Mick-Lucifer Wrote:coltess Wrote:
When was the last time you waited for 200,000 sheep to cross the road? Or tilled up an Arrowhead on your farm? When was the last time you were at a logging site or on the river with anglers? When was the last time you drove 50 miles to see a movie or 200 miles to see a play?
If this is in a conversation about owning guns, this is exactly why you can't have them... Which, as I understand it, isn't even the issue.
That was a separate conversation entirely, which later became one as Riyakou took umbridge to both statements. But, as I said before, I have no qualms with some gun control. Background checks, a ban on armor piercing rounds, and a ban on high capacity mags doesn't bother me. Really, it was more a rant directed towards people like Piers Morgan who are uneducated on the subject and believe that their world view fits every situation. Which is really what I'm trying to get out here. I'm sure my life experiences are very different from those of many of you, but it should be understood that this separate world view exists. No ones world view is going to work everywhere. I'm sure Australian farmers have to deal with predatory animals, but here to protect our cattle, sheep, and pets from Wolves we shoot them. The same goes for cougars and bears (though bears rarely ever attack livestock).
And again, I know very little about Australia, but I'm sure they have venomous snakes. Now, I don't know to what degree these snakes interact with humans, but where I'm from you get rattlesnakes on your porch.
That's no exaggeration, stone porches and foundations retain heat and snakes retreat to them at night for warmth. Which means leaving the house at night or in the morning can be dangerous if we don't dispatch the snakes.
Now, I'm not sure how large Australia's timber industry is or the wildlife they encounter, but where I'm from. The noise attracts cougars; they are curious animals. Now before anyone talks about cougar's homes being destroyed and how the loggers shouldn't be there and all that none sense, that's not true. Cougars den in rimrocks and only enter the forest to hunt. The noise of the machinery interests the cat, which comes down and observes. Now, opposite of a bear, which will flee when it is confused, a cougar will stalk and observe. Though attacks are rare, having a gun onsite keeps many of the loggers more at ease about being watched by a cougar. Also, loggers run into rattlesnake nests all the time.
Finally, and this is the big difference between the rural U.S. and rural Australia - rabies. Rabies is not present in Australia and many countries in Europe have eradicated it, but it is still very much present in North America. Rabid animals are insane and will attack without provocation. Also, rabid animals will disobey natural instinct and enter into more urban areas and infect pets, raccoons, squirrels, chipmunks, ground-squirrels, and people. This happens through the animal either attacking or being eaten. I, myself, had to kill a rabid porcupine. I was afraid my dogs would attack it and contract rabies, so I shot it. I didn't enjoy it, but I did what I had to do and I burned the remains. It's standard protocol for anyone who lives outside of city limits and can recognize the signs of rabies.
For the animal's sake, what I did was far kinder than beating it to death with a pipe or an ax or something.
Australia is Australia and America is America. What works in Australia may not work here.
Now I'm gonna change gears here a little.
The sentence you quoted was not about firearms it was about this notion that people in Urban environments are looking out for a common good, which is totally false. There's no such thing, what benefits New York may harm Idaho and vice-versa.
States need to stay out of each other's business. If you're a "queer-basher" in Texas, why do you care if gays are marrying in Washington? If you're anti-gun and live in Illionis why do you care if someone can carry concealed in Wyoming? Very few problems can solved on a Federal level in the United States because we are not a uniform country - That is America, a land of great differences where someone can find a place where they can fit in.
The United States of America is a unity of separate American states bound together in symbiosis through dual Federalism. We are not optional Confederacy where each state can back out whenever nor are we a single state lead by the Federal Government.
There is no "Common Good" in America because so rarely is there a "Common problem." We should not be a country which forces the hands of those that dissent, but a country which contains every option. If California elected a communist government, reconstructed the entire organisation of their state's inner workings and the people were happy, I'd be happy, as long as didn't infringe upon what I believe in. If the Texas Legislature amended the Texas state constitution to greatly reign in the authority of the Governor and the people of Texas liked it, so be it. As long as the people are happy and It doesn't effect what I believe in.
Nebraksa. God bless Nebraska! 49 bicameral partisan state legislatures in the United States and Nebraska says "No! Not here! We're going to have a unicameral nonpartisan legislature."
Bottom line is; I'm states guy. I think that by allowing the states to determine things for themselves rather then cramming it down their throats through federal legislation, makes a lot more sense. People will be happier, and will lessen the great hate we see between those in government.
There doesn't have to be one way of life, not in America. Let each state do what is best for each state as long as it does not harm the Union as whole. Let Washington have pot, let Nevada gamble, let Utah ban hard Alcohol, let Montana make their guns, let New York take away big pops, Let Massachusetts have the Boston pops, let New Jersey fat governor, let them do what they know best for their state because guns don't threaten America as whole, Gays don't threaten America as a whole, Pot doesn't threaten America as a whole, but pissing off a good portion of the populace through Federal encroachment- that threatens America as a whole. How? It divides us. We should be looking into the paper and saying "Huh, did you know gay marriage/guns are legal in Washington?" Not saying "Well we need Federal laws to change what happens in this state which is not mine." Give more power back to the states and I promise we'd have a happier populace.
You know, despite it being from a criminal, I always liked this quote
"The real death of America will come when everyone is alike."
-James T. Ellison
