Originally Posted by
Doppelgänger
As much as I've agreed with Sin on some things, and as much as I used to really NOT get along with Simon, I really have to take Simon's side on this. The comparison is a joke at best and one cannot be compared to the other. You are taking an object whose one and only sole purpose is to KILL. Not designed for anything else...just to KILL. On the other hand, you are takign an object that was designed to move people and goods across a distance in less time than previous methods. People dying from automobiles is a side effect of their creation. People dying from guns is NOT a side effect to their creation. When someone gets into a car and drives down a road, their intention is to get from point A to point B. When someone pulls a gun out and pulls the trigger, their intent is to make that person cease to exist. No one pulls a trigger and then goes "oh, I only meant to lightly hurt you with an object that was designed to kill". Same goes with the knife thing, the rock thing, the metal pole thing the baseball bat thing. NONE of those items intended purpose was to KILL like a gun's purpose is. That is the difference.
You know what else you are sorely missing from this "debate" (lol)?? Something that is the whole point of all of this battle-of-the-paranoid gun stuff? Are you really wondering by now what the fuck I am getting at? There is a BIG thing here that people seem to forget with this "comparison" and is the whole point of all of this discussion. Have you figure it out yet? Probably not.
Are you scrolling down looking for the answer?
Take a moment to think about it.
GOVERNMENT REGULATION!!!!!!
It seems NO ONE gets all up in a fucking fit when the government decides what is good for YOU when YOU are deciding what car YOU want to buy. Yes R E G U L A T I O N. That is the real core of the gun topic- regulations...not removal. If you belive for one tenth of a second that the "government is going to take your guns away", you are too dumb to even have a half logical discussion with. If you compare Obama to Hitler, Stalin, Mau or any other dictator who "took the guns away", you really have an issue with history and reasoning....and probably should just glue your mouth shut and glue your hands into fists. So you think that ANYONE with the opinion that the firearms industry could benefit from more regulation is a dictator who wants to kill everyone as they please. Funny that at no time has the President ever said anything about taking the guns away at all. But good job with the ASSumption. "Oh but regulation leads to government tracking and then when they know where the guns are they will ban them and come take them from us!".....yeah, right. Your car is registered to you already...as well as many other things. But back to my original point. The government has been regulating automobiles far more than guns and for a lot longer. So why are none of you extreme pro-gun people crying your eyes out that the government has regulated the airbags in your POS SUV or that automobile manufacturers have set fuel MPG standards and emissions standards that have robbed your car of valuable horsepower? Why are you not complaining about all the safety equipment? What about all that "regulation"? Would you agree that by making the car safer that serious injury/percentage of fatal accidents has decreased? Yes, I am NOT saying overall numbers because the number of cars on the road has increased between, let's say, the 1950's and now. So don't think for one second that you can say "well xxxx people died in 1962 and xxxxxxxxxxxx people died in 2011 from car accidents. The government has even gone as far as telling you what you can and cannot have on the road. What about that? Yeah, it sucks, I'd love to own some cars that aren't available here. I understand the "risk" that a car from overseas might not meet "US-spec" safety standards.....but plenty of other countries have safety standards that are just as good as ours and emissions requirements like ours. They've determined that some stuff just doesn't belong here. But I'm not going to waste all my time bitching and complaining, and getting all pissy about it.....I just bought something that I like and is allowed on the road by DOT standards. Also, the government has regulated how big of a car you can drive on the road and requires special licensing for different classes and an eventual limit on how big things on the road can be. Imagine that.
So if you want to compare XYZ to guns, do it from the right point of view using what is relavent...the fact that a object has existed in society, the object's reasong for existance and what has been done about the object.
With that said, I agree 100% that licensing tests need to be greatly revised and much harder to pass and the age should be raised and more license classes...as in you have you have a license proving you have demonstrated the ability to navigate a Hummer H2 or a Nissan Armada properly. Pass regulation that seniors need to take exams/driving tests more often as they get older. Penalties for driving without a license should also be more harsh (not a suspended license...but having never had taken the exam at all).
As far as guns go, I'm not anti-gun by any means. But at what point do you need some of these weapons that are currently available? Are you such a poor shot or unsure of your ability to use a gun that you need some crazy rifle? Are you going to go hunting with a Bushmaster M4? No. Are you carring a AR-15 down the street "just in case" someone tried to rob you? No. I'm sure anone with a head on their shoulders would say that a handgun is the proper tool in pretty much any case of defense. So what is the need that you can justify for one type of weapon that some people don't think have any use? Don't even get me started on all the bills that have been passed in years past that have actually made it hard to pass new regulation to have sensable and logical regulations to help reduce how guns end up in the hands of criminals...