StrangeSox

1) There are ways around background checks. Even still, lots of people can easily pass background checks because they're fairly weak. For example, this kid who recently shot up the school. Or the Las Vegas guy. Or the New Mexico school shooter. Or the Pulse shooter. etc. etc. etc. etc. 2) I know about actual bomb-making from a professional perspective. I am not an expert, but I do have knowledge and have been trained by legitimate subject matter experts. Building reliable bombs that won't blow yourself up and will blow up when you want them to and do substantial damage are not easy to manufacture. Shoving some sparklers and nails together isn't going to have a huge effect. If it really was that easy to build bombs and cause just as much if not more damage, why don't we actually see it happening? Why do they keep electing to buy guns and, in particular, "military-style" guns with pretty obvious aesthetic qualities?

U.S. CITIZENSHIP AND IMMIGRATION SERVICES WILL REMOVE “NATION OF IMMIGRANTS” FROM MISSION STATEMENT At least they're all making it crystal-clear that it was always immigrants, not just illegal immigration, that they have a problem with.

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 22, 2018 -> 01:50 PM) They tried to make them at Columbine. They just didnt do it correctly. Making a bomb isnt as easy as buying a gun. Some people could do it, but I doubt an impulse shooter like the most recent one would have had the time/patience/space to do it. Yeah. The plan for Columbine was really awful and, thankfully, mostly failed. --Plant bomb in nearby residential area --Bomb goes off, attracting attention of local law enforcement and EMS --Shortly after bomb goes off, enter the school and plant two large bombs in the cafeteria. the plan was this would collapse the floor above as well, though I don't remember if they actually had enough explosives to do that --At 11:17, which is what they had observed to be the busiest time in the cafeteria, the bombs explode --As students flee out of the school, the two killers shoot as many people as they can with interlocking fields of fire All but the last step failed because they couldn't make the bombs. If the bombs had succeeded, it's possible it would have been the second worst terrorist attack in US history, only behind 9/11. The underwear bomber failed because he messed up the bomb-making. So did that guy in Times Square a few years ago. The recent Port Authority bomb did pretty minimal harm. Building a reliable bomb isn't easy especially if you're not willing to be blown up by it yourself. Another myth from Columbine, somewhat relevant because some of the emerging narratives yet again about bullying and video game/movies violence, was that the main plotter was a bullied loaner. He wasn't. He was a somewhat popular psychopath.

Making functional explosives is much more difficult than purchasing a gun off the shelf from Bass Pro or going the even easier private sales route.

What I Saw Treating the Victims From Parkland Should Change the Debate on Guns They weren’t the first victims of a mass shooting the Florida radiologist had seen—but their wounds were radically different.

Why? Just pass a bill allowing exceptions to the Gun Free Zones act that allows teachers to carry their own licensed concealed carry weapon. Now you've shifted the entire burden to teachers (or Undercover Custodians!). e: some states and universities actually already allow this e2: the same people who's only solution is MORE GUNS! would also generally love to bust teachers' unions and cut teachers' salaries anyway, so then they'd get to concern troll about "well if they really cared about protecting their students, they'd take a pay cut to pay for security!!"

It would be $0 because teachers would be expected to provide their own guns and training. If chose not to, they would then be blamed for "not taking responsibility" after a mass shooting. e: and if liberals or, god forbid, actual leftists given major platforms used language 1/10 as incendiary and unhinged as what we're seeing from the NRA at CPAC this morning, it'd be national news. But, from the conservative base, it's expected so it's normalized.

The Trump Administration is really transparent when it comes to using their political office for personal enrichment Trump Jr.’s trip to India has sparked controversy — and $15 million in sales We still teach the Teapot Dome scandal as a major event in schools, but it wouldn't even make the top 50 list in this administration.

President out praising the NRA this morning, showing exactly how serious he is about actually doing anything. As far as more armed guards, Stoneman Douglas had an armed guard. Pulse had an armed guard. Mandalay Bay has a whole armed security force, as did the concert across the street. Fort Hood is a god damned military base. When someone is willing to kill and be killed, a few armed guards aren't going to stop them.

QUOTE (Brian @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 10:23 PM) Rubio is a slug and a hack. Don’t fall for it. We need to compromise, somewhere in the middle between "regular mass shootings in schools" and "no mass shootings in schools." The truth is always in the middle!!!

From 2012

I remember being in Veracruz when I was 15 or so, and thinking how word it was that there was an armed guard with an M4 standing outside the bank. That's the vision for American schools that conservatives have. Give a bunch of unemployed combat veterans guns and have them stand outside every school in the country. That's the very serious policy discussion coming from the same people telling us we shouldn't really listen to the kids who just watched their friends murdered in front of them.

A CUSTODIAN COULD BE AN UNDER COVER POLICE OFFICER

Arm the teachers! The custodians! The minimum wage lunch ladies! Some people will consider absolutely anything but gun restrictions

QUOTE (BigSqwert @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 05:09 PM) What happens when an overly-stressed teacher, barely making ends meet goes on a rampage with their government-issued gun? Lol Teachers already have to pay for pencils and markers Now they'll be forced to pay for guns bullets and training while still being overworked and underpaid

f*** it, guns everywhere. Mandatory concealed carry for all citizens. That's the only idea this country seems to be able to comprehend.

Additional charges against Manafort and Gates https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/fe...tion-fbi-latest

okay cool now that you've gotten that pedantic quibble over his specific rhetoric done with maybe we can actually return to the topic at hand

QUOTE (Soxbadger @ Feb 21, 2018 -> 01:49 PM) You can twist it however you like, but if you dont present the evidence to support your claim, how can I verify that the data exists? Where did I ask for "full academic citations?" If youre going to post something as fact, then at minimum you could say "based on research by" or "in a study done by" so that I could at least attempt to find the data. What you posted provides no way of verifying the claim. My guess is that its because its opinion. I mean what research do you think includes whether students were more likely to be "body slammed" before or after a security guard was hired? Nah, check my edit. He had a follow-up with links. It's from multiple studies. There's no twisting here and your guess was wrong. He's a guy who's known for writing about civil liberties and police. That doesn't mean everything he says should be taken as gospel, but he is a reliable and knowledgeable source specifically in this field. If Tom Skilling tells me it's going to be 60 degrees and sunny today, I don't demand that he link all of his weather models. And it still goes back to his statement being directly relevant.

Just because you don't have a citation to data on hand doesn't mean it's just an opinion, come on. That doesn't even make sense. It's a claim, and maybe you want to see the data to support a claim and that's fine, but that doesn't make it "opinion." It's either true or not. There's plenty of research on the "school-to-prison pipeline" if you want to dig into it, and expecting that every tweet someone makes has full academic citations is just silly. Anyway, the point still stands that "what affects does putting police in schools have?" is still directly relevant to the idea that we should put more police in schools. edit: he had a follow up tweet with a bunch of links anyway https://twitter.com/radleybalko/status/966394232578723842

He's a libertarian researcher/writer on criminal justice and civil liberties for WaPo and I think CATO? He does good, detailed work and I'm sure he has data to back up his claims there. I think it's really important that people consider secondary effects of proposals like "put more armed cops/ex-vets in schools!" Maybe that makes mass shootings less likely, but what other potential effects does it have? What impact SRO's have is directly relevant to how good of an idea "more cops and guns in schools" is. It's similar to the "well I need a gun and an ability to carry a gun to protect myself in public from all of the potential guns!" Zero consideration that, maybe, if guns were's so readily available you wouldn't feel the need to carry a deadly weapon on yourself for protection all the time.

This Neo-Nazi Speech Shows The Rally In Charlottesville Was Always Meant To Be Violent Very Fine People

The House Freedom Caucus is refusing to support any background checks bill unless it also includes concealed carry reciprocity, which would force states to accept concealed carry licenses from other states. https://twitter.com/rachaelmbade/status/966370071474995206

QUOTE (Balta1701 @ Feb 5, 2018 -> 09:28 PM) Pennsylvania Republicans have launched an effort to impeach the 5 state Supreme Court justices that voted to overturn their Gerrymander. Thanks to the Gerrymander they have the 2/3 majority necessary to successfully impeach them if they vote together. Sen. Toomey says that impeaching the state Supreme Court justices is a "conversation that has to happen." The court ultimately rejected the Republicans' replacement plan that was no better than the original and imposed their own districts drafted by independent experts. There's a very strong authoritarian bent throughout the GOP these days.