talkmagic.co.uk

Demitri wrote:To be quite honest, I'm sickened that all of you have lost sight of what this topic was about. Monker - this discussion wasn't about English/American inventions. It's about 32 dead kids, murdered at the hands of a lunatic.

Demetri, if you look at my past posts you will see that I initially was keeping my posts quite on topic. It was not until this was posted:

mark lewis wrote:It IS easy to buy a gun in the States. In some States it is a trifle harder but still laughable. In other States it is just like purchasing a bar of chocolate and I stand by that statement. Virginia where the tragedy occured is one of those States. There are some cursory regulations but they are quite laughable. To even consider selling a gun to a high school student is beyond belief. I am always amused that the USA considers itself the best country in the world. It ISN'T. It really isn't and never has been

To me this kind of arrogance is unacceptable. If Mr. Lewis wants to bash a country's character, he can go do it somewhere else.

Also, Demetri, I did not bring up the concept of supposed "British" inventions. It was Cardza who posted this:

Cardza wrote:Oh I'd say England's contributed many things to the wider world - lightbulbs, the train, gas masks, the internal combustion engine, the electric motor, penicilin, the submarine, the internet... viagra...

and it was Markdini who posted this:

Markdini wrote:EDIT: for our smart mouth young friend

we invented

the jet engine
Televison
The toilet
The Lee enfield rifle
afternoon tea

I was merely correcting their statements for historical accuracy. On a side note, I do not believe that being historically accurate pegs me as being a "smart mouth young friend" as Markdini so eloquently put it.

Monker... your patriotism is admirable. But if you put as much effort into talking about magic here than you had getting public info on all and sundry, perhaps this thread would have stayed clean?

Google can help you all you like, but what you're actually doing—and have tried to do since the near the start of this thread you contradicted yourself with

"I think that it's also funny how the UK thinks that they are the best country in the world. You don't try to conquer half of the globe without confidence. "

A contradiction because, on one hand you were saying that the incident we (the humble UK nation, who know nowt about the yousay) originally sympathised over was a tragedy, and on the other hand you morbidly talked about fake suicides and how the yousay could conquer half the world with confidence.

The real issue—the shootings—has gotten lost in the mists of things.

So we'll lock this thread right now, and us 'Brits' will wind up our old fashioned TV sets in the hope that without any links to the outside world we will get a news update or two by carrier pigeon.

Thread locked.

locked? oh no its not!

just to clarify, guns and poor mental health care = bad

countries = good and bad in all of them

punk = the term sprung from "garage" bands from the 60s, like The Seeds...which from there on sprung into a hybrid of Acid Rock later on that decade, by more politically driven bands, such as MC5...

AND! im eating a free peanut kitkat...so in all your faces...

Johnny Wizz wrote:

DrTodd wrote:

Johnny Wizz wrote:I actually heard an interview on Radio 4 this morning with a talk radio presenter from the US. He was asked if this latest tragedy didn't make gun control more important and he argued the opposite. His view was that if more people carried guns around there would be more protection and less of this sort of thing would happen.

That seems a very warped logic to me and just trying to excuse the inexcusable.

I was on the BBC this morning arguing the other case...our second ammendment (right to bear arms) plus capitalism have created a remarkable result: 200 million guns, one for every adult!

The US has about 25,000 gun murders a year....I never understand the argument of more guns...after Columbine, Charlton Heston, President of the National Rifle Association said that we should ban trenchcoats, so the goths could not hide guns in them

Were you the person arguing that the second amendment doesn't really entitle everybody to bear arms and that it specifically empowers a national militia, the National Gaurd to be armed?

I would be very interested to hear more of that arguement. It is incomprehensible to most people in this country that firearms would ever be so readiily available and that no amount of these terrible incidents will alter American public opinion or political will

The second amendment is ambiguous in this age. It does give the constitutional right for all citizens to bear arms, but it was written in the late 18th century, before the war with mexico, before the US had exteneded its reach south and west, and was designed to raise national militias to defend the homeland. The militia movement in America draws its inspiration from the amendment, and the National Rifle Association is the main pressure group that lobbies against any gun control. After Reagan was shot, which resulted in James Brady being permanently paralysed, the Congress passed the Brady Bill, which seeks to limit acquisition of handguns in the US, much to the horror of the NRA.

I do find a certain irony in the fact that billions of dollars have been spent on homeland security in the US, but that the law allows 200 million guns.

Well, you were warned.

Now it's locked.