(From Kalamazoo, Had my car fixed at Seelye)

Sorry this rambles a bit. I need to write something.

The US is one of the most conservatives democracies on earth. No Universal Healthcare, no guaranteed sick leave, no employment contracts, highest rate of incarceration per 100,000 most people incarcerated period.

So the US is pretty conservative. An offshoot of this is the me vs you mentality. Other people need a gun to protect themselves against you.

The people you are arguing against don't give a shit others die for their rights. The right to own a lethal projectile weapon that can be carried in a car to easily extinguish life trumps anyone's else right to live. After all, when the constitution existed there were actual state militias, and guns had to be loaded with black powder. Obviously, a semi-automatic, 14 round, pocket concealable weapon, in a woman's purse is exactly what they had in mind.

The only thing stopping anyone from killing you is, they don't currently feel like it. The gun-nuts don't care that knives aren't equivalent to guns, they will do whatever is necessary to move the conversation from access, i.e. the gun itself is the problem, to personal responsibility, people will use whatever is necessary to kill others. Granted people can die from knives, or cars, or spoons, or swimming pools, but we don't see the military arming it's troops with cars with the express purpose to commit vehicular homicide, or only giving them knives. They get issued guns because ... that's what they are for. The tools argument is asinine. Some tools are really good at their job and make the job possible!

And yes, many people own guns because they are fun. That same gun can go on to kill a family member in a domestic dispute, a family member in a suicide, a family member when it's being cleaned, a family member when the owner hears a loud noise, a kid when it's not locked up, a kid when its forgotten about in a closet, a neighbor in an accidental discharge, an intruder who wanted to steal a few things, or others in the community when anyone with access has decided they ... simply want to.

You want to know why mass-shootings happen so frequently? People simply decide today-is-the-day and they have access.

I don't have anything in my house I can go on a mass killing spree with other than a kitchen knife. If I get robbed I'm not killing the intruder over shit I have insured. I don't need those kinds of memories watching someone crumple on the floor in agony over a few hundred dollars worth of shit.

The same people go, "Der, they are used against the government!", which is the stupidest fucking argument of all time. Basically it boils down to:

1. The government, which is composed of people who were voted in, doesn't represent them, even though it's representative
2. They are waiting for the collapse instead of doing anything to prevent it
3. They plan on killing other human beings when the collapse occurs

How can you work with these people on solutions? They want the collapse to occur. They want government to be ineffective.

What is the actual text of the Second Amendment?

A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.

Despite bullshit from the supreme court, the 2A was written clearly enough ...

• A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State
• A well regulated Militia, being necessary
• A well regulated Militia

Does someone keeping a gun in the backseat of a car sound like a well regulated militia?

I would think well regulated would mean competency tests, militia membership, following rules of some kind. I don't think it meant, "keep a gun at the bedside table chambered."

To fight the government, as one interpretation goes, what do you think would actually work?

• Citizens armed with handguns and rifles with no training
• Militia members with training and military assets like vehicles, explosives, bases, and a treasury to continue to pay members