M-14) with it's standard 20 round magazine, machine gun (M-60) and the various sniper rifles though snipers normally used a round with a heavier projectile than the standard NATO round. The M-16 also was standard with 20 round magazines. He is incorrect in stating that the M-16 was chosen for a larger magazine.
The 7.62 mm NATO round uses more brass, more lead, more powder than the 5.56 mm round. There are a number of stories about why it was adopted. We used to blame it on the Airforce. I think it probable that it was cost of ammo and rifles. It certainly was not about a larger magazine like the video stated.
It did become somewhat popular after several mods that made it more reliable because of weight. You carry a lot of stuff and weight matters.
I don't think he was correct in saying that Stoner invented it. There have been gas operated, magazine fer rifles with bolt camming lugs for a long time. The straight-line design with a buffer spring in the stock (the reason for needing a pistol grip) was new for rifles used by the US military. It also has a straight firing pin where older rifles had a L shape where firing pins broke. This was definitely an improvement because a broken firing pin cannot be cleared in the field.
I'll add links to the early history of the AR-15 from Hatcher's Notebook at the end of this. As you will read, the AR-15 (renamed M-16 when the military adopted it) was not originally intended for the US military. It did have select fire; the ones being sold on the civilian market are semi only.
OK, pedantic, but it irritates me when incorrect things are stated about firearms. Ironic because it also irritates him. Back to the videos...
That's why I just said, I leave guns to people who know what they're talking about. To the point, what the heck are congressmen and senators doing trying to regulate something they know absolutely nothing about? Why don't we have a gun expert team advising these political idiots?
I lived in the city during the school year. I summered in the country with kin because by mom couldn't afford a sitter for me before I was old enough to latch key. Hunting was a tradition that I grew up with.
The last time I went hunting I had cross hairs on a buck and wished I had a camera instead of a rifle. I have no desire to kill. My wife didn't want to eat game. She grew up as country as it gets.
I was a competitive handgun silluetta shooter when my eyesight supported it. Targets were steel chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams at 50, 100, 150 & 200 meters. I enjoyed it but not because the targets looked like animals.
You assume too much about me and I think you are wrong to think of "gun culture" as a monolith.
The last time I went to a rifle range there was an increased number of women and girls than in the past. Big smiles on their faces saying things like "this is fun!"
I will ask what you are thinking of with "urban culture"? The people there, including gun owners, are not all the same.
Darn. I’m sorry you’re short of time, cause your comment tells me, you could have told me more about the gun culture component of these videos. Another commenter, Michelle, pointed out there were five, not three videos on guns, so the chances of persuading you to watch and report are now nil.
You and I come from different cultures – you are city and I am country. I’ve never understood gun culture in cities any better than city people understand gun culture in the country.
At home, I see people carrying guns and think bobcats, cougars, bears, rattlers, coyotes, racoons, elk, deer, quail, and mercy for sick or injured livestock, horses, cats and dogs. And it ain’t no racial thing here either; black, brown, Asian, white, Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, Jew, Atheist, liberal, conservative, educated, and un-educated people carry guns. When we are hunting, we advertise it so loudly, you can see our fluorescent vests a mile away. Our kids and dogs stay behind us, not in front of us, beside us, or who knows where? We don’t have the luxury of forgetting to clean and oil our guns.
Our game wardens are more heavily armed than our police. Game wardens are coping with illegal hunters, who are definitely carrying guns. Like Africa, big game hunting in the states – moose, elk, wolves, grizzles and bison – has turned into a rich man’s sport. They hunt by helicopter, super-tricked out high speed all-terrain vehicles and the hire of super gifted trackers.
The police out here are a whole lot more respectful, than cops I’ve run into in cities. Why? What made people think, that cities would give up hundreds, let alone thousands of acres of land for prisons? Cities ship their inmates to rural America.
Putting 5,000 inmates in wide open country is going to have an impact. Escapes are rare, but what it does to your mind is constant.
From my balcony on one mountain range, I looked across a valley filled with farms. On the far side of the valley sat the prison, nestled at the base of the next mountain range that rose 8,000 feet in the air.
Of course, I could see the prison, it’s 1,650 acres big. 5,000 inmates live there, and 5,000 employees work there. This valley has some of the richest soil, dedicated to organic farming in the country. I don’t care where you live, you’ve seen our produce in the grocery store every time you shop. And yet, 2,000 acres of this farmland has been dedicated to housing inmates from the cities.
Supplying water and managing the sewage for this prison, is paid by YOU. You are paying higher prices for your food, to fund prisons.
Our prison includes a SHU, which is a jail, within a prison. Yup, inmates in prison, can get sent to jails – in prisons. Some get sent to prison jail to protect them from inmates in the general population, and others get sent there to protect inmates in the general population. And prisons without jails, send their inmates to prisons with jails. In other words, the most dangerous people and the most endangered people live in prison jails. Our SHU is very large.
Our county is huge, over 8,000 square miles. Less than one million people live here, but there are 19 prisons and 2,176 jails in our county alone.
Our sheriff’s patrol more than 8,000 square miles. Detroit police patrol a puny 143 square miles.
I tell you, I just don’t get city people and their guns.
Whenever I see city people carrying guns I think, umm the only thing to hunt ‘round here are people. Heck, city people can’t even put their old, sick or injured cats and dogs down themselves; they take them to vets who put them down with needles (then call it putting them to sleep?).
How is that city people can’t bring themselves to put their own beloved pets out of misery, but they can fly to Africa and shoot down elephants and giraffes and call it a sport? The attitudes of city people who come to the country to hunt elk and wolves is abominable. It’s like they got some kind of blood thirst dis-ease – killing is all they talk about. They do not sound human to me.
When city people “claim” they do not understand why there’s an epidemic of mass shootings in cities, I can’t help but ask, what did you people think your gun culture was all about? When kids grow up in cities where killing another human being is the only reason to own a gun, why are people surprised when kids shoot people?
City’s shooting ranges are bizarre. Why are people shooting at human silhouettes, instead of bullseyes? Cities are packed with moving traffic, pedestrians, stores, trees, etc. and yet gun owners practice shooting in empty cement boxes with fixed targets. Please explain that to me.
In city’s endless rows of cookie-cutter homes, apartment buildings and housing developments, someone is bound to walk into the wrong home, thinking it was theirs. Do city people really think their homes and apartments look unique?
In the country, someone entering your home is NO accident. If someone gets past the dogs outside, they won’t get past them inside. Teenagers are idiots, but if they sneak into your house to visit your teenager and wake you up, they announce themselves straight away, cause they know they’ll get shot if they don’t.
The whole point of those videos boils down to this: The problem is gun culture. Whatever went wrong in urban culture, is coming out the end of mass-shooters guns.
Last thoughts on the videos. We have a great deal in common in our views on the issues. We also don't have a workable solution, just a view of what should be.
#5 was quite good. Thanks for recommending them.
My daughter became interested in her ancestry and had us do the DNA thing. My ancestry was not a big surprise. She was interested in her mother's heritage because she knows so little of it. There were surprises, but nothing that changed her view of who she is. As more people with African roots test, the data will better be able to inform their tribal roots.
Speaking of roots, I'm old enough to remember the TV mini-series "Alex Haley's Roots." I was living in Georgia as a displaced Yankee at the time. It created quite a stir at the time and the bros were going "Kunta, Kunta-Kinte" while out of sight for the white people to hear. The message most got from it was the in-your-face awfulness of slavery. I learned the history in school, there isn't really anything new history-wise being presented today, but people prefered to not think about it too much. What people didn't seem to get was the point of the movie. Alex Haley was trying to learn about his ancestral roots that were stripped from his knowledge. I understand people wanting to know it. What they have now in America is at best, a sub-culture.
Years ago, while in Brazil I went to a club/eatery and mentioned that in America the food we were eating was called "soul food." The Brazilian man's reply, "Slave food. We have a parallel history with America and slavery existed longer here." The influence was not Africa, it was slavery. I find it interesting that lobster was fed to slaves, a crustation underwater bug. Now it's a delicacy served in restaurants at a higher expense than steak. They say in the South that the only thing not eaten from a pig is its squeal. I've eaten chittlins, ONCE.
Just watched #4. I don't get stopped as often now as when I was younger, but the last time I was stopped I did my standard actions. While he was running my plate and checking me out, I got my license, registration, proof of insurance and concealed weapons permit out. Rolled down my window and had the documents in my hand with both wrists on the top of my steering wheel. That was to make myself as non-threatening as possible. If you think that only black people need to do that you read too many Medium articles. He asked if I had a firearm with me. I told him there was one in the car and would tell him how to access it if he wanted to. I preferred to not touch it. He said he didn't need to. I will never understand why people think it's OK to give a cop a blast of shit.
Most of my friends who are black also are veterans and gun owners. I once saw a black man walking out the door of a Wall-Mart with an open carry Glock on his hip. Nobody was paying attention to him. Arizona before the great influx of "Oh my God, he has a gun" Californians. I won't do a rant on the issues with firearms and people who are black with the police. I think it more complicated than "race."
I'm influenced by personal experience more than anything I read. My last interaction with the police was not a good one.
I was pulling away from the curb, when a woman leaving the hotel across the street, tried to beat traffic. She was pulling a 20 foot trailer behind her F-350 and could not make the turn and slammed into my car in the parking lane. The woman stopped and flew out of her truck screaming and yelling and running straight at me. I locked my car doors and wound up the windows. That woman was crazed. The police showed up, took her down the street and calmed her down.
Eventually, the cop came to ask if I was okay. I was fine, but the woman had put a fright in me and I was shaking. Take your time, he said, she hit you pretty hard. I was confused when the cop asked how far my car spun around. I finally got out of my car, and he showed me the back of my car, where her trailer had hit me and stopped my spin. The crazy woman walked towards us, and I got back in my car and the cop walked over to her and told her to stay on the sidewalk.
He turned around and I rolled the passenger window down and he asked for identification and insurance card. That's when my boss drove up. The cop takes one look at the man exiting the truck, unsnaps his holster, puts his hand on the pistol grip, stands up, and backs up and tells the boss to stop where he is. He's my boss, officer, he's my boss, we work right there I say pointing down the street. That's his company. My boss is standing there, his arms held out to his side, and the cop is staring at him with his hand on his pistol. It was a frigging Mexican standoff I slowly got out of my car, walked towards my boss and wrapped my arms him. "ABC" says the boss, "ABC". The boss spent 20 years in the air force, and quietly de-escalated the situation.
Police officers bring their cars to our shop all the time. We service prison and game warden vehicles as well. This cop was young, and new to town, and he brought his lousy attitude with him.
A week later, my insurance company informs me that the cop had reported the accident was 100% my fault.
As you've probably guessed by now, my boss is a black man. Everyone I work with is black or Hispanic and like any other auto repair shop, their friends and families hang out at the shop. From kindergarten to high school, our kids went to school together. Our families have been friends for years. I don't need people on Medium telling me what happens to black and brown people in this country. I've spent seven years seeing it and hearing it with my own two eyes and ears. That was not the first standoff in our shop, not by a long shot. The only time the county sheriffs ever drive by our ranch, is when we're having one of our big picnics. Apparently, its okay when we're miles apart, but when a bunch of us gather together, they think they better check on us. Dave, a whole lot of country folk, are ex-military and ex-police and they carry guns. They also know HOW to behave around the police. They also know how to de-escalate bad situations.
You can't tell me that a man who spent 20 years as a homicide detective in Los Angeles, doesn't know a racist cop when he meets one. And yet, one of those Mexican standoffs between a cop and that black homicide detective happened right in front of me in the lobby of our shop. The cop walked in saw a black man and unsnapped his holster. One wrong move and Dex would have been dead. And yes, Dex was carrying.
Now back to the subject at hand. What is causing these mass-shootings?
Personal experience is a big influence on me, but I'm not statistically relevant, especially since my life has been somewhat atypical. But I get what you are saying.
If the "real" fix requires a change in perception of the relationship between violence and masculinity, it is one that will be agonizingly slow in coming, like other big issues where people want quick fixes now. Is there a way to speed the process if that really is the root cause? If we can't find that it will be denied as a root cause, and we'll be back to "gunz!"
I've watched #2 & #3. I pretty much agree with all that. There are no Mr. Tactical pictures of me and like him, I cringe when I see them. One of the main reasons is that the people who post those for the most part have never been in combat. They are wannabes living in a fantasy world who pass that fantasy to the next generation.
There are, to the best of my knowledge, no veterans on my father's side of the family. It was a tradition on my mother's side of the family. It ended with me. I was the last to serve in the military. No siblings, children, grandchildren, cousins or nephews. While I am happy that my kin are no longer marching off to war, the decreasing number of combat veterans in society does have a downside. We are not the ones wearing "tactical" (I hate that word) crap with a penis that shoots bullets. I'll be interested to see where he goes with this. The media (social and otherwise) sells the idea of an association between manhood and violence.
I am a lifelong martial artist who's primary arts are Southeast Asian with blade and bludgeon orientation. As time went on, those weapons went behind the veil. Interestingly, long term martial artists are often anti-violence just as combat veterans become anti-war. But we recognize that violence is a thing that we can't just wish away. I hope we can resolve it before it takes the Biblical swords into plowshares horror to do that. It's complicated.
I spent three years in martial arts classes and if I were dictator for a day, every student would be required to take two semesters of martial arts classes as part of their phys ed requirements for high school graduation.
Like you, Steve QJ is also a martial artist. I have a hunch, that factors into both your views on guns, far more than you've considered.
WAIT a minute here. STOP and think this through.
STEVE and DAVE, has this discussion hit on some kind of a solution? Is martial arts classes in high school a way to start addressing violence and bullying in boys?
Sorry about taking it personal. The world of internet.
No worries.
Martial arts have a place, I'm a fan. Sadly, there is a certain degree of fantasy there too. There are "experts" teaching martial arts who have never been in a real fight or self-defense situation, and it sometimes shows. While I spent years studying bladed martial arts, I haven't been in a real knife fight. I saw several in high school. They were sudden, Pearl Harbor affairs. Once in the boy's room in a dispute while rolling bones. Another in the locker room where a guy caught someone stealing his lizards and got cut from eyebrow to belly. There was no "fight" or defense, just a stabbing and slashing. Real world violence!
Facebook has street fight pages showing people getting hurt bad, maybe killed after the video stops (why do they allow that shit?). Comments are discouraging. A part of the virtual bad-ass world for people who have never experienced it, and some who have.
We do need to address bullying. I started my daughters in Taekwondo at the ages of 7 & 6. They had to use it to defend themselves. Not a world I wanted for them, but the world as it was. There's the issue. The world as it is, vs the world we wish it to be. Finding ways to change the world are difficult.
I spent my teen years in a really rough city neighborhood. It was gang territory and there was no escaping them. Seen more fist, gun and knife fights than any kid should ever see. I ended the only fight anyone started with me and ended up with assault and battery charges. My mother filed charges against the one who'd attacked me, and they cut a deal and the DA dropped the charges. Some things never change.
A young man I've known since he started kindergarten with one of my kids, was bullied something awful. One night, three bullies came to his grandmother's house and started a fist fight. The bullies went too far. Sammy loved his gramma and as they say, he ended the fight. It was three against one. Sammy did not start that fight. Those bullies had hunted him down for fun. But Sammy served three years in prison. He came home on parole and kept his hunting rifle in a steel box on a shelf, in his garage. He knew the rules, but he loved that stupid rifle. He got a call at work, the cops had broken down his front door. A few minutes later, Sammy was in handcuffs in the back of a cop car. The cops had arrested his wife and thrashed their home. Sammy was sentenced to another 3 years for having that gun at his home. He was out in a year, but... he's a two time felon. He's down in Texas now, and I'm here in Kentucky. Like clockwork, he calls once a week and we talk a while. Sometimes we talk a long while. We talk about America a lot.
Sad to read that.
Just an hour ago there was a report of an assault at the frisbee golf course at the park I walk in in the mornings. This was about 100 meters from my house. Homelessness and drug addicts attracted to the meth clinic they put in about a half a mile away. Most of this violence does not involve guns, but it's getting worse.
A habit I picked up in the land of Dixie is that I speak to people I encounter. Mostly they are cordial and speak. I've only had one incident where I seriously thought I would have to fight. He was cussing up a storm at me. I think he had mental issues, many of the homeless do.
I recently read that over 500 homeless people have died here in Phoenix in the first six months of this year. It said 10% violence but mostly drug addiction. Most of our violence does not involve guns, but I see more and more people talking up guns on the neighborhood ap to defend themselves. That's not about the "gun culture", it's a response to crime that is ramping up. The police recruiters are paying top dollar because nobody wants to be a cop.
Dave, did you not read what you wrote? My word, man, your gun knowledge and experience puts you in the smallest gun owner category imaginable. Not a word I said was about you, or aimed at you. Also, I don't believe in monoliths, so I don’t think that way. Put two human beings together and we’ve got two monoliths.
I’m not interested in guns. I leave guns to people who know what they’re talking about and that ain’t me.
What I’m trying to get at here, is what is causing these mass shootings? I think something went seriously awry in American culture and I’m trying to figure out why it’s coming out the barrels of guns aimed a little children. I live in the country. I know what happened in my part of this country and Beau pretty well nails it. You live in the city, and you are a gun expert. That’s why I’m asking you what the heck happened in city culture?
Looking at the FBIs published statistics, we have a violent society where the issue is beyond guns. We often don't see it because in general the media reports guns and cops killing people, but not the guy I saw lying dead a few days ago who appears to have been beaten to death.
I can't really say what happened, but it did happen on my watch. Availability of firearms certainly are a factor, along with the glorification of violence (gangstas and Mr. tacticals). Not a popular view but I think that Rambo movies and World at War video games are a part of the problem. I don't see them being banned. I wish I could fix it.
I started watching them. It will probably be reasonable, but I'll add a bit of clarity to the beginning of the first one.
Before the advent of the M-16 the military had switched from the M1 Garand's 30.06 round because it was too long to for magazine fed rifles. It had an 8 round clip. The 7.62 mm NATO round was adopted because one round could be used for a battle rifle (M-14) with it's standard 20 round magazine, machine gun (M-60) and the various sniper rifles though snipers normally used a round with a heavier projectile than the standard NATO round. The M-16 also was standard with 20 round magazines. He is incorrect in stating that the M-16 was chosen for a larger magazine.
The 7.62 mm NATO round uses more brass, more lead, more powder than the 5.56 mm round. There are a number of stories about why it was adopted. We used to blame it on the Airforce. I think it probable that it was cost of ammo and rifles. It certainly was not about a larger magazine like the video stated.
It did become somewhat popular after several mods that made it more reliable because of weight. You carry a lot of stuff and weight matters.
I don't think he was correct in saying that Stoner invented it. There have been gas operated, magazine fer rifles with bolt camming lugs for a long time. The straight-line design with a buffer spring in the stock (the reason for needing a pistol grip) was new for rifles used by the US military. It also has a straight firing pin where older rifles had a L shape where firing pins broke. This was definitely an improvement because a broken firing pin cannot be cleared in the field.
I'll add links to the early history of the AR-15 from Hatcher's Notebook at the end of this. As you will read, the AR-15 (renamed M-16 when the military adopted it) was not originally intended for the US military. It did have select fire; the ones being sold on the civilian market are semi only.
OK, pedantic, but it irritates me when incorrect things are stated about firearms. Ironic because it also irritates him. Back to the videos...
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1B1FqTjLSb9YrkBDWlB6OLb1lD1qc1Owg/view?usp=sharing
https://drive.google.com/file/d/134qC_sNd1uLnkBp1tGkdYnfSb0YYSHNY/view?usp=sharing
That's why I just said, I leave guns to people who know what they're talking about. To the point, what the heck are congressmen and senators doing trying to regulate something they know absolutely nothing about? Why don't we have a gun expert team advising these political idiots?
I lived in the city during the school year. I summered in the country with kin because by mom couldn't afford a sitter for me before I was old enough to latch key. Hunting was a tradition that I grew up with.
The last time I went hunting I had cross hairs on a buck and wished I had a camera instead of a rifle. I have no desire to kill. My wife didn't want to eat game. She grew up as country as it gets.
I was a competitive handgun silluetta shooter when my eyesight supported it. Targets were steel chickens, pigs, turkeys and rams at 50, 100, 150 & 200 meters. I enjoyed it but not because the targets looked like animals.
You assume too much about me and I think you are wrong to think of "gun culture" as a monolith.
The last time I went to a rifle range there was an increased number of women and girls than in the past. Big smiles on their faces saying things like "this is fun!"
I will ask what you are thinking of with "urban culture"? The people there, including gun owners, are not all the same.