Hooiveld's Hangout - The Off-Topic Chat Thread

if the apparatus is kept in a training environment, not in personal hands or in the wild, yeah.

even so, I think it's unnecessary for concealable fire arms to exist.

 

At strictly regulated target ranges, sure, by no means do you need to own your own though.

 

I don't see the point in carrying a gun around with you in public. It's basically for people that need a ego boost or to feel like a "man". Which is pretty sad and makes me feel sorry for that person.

 

I suppose. When I did it was at my friend's house and we just shot some plastic canisters filled with water and it was fine. Enjoyed the sun, had a bit of banter. I suppose America as a country is very focused on the idea of personal responsibility to a greater extent than the UK is (which includes responsibility for gun ownership), which is why things like welfare, free health-care and general government involvement in certain aspects of society are viewed so negatively over there.

Although I'm definitely against possessing concealed arms.

 

The danger with carrying a gun is that you might use it when you lose your rag....Pistorius is a prime example. Whether he meant to kill her or a burglar, she would still be alive if he didn't have a gun to hand. Better to be arrested because you hit that annoying bloke in the pub than because you killed him. Also applies to knives.

 

It's not personal responsibility, it's "I should be allowed to do whatever the **** I want". That's why the American Dream™ is all about getting to the top, not giving a **** about anyone else, and treating life like a game with winners (successful business owners) and losers (starving people). It's all ****.

 

Slightly off topic, but a successful business owner could be a builder who employs three men and earns himself 40k a year net. I get what you meant though.

 

That's not overly successful in American Dream terms.

 

The encouragement and reward of people to achieve is a good thing...as long as you don't presume that everyone who doesn't succeed just hasn't tried. There are people who fail because they don't work hard enough, but there are many people who can never improve their position for a variety of reasons...they shouldn't be abandoned to the wolves. We've gone too far in making the lazy dependent and not insisting they take responsibility...Americans have gone too far the other way. Some even equate free health care with communism!!!

 

True

 

Not that I'm condemning rich business owners; I'd like to be one someday. However this propaganda that it's what everyone should aspire to is ridiculous, and the things people will do to get there as well. They should pay high taxes and they should be regulated to strict ethical standards. If I do ever end up as one of them, you won't catch me complaining about taxes or voting for whoever will benefit me most personally.

 

It depends what level you talk about. I don't necessarily agree that someone who earns a lot of money should pay higher taxes. Doing that just encourages people to find more ways to avoid them and there are too many ways now.
They should be paying a lot more tax by the fact they have more earnings to tax.

Can you define strict ethical standards? I could agree with some of those.

 

My ex brother in law is a seargent in the police .

He always said the police don't want to carry guns .

Someone gets the Baton off you , you get hurt .

Someone gets the gun off you , you get killed .................

 

Well one obvious one is not allowing monopolies. We're quite good at that, whereas the US has the likes of Comcast. I incude tax-evading loopholes as an ethical issue as well, and exploitation of cheap labour, environmental damage, etc.

 

so are you saying that you think there should be a flat tax rate?

 

Of course the rich should pay a lot of tax, but if it's too high then people are more likely to avoid paying it and it makes rich people/businessmen more likely to move abroad or invest somewhere else, preventing job creation and reduces tax revenue.

 

So basically there's an equilibrium, and it appears to be around 40%.

 

There isn't one now and although I'd still raise questions on how you select the lines.

 

Try saying that to the Labour Party, if I hear one more thing about a tax cut for millionaires, I will scream

 

I agree with those raised. Tax evasion is my biggest grind. It really does annoy me, as I believe that if they didn't have so many loop holes, then there would be a huge difference in tax income and less discussion on higher taxation.