You know it's getting BORING already - it's just become the American way of life.  Nothing I can do about it, but I sure as hell wish that my son and his family in Wisconsin remain safe.  Hopefully he will soon find as suitable a position in his home country of Canada as he has in America.  Sure feels safe to be living where almost NOBODY has a gun - only special police SWAT teams, bank cash delivery van guards and military (and you don't see military on the street).  Regular police don't carry guns, not even bank guards have guns.  

45 mass shootings in 30 days - makes a primitive banana republic jealous, and America has the TEMERITY to criticize other countries about THEIR domestic policies. CHUTZPAH!!!!  

But actually, I really feel SORRY for you Americans, and I hope that no NT members, all of whom have become sort of "family" to me, become victims of an unexpected tragedy.

Unfortunately , what you think is a real solution , will NEVER be a realistic  reality here  criminals and organized crime are the reason. any place that has organized crime , they have illegal firearms .they just use other methods as a norm.

and the simple reason for that is those intent on evil purposes or actions will never take into consideration whatever laws are enacted no matter how exacting they are made .

you would have to define and give an example of a "banana republic " usually in those places mass murder is condoned and done by the very government themselves and they never report accurately the depths of the corruption in their own governments . or how they stay in power.

you have never said if your son has dual citizenship, so absent that not much i can say , but if he is anything like his father , he has made the choices he has to for himself  and likely correctly.

 as for feeling sorry, meh one can see it as an accident or blessing of birth, because everyone has the ability to choose certain things that are correct for them and them alone . and i do firmly believe that individual choice matters very much. dont feel sorry for me . i have made my choices as i see fit .

P.S. dont mind me , i broke my 2 bourbon rule on a fri and am on my second high end cigar for the weekend ( limited to one a week) damn cigars get me hyper.

One can always use inebriation as an excuse for saying things that otherwise a person might be reticent in expressing.  

do you think i would not say what i said if i wasnt drinking ? or have my past statements been consistant with what i stated?

 can anything i stated be realistically refuted?

if anything i think i stay honest about a subject. they might be disagreeable , but an honest statement none the less.

I must say that I do take your comments seriously because I have always noted that you say what you mean and mean what you say, and at least what you say is not governed by a political party loyalty, as I feel some other members on this site are mired with. 

I have always noted that you say what you mean and mean what you say,

some might consider that a flaw buzz .

 another flaw i may have is i dont say much unless its important and only then will i speak my mind .

 unless im being really joking ( it is evident when i do) i am being serious and honest from my own individual point of view . and it is i who gets to choose what is important to me and what aspects of that situation I feel are important .

 i also try to see others points and understand where they come from , usually i stay as here on the site says i do "silent" i watch and obsorb information and make my own conclusions , but the info i take in is not limited to just here, i have a lifetime of experiences , contacts , discussions , learning and daily reading  i draw from to form my own conclusion .

 my conclusion of gun control is it is not about the guns at all , its about governmental control, and history has taught me that when a government tries to take that kind of control it seldom ends well, so i ask to be forgiven for being wholly untrusting of those that would demand i disarm. .

i broke my 2 bourbon rule on a fri and am on my second high end cigar for the weekend

What's your preferred bourbon and cigar?

Right now the bourbon is buffalo trace out of kentucky , its not expensive , has a tolerable smokey flavor , and i feel is rather satisfying as a slow sipper

Im partial to manduro wrappers , they seem to have a more satisfying smoke and taste to me , and my preferred is Rockey Patel. or other names that make same usually under the patel factory but different names .

 I have found some unknown such as undercrown ( made by drew estate label ) that are less expensive but just as good as the name brands . so im not past taking a chance on a never heard of label if it has the characteristics i like. . 

Right now the bourbon is buffalo trace out of kentucky , its not expensive , has a tolerable smokey flavor

I haven't tried that one. I'll have to keep an eye out for it.

, and i feel is rather satisfying as a slow sipper

Is there any other way to properly savor a good bourbon? 

Im partial to manduro wrappers ,

Connecticut wrappers are also good.

they seem to have a more satisfying smoke and taste to me , and my preferred is Rockey Patel.

Rocky's are a decent brand. Another good brand is Don Raphael. It's relatively inexpensive, even for a  long Churchill style cigar. It also burns slowly and evenly. The quality is good for the price. 

I have found some unknown such as undercrown ( made by drew estate label ) that are less expensive but just as good as the name brands . so im not past taking a chance on a never heard of label if it has the characteristics i like. .

Some of the lesser known cigars are quite good, even if they are under the radar. Baccarat is a fair cigar with a slightly sweet flavor. You can't go wrong with a Macanudo, although they are a little pricey.

when it comes to bourbons and cigars , its individual tastes , just like a persons relationships , some people like blondes , some like brunettes , some like red heads , it only matters what the person likes .

when it comes to bourbons and cigars , its individual tastes , just like a persons relationships ,

This is true.

Cue the lie that our problem is we have too few guns! 

LMFAO, in your case , cue the statement too few guns in the right hands might be closer to my opinion , but that is changing , quickly . gunsales stats show that.

I've already made the tongue-in-cheek suggestion (that some have mistakenly taken seriously) that since it's much too late to try to do anything effective to curtail the gun violence in the USA my parody solution was to distribute guns and ammo to every American resident 12 and over so that everyone would have the ability to at least try to protect themselves from those whose intent was to reduce the American population.  Being much too late to do anything effective seems to be chronic as it was repeated in America when it was necessary to act quickly and decisively in January 2020 to take serious immediate action to curtail the spread of Covid-19, but you know what happened there - Trump got his wish, nobody panicked, until it was too late. 

But my opinion does remain that I think it is simply too late to do anything effective about the American gun-violence situation.

I don't believe it's too late, my opinion is that politicians keep pushing partisan politics when those solutions won't make much of a difference.

They always worry about their pet projects such as banning a type of weapon, or banning the new sales of large magazines, or banning silencer's. Such declarations sound dramatic and make for good TV but what happens when those changes don't really make a difference?

My opinion is a different choice of action. First strengthen the requirements for timely reporting to the NICS system because right now several states and agencies are very lax in their reporting standards.  People like to harp on the 3-day rule as the Charleston loophole but in honesty had the information been reported to NICS in a timely fashion Dylann Roof would not have been able to purchase his gun from the gun store. Secondly work on mental health and why some people with issues fall thru the cracks until they grab a gun. Work on HIPPA laws so that mental health professionals can report such information. Work on the general public so that the stigma of a mental health issue is not such a huge flag of shame and allow those that need help to be able to get help. And TBH some of those people really should not be walking around in public. The old mental hospitals had a huge problem but the reaction to just close them all down and toss those who need the help out on the streets is both cruel and just as big a problem. Actually prosecute gun crimes, don't be so quick to take them away for a plea bargain; we might need more judges and prosecutors at local levels but think what it would do for both universities and unemployment. Start holding gun safety classes in schools from first grade up thru high school graduation as part of a life skills class, they can learn both safety around guns (what to do if  you find one rather than just picking it up) and what a gun can do. A gun can be a very dangerous tool but when your entire experience with it is what you see on TV or the movies it puts a false sense of understanding to the issue.

I'm sure there are more first steps that people smarter then me could bring to the table but this is at least to me a common sense start. We know from past history that banning something seldom works.  Look at prohibition or the drug wars and all the "success" they had. France has fairly strong gun control laws and the November 2015 Paris attacks still occurred. IMO any law that bans a class of guns is going to end up in a court in a law suit.

But instead of politicians doing anything that might help, we have Democrats who blame the gun and want to ban guns of certain types (and before anybody goes nuts, there have been politicians who have publicly stated that they would ban ALL guns if they could) and then we have Republicans who push the 2nd Amendment to prevent the actions. This IMO is the very definition of political theater because it allows both sides to be in front of a camera and speak to their base while in reality doing nothing at all.

Anything that could be effective to cut down on the amount of gun violence is a good thing - but the question is whether or not anything at all would have bipartisan agreement and then be adopted by a right-wing SCOTUS.

Line'em up and shoot'em down. 

Americans answer to population control.

Don't worry, there are millions more illegal immigrants waiting to cross. Population control will never happen.

There have been 150 mass shootings with 148 dead and 485 wounded since Jan. 1, according to this Wikipedia source.  And that list isn't complete.

List of mass shootings in the United States in 2021

What is interesting is where these shootings are happening - and - where they are not happening.  While certainly not definitive, the map does raise speculation that urban crime is beginning to spread.

The wild, wild west has become east coast cosmopolitan.  What is happening seems to be more like the country's period of speakeasy gangsters than the era of cowboys with boots and shooters.

While certainly not definitive, the map does raise speculation that urban crime is beginning to spread.

Glad im not the only one thats been noticing that.

It seems that no matter how many or how strict gun control laws are passed in America, it's too late - they still won't stop the savagery.  Time to give it up and acknowledge that America isn't just a republic, it's a shooting gallery. 

California mass shooting suspect was barred from buying gun

ctvnews.ca

Buzz it seems to me you have never heard of "zip" guns , or potato guns/launchers , it doesnt matter how strict any law is or how well enforced , if one has acsess to a scrap metal pile they can make a gun .

 the USA is still a republic , just too many trying to turn it into a socialist democracy...or their version of a democracy..

I thought I made it clear already that I know very little about guns,.  It really isn't my thing.

very true , it did slip my mind .

 My point is though that someone that wishes to create something on the order of something capable to do what a "gun" does , simply has to have an imagination , or a little knowledge  from things totally unrelated and in such common use it would be imposable to track or regulate everything ..

 i would have thought being a movie buff you would have heard of zip guns from 50s and 60s movies about young adults , seems not .

 all a zip gun is is exactly what i stated a firearm made from things not associated with what one would normally think is a gun, a bit of plumbing pipe of the right bullet size , a threaded endcap , a hand turned drill, a nail and spring and something to approximate a hammer to strike the improvized firing pin to set the round off.

 yes its a one and done thing , its awkward , sometimes cant be reloaded , and usually more dangerous to the person firing it than those its intended to be used on . they follow the old concept of something just barely good enough at the least expense to do what one intends , like the old liberator pistols of WW2, used by the resistance not to go to battle with , but just good enough to kill a lone nazi guard at close range so that you could take their better weapon. only difference with that pistol and a zip gun is that one was mass produced for distribution and the other is improvised in the local area , so it is an improvized munition, something everyone hears about a lot in brushfire/proxy wars. . and it is a concept the military still has in one of its field manuals entitled improvised munitions, they think it so important to include it with step by step instructions 

 potato launchers are simply an item that uses the concept of the old muzzle loaders of a couple hundred yrs ago and usually kids use their imaginations to get everything set up to do what they want , this time instead of using metal they use PVC pipe and the associated fittings . they just sort out what they will be using as a propellant  and how to control it to do its thing when they want it  to .

i have seen/heard of all sorts of propellants , compressed air , ether/ starting fluid , even hairspray ( james bond and the snake come to mind )., 

 yes its a one and done thing , its awkward , sometimes cant be reloaded , and usually more dangerous to the person firing it than those its intended to be used on

and compared to a current firearm I'm sure would not be too affective in a mass murder. 

IMO: The real solution lays in addressing this nations mental illness epidemic and gun responsibility, or irresponsibility as is too many times the case. 

........................

In the United States, almost half of adults ( 46.4 percent ) will experience a mental illness during their lifetime. 5 percent of adults (18 or older) experience a mental illness in any one year, equivalent to 43.8 million people.

www.mentalhealthfirstaid.org/2019/02/5-surprising-mental-health-statistics

mentalhealthfirstaid

and compared to a current firearm I'm sure would not be too affective in a mass murder.  IMO: The real solution lays in addressing this nations mental illness epidemic and gun responsibility, or irresponsibility as is too many times the case. 

BUT it is a step towards getting the modern and gun better suited for that, just like was used against that nazis .

I agree , it seems more and more times there are mass shootings its someone with a condition that is affecting them mentally.

 as for responsability, or irresponsability , that goes back to teaching core values and adhereing and enforcing them and applies to everything in life , not just firearms.

and compared to a current firearm I'm sure would not be too affective in a mass murder. 

After a little thinking steve , They COULD be used in a mass shooting , they are cheap and easy to make , can be made and carried  in bulk , by design and nature they are throw aways , one needs simply to carry 3 or more and get them used , a kids school back pack can be used to carry extras .

remember the definition of a mass shooting today is 3 or more individuals injured or killed , a definition that has changed quite a bit over the past 20 years .

I recently read it was 4 or more - could that be right?

They COULD be used in a mass shooting

That's true Mark. But I still doubt they would be near as effective as any manufactured weapon.

One shot at a time would be more like a musket loaded weapon of the past, not one shot per trigger pull or even worse many shots per trigger pull. 

Yes, still deadly but not as quick to kill mass amounts of anything. 

as for responsibility, or irresponsibility , that goes back to teaching core values and adhering and enforcing them and applies to everything in life , not just firearms.

Also quite true, Americans lack of personal responsibility is why we have so many laws. 

Ummmm, PIRATE.... /s

buzz the media has said 3 or more injured or killed , some have said 4 or more injured or killed , use to be just killed and it was tagged at 4 , seems the line keeps getting moved  depending on the narrative wished delivered. .

Yes, still deadly but not as quick to kill mass amounts of anything. 

now theres a time limit on how fast one has to be killed? Im being facisist here , killed is killed whether its quick or slow , whether its done with antique tech or the most modern tech.

 most people mortally or fatally shot ( death is imminent and unavoidable ) would say they want it to be quick , avoid the pain , having to think while they can  reminice over their lives and the rights and wrongs they did , thing is death comes when it does in that situation ,nothing says it has to be fast quick and clean.

 Dead is dead , and all the dead know is its better not to be dead.

now theres a time limit on how fast one has to be killed?

Many times time does count in the number of deaths.

Add another mass shooting last night in Kenosha WI. Three dead two wounded. 

Guns and alcohol what could possibly go wrong?

Guns and alcohol what could possibly go wrong?

Sadly, few seem to think of the disaster waiting to happen until it happens.

One just happened in Texas. North of Austin I think.

Sadly, none of this is new to Detroit or Flint... or Saginaw. 

google

ucr.fbi

Trends over time.

The  Detroit  MI  crime rate  for 2018 was 2007.82 per 100,000 population, a 2.38% decline from 2017. The  Detroit  MI  crime rate  for 2017 was 2056.67 per 100,000 population, a 0.5% increase from 2016. The  Detroit  MI  crime rate  for 2016 was 2046.52 per 100,000 population, a 16.31% increase from 2015.

I honestly don't know what happened during those lull periods. The interesting thing is, these aren't "kids" that are doing this in the majority of instances; rather, adults that DO NOT have the authority to own or carry a firearm. I would have to do more digging in regard to why these adults were deemed unworthy of owning a firearm, but I gather that they fall under one of a few different categories - been convicted of a felony, domestic violence complaints, or never applied / registered the firearm [meaning someone else's gun]. I could be wrong; that's just my suspicion.