So what's the US doing?

[trophy33]

We're not getting better. We're ruder, more selfish, more idolatrous, etc... pretty much what Paul described would be the cause of the coming "perilous times".

One must distinguish between his own environment and the global situation.

One country can get worse, while the world as a whole is getting better.

USA is on a decline, but many other countries are on the rise. And those countries have more inhabitants.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Right, it's a matter of eschatological view. Unfortunately I'm old enough to see the difference between past and current generations. We're not getting better. We're ruder, more selfish, more idolatrous, etc... pretty much what Paul described would be the cause of the coming "perilous times".

On some scale, I can agree with you since I count myself as a kind of Pre-millennialist. However, as someone who has studied the general patterns of World History, I think we have to be careful with how we interpret all of this.

Moreover, I don't want to hijack this thread and turn it into an eschatological showdown, so I'll just stop there. I will say that where guns are concerned, we in the U.S. could do a lot better and do so without selling out either political side.

 

[2PhiloVoid]

Joy is a beautiful thing, highly recommended.

Joy is good, I'll admit.

 

[Rachel20]

I will say that where guns are concerned, we in the U.S. could do a lot better.

I think most of us agree there's a problem, we just disagree on the solutions.

One concern that I'm not sure anyone has brought up is the crime-deterrance nature of gun ownership. For example, would home robberies increase with too-strict gun laws much like crime increased with police defunding (smash-n-grabs, etc.)?

Regardless, I've said all I have to say on this topic, so moving on. Appreciated the responses though.

 

[Blade]

New Zealand pop 5.084 Mil
Norway pop 5.379 Mil
Australia pop 25.69 Mil
United Kingdom pop 67.22 Mil
USA 329.25 Mil

For me ABC? Pass

 

[renniks]

I guess. Look, we're not a responsible citizenry; we're incapable of having guns and not killing each other for stupid reasons. It's not a one off; it's endemic. Regulate it responsibly, or take them away.

You could always move to China if that's your opinion.

 

[CRAZY_CAT_WOMAN]

fulfilling prophecy

Matthew 15:18-19 King James Version

18 But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man.

19 For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:

Revelation 13:11 KJV
And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.

This was meant for only followers of the bible. It wasn't meant to force your laws on everyone. I will never happen. And the only thing will happen, are people will quietly do these things. You aren't doing nothing. And your verse has nothing to with shooting. Most Christians don't follow these things. So why should non-Christians .

 

[High Fidelity]

You could always move to China if that's your opinion.

Why do you equate responsibly legislating against issues as they arise over years with authoritarianism? Or was it intended to be needlessly reductive?

 

[Desk trauma]

Why do you equate responsibly legislating against issues as they arise over years with authoritarianism? Or was it intended to be needlessly reductive?

Love it, exactly as it is all things are set in stone for good or ill, or leave it evidently.

 

[public hermit]

You could always move to China if that's your opinion.

Gun regulation is not a slippery slope to communism. That is sloppy thinking. We have to be smarter than that if we want to see change.

 

[wing2000]

I think most of us agree there's a problem, we just disagree on the solution.

...solutions.

 

[Oompa Loompa]

Joe Biden says mass shootings rarely happen outside the US. What have other countries done that America hasn't?
ABC News -2 June 2022


Here's what some other countries have done in response to some of the most significant mass shootings outside the US over the last three decades:

• New Zealand banned semi-automatic weapons straight away
• Norway enacted a similar ban (but not as quickly)
• It took Australia just days to act on a plan
• The UK government ordered an inquiry (and accepted its recommendations)
• Canada has just introduced legislation to limit handgun sales

So what’s the US doing?..........

.......thoughts & prayers​

Source:
Joe Biden says mass shootings rarely happen outside the US. What have other countries done that America hasn't? - ABC News

OB

Currently, the U.S. is attempting to distract attention away from the many failures of the Biden administration and using the latest events to turn midterms into a single issue election in their favor.

 

[High Fidelity]

Currently, the U.S. is attempting to distract attention away from the many failures of the Biden administration and using the latest events to turn midterms into a single issue election in their favor.

Maybe they’re taking note on the success Republicans have had by feigning to care about abortion beyond getting guaranteed votes each cycle. Worked quite well for them.

 

[HantsUK]

And they're not melting pots like the US, which I think does have to be considered as a factor in the cohesiveness of a society.

Really? In London, 37% of residents were born outside the UK. In 2014, 58% of births in London were to foreign born mothers.

Population of the UK by country of birth and nationality - Office for National Statistics

 

[renniks]

Why do you equate responsibly legislating against issues as they arise over years with authoritarianism? Or was it intended to be needlessly reductive?

I don't...
I equate losing the second amendment with tyranny. Because that's where it will lead.

 

[renniks]

Gun regulation is not a slippery slope to communism. That is sloppy thinking. We have to be smarter than that if we want to see change.

We have an administration that already wants to take us down that slope. They aren't above gun confiscation.

 

[High Fidelity]

I don't...
I equate losing the second amendment with tyranny. Because that's where it will lead.

What about the rest of the civilised Western world that doesn’t have the Second Amendment?

People are profiting from the paranoia they’re instilling in you.

 

[Lady Bug]

Then get to the root of the problem and fix that, because they'll just find other means, like the Bath slaughter in 1927

There's nothing wrong with going to the root of the problem, but didn't Kamala Harris say that sort of thing about immigration when she went to Guatemala to meet its President, instead of visiting the Southern border?

I am actually not sure what do you think that rifles between people will do against tyrannical government, i.e. against full equipped army (tanks, jets, hellicopters...), police, secret services and at least the half of common population that pays taxes and allow the government to exist. It seems to me that the idea of armed citizens against their own government is really from the colonial times.

The American government's weaponry is far too sophisticated for us peasants' handguns to stand a chance. Besides, we'd probably be put in jail for shooting the Feds.

 

[Occams Barber]

Those countries have much smaller populations.

Why would having a bigger population prevent you from doing something?

Doesn't the US have laws like all other countries?

OB

 

[Rachel20]

Really? In London, 37% of residents were born outside the UK. In 2014, 58% of births in London were to foreign born mothers.

Yep. Using fractionalization, here's the comparison:

Ethnic Linguistic Religious 2022
Frac. Frac. Frac. Population
United States 49.01% 56.47% 82.41% 334,805,269
United Kingdom 12.11% 5.32% 69.44% 68,497,907

One of the most comprehensive studies of diversity was created by a team of scholars from Harvard University, World Bank, Stanford, and New York University and published in the Journal of Economic Growth in a paper called "Fractionalization." Fractionalization is a measure of the likelihood that two randomly selected people in a given country will be from two different groups (ethnicities, religions, etc.) or speak two different languages. In its initial form, fractionalization is a number between 0 and 1, with 0 meaning no variation and 1 meaning complete variation.
This method of expressing fractionalization also lends itself readily to conversion into a probability percentage (shown in the comparison above).

Most Racially Diverse Countries 2022