Something to think about

[Sarge_44]

I know I am going to get a lot of backlash for this, but I thought I would say something anyways.

Do many of you think how the message is coming off as far as your rants about being pro 2A. Your view points are perfectly valid, but did you ever think for a second that the other side is aloud to have their opinions as well. You want them to understand what you are saying, but how many people try to understand what they are saying? Any good debater looks at both sides of the argument first. I see a lot of name calling on here and how stupid the other side is. Is that very productive?

I do not pretend to know anything about guns, but there are a few things I do know about. I am very knowledgeable in regards to cycling, but I do not say that the people in the metro that do not want the cities paying for bike lanes and what not as retards. It is just not productive.

Lastly, someone that is not on the "in" as far as shooting may come by this forum and most of what they will see is people arguing with each other. Is that the message you want to send? Not very inviting if you ask me.

[Heffay]

There is an attitude here that everyone is of the same mindset, and therefore if you spout off some brilliant rhetoric, people will fawn at your wisdom and provide the validation they are so desperately seeking. Which is fine, but occasionally the closet bigot or holocaust denier comes here thinking he's found a community of likeminded individuals (herpa derpa GUNS!), and it gets ugly.

All the insults thrown at "fudds" and "libtards" are just guys yelling at a mirror.

[antimatter]

There is something a bit exclusive about the shooting culture these days. When I bought my first handgun back in the 1980's, I ran into a lot of gun store clerks that were very standoffish and treated me as if I was wearing a hidden microphone for the ATF. I was a young dude with long hair, so I might not have made the best impression.

I am a bit dismayed by what I see as a lack of general knowledge about the way government and the courts actually work, as opposed to the way we all wished they would work.

Forums tend towards being echo chambers. The really odd (or neat) thing is that other users experiences tend to be repeated and amplified, and then used as solutions towards problems, when in fact those problems may require different and better solutions. It's like the internet has become a method for speeding up the myth-making process. Where it used to take a few generations to make a myth, we can now do it in a few months if enough people repeat the same stories over and over again.

I think there's a PHD thesis lurking in there somewhere.

[Thunder71]

I'll just say this (again)... If you are trying to ban something and make millions of people criminals just for owning it, perhaps you should have some knowledge about the subject first.

[damian_mb]

Well you have to think of it like this way as well. People who want to own an ar-15 should have the right to do so. Just as you have the same right to the road as a biker. We move for you, and even for some of the dumb ones out there as well who do not obey traffic laws as you should be obeying them just like cars.

A lot of cyclists break the laws and I doubt that we bunch you all together. So is it right that because some of those biker who break the law, should we punish you for thos people? Assuming you follow traffic laws as well?

Yes not everyone wants an ar15, but the point is to have to right to do so. Key word rights, just as it applies to you as a cyclist. You have the right to ride your bike on the road like cars and should obey laws. Do all cyclists obey laws? Of course not! You ahve to remember that this affects law abiding citizens more than the criminals. Thats the point.

Sorry to say but if rights are taken away one by one we will have none left! Now as for the presentation about the 9/11 and TSA, if we all had a choice to not go through the scanner and have it be as it was before we would ALL choose to have it like before. The body scanners were shoved down our throats, and if we were to deny the scanner we are looked as if we broke the law. Yes, I have denied the scanner before and was treat like a terrorist, the hate looks of the TSA.

So again, our rights are being stripped one by one. Just look at the case in Illinios where a woman is now being charged to be sentenced to life in prison because she video taped a cop in public who did not have the authority from the property owner to go into a neighbors yard.

So I ask you this, once all rights are now gone, what will you do? Waht will you do once the law says you can no longer ride your bicycle on the roads? I mean you're already banned from cycling on the sidewalk? So I say this again, once rights are stripped, what will you now say, where have all of your rights gone? Just remember censorship is already happening, and that falls in the 1st Amendment.

As for Heffay, I love they way you stirr up stuff, it's just great!

[Heffay]

As for Heffay, I love they way you stirr up stuff, it's just great!

You weren't around for the holocaust denier. It was a fun time on the board. It's also a great example of what I'm talking about. People feel more free to say things they normally wouldn't in public when they think they are around a similar group of people. People rant about the 2A because they believe they will be in a safe environment to do so, whipping around the insults and the like.

In other words, this is a microcosm of society.

[rugersol]

I do not pretend to know anything about guns

... many of dip****'s trying to ban pistol-grips, muzzle-brakes, and 30rd mags, do!

I am very knowledgeable in regards to cycling

... I am not ... but I don't think you should be allowed to have more than 3 gears! ... any more, and you're jest asking fer trouble!

[Thunder71]

I do not pretend to know anything about guns

... many of dip****'s trying to ban pistol-grips, muzzle-brakes, and 30rd mags, do!

I am very knowledgeable in regards to cycling

... I am not ... but I don't think you should be allowed to have more than 3 gears! ... any more, and you're jest asking fer trouble!

No extended pegs or wheels over 20" either.

[Evad]

Well you have to think of it like this way as well. People who want to own an ar-15 should have the right to do so. Just as you have the same right to the road as a biker.

I'm not trying to start anything...but I am fairly sure I didn't see anything in the Constitution regarding the right to bicycles or where they rode. I don't even remember roads in general as being a right. In other words...I don't personally agree with that analogy.

[rugersol]

I am very knowledgeable in regards to cycling

... I am not ... but I don't think you should be allowed to have more than 3 gears! ... any more, and you're jest asking fer trouble!

No extended pegs or wheels over 20" either.

... we're in 100% agreement!

But I'll bet you (Sarge) ain't got the first clue, why!

Perhaps ya'd like to get together with us, sometime?! ... try to keep an open mind?! ... try to understand where we're comin' from?!

... maybe then, we can find some middle ground?! ... you're willin' to compromise?! ... like any reasonable man?! ... right?!

[rugersol]

I don't personally agree with that analogy.

no one ... who understands ... does!

... but ... then ... what analogy would suffice?! ... moreover, one that a progressive type of individual, might understand?!

[Evad]

I don't personally agree with that analogy.

no one ... who understands ... does!

... but ... then ... what analogy would suffice?! ... moreover, one that a progressive type of individual, might understand?!

1A. The analogy fits. People communicate in far more effective ways to get words to many people faster than imagined even 20 years ago. With this one post I can reach thousands of people in less time than our forefathers could have dreamed of.

But, it's a right that I don't want to see taken away. Much like 2A.

[RangerTim]

As for Heffay, I love they way you stirr up stuff, it's just great!

You weren't around for the holocaust denier. It was a fun time on the board. It's also a great example of what I'm talking about. People feel more free to say things they normally wouldn't in public when they think they are around a similar group of people. People rant about the 2A because they believe they will be in a safe environment to do so, whipping around the insults and the like.

In other words, this is a microcosm of society.

As much as I dislike most of your posts, you're absolutely right. A forum such as this offers both a safety-in-numbers aspect and near complete annonimity. If I were a moderate visiting this website for the first time, perhaps trying to gather information to sway my political decision making one way or the other, there are two things I would walk away with:
1. **** is freakin expensive here!
2. Half the people here are a-holes, half are trying to rip off their mates, and the other half are even bigger a-holes.

As you said Heffay, its a "microcosm of society." In other words, I feel that even if we wanted to change the general attitude of this forum, we couldn't. Too many people with too much to say and nothing to lose. Add in the fact that this is the single most important political issue to many on this board... you get the result that is a lot of poo-slinging and name calling.
That doesn't mean that there are not good discussions and reasonable debates going on. Most of us, I would imagine, don't even notice the attitude. I can understand however that the general attitude towards Liberals tends to be fairly negative.

[damian_mb]

Well you have to think of it like this way as well. People who want to own an ar-15 should have the right to do so. Just as you have the same right to the road as a biker.

I'm not trying to start anything...but I am fairly sure I didn't see anything in the Constitution regarding the right to bicycles or where they rode. I don't even remember roads in general as being a right. In other words...I don't personally agree with that analogy.

It wasn't an analogy to the gun ordeal. I was comparing what he does to what we do. It's a "sport" or something we like to do just like how he likes to ride his bike.

Again my entire post was meant as an entirety not to be picked out sentence by sentence....Rights are being taken away little by little already!

[Sarge_44]

Valid points some of you.

How about we have a section on this forum for the casual "gun person".


*RELAX*