Do you not think you are being a tad extreme; censorship to a point, but dictatorship, really? I have not discussed news content or that of reality programmes, but their content certainly would not suffer from some form of scrutiny - in fact they do get scrutiny and censorship, just as mainstream films, theatre, etc. do, so it is more a case of reviewing the levels/standards and how they are applied. Well thought through censorship has a place in civilised society, poorly thought through, dictatorial censorship does not, even though it occasionally rears it's ugly head on these boards.
Not only in America, for me the staggering thing in this article is that this was the 50th shooting incident in 16 months within Greater Manchester. Goes to show that even with strict gun control and some types of gun banned completely, the baddies can still get hold of guns and not be afraid of the consequences of using them. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3270353/Woman-29-young-son-seven-shot-legs-doorstep.html
China has for years been dictated to as to what they can & can't watch/do, it might be a case of being more relaxed now, I was there a couple of years ago & the bits I was in seemed to be westernised, however, I only saw a small area so not really a good judge. As for censoring news, yes maybe it could do to be censored, but even with censorship, the news is still there telling everyone that Mr X has just shot up a school in X town, on every news channel & there's a lot of them. Next day Mr Y thinks he wants a bit of the limelight & goes into Y town to shoot it up.
I am not too interested in censoring for the sake of it, especially where adults are concerned. It is the where the protection of innocents is concerned and the rapid availability of extreme material to them (on mobile devices beyond parental control) that I believe is deserving more scrutiny from civilised authorities. Having parental control over your own children's devices just isn't enough.
Plenty of people over here believe he was born in Kenya. He and his fat-arse wife are currently destroying US "culture" as we know it ... Same-sex marriage, legalising marijuana, and the list goes on.
Steve Elliott - 5 October at 20:49 · Avery, CA, United States I am a responsible gun owner. I bought my first gun when I was 12. It was a Browning 12-gauge shotgun, and I saved money from my paper route and cleaning a drive-in restaurant to buy it in time for dove season. In the years before I could legally drive, I’d tie the Browning across the handlebars of my bike and ride to the fields outside town to hunt. I’ve owned several guns since, and own a handgun now. I bought that gun to keep my family safe, and lock it up to keep them safe from it. Like I said, responsible. And so while I’d like to believe I’m not part and party to the gun violence that stains America, I can’t. My grandmother shot and killed herself with a gun, and a few years ago my father shot and didn’t quite kill himself with one. My stepbrother died in a murder-suicide with a gun, and the husband of one of my sister’s co-workers was killed in a mass shooting. None of that happened with my gun, of course, but after every new mass shooting, I’m reminded that I bear a portion of the responsibility for our nation’s gun violence. There are too many guns to do anything about it, the gun lobby says. Regulations are a slippery slope that only limit the rights of responsible gun owners, they say. My gun is being used to argue against common-sense laws and policies that could reduce gun violence in America, arguments I find unconscionable. That’s what being a responsible gun owner means today – I’m responsible. I’ve been uneasy about that for a while now, and ashamed to admit it’s taken two more mass shootings for me to do anything about it. That ended today. Today I disassembled my handgun, a 9mm Ruger, clamped the pieces in a vice and cut them in half with an angle grinder. I’m sending the proper paperwork into the state to report it destroyed. None of us individually can stop gun violence in America, but as a responsible gun owner, I will no longer be used as a justification for doing nothing about it. Today I did what I could. Today there is #ONELESSGUN. please log in to view this image
Stupid move. There are gun buy back programs that would have taken it, destroyed it and given him a check for it.
Well, it wouldn't do to drop your plate of hors d'oeuvres would it, you might get sued for the carpet cleaning bill!
Like what? More money for bombs or drones? You think they took that money and then handed it to a homeless person? If you dont use your budget you lose your budget. As far as one less gun goes, wow great job, there are around 17,00,000 guns purchased every year in the US so great job. Only a gain of 16,999,999 guns. We are not going to get rid of our guns. Its not going to happen. It doesnt matter how many people are killed, how many mass shootings happen, none of it matters one freaking bit. Im sorry, but you all have no real world concept of what you are talking about. You think because you watch some story on the BBC that you understand what it is to live in a place where tens of thousands die every year? You think that tossing out mental health opinions about a place where you dont live helps? How many of you have been in a prison and seen people out of their mind try and separate the walls of the prison like Moses. You think that we dont know that we send insane people to jail instead of helping them? How many people in your neighborhood were shot and killed last year? How many of you have known people who have been shot, killed, killed people, shot at etc? I wonder how many people were shot and killed in Hull last night? I can tell you 3 people were shot and killed last night in my area according to the local news. This is just some story for you that pops up on your news every couple weeks. Non of that is really directed at you specifically Fez but I could go on for pages. I dont mean to be rude, or an asshole. Hopefully you understand where I am coming from (the frustration). If you care about this (which is fine, even though it has nothing to do with you, well it does since the 2nd amendment is a response to English conduct during and before the revolution) then you should be asking to questions and not telling us what to do. Unless you just want to continue a thread of bashing us for the next 10 years.
If that's rant over then I'm glad you've got it off your chest. If the discussions of this board weigh so heavy on you then you might be reading viewpoints from the wrong side of the pond. We have problems with all of the stuff you just threw out, just not to the scale of the USA; as for having to experience it all to have an opinion - really?? But you have no idea of other personal experiences, do you? You don't really know what experience folk have to losing loved ones, friends and acquaintances to violence, do you? You seem to think that the micro problems of your penal systems are not shared over here. All of that is fine, but I think you're wrong and your frustration seems to cloud your judgment. As for my part in the discussion, I do not regret showing rejoice at the fact that one individual saw the error of his ways (his ingrained lifestyle) and then demonstrated it to himself, the authorities and the world in the manner he described and was posted on here. Okay, the amount of money he left in the US coffers might be peanuts, but if a politician of imagination could use it (the symbolic act) wisely then others might follow suit, the one might become two, the two two hundred and so on - it's how these things sometimes work for other people, but the USA does seem to struggle with it, I'll grant you that. Your final paragraph is one in which you seem to struggle to know who it is your rant is aimed at (it sure as hell read like it was aimed at me, individually and as an Englishman) and who it is you blame for the situation your leader (and many others) publicly accepts you all share; we all support your anger and frustration over the events and some of the legalised stances that seem to enable them happening, but if that frustrates and annoys you what should we do? You haven't made a great deal of sense, you bang on against one clear (and seemingly genuine) act of individual conscience, you rail against and use shallow historic defence against international discussion of an issue that touches everyone and anyone who might live in or visit your country. The guy who cut up his own handgun blamed himself and took some form of personal action and I applauded that - I still do - but yes there is still so much more to do if someone else is prepared to follow suit.
The authorities probably didnt know he had a gun anyway. You think there is some master list where they know how many and what guns he had? That just goes to show you what little knowledge you do have. Most states destroy the records of purchases after a short amount of time. Most states have no record ever, at all because most guns are passed down, given as gifts, sold by individuals, sold at gun shows etc. Want to know how many of my guns have ever, even for one day been in my name? The answer is 0. So the cops when they got his letter tossed it in the trash. No one is going to follow suit, if you think that you live in a dream land. I know, I know next time it happens, we will get another story like always about some buy back plan where they take a few hundred guns off the street, like that matters in a place that has hundreds of millions of guns. Like we are ever going to all start giving our guns away in some giant gun give back. The idea is beyond a fantasy. Sorry but although you may have experienced violence unless you have experienced gun violence on an epic scale than you dont understand. Everyone who lives here has like Bengals Tiger has an actually understanding. Not some BBC nonsense where they talk about the wild west attitude, or NRA influence. Instead of asking questions, about why nothing is being done, why nothing will be done, why guns are so ingrained here with the cultural and historical reasons for that which would provide you with at least a better understanding, we get the gun buy back article/story, the politician who said something story, the why the rest of the world doesnt have the problem story etc etc. From people who have no concept of the issues here. Let me explain this in terms you will understand. There is a 0% chance that guns will stop being sold here. There is a 0% chance that all guns are taken off the streets. There is a 0% chance that the guns that kill the most people are going to be taken off the streets. There is a 0% chance that the issues that cause gun violence will be dealt with. 0% its not 0.000000000001% its 0% The frustration is more in this bullshit nonsense that happens every time from people who have no idea what they are talking about or people who simply use the issue for short term political gain. As far as you having the opportunity to visit here and that giving you a right to lecture us about guns. Dont visit here. I can speak for everyone here on that, its non of your business to lecture us on it. We dont use the idea that we might visit England as justification to critique you on knife crime or any other issue. If you want to try and turn this into some sort of constructive thread, why don't you ask a question and I will type up a concise explanation. Like why was the 2nd amendment worded the way it was, why cant it be changed, what types of guns are the most talked about and which kind are the ones that most people are killed by, how do people avoid background checks, why can people avoid back ground checks, the list is really endless. I will explain anything you want explained, **** I will take a week and write up a freaking thesis paper on guns if you want. If you really just want to continue with the anti-US look how much better than we are than those silly americans who cant seem to stop people from being shot talk, then ill just go back to ignoring this thread and all the other ones like this that come up all the time.
