Hey Ya'll

[Rajoo]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

That is a valid point and I have no idea.

But, although they are horrible as a percentage they do not amount to much.

You cannot brush it off that easily. The psychological damage mass shootings have done to this country is enormous, especially to children who are now taught how to protect themselves from being killed in their class rooms. And no one knows yet how to protect schools unless we make them resemble prison camps.

I realize that crime rates in black communities are significantly high or that black versus black crime is also not very well understood. As a society we tend to ignore this, again because there is no palpable solution with guns in the mix. I spent several years living, studying and working in places very close to the inner city areas of Chicago. One needs to know where not to go or when. I mostly had sympathy rather than resentment towards these people, perhaps because lot of my co-workers were also black, but not very many classmates. (here is your clue).

[ZeroJunk]

Originally Posted by Rajoo

You cannot brush it off that easily. The psychological damage mass shootings have done to this country is enormous, especially to children who are now taught how to protect themselves from being killed in their class rooms. And no one knows yet how to protect schools unless we make them resemble prison camps.

I realize that crime rates in black communities are significantly high or that black versus black crime is also not very well understood. As a society we tend to ignore this, again because there is no palpable solution with guns in the mix. I spent several years living, studying and working in places very close to the inner city areas of Chicago. One needs to know where not to go or when. I mostly had sympathy rather than resentment towards these people, perhaps because lot of my co-workers were also black, but not very many classmates. (here is your clue).

About half of my classmates as well as neighbors were/are black. Changed in 1964 , but I think I was in the sixth grade when they actually got around to desegregating .

Nobody heard of school shootings and I usually had a shotgun in the car and went hunting most days after school.

But, that cat is out of the bag anyway. The government is not capable of confiscating the guns in this country.

So, making the schools hard targets is the only thing that is going to actually work.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by whell

What matters is keeping folks with funny ideas and bad math - you know the type - from messing with a system that was well designed for the purpose it serves.

Well designed to serve the elitist founders.

The Electoral College system was created by elitist white supremacist land owners who had the nerve to sign off on a document that suggested that "all men are created equal" when what they really meant was "all white men of property are created equal." The founders were afraid of direct election to the Presidency. They feared a tyrant could manipulate the public, who they saw as nothing more than a fucking mob, and come to power.

Hamilton and the other founders believed that the electors would be able to ensure that only a qualified person becomes President. They thought that with the Electoral College no one would be able to manipulate the citizenry. The founders never invisioned fascism, although they were facists themselves. And the rise of Trumpism has shown them to have failed in their attempt to prevent the citizenry from becoming a mob of dumbfuckers. So, Alex...you were even dumber than you looked.

The protection of the smaller states...well that's bullshit. Every metric shows the small states being significantly over-represented in the US system of government. The small states are just like my fucking idiot nephew, no money, no source of income, wanting money from his comfortably wealthy aunt and uncle, and refusing to go along with any suggestions for changing his fucked up behavior.

[Ike Bana]

Since the system for determining how the Electoral votes are awarded is up to each individual state (plenary power), there is a simple way around this fucking nonsense. It's called the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact. Simply, member states agree, by their own state law and by their existing plenary power, that the candidate who has the majority of the full national popular vote will receive all the Electoral College votes from those states. That's it. There are fifteen states plus D.C. (195 EC votes) that have already put this into their state law, over half way to 270. And twelve more (164) where the law is pending. The total EC votes from these twenty-seven states plus D.C. would be 359 Electors. But right now it's at 195 and the moment it goes over 270, it's done. Whichever candidate receives the majority of popular votes will win the Electoral College vote.

Don't need any goddamn Constitutional amendment. The states already have the legal power to do this. And there are already five "small" states that are on board with this initiative...Hawaii, Vermont, Rhode Island, Delaware and New Mexico...all with five Electoral College votes or fewer. So this "it protects the small states" argument is bullshit.

PS - I earlier posted the remote possibility of a candidate winning the office with only 23% of the popular vote. I suspect many of you conjobs just blew it off as ridiculous. Just wanted to let you putz's know that in 1824, John Quincy Adams won the Presidency with 30.9% of the popular vote. The popular vote winner in that election was Andrew Jackson with 41.4%, a margin of over 10 points. Pretty goddamn ridiculous.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

About half of my classmates as well as neighbors were/are black. Changed in 1964 , but I think I was in the sixth grade when they actually got around to desegregating .

Nobody heard of school shootings and I usually had a shotgun in the car and went hunting most days after school.

But, that cat is out of the bag anyway. The government is not capable of confiscating the guns in this country.

So, making the schools hard targets is the only thing that is going to actually work.

Only because a majority of Americans are assholes.

[ZeroJunk]

Originally Posted by Ike Bana

Only because a majority of Americans are assholes.

Yeah. The Americans who don't own guns and never have seem to find banning guns a simple decision.

Or, I forgot, have their own armed security.

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

About half of my classmates as well as neighbors were/are black. Changed in 1964 , but I think I was in the sixth grade when they actually got around to desegregating.

WTF does race have to do with it? Other than the fact that the great majority of school shooters and other mass shooters are white cisgender males.

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

Nobody heard of school shootings and I usually had a shotgun in the car and went hunting most days after school.

Wrong. The first mass school shooting occurred on August 1, 1966 at the University of Texas.

Nobody wants to have the right to possession of long barreled hunting rifles and shotguns outlawed. Licensing of these guns should be strictly enforced, anyone with a criminal record or a serious mental health diagnosis should not qualify for a license to possess long barreled hunting rifles and shotguns. The licensing process should be daunting and expensive. And having a license should be linked to having an active hunting license. If you're not going to be hunting, there's no reason to have an owner's license. In most of Europe, if you have a license for hunting firearms, and no hunting license, the authorities come to your home and confiscate your rifles and shotguns until you get your hunting license. The hunting licenses are expensive as well.

[RickeyM]

Doing like other nations that don't have the gun violence problem that the US has?
BRILLIANT!

[Ike Bana]

Originally Posted by ZeroJunk

Yeah. The Americans who don't own guns and never have seem to find banning guns a simple decision.

Or, I forgot, have their own armed security.

So according to this guy, the only non-gunner assholes in this country are 1% liberal democrats?

[whell]

Originally Posted by RickeyM

Originally Posted by bobabode

Seems appropriate considering he pulled those figures straight from his nethers.

Your cutesy comments notwithstanding, the corroborating info isn't all that hard to find if you have any interesting in educating yourself: