dagblog - Comments for "Black Rifle Blues"

Hey, looks like someone at

DF — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:34:29 +0000

In reply to Several quite useful points

Hey, looks like someone at the NYT wants to do more than just go through the motions this time. Also, it notes yet another reputable study that can't find a significant impact on gun violence by the AWB. Are there any reputable studies to the contrary? I can't find any.

Mass shooting stops when

DF — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 22:32:24 +0000

In reply to DF, I appreciate your

Mass shooting stops when someone with a gun shows up. That's usually a cop, but one of the big problems with these events is that they're an extreme tail risk. I'm not necessarily advocating arming teachers, but, as I have noted, armed staff have brought these events to a halt before. As far as I'm concerned, we're either thinking about a way to protect students in these scenarios or we're simply accepting the tail risk, ie waiting for the next batch to get shot. Do you have a solution? I'm completely open to to not turning our schools into DMZs.

I think proposed magazine capacity limit will be 10, because Feinstein said as much over the weekend. We already have that limit in California. I'm fine with it, but I also think that the actual impact of magazine size is overstated, especially in mass shooting events.

Several quite useful points

artappraiser — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 15:15:56 +0000

In reply to Black Rifle Blues

Several quite useful points on the flaws in the last AWB here:

Lessons in Politics and Fine Print in Assault Weapons Ban of ’90s, New York Times, Dec 19/20

DF is correct, as far as I

nothere — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 14:55:00 +0000

In reply to Black Rifle Blues

DF is correct, as far as I can tell, on every point he's made or implied, IMO.

Metaphorically speaking, the horse has left the barn. It's far, far too late now.

But let's do something like a thought experiment:

Suppose some class of weapons are banned; including the AR-15, such that their manufacture is completely outlawed. IOW, they simply cease to exist.

We are left with the ones that do exist. So: what do you do about the ammo? Let it run out? Ban it also? What about after-market parts? The same?

Now let's assume that those two cases hold: manufacture of ammo and after-market parts are also banned; and such things cease to exist.

Here's what happens:

3D printing of after market parts; and possibly ammo.

And that scenario completely ignores hand-loading spent casing; or the basic alteration of casing to fit the (for instance) AR-15; and it even ignores the rudimentary metalsmithing skill needed to produce jackets for load.

So, with just 3D printing and ignoring the other scenarios, The Problem continues to exist.

DF, I appreciate your

acanuck — Thu, 20 Dec 2012 00:55:58 +0000

In reply to Black Rifle Blues

DF, I appreciate your bringing some gun expertise to this debate. Two things I did not know, and will take away, are that:

(1) the repealed federal assault-weapons ban (and the California version of same) are similarly flawed. Obviously, any effective ban should focus on how a gun functions, not styling or how scary it looks. (The handgrip is functional, I'd argue, so I'm cool with outlawing it. I'd also take issue with your assumption that Feinstein's "reinstatement" of the AWB is necessarily going to be a carbon copy of the old one; as far as I know, it's still being drafted. Plenty of time to refine and toughen it, so it isn't -- as you put it -- a purely symbolic gesture.)

(2) the law is simply not being enforced, and "banned" weapons are openly bought and sold. Presumably, that's an issue at the state level, and the ATF would be given enough of a budget to enforce such a federal ban. I'd already read that the feds were not doing all they could to enforce existing laws, and that clearly has to change.

The weird thing about your post is how much I agreed with it:

Any new gun control regime that hopes to actually reduce violent crime needs to go much, much further than the AWB. In order to prevent another school massacre, that regime would need to significantly reduce the risk that young, mentally unstable men can get their hands on an "assault weapon," which should be understood in civilian terms as basically any weapon that can be used to carry out an attack of this nature. Hopefully, I've made it clear that means basically any firearm. ... (I)t's time to go back to the drawing board.

I've got your back, DF. Let's go drag those guns from their cold, dead hands!

But then you go all wobbly on me, and start talking about improving "the life expectancy of children in active shooter situations" by maybe doing away with school gun-free zones and arming at least some of the teachers. Larry Pratt-style nonsense.

Not radical enough, DF. And by radical, I mean it doesn't even attempt to get at the root of the problem: too many guns in the hands of too many people. And to even start to get a handle on that, we've got to make a clear break with the lunatic argument that the solution to gun violence is still more guns rendered legal in still more places.

So yeah, I want as a first step to see a broad, fully enforced ban on assault-type weapons and on 20-round-plus ammo clips, even if such a ban is mostly symbolic. It would symbolize that Americans have turned a corner in rejecting rule by the gun.

Preparedness is a Mindset.

EmmaZahn — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:28:00 +0000

In reply to In terms of thinking out

Preparedness is a Mindset. It not only can but should be taught at every age level things that are appropriate for that age level. Kindergarten kids are old enough to know how and when to dial 911; to know not to go with strangers. Preparedness like that.

I agree that the staff at Newtown were prepared as best they knew how to protect their students. A couple are genuine heroes. Some kept their children safe by hiding; some by fleeing with them. Neither choice guaranteed safety. Sadly, none will

Bye.

anna am — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 22:08:47 +0000

In reply to Where did I suggest training

Bye.

Where did I suggest training

EmmaZahn — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:52:00 +0000

In reply to Every kid in the country.

Where did I suggest training small children to fend off bad men? And since when is teaching a non-panicked response to danger like say FIRE a shit idea. No one has to tell children a gunman is after them to incorporate lights, noise and smells into routine fire drills!

Every kid in the country.

anna am — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 21:12:45 +0000

In reply to How many children do you

Every kid in the country. All the more reason why reinforcing their fears by putting them into training to fend off the bad men when they come is a piece of shit idea.

How many children do you

EmmaZahn — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 20:50:00 +0000

In reply to Yes I do. There's not a kid

How many children do you think have been frightened, maybe even traumatized, by the overwrought news and social media coverage of Newtown? By concerned parents and other authority figures desperately trying to explain the inexplicable? Or by those same authority figures arguing over what should be done to prevent it from happening again?