Bob_Church

Personally, and this is just me, but I don't consider that a background check. They check you for a criminal record. So if you've already been caught you can't buy a gun. First one's always free I guess. But when we say background check I suspect most people think of what happened when one of my ex-student employees applied to the FBI and they came around and talked to me about him. To me, that's a background check. And it's comforting to think they're doing background checks so that's the term that gets used.

Ironically, the author has been accused of not being "feminist enough." Ironic, but not the least bit surprising. She committed the mortal sin of saying that assuming guilt by accusation was not a good idea. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/15/margaret-atwood-feminist-backlash-metoo

You said "criminal" Not Felon. The thing is, when you're trying to use laws to change something the devil is in the details. We can say "gun control" or "background check" but legally those terms don't mean anything. Hell, they don't really mean anything even in discussions, which I think is why some of these discussions never seem to get anywhere.

So if the applicant marks the "yes" box on "are you a criminal" they don't get the gun? Or did you have something else in mind?

Based on looking at this who would you ban from buying a gun?

Well stated. I recently heard a guy, a guy who was old enough and educated enough to know better say "We fought to stop Hitler but Stalin and Mao killed more people each and we never even bothered about that." He was that determined to find something about the US to criticize that fit in with a discussion we were having about war and the US military. The essence of that line of thought is that Mao and Stalin killed their own people. Setting aside the fact that Ukrainian purges, Ukrainian famine, etc. were directed at separate republics. Generally speaking US wars have never been prosecuted for territorial or imperialist aims. But forty plus years of The Cold War to contain them is not bothering?

What is this background check? Who carries it out and what is it intended to accomplish? I don't mean more vague things like "prevent gun violence" I mean specifically. What would it check for that would make Colorado safer?

Well stated. I recently heard a guy, a guy who was old enough and educated enough to know better say "We fought to stop Hitler but Stalin and Mao killed more people each and we never even bothered about that." He was that determined to find something about the US to criticize that fit in with a discussion we were having about war and the US military.

And. those who have homes in areas near forest fires shouldn't be thanking the firefighters who were injured or died stopping the fire before it reached their homes. No, there was no threat to our freedoms in the 20th century. And having a good enough military to keep anyone from trying to invade you seems like a good plan, especially once weapons of mass destruction became prevalent.

CASA would be the next closest I could think of. 32 jumpers. Slower on the climb. Tougher to use with lots of small groups since the jumprun tends to be faster and the drop gets strung way out. But you can chunk some wicked formations off that huge ramp. Great for boogies, but you need a hundred fun jumpers to keep one turning so not so great for daily use. Just my opinions. Don't know if it's possible to make new Skyvans, but they did start making otters again due to demand. Casas need 2 pilots. Another strike against them, tho they are f'ing fun planes for sure. As long as you avoid the Casa Rash.

"Who knows, maybe they'll pay it forward and want to become scuba divers with an eye on becoming a rescue diver at some point in the future. " I think I'd consider paying it forward by going into a career in Security and make sure nobody ignores the warning signs at similar places.

"And you should go to Westminster and tell the family of the 13 year old who was just killed in a road-rage incident that you don't really give a shit about their dead son, as long as you don't have to change anything related to your guns. " That's about as cheap as it gets. It doesn't even make sense.

Good luck to them. That's a difficult dive for the best of cave divers. Really hoping everyone involved makes it out OK. Need all the good luck possible and more. Further to the point about "blame": Imagine how much cheaper skydiving would be if we had that attitude in the US. DZOs can win lawsuit after lawsuit because they're baseless but it's still expensive just to defend yourself.

If you ever get over this way give a yell. Skydive Green County Xenia is my home dz despite not getting there very often. I'm semi retired so most of my jumps are C-172 jumps for events at Vinton County Airport where I'm the official skydiver since I'm the only guy with a parachute. It's less than thirty minutes away but after I moved Xenia is about three hours each way and my back hates being in a car. But it's always good to get over to Xenia when I can and it always feels like pulling into home. It can be weeks or years but Lee and Jim still recognize you instantly. So do some of the others but my memory has gotten worse than my hearing. Bob Edit: And do it when you just get off student status. I've never been any good at RW so at that point we'll be well matched.

And the only way that would change so that they would get caught is with a regristry. Without that, they can’t get caught (that is what I mean by unenforceable). Derek V I posted this awhile back but I don't know if you saw it. It's one thing to say "keep a registry." It's another to get any useful information from that law. Coolville gunshop .pdf

It's not really a problem, go for it. You'll be told that you have to do a tandem jump, which is cool. After that, I don't know and it will depend a lot on how that goes, that sort of thing. But The Sport is easier to enter than ever, except maybe the costs. Between tandem and the hybrid AFF that that it leads to you can be off student status in no time. Just don't buy the horseshit about downsizing. Swooping a small canopy is a discipline of its own and if you get a lot of experience then want to do it that's fine, but don't accept the all too common crap about it being part of skydiving and you're in the wrong sport if you don't get a smaller canopy. Oh, and you'll be surprised about sizes now that ZP is standard. I jump a 210 hornet which, when you were jumping was a medium sized canopy like the cruiseair I had in 1980. Now a 210 is huge and lets you down nice. So when you're getting off student status do some serious checking. Canopies are different now but mostly in a nice way, just be sure to get good advice. Welcome back.

The culture of the Thai people, based on Buddhism, is very different to western ideas about blame, life and death etc. So they will accept whatever happens, with the attitude that it was meant to be. Not to say they won't be sad and upset if their loved ones are lost. But they will not apportion blame. We'll see, but I think you may be leaning on the culture thing a bit hard. With good reason. I've spent quite a lot of time in Thailand, and they do have a totally different mindset to Westerners when it comes to such things. You can see it in the responses the kids themselves have given. Nobody is blaming the coach. Cool.

Low O2 levels in the ambient air is only half the problem. The other half is elevated CO2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypercapnia Setting up compressors outside the cave gives them access to unlimited air, (and is easier than finding containers of 02), and it addresses both problems. I wonder how sealed off the chamber is. Will it vent itself or just slowly lower the water level without getting rid of the CO2? And if the hose isn't quite big enough there are oxygen concentrators that might be a good compromise.

Agreed. That was why I said O2/air, since I wasn't sure which they meant. But now here is an article that says it has already been done: Rescuers have fed a kilometres-long air pipe into the cave to restore oxygen levels in the chamber where the team are sheltering, accompanied by medics and expert divers. Source: https://www.afp.com/en/news/205/conditions-perfect-evacuation-thai-boys-cave-doc-17a6wy6 BBC is saying the same: There are concerns about the falling oxygen level in the chamber, but officials say an air line into the cave has now been installed. Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-44748924 I wouldn't rule out liquid oxygen eventually. It could be provided by one of the mobile units like they bring to airshows for some of the aircraft and then moving a little would give them a lot.

The culture of the Thai people, based on Buddhism, is very different to western ideas about blame, life and death etc. So they will accept whatever happens, with the attitude that it was meant to be. Not to say they won't be sad and upset if their loved ones are lost. But they will not apportion blame. We'll see, but I think you may be leaning on the culture thing a bit hard.

"I have yet to see that anywhere in the stories I have read" One of their stated primary goals is to keep morale high. So no, nobody is talking about it for now. But 12 children were taken four kilometers into a cave complex where conditions are so bad now that one rescue diver has died. So far. This is with nobody's knowledge, let alone permission. They only knew they were in the cave when someone noticed their bikes and stuff outside. So yes, it's just in my head, but I suspect there will be questions asked and some seriously pissed off people waiting for this guy.

West Virginia has gone concealed carry for anyone over 21 who can legally own a gun. Ohio still has the permit system, though it's a pretty easy one to get, but it does leave you registered that way. Ohio used to be incredibly hard to get a concealed carry permit in. A friend went to work in the prison system and had to attend firearm training. The first thing the instructor told them was that "no, this will not get you a concealed carry permit and no I can't do anything to help you. Please Don't Ask." Rick says you could tell he was tired of answering those questions. In Bando, Burmese Kickboxing a couple of the really serious guys were trying to get bodyguard licenses so that they could use those to get concealed carry permits. But then, one ruling later and we went from a few percentage of people eligible for the permits to only a few that can't get them.

Colorado passed the magazine limit law. What is the result? Magpul left the state, taking jobs and tax revenue with them. You can go to another state and buy as many 30-round magazines you want and bring them back to Colorado. Since they are not stamped with a DOM, there is no way to know if you had them before the law or not. You can go into gun shops and buy 30-round magazine kits and in about 10 seconds, assemble a 30-round magazine. So, net result? Loss of jobs and tax revenue. Good job, idiots. Where am I? No, I do not hunt. I haven’t bought a firearm in probably 5+ years. I don’t have a large collection. Yes, I carry a firearm. I also have several fire extinguishers, check my spare tire regularly, wear a seatbelt, have 2 smoke detectors in the house (just had to replace one), have an AAD in both of my rigs (one speed cypres and one vigil), and wear a helmet when riding one of my motorcycles. I do not believe the pro-gun control is about saving lives. It is about gun control. More gun control laws are not going to solve the problem. Derek V The one thing I think is a bad idea, but will fight for people's right to do it, is open carry. This makes absolutely no sense to me. With concealed carry you can defend yourself and have the element of surprise on your side. And I do know one person who was saved by it. Two people were doing a thing in Charleston Wv where one would stop a person and ask for directions then the two would put them in the hospital while robbing the victim. You'd read about another victim a couple of times a week. They didn't kill anyone, yet, when they'd been caught but they put people in the hospital for a long time and with injuries that would take a lot of work to fix. Jerry was on one of his evening walks when the one stopped him. He just pulled up his shirt letting the guy see his gun and that was that, the guy and his partner who'd been waiting to the side decided they needed to be somewhere else and Jerry's description helped catch them. But I worry that if he'd been open carrying they'd have just hit him in the back of the head with a brick before he knew anything was going on. After all, that automatic was valuable and with open carry you'd be advertising it. But it's still a personal choice, in my opinion.

I just ordered my copy. This is the first skydiving photo book I've bought since Skies Call, but considering who's photos they are there's no way I'd miss this one. And I suspect this book will take care of some of my Christmas shopping.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-07-07/thai-cave-rescue-expert-divers-to-guide-trapped-soccer-team-out/9952924 There's a graphic on that page that helps show how much effort it took for the soccer team and coach to get to where they are. The main portion of the cave for visiting was set to close on July 1 for the rainy season. Going into there would have been one thing, though doing so without parents' knowledge let alone consent wouldn't have been smart. But then they ignored a lot of signs saying basically "don't even think about going past this point. EVER!!" This would have been unthinkable any time of year but especially near the end of June.