the AfD will capitalize.

Because it was

Like what happened in Las Vegas in 2017, when one lone psychopath killed 60 people and wounded over 400.

This is a distinctly American thing to try to minimize other peoples tragedies and re-centre it on America.

Not everything is about Americans and American culture. It’s just not.

Of course everything is not about America. And it was not stated to comfort the grieving families, who you and I know don't read this discussion board. It was to point out the difference between a festival mass killing in the US vs Europe.

People from other countries may have no idea what it is like to know that each
day when you go to school, church, the grocery you may be murdered in cold
blood with military grade weapons.

People in other countries have leaders who protect their citizens.
In the US we do not have such unified leadership.

Americans have severe PTSD. And it is triggered when we read about
mass deaths here and around the world. Lecturing us will never get rid
of American trauma.

are having big problems with all kinds of immigrant issues. We have too many people on this planet.

He starts or funds conflict in various parts of the world to create refugee crises which floods
Europe and the US with immigrants.

Putin then has his puppets run on anti-immigrant issues.
This is how Putin gets his puppets into the US and European governments.

It has been a very successful strategy.

Taking over the western democracies has been like taking candy from a baby.

Fertility is damaged and people do not feel secure enough to have offspring.

but really it is not safe to go to the grocery store?

I get so confused with the narrative changing on nearly a daily basis.

in fact, we’re safer than we’ve been in six decades. That said, our murder rate is still way too high and mass shootings occur with depressing regularity.

it’s like in other countries but that has literally never stopped anyone here from sharing their opinions on other countries.

Back to the topic at hand, it just sounds dismissive of the loss these families have suffered. “Could have been worse” is not the right take.

I certainly heard more than enough opinions about the US and America.

Which is fine, they have a right to their opinions just like we do.

I believe those outside the US do not understand how traumatized Americans are about mass killings.

It is a triggering event for us.

Living in a safe country protects others from understanding what it is like here in the US.
Children at a young age know by heart their school safety drills.
It is a tragedy.

We are not talking about the families in other countries.
We are discussing American responses to mass killings.

But every time I come back to the US, this is a palpable fear of mine. Especially as I tend to have to be in very Trump-y areas of the country, where guns, hate and rage are all around. I’m constantly on edge until I board my flight home.
I hate it.

To try and tell grieving families and wounded victims how good they had it, "only" being stabbed.

Gun nuts think this story is somehow proof we'll still have the same mass killings even if we ban assault rifles, and are pushing it all over the internet.

My point is that assault rifles make horrors like this many, many times worse.

You can't drive a UHaul into a movie theater, a school or a church.

Please take your NRA talking points elsewhere.

You don't need a movie theater, a school or a church. Just a crowd of people like during parades or festivals.

Las Vegas 2017, 58 killed
Nice, France 2016, 86 dead

Most large festivals have entry blockades, at least here in the US. That terrorist found a unique opportunity in France to mow down people. That doesn't mean ARs are not a problem.

The fact that we can get slaughtered by the dozens inside what are supposed to be safe places, namely a school, movie theater or a church, is why ARs have changed life in this country. And why we need to ban them, like we did before.

Interesting how the gun folks find me in a subthread of a days old OP that only has 8 recs.

And parades by nature happen on streets

When I was in high school, ARs were banned. Nobody worried about getting shot in school. We had an open campus. My high school was only 4 blocks from the beach, some kids even went surfing during lunch. But all that changed with gun mass shootings. Now the place looks like a prison, with a closed campus and kids have to enter through a foreboding door with bullet proof glass.

It is insane. And for what? So ammosexuals can cuddle up to their precious?

So how did you find me here, seriously? Does a bat signal go up that someone is criticizing ARs?

If you mean the toothless "Assault Weapon Ban" of 1994 to 2004 is did no such thing.

The ban applied only to weapons manufactured after the date of the ban's enactment.

In May 2012, the Law Center to Prevent Gun Violence said that "the inclusion in the list of features that were purely cosmetic in nature created a loophole that allowed manufacturers to successfully circumvent the law by making minor modifications to the weapons they already produced.

Under the Assault Weapons Ban of 1994, the definition of "semi-automatic assault weapon" (commonly shortened to assault weapon) included specific semi-automatic firearm models by name and other semi-automatic firearms that possessed two or more from a set certain features:
Semi-automatic rifles able to accept detachable magazines and has two or more of the following:
Folding or telescoping stock
Pistol grip
Bayonet mount
Flash hider or threaded barrel designed to accommodate one
Grenade launcher

Change one of those and gun still for sale, it was security theater IMO

A 2014 study found no impacts on homicide rates with an assault weapon ban. A 2014 book published by Oxford University Press noted that "There is no compelling evidence that [the ban] saved lives," but added that "a more stringent or longer-lasting ban might well have been more effective."

If you notice I have over 10,000 posts in a decade here so I'm not after you get over yourself

I didn't say you were after me. I'm sure you don't give 2 shits about me. No, I'm talking about how gun folks like you swarm out of nowhere whenever anyone here calls for an AWB--even when such a pro-AWB post is buried deep within a subthread. It's very weird, especially on a Democratic site.

And yes I know you have been here a long time, as have I (I've been posting since March of 2011), which is why I have noticed this pattern.

Surely you don't look at DU all day, reading every post on DU. I imagine you have a life, like the rest of us. How did you land on a AWB post buried in a days-old 8-rec OP about a knife attack in Europe?

I also never go past the first page so it had to have been on the first page when I responded

You would have to to dig through days of posts in the particular forum it was posted in to find it. No way would someone do that. A much more likely scenario is that someone alerted you to its presence.

It is as i said

And gaslighting does not work on me.

And this thread went up Sat in LBN which does not move as fast as General Discussion.

God help you if you question the "wrong" thing!

No law is perfect, but the AWB did bring down mass shooting deaths. I was alive during the ban. We were not awash in ARs like we are now. Kids were not being turned to hamburger in schools.

I am so sick of reading bullshit NRA talking points here.

Please get another hobby.

You may be "tired" of arguing about it, but the AWB worked. What caused the explosion of AR sales was the lifting of of the AWB, simultaneously with the passage in 2005 of immunity for gun manufacturers (the PLCAA, what the NRA touts as its greatest achievement), giving them free reign to advertise these weapons of war to the insecure incels out there who want to be Rambo. Shit like this, with the rather sickening coincidence of a reference to an "Adam" in the ad:

https://www.businessinsider.com/heres-how-guns-are-advertised-in-america-2012-12

From your own Statistica link:

The graph shows a rise, during the ban, as I have pointed out. I don't know how you missed the graph, it was LITERALLY just above the partial paragraph you quoted.

It is not an argument against an AWB.

There is no legitimate reason for a civilian to own an assault rifle.

Are you sure the items you want to ban are defined as such, by US law? I get the impression that they are not.

you'd better be well prepared to define what that item is. A lot of anti-gunners were mad about the 1994 AWB, as the companies kept making AR's (and others listed), just changed the cosmetic features, per the law. They thought that "AW's" would actually be banned, not just certain cosmetic features. So much for a clear definition, huh?

ETA: Nice deflection from the actual question, BTW. Comparing firearms to women.

While the AWB was in effect, as imperfect as its assault weapon definition was, we did not have the mass shootings we have now. That's what matters to me.

I'm not comparing firearms to women. You did that. I'm comparing right wing talking points. The majority of Americans want to ban assault weapons. https://www.mprnews.org/story/2023/07/25/poll-majority--support-universal-background-checks-gun-licensing-assault-weapons-ban
https://pro.morningconsult.com/analysis/voter-support-banning-assault-weapons-gun-control
Calling the majority of Americans "anti-gunners" is a particularly ridiculous right wing talking point.

"Ask" is the key word here.

As I explicitly said, I'm comparing right wing talking points, i.e. rhetorical ploys. You're the one who immediately went to comparing guns to women. Which is weird.

When you asked me, "What is an assault rifle?" it was not because you didn't know what an assault rifle was. You used the ask to try to derail the point I was making, just like when DNC-crashing right wing gas bag Charlie Kirk thought he was so clever asking Parker Short "What is a woman?" in the middle of Parker ripping him a new one about Trump. As Parker correctly pointed out, that was weird.

https://youtube.com/shorts/WZG2AL9oH5Q?si=Z0_vjnaAwnWMfXhm

and the AR-15 isn't it. If you have a different definition than the ATF, I'm going to have to go with the ATF, as THAT IS THE ACTUAL LAW. An opinion by someone on an anonymous chatboard that has no basis in legal reality has no standing. Therefore, I was curious to see if you knew the actual definition. I know the actual definition, but some of your posts here seem to indicate a lack of knowledge of it on your part. Going back to "specifics" and "technicalities" again, and why they are important.

Last edited Wed Sep 11, 2024, 10:06 AM - Edit history (1)

...you're still obsessed with defending AR-15s in a 19-day-old 11-rec OP.

Seriously, go check out the front page on DU. There's good stuff there. This is not the only OP on DU.

Why do you keep insisting that I am doing things I do not? Not very civil.
ETA: Out of last 6 posts I have made, here are 4 "neutral" or "supportive" posts. The other 2 were responding to you. An apology would be nice.
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=19456795
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=19456654
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=19456618
https://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=19456603

I said "While everyone is joyfully discussing Kamala's beatdown of Trump...you're still obsessed with defending AR-15s in a 19-day-old 11-rec OP."

Then you replied,

Some days I don't use the site at all. That is MY prerogative, NOT YOURS!!! Telling someone else where, when, and how they should post on an open discussion board isn't very....
civil.

And you claim I'm the one who isn't "civil" for literally quoting you.

Words mean things. And, what exactly does the age of the OP have to do with a subthread discussion?

There is no other way to interpret that.

Other days, I post more. Some days, less. Some days, not on site at all. Like I have already previously posted.

It's stunning that you're still rage posting in this subthread.

As can you. Another fact. Boy, we're sure full of facts today...

More Americans Killed by Guns Since 1968 Than in All U.S. Wars — Combined

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/more-americans-killed-guns-1968-all-u-s-wars-combined-n807156

Since 1968, more than 1.5 million Americans have died in gun-related incidents, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

You really want to flex that it was only 500,000 - 700,000 deaths besides the suicides?

How many people died during that same time in auto accidents or heart disease Etc it will dwarf that number
The amount of people who accidentally fell and died will be more

Last edited Thu Aug 29, 2024, 09:15 AM - Edit history (1)

My old laid back beach town open campus high school is now locked up like a prison, and it ain't because of heart disease. Guns have cost us our freedom and our lives.

Also, it is well established that keeping a gun in the home multiplies the risk of suicide.
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/06/handgun-ownership-associated-with-much-higher-suicide-risk.html

When the Israeli Defense Forces stopped letting their soldiers take their guns home on weekends, it reduced suicides by 40%. Most of this decrease was due to decrease in suicide using firearms over the weekend. There were no significant changes in rates of suicide during weekdays, when they still had access to their guns. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21034205/



I lost a friend to a suicide by gun. A gun suicide is a gun death.

There are none so blind as those who will not see. I literally felt my stomach lurch at the "how many were suicides" remark.

Fuck the NRA.

according to one report I've seen today (BBC? or Sky News?)

Some of the most radical Mullahs have openly given a directive to cause terror.
Europe is regretting the actions over the past several years & they better step up to fix it

of any or no religion.

I'm sure he was homophobic as well though.

He is. Syrian whose request for asylum was turned down, and was allowed to stay in a residence unrestricted while the formalities for his expulsion were being formalized.

The "Buck Knife" of Europe, as it was.