(And sanctimonious pricks that get all bent out of shape by “swearing” are always worth laughing at.) ;D

But seriously, you’re crying with John here and you’re already down to insults and screaming in Maggie’s thread, too. You’ve certainly got a lot of time to devote to this.

John, I thought you were busy crying about dead people or something and weren’t participating anymore? Coming up with a list of things like that just to make a case that you didn’t really lose, cry about it, and then threaten to go home, is still participating. XD

1) Technological determinism.
2) Inventing your own netiquette
3) Profanity

Well, Christopher Swing, you hit the trifecta in one post.

Herf Derf because no one could ever improve the tech and it’s not improving herf derf…

Continue to stick your fingers in your ears and shut your eyes, John. I’m sure the world will stop if you scream you’re not listening enough. XD

“I’ll continue to work on more effective and more life-affirming technology.”

3D printers *and other minifacturing tech* (apparently you missed the CNC aspects, or don’t understand them) can be used to make parts of about anything now, and maybe the entire anything in the not-too-distant future. Fuck you and your high horse, John. Just because you don’t want to acknowledge reality doesn’t mean everyone else should do the same.

“Until a 3-D printer can produce a substance with all the qualities of forged steel, it cannot produce a complete working gun capable of serious mayhem.”

Yeah, once again, you didn’t get what was linked to. CNC maker units aren’t just 3D printers, nor is the workshop only one thing. And you don’t need to make an entire anything, unless you’re making something entirely new.

“I don’t post links in comment threads.”

That lazy a fuck, eh?

“Learn to Google.”

Fuck you, learn to cite when you allege evidence. I’m not here to research your point for you.

“OK, this has gone far enough, guys. You may find this kind of fatuous argument amusing, but I don’t. Too many people have died.”

Well hell. I’m not dragging the fainting couch over here for you. And if you’re that butthurt, just shut up and leave.

“I’ve met too many parents of murdered children, talked to too many angry and violent people, spent too much time in the sights of automatic weapons to want to laugh.”

Don’t worry, I’m happy to laugh at you from here.

And oh, Leon. Now you’re just calling names and making insults. It’s terrible to see you melt down like that after your argument failed. You should go take a nap or something.

Cheers! ;)

So, frankly, I neither believe the people who claim they can make a working semi-automatic weapon using anything like current 3-D printer technology, nor do I worry that this technology will effectively undermine gun control regimes. Until a 3-D printer can produce a substance with all the qualities of forged steel, it cannot produce a complete working gun capable of serious mayhem. And that would take a technological leap. So… innovate away. I’ll continue to work on more effective and more life-affirming technology. And I won’t have to console myself that an ubermensch with a concealed carry permit will rise up with a concealed weapons permit to rescue innocent people from the effects of my work. I would suggest that people who resort to such fantasies consider finding something more positively productive to do. But in any case, in this case, I think the laws of physics will do a pretty good job of protecting us from guns produced completely by 3-D printers.

@113: I don’t post links in comment threads. Learn to Google. Plenty of public libraries run free courses for Internet beginners. Start with a search for “Jane Creba” or “”danzig blocko”. And no, none of the people in the incidents I refer to had concealed carry permits; in the American sense, such permits don’t exist where I live. I must have missed the guidance systems in bullets that detect a concealed carry permit, and veer off to hit innocent bystanders if the shooter doesn’t have one.

OK, this has gone far enough, guys. You may find this kind of fatuous argument amusing, but I don’t. Too many people have died. Go ahead an drivel on about fantasy worlds in which die ubermensch shows up with a concealed carry permit, perfect aim in darkness and smoke, and smokes the bad guy. I’ve met too many parents of murdered children, talked to too many angry and violent people, spent too much time in the sights of automatic weapons to want to laugh.

I don’t see any evidence of self-defense shooting going awry in what you posted. You didn’t give any links, for one, so you might have been making everything up. Even if you weren’t you haven’t posted any evidence of legitimate CCW holders attempting to defend themselves and then blowing away innocents, its just “some people were shooting at each other and some bystanders got hurt”. Were they gang members? Why were they shooting? Who knows? I don’t know, you haven’t posted any evidence that any of these incidents. And you haven’t given any evidence that a CCW in the theater wouldn’t have been able to easily take this guy down, especially as we now know he was unarmored (save for a helmet).

And right, because guns are MAGIC in America!

What, I fail to comply with your attempted “gotcha” demand, and now I’m the bad guy? Ha! U mad bro?

“Moreover, I’d support people prosecuted as accessories if they opened fire in that kind of situation, even if they DIDN’T murder any bystanders.”

But you don’t live in this country, so who cares? And apparently this can’t ever happen in yours, so once again, who cares?

Moreover, I’d support people prosecuted as accessories if they opened fire in that kind of situation, even if they DIDN’T murder any bystanders.

“You won’t answer because you know it won’t end well for you.”

I’m sorry, was “go fuck yourself, smartass” not an acceptable answer for you?

Sorry, if you want to make a point, just come out and make it. Don’t try and play cute games.

FTFY

We don’t know if it would have been much better or worse. People can have the opinion that there’s a good chance it would have been better/worse with fightback, but it’s by no means settled.

No John, you keep trying to control the argument. And that’s amusing, because you already lost it. Or at least it’s rendered pointless. XD

Because it doesn’t matter what you think. I, and people like me, are going to keep making the tech available that makes the practicality of gun control futile. And we’re going to keep improving it.

You want us to believe that no one can act to save themselves and others without risking making things worse, and that means no one should act; I refuse to believe that. I should hope anyone that aspires to improve anything in any way should believe that.

You choose to be (and I say this laughingly, not sneeringly, get it right) one of the bullet-absorbent. You choose to surrender. You choose to offer no resistance to someone that would do you harm. That’s your choice to make. Fortunately, you only get to make that choice for yourself, and not anyone else. And that’s as it should be.

@121: Having the courage to face the consequences of your beliefs means not consoling yourself with a magical outcome when you don’t like a particular consequence. As Leslie Charteris once put it, “those who believe the game is worth the candle should be prepared for an accident with the candle.” In this case, affirming the inevitability of the general availability of guns means some people who don’t care about their own lives or the lives of anyone else will abuse their freedoms to kill. And no magic solution will always apply. In fact, in some situations, where bold action would make things worse, we may have an obligation to do nothing. to stay still and simply hope we survive. If you vote for the general availability of guns, you inevitably vote for circumstances to emerge where decent people have no other choices, where magic solutions simply don’t exist, where in order to save as many people as possible, to use Swing’s sneering phrase, being “bullet absorbent” is the only possible choice. A belief in magic, the construction of elaborate fantasies in which an ubermensch with a concealed carry permit emerges from the smoke and saves the day has no dignity; it amounts to giving in to your fears.

You won’t answer because you know it won’t end well for you.

No, you think you’re being clever, when you’re really just being an asshole by adding random changes to the situation.

There is no answer because nobody can know for sure what they’d actually do or 100% what would actually happen, it’s hypothetical. Life is uncertain, WHO KNEW?

Are you trying to imply that if we can’t answer your hypothetical question with a positive outcome we must err on the side of what is, in your opinion, caution? Because re: your opinion, who cares?

What we do know for certain:

1. It’s not practical or even possible to make guns cease to exist or prevent people who might misuse them from having them. The advance of technology is making that even more certain as time goes by, not less. Minifacturing and a Maker in every home is getting closer, not farther, away. Get used to this concept, unless you plan on turning the entire U.S. into Amish country.

2. Lying there being bullet-absorbent isn’t helping.

So no, Leon, it’s not a simple question. It’s just you /thinking/ you’re clever, when really you’re just showing yourself to be the opposite.