Gun control : Whoopty -doo

[alice]

I don't know where this belongs.

It's about gun control
Really sorry.

On the one hand I don't want to post anything that's so divisively upsetting to people.
But on the other hand I found this to be really, really funny amd i wanted to share.

http://vimeo.com/64432171

[Lord Jim]

Alice, I put together a fairly lengthy response, but since it's you and I know you're sincere when you say you don't want to stir something up here, I'm just going to save it and not post it....


(Unless of course, somebody else decides to jump in... )

[Guinevere]

It's not funny, it's sad, because it demonstrates the pathetic, ignorant, uninformed lies that the gun nuts resort to when they feel threatened. The Second Amendment is *not* sacrosanct. No Amendment is. Look at what the conservatives (Senator Graham) want to do to the 5th and 6th Amendments right now, because of the Boston bombings. They'd prefer to toss them out, with much of the rest of the Constitution. It's disgusting.

Nothing personal Alice, but if you were as upset and frustrated by what transpired here last week (and I mean the outright cowardice of the US Senate), you might feel the same way.

[alice]

Thank you Lord Jim, that's really gentlemanly of you and I appreciate it very much.

I probably should have put it in 'Laffs', because my main aim was that I thought it was amusing - not because I was trying to make a political point.
But then I thought that if anyone was upset by it, then the 'Laffs' may not be appropriate.
I know it's a controversial topic - I so nearly didn't post it, and I'm still angsting over it.

For me, I know it's a bit of a 'cop out', but I really do sit on the fence on this issue. I've seen what seem to me to be reasonably convincing arguments from both sides and I don't know what is the better stance.

Specifically in relation to the Daily Show piece that I have posted a link to in the OP, I have to state: the gun culture in Australia was very different to the gun culture in America, even before the Port Arthur massacre. We were already quite regulated, and after Port Arthur the opportunity was taken to increase that regulation and severely restrict what was already a reasonably restricted matter. So in absolute, honest truth, I don't know if it's a real honest comparison to look at Australia 'then and now' compared with America.
Also, Jon Stewart is obvioulsy presenting a very biased piece; while it is an amusing piece (to me), its more than obvious that he's shamelessly skewed the piece to support the view he wants to promote.

I probably should have said all of this in the opening post - it was presented in a light hearted way on a news source, and in similar thining I meant to be something a bit light hearted on a topic that isn't a light hearted topic.

Unfortunately I'm now thinking my timing was very bad: I've come back to apologise for putting it up and I now think it was quite inappropriate, given that we've just had news reports saying five people are dead after a shoot out in Seattle.

So if you want to use this OP to springboard into a gun control discussion I truly and honestly don't mind - I think it was naive of me to think that it wouldn't stimulate that sort of discussion.
But I won't be part of the discussion (for the reasons I stated here), and I still apologise for my insensitivity.

Thank you again for your consideration.

[alice]

It's not funny, it's sad, because it demonstrates the pathetic, ignorant, uninformed lies that the gun nuts resort to when they feel threatened. The Second Amendment is *not* sacrosanct. No Amendment is. Look at what the conservatives (Senator Graham) want to do to the 5th and 6th Amendments right now, because of the Boston bombings. They'd prefer to toss them out, with much of the rest of the Constitution. It's disgusting.

Nothing personal Alice, but if you were as upset and frustrated by what transpired here last week (and I mean the outright cowardice of the US Senate), you might feel the same way.

Guinevere I take your point.
I was caught up in the American events regarding the Boston marathon and the Waco explosion - I mean 'caught up' on an emotional level. I have to admit that I did not take a lot of notice regarding the defeat of the legislation in the senate, other to know that it didn't pass.
Again, a lot of that is to do with the fact that I tend to 'sit on the fence' on this issue - I have the luxury of being able to do that, I suppose, because I do live in Australia, and our regulations are already in place - I live in a very different culture, and the effects of your gun laws have no direct affect on me. Because of that I listen with a distracted interest to the arguments of both sides - I hear some good logic, and some iilogic, coming from both 'sides'. I have no direct emotional involvement in the outcomes. It's why usually I don't get directly involved in any of the discussions regarding gun control.

And that is why I didn't really think the consequences properly through when I pposted the OP, until I saw Lord Jim's very kind and gentle reponse.

I apologise, again, for my insensitivity.

[Guinevere]

Alice, you're allowed to post what you please, I wasn't suggesting otherwise. Nor do I think you need to apologize. As with everything posted here, there are going to be differences of opinion, and that's just how it goes. Being emotionally caught up in what happened last week from 10,000 miles away, imagine what it felt like from 10 miles away.