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1000x, but I would go further. As a gunowner I have said multiple times in one way or another that I think my rights should be tempered with evaluations and continued monitoring. I live in MA where there are a bunch of gun laws that restrict ownership, but none of them directly tackle the problem. People owning guns that are unfit to own them. There is an assault weapons ban, large capacity laws. But none of the laws truly evaluate my fitness to own a firearm. I could go buy an assault weapon that was manufactured before the enactment date of the original federal assault weapon ban, and I could buy a storage locker full of "pre-ban" magazines. Totally legal. The only hinderance is a much higher cost because of supply and demand, there are only so many pre-ban guns and magazines to buy. There was no true evaluation of my mental health, and no real check that I am not a reckless moron aside from attending a brief NRA firearms safety class. I could be bat shit crazy, with huge anger issues from day 1, and if I managed to avoid getting entangled with the legal or mental health system it would completely fly under the radar because I could mask long enough for my 10 minute conversation with the officer assigned to process permits at the local police station. Or maybe I was previously fit to own firearms, but recently lost my job, got divorced, and have been having getting increasingly isolated. Maybe I have start to become unhinged after feeding myself a steady stream of extremist videos on YouTube. There is no system to catch that either, short of someone spotting outward signs and reporting me to law enforcement. I like my firearms, but I also know the risk they pose. I think it would be complete reasonable to have yearly evaluations of my gun safety knowledge, practical evaluations of my handling of them, a check on my gun storage, and a mental health evaluation that includes interviews of acquaintances for character evaluation.

Not sure this is entirely true. Politicians have had no problem creating an environment where it becomes illegal to teach sex-education but make it mandatory to teach bleeding control techniques and the use of battle field tourniquets. https://legiscan.com/TX/text/HB1147/2023 this isn’t due to inaction of politicians, this is due to specific and determined actions by politicians.

That's a big issue, and I think one way to deal with that is to make mental health a much bigger part of "normal" health. My doctor does a lot more than most, but still the questions are about "how are you feeling" "how much are you drinking" "are you finding it easy to get to sleep" etc. Starting treatment earlier will remove a lot of the stigma from mental health treatment. It will go from "he's crazy and he needs a shrink" to "went to the doctor the other day, working on my depression." The reason I think this is doable in the long run is that it currently works for Class 1 medicals for the FAA, and there's not a lot of "ratting out" going on with other pilots.

That is no shit. We can't get the congress critters to sit down with each other and talk about real-world shit. These days they only know how to slam each other on social media. Fuck what's best for the country.

This is a really great conversation. I wish it had a chance of going somewhere. I’ve written my congressman; got my “I got your email it’s important to be involved” reply. But this is all part of the discussion. Wendy P.

I had a couple of coworkers years ago claim that I had anger issues. Because I liked to rev my Harley in the parking garage. Angry??? Hell I did it for the grins it gave me, it sounded AWESOME in the parking garage. My boss (also a biker) laughed when he heard it. Then he made a point of texting me on the days I left early. It was impossible to sneak out early on a Harley parked in the echo chamber that the garage created. It made me wonder how the hell I ever received clearance for a TS/SCI, given they interviewed teachers, neighbors, friends, coworkers. I was pretty wild on motorcycles when I was in High School. It also made me realize people will talk nonsense untruths about others. We have a neighbor who happily brags about always answering his door with gun in hand. Even when it was the little girl from next door, who simply wanted the Amazon package delivered to the wrong address. I honestly cannot imagine being that paranoid and scared. This is a former Army, 100% disability from cutting away his canopy after landing in the tall pine trees, blowing out both legs, knees, and ankles. We chuckled a little when he told us that story. Poor thing.

We have to get over the “real men just suck it up and deal with their issues” syndrome, too. Wendy P.

I understand the concerns you raise, especially #2. I also get what Normiss is saying. In my fantasy world we should be able to build due process into the system, and I am not picturing a system of informing, rather I am thinking of a spectrum of evaluation where multiple data points are weighed against each other. For example, I think it would be fine to have people pick their own character references. The type of people you can or can't get to vouch for you is a data point itself. A change in the people you pick would also be a data point. Why did you no longer use your parent and a close friend to be a reference. Is it because they were on vacation, or is it because the people that know you closely have had concerns about changes in your behavior. Cap it with a robust system for timely appeal, that would protect against the fun hating coworkers that Normiss had. Unfortunately this is ultimately nothing but a thought experiment about a dreadful problem because we don't have the political will to solve big complex problems in the country.

Some of these shows the guest get to fly on the airlines and spend the night in a hotel. Something they may otherwise never get to do in their lifetime.

Bakhmut has been in 'deep shit' since August. Didn't you say that the Russians were bringing the full weight of Wagner and that Bakhmut was going to fall real soon? Didn't you say that a week or more ago? The town is virtually flattened. One reason the Ukrainians are trying to hold it is because it's the only town currently being flattened. If they fell back, the orcs would destroy every other town, city & village they came across. Exactly like they did for the entire war. By holding Bakhmut, the rest of the towns in the area are spared. But the current reports show the Ukranians falling back some. Their supply lines are not as secure as they should be, so they seem to be deciding that somewhere over 20k Russians is a decent amount of damage to inflict. Especially at the cost of maybe a couple thousand Ukrainians. Plus the fact that they've had about 8 months to fortify lines just to the west, that they'll be able to hold pretty much indefinitely. Wagner is pretty much done. The Russians are backing them up with the 'VDV' paratroops (who are also pretty much done for). Fun fact: Russia seems to have deployed and destroyed all of its trainers. Many of the experienced soldiers who were training the new guys have been killed. So there's no one around to train the new guys. VDV & Spetznaz have the same problem. You can't teach a guy how to hold a rifle and walk in a straight line, then give him a silly hat and a stripey shirt and expect him to be an effective soldier. Currently, Russia has no operational reserves. Zero. So when the Ukrainians attack, the orcs will either have to weaken other areas, or just 'lay back and enjoy it.' Given that the Ukrainians are reported to have well over 20 brigades coming on line (some are still training, others are waiting for equipment), the next month or so should be... Interesting. We'll likely find out how fast Russians can run to the east.

More excuses - blame the victim. YOU are a symptom of the problem.

No one claimed that any Ukraine offensive will destroy Russia. You've been given about a dozen chances here to stop trolling. This is your last one. Stop with the videos, the insults, the strawmen, and the Russian propaganda.

So much for "An armed society is a polite society"

I’ve got not back-channel comms and all my tin foils is utilized in non hat-related applications, but I am impressed with his seemingly incessant ability to post bullshit

I'd be willing to consider measures that would ACTUALLY MAKE A DIFFERENCE. Unfortunately, I haven't seen a single proposal that isn't anything more than 'security theater'. It's the old 'Do something, do ANYTHING to make us feel safe!!!' Even if it doesn't make any difference. Someone mentioned airlines & the TSA a few posts up (not my sarcastic one). Remember October 2001? No toenail clippers, no lapel pins that were miniature guns, no nothing that even looked like it could be a threat. Even if it was totally harmless. Even Bic lighters. Totally fucking stupid, totally useless, total 'theater'. Remember also, how many people managed to sneak stuff like box cutters and knives on board? Remember the shoe bomber? So now everyone has to take off their shoes. Remember the plot in London to blow up the airliners over the North Pole with binary liquid explosives? And in the aftermath, liquids were sharply restricted. I'm somewhat surprised that nobody has attempted to smuggle an explosive device shoved up their butt. I don't want to see what the aftermath of that would look like. I haven't flown commercial airlines in over 20 years. Mostly because I have no reason to, but partly because of the stupidity. And, back to gun control, as I noted earlier - It's a dangerous issue for politicians to take up. If the Ds manage to pass restrictive gun laws (which is very unlikely to happen), they'd be in serious danger of getting voted out of office. Which would put the Rs back in control. The Rs taking both houses in 96 (and putting Gingrich in as Speaker) was horrible for the country. I supported it at the time because I was largely a single issue voter. I didn't see the danger the Rs posed to our country and our society. Not going to make that mistake again.

If only Reca had told a more cohesive lie you wouldn’t have to be bending over backwards claiming that military radar was wrong, civilian radar was wrong, the chase plane pilots were wrong, the air traffic controllers were wrong, and the pilots of Flight 305 were wrong. The flight path surely couldn’t have been where ALL of these different witnesses agree on, it was actually 140 MILES away. Everyone is agreeing an event took place in New York City and you’re claiming that it actually took place in Baltimore. Cle Elum to the the Cooper DZ is almost that far in distance. That’s how utterly ridiculous supporting Reca makes someone.

You realize there are somewhere around 75,000 pages of INTERNAL documents on the case i.e. documents never intended to be seen by the public. That's quite a lot of red herrings.

Why, are you afraid you might learn something? Relax, there's little risk of that ever happening.

Why should anyone take this seriously when you refuse to support any peace that isn't completely on Russia's terms?

Considering he issued a ruling that made it near impossible to convict a bribery charge, while taking bribes, we have some precedent. The fact that ruling was 9-0 may make for more uncomfortable discussions in the future.

Georger and Math. The comments about grammar are pathetic. You two are both full of s**t and are virtue signaling. The poster who said me instead of I has done ten times more for this community than either of you and is well respected and well liked. This is the Internet and not a high school English class. We type fast and have a stream of thought. Mistakes happen. Georger you’re an old guy, so I can see how maybe you’re offended by the new tech. But there is no need to call out minor grammar issues here. Get a life both of you.