On Thu, 4 Dec 2008 03:48:16 -0500, Upscale cast forth these pearls of
wisdom...:

"Mike Marlow" wrote in message
Who cares that some countries do not allow guns to be commonplace. That
has nothing at all to do with the point

Then why did you say it when you were trying to make a point?

I simply responded to the fanatical statement about warring citizens if
guns were more commonplace.


Think you can get your head around that?

I can get my head around the fact that you seem to be a highly stressed
person. I certainly wouldn't want to be a warring citizen with *you*.

You have an interesting definition of stressed. I'm not surprised at it
though. I've watched your comments in enough of these off topic diatribes
here to realize you are much like Lew in that both of you delight in
darting conversations off to the side with irrelevant red herrings, and
then you try to turn the focus back on those who catch you at your game.
My guess is that is really quite stressful for you. It's really quite
evident in the manner in which you quickly resort to the ad-hominem
tactics.


Which brings me to my point. I like being able to go out whenever I want and
generally not have to fear that some unfortunate argument with another
citizen didn't result in my being blown away because he lost his temper and
happened to be carrying a gun. If however, I knew that most of my neighbours
packed a gun, then I'd do it too as a means of self preservation. All that
does is result in an escalation of armament and is not conducive to a
generally well balanced society.

As humans, we all lose our temper from time to time, it's the nature of the
beast. It happens to everybody. Why would I want to have most of the
general populace carrying a gun when they lose their temper? It doesn't make
sense.

Maybe you have a temper that is more out of control than the majority of
the people around you, and that causes you to see everyone else through
your own eyes. The reality is that people already do own guns, they
already do experience the stresses, anguishes and turmoils of life, and
they do not go for those guns as a coping mechanism. The argument that
they may is what does not make any sense.


I live in Toronto Canada. Much of the "gun news" lately has revolved around
people getting shot just because they were standing in wrong place at the
wrong time. While gangs and criminals have certainly been involved in a
number of these shootings, a fair amount of those shootings were done by
ordinary law abiding citizens who decided to carry a gun that day. There's
really only one way to deal with that.

What constitues "a fair amount", and what are the references for this?


And you know what? I like to think about winning the lottery and likely
relocating to the US somewhere. Somewhere they don't get snow or our
frequent frigid winter temperatures. But you know what else? If I did move
down to the US, sad to say that one of the first things I'd do was look into
getting licensed and buying myself a gun for protection.

I think that's a sad state of affairs and a poor reflection of the little
knowledge I do have about living in US society.

The last statement is the most accurate one you've made in this thread.

--

-Mike-