BigSqwert

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 08:11 AM) lol, yeah, so many people trying to make money off his name right now. It's hilarious. I sold the free Sun Times Obama insert from last Friday on eBay for $7.

Will probably watch it tonight or tomorrow. Can't wait.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 09:29 AM) It is mostly crap that no one else would want. It was the coffee cups that first got me started. I'm washing out my favorite, yet I had a dozen or more clean and on the shelf. Does anyone really want a used coffee mug from the US Golf Association? Shipping would have to be a couple three bucks. There's always Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc.

Start selling some of that stuff on Ebay. I'm always getting rid of junk on there.

You can't help it. It's the pack rat mentality of the WWII generation.

I perform low impact aerobics. Also known as choking the chicken.

QUOTE (Texsox @ Jan 19, 2009 -> 08:35 AM) Why wasn't that fixed when you installed the new battery? No kidding. Most decent mechanics would have checked that when installing a new battery.

Just watched "Happy Go Lucky" and boy was that brutal.

The inauguration in lego.

Thoroughly enjoyed Benjamin Button last night. Even though the movie was long it never dragged for me. And damn that Kate Blanchett is one fine babe.

QUOTE (Alpha Dog @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 04:18 PM) Funny how every mass shooting in the last decade has happened in a 'gun-free zones'. Maybe because the crazy bastards doing that knew that there wouldn't be anyone else there that was armed? The chances of being killed in a mass shooting in the U.S. has got to be what? 0.000001%?

"Assessing the Bush Years" a verbal smack down by The Economist.

QUOTE (knightni @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:47 PM) yup. Not to be confused with .

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:44 PM) And so ends my participation in this thread. Good. You were pissing me off. I was just about to shoot you.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) I cited violent crime, which is in the tens of thousands. Can you cite the statistic that shows how often a person carrying a gun prevents a violent crime from ever occurring to them?

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:38 PM) Sigh, still not a logical argument to be found. Getting a gun to hopefully prevent yourself from being that 1 in a million that's murdered each year? That's logical? Sigh.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:26 PM) You attempted to make a flippant, ridiculing response but helped make my point. You cannot rely on police protection because a) they aren't always around and B) you have no Constitutional right to protection. Protection from what? I cited the murder rate in Chicago for 2008 which was about 1 in a million. Getting a gun to protect you from a 1 in a million risk seems excessive seeing that it won't necessarily prevent you from being murdered.

QUOTE (DukeNukeEm @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:20 PM) Let's test your rationality. Where do you draw the line on where you can bring a gun? What about courts, schools, bars, crowded train stations? Do you propose just being allowed to carry your death dispenser anywhere you want? Of course! You never know where someone might want to murder you.

This self defense excuse needs to be dropped. Out of the millions of people in Chicago, 509 people were murdered in 2008. I can't imagine a large proportion of those people murdered were just walking down the street minding their own business. The odds of you getting murdered in Chicago are pretty slim.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 03:02 PM) That means you must be safe from all potential violent crimes then. No but having a gun wouldn't make me safe from violent crime either.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 02:56 PM) No, I'm pretty sure the murder and crime rates in Logan Square are higher than where I live. And whenever I read about a murder in Logan Square it always involves gang retaliation. Since I don't plan on joining a gang in the area or selling drugs anytime soon I'm pretty sure I won't be high on a gangs' hit list.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 02:48 PM) More strawmen, and I know you've made this argument in the past. Gun owners do not sit about fretting over potential crimes. They aren't action-hero wannabes with itchy trigger fingers and a gun tapped under the table. These are strawmen caricatures painted by the anti-gun side. Do you take no preventative or preparatory measures in your life? Do you have life insurance, or do you not want the extra stress of worrying about your death? Do you have health insurance, or do you not want to be bothered by the stress of possibly being sick? Do you keep a fire extinguisher or smoke detectors in your house? Why so paranoid about fire?!!?!!?! You do not prepare for things that have already happened to you; that defeats the purpose, and even more so when the stakes can be as high as life or death. I'll take the lack of any relevant statistics about the dangers of concealed carry as conceit. I guess I don't understand what you're preparing for by carrying a gun. Do random people in your area who are not affiliated with gangs get mugged and shot at on a daily basis? Is there a very high risk that you will be mugged or shot at? Getting a gun in case one of those things were to happen to you seems like overkill.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 02:38 PM) Please cite statistics or provide a logical argument against. Personal incredulity is not a logical argument. What do you do to defend yourself if a mugger pulls a knife and the police are nowhere to be found? If someone breaks into your home while you're there? Those things have never happened to me at this stage of my life and I won't add extra layers of stress to my life thinking about it. I also haven't bought duct tape and saran wrap in case there's a terrorist attack but maybe I should consider it. Heck, might as well buy a parachute too in case my next flight is involved in a bird strike.

QUOTE (lostfan @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 02:32 PM) These examples are ridiculous and extreme. And those are the 2 words I'd used to describe the idea of letting more people walk around carrying guns.

QUOTE (StrangeSox @ Jan 16, 2009 -> 02:27 PM) No, I live in a decent suburban area and I don't have a gun. Is there no threat of crime in the United States, or are police omnipotent? So you'd prefer everyone walk around with a gun on them? And what would really happen if a guy came up to you and put a gun to your head? Would you really have time to pull your gun out and defend yourself?