Re: Two year waiting period, anyone?
@ Reaps: "Way to miss the point [esteemed colleague], is alcohols main purpose to kill things? guns main purpose is to kill stuff."
I have some personal experience with the comparison you're trying to draw between deliberate and accidental death:
I was nearly stabbed when I was in grade school (with something that would have gone right through me), and I've been T-boned by a driver who went out-of-turn at a stop sign while I was biking home from work.
The former was scarier, but mainly because I was younger at the time and the car wasn't going very fast. Based on that experience, I would prefer tangling with a guy holding a six-inch knife to facing down a car going 30 mph or more.
Given the complete lack of a utilitarian purpose for ethyl alcohol, your argument seems a bit odd. Guns at least have some niche uses that haven't been replaced by something better:
- Chemical irritants work very well against bears and muggers, but you can't use them into the wind or indoors.
- Tasers are very effective when they work, but both of the barbs have to hit, and they won't go through thick clothing.
- Ketamine darts are too slow (minutes) and Ketamine is a controlled substance.
When I lived on a mountain outside of Seattle, one of my neighbors found a cougar eating his dogs. He shot it. I don't blame him. I've also stopped to help people in rough parts of Minneapolis at times when I might not have if I'd been unarmed. Those people never knew that I was carrying a weapon - only that I was friendly and helped them change their flat tire or let them use my phone.
Strong doors and rolling shutters would be a good alternative to guns for urban home defense, but the people who need them most tend to be renters who relocate frequently. It's also theoretically possible to make a dart that would penatrate a limited distance and deliver a fast-acting sedative like fentanyl (another controlled substance), but a thick sweater over a leather jacket would defeat it. It would also be pretty lethal without respiratory aid.
> stop with the "whataboutism", it makes you sound like a f**king idiot.
I'll admit that I enjoy a good shag, but the other part surely has more to do with your morning pint.
(Also note that I didn't bother to downvote you. Thanks for the laugh.)
Biting the hand that feeds IT
