6/6/2002: PETA advertisement

[Joe]

I think that only a complete idiot would take a persons' life over being shot with a paintball gun.

You can't just kill someone because you're having an adrenaline rush, are angry, think the guy was an asshole, want to "get even", want to save face, or believe you will get away with it because you can simply say "I though it was a real gun".

The American mentality is such that some would not only kill the pranskter but everyone else in the car in their instant rage. And why not? It's going to be easy to beat in court, and a perfect chance to use your gun on some unarmed kids.

It's crazy.

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by Joe
I think that only a complete idiot would take a persons' life over being shot with a paintball gun.

If you attack some random person with *any* gun from a moving car, expecting them to distinguish your "just for fun" attack from a real one in the space of only a few seconds, you're an idiot and fully deserve whatever happens to you.

Would you walk into a bank, produce a plastic handgun and say "This is a stick up!" and then complain that you shouldn't be arrested because you were "only kidding, look, this is a toy gun, it's not real"?

Assaulting people is *dangerous*. It *should* be dangerous. If you don't understand why this is, I suggest you avoid toy guns, paintball guns and replica guns until you you do.

[Joe]

I'm not saying pointing fake weapons at people is a good idea, it isn't. You'll probably get shot, especially if you do it in America, land of the well armed and trigger happy.

Of course it's our right to be well armed and trigger happy, and to walk down the street, hand in pocket on trusty Glock 9mm, round in the pipe, safety off, just waiting for the chance to double tap some kid with a super soaker who saw too many Clint Eastwood movies. I wonder what his mom would say afterwards.

It's our right, after all. Hell, that squirt gun coulda been a real gun, shoot it LOOKED real. Best tried by 12 than carried by 6! Hey buddy, in today's America I'm not taking any chances.

Whatever.

[mitheral]

Originally posted by jaguar
lol now that is amazingly dumb. There are two types of painball, liquid capsules which are pretty harmless and the hard-ball powderpaint ones which can be muchos nasty.

Well as someone who has recieved many a bruise from paintballs I can tell you that even through protective clothing the liquid capsule variety can hurt. And I rarely bruise from normal life events.

[mitheral]

Originally posted by jaguar
If someone is driving towards you, past you, aobve you or undernearth you you'd have to be close to deaf not to be able to tell teh diff between a paintball gun and submachinegun, or even a pistol. --SNIP--

Jaguar, you and I probably have relatively rare expereince to draw on. I know what a 9mm (along with other assorted handguns) sound like when fired. I know what several variety of paintball gun sound like. But even though I know what a paintball gun sounds like when fired at me I don't know what an actual gun fired in my general direction sounds like. And I'd bet the vast majority of people with a CCW permit have never participated in paintball sports.

That having been said I don't think I'd bet my life that the loser who just hit me with a projectile, while I was minding my own business walking down the street, is only using a paintball gun. I'd err on the side of caution and blow his ass away. That kind of anti social behaviour should be actively discourged.

This brings to mind one of my favorite Jack Handey Deep Thoughts, which I know Tony is a fan of. I will recite it here, from memory.

"I think a good gift for the President would be a chocolate revolver. And since he's so busy, you'd probably have to run up to him real quick and hand it to him."

It's funny because both you and I know that anyone doing that would be shot. The Secret Service isn't going to take any chances to distinguish between a chocolate revolver and a real gun.

It's not at all about getting a chance to use your piece. It's being frightened for your life and neutralizing the threat.

[Slight]

I have to make a comment here. I have played paintball. Each marker sounds different. The marker I owned was fully automatic and loud as fuck. It could easily be mistaken as fully automatic gun. It was acctually designed as a training weapon. I would however not recomend it as it jammed more often than my AK.

Now if I beat down a PETA actress with an aluminum baseball bat, am I hitting her with a sports accessory or a weapon? Then isn't shooting "Jag the packin'ist pimp" with a paintball marker, assault with a deadly weapon? Don't fool yourself, a hot shot to the eyes at 300+ fps can kill.

I don't know what I would do If I was in Jag's place but I believe it is his right to defend his person, with deadly force if required.

So to turn that around, if a furry animal can't defend itself against anal electrocution or poison gases, tough shit. To put things in perspective I am a vegetarian that wears leather shoes and hates cows.

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by Slight
I have to make a comment here. I have played paintball. Each marker sounds different.

Yes, that's the new PCness..."It's not a gun, it's a marker."
What silliness...:-)

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by Joe
I
Of course it's our right to be well armed and trigger happy, and to walk down the street, hand in pocket on trusty Glock 9mm, round in the pipe, safety off..

Glocks don't have safeties....if you're going to wax sarcastic, do your homework.

I carry a double-action only (hammer doesn't cock, eight pound trigger pull) Kel-Tec P-11, and don't keep a round chambered("up the pipe" is the correct idiom, by the way) because it's even safer that way. I'm willing to rack the slide to make the weapon ready if I need to, and I can do it one-handed if necessary.

I don't think that constitutes being "trigger-happy". The amount of legal grief that awaits a licenced gun-carrier who *displays* (much less points or fires) her weapon without justification is unimaginable.

[Nic Name]

*displays*

I think brandishes is the correct idiom.

[juju]

This kind of thing has happened before. Try doing a google search for 'police mistook toy gun'. I could produce a laundry list of incidents, but I won't.

[MaggieL]

Originally posted by Nic Name
I think brandishes is the correct idiom.

Nope.
-----------------------------
Brandish Bran"dish, v. t. imp. & p. p. Brandished; p. pr. &
vb. n. Brandishing. OE. braundisen, F. brandir, fr. brand
a sword, fr. OHG. brant brand. See Brand, n.
1. To move or wave, as a weapon; to raise and move in various
directions; to shake or flourish.
-----------------------------
You can display a handgun without brandishing it....you can display it while it's still holstered.

[Nic Name]

and you can get unimaginable legal grief for that? i can't imagine.

[jaguar]

NEWS FLASH - CRIMINALS DON'T CARE WHAT THE GODDAMN LAW SAYS! THAT'S WHY THEY'RE CRIMINALS!

Gee, that sure sounds so silly compared to "let’s give everyone a gun so when they get drunk they can shoot up the bar, or when someone bulls out a book they can overreact and empty 3 clips into them. Yes we have very restricted guns laws here and HOLY SHIT, very few crimes involving firearms. If people need to pack a fucking 9mm under their jacket to feel safe something else is very, very wrong. You see the amazing thing here is I can walk anywhere I want in the city without think "shit, I could do with an Uzi and few frag grenades round here...stunning thought. When I’m with people driving past people I know I can lean out the window and yell at them without worrying about some paranoid nut pulling out a glock and blowing my head off, I kinda like that.

That having been said I don't think I'd bet my life that the loser who just hit me with a projectile, while I was minding my own business walking down the street, is only using a paintball gun. I'd err on the side of caution and blow his ass away. That kind of anti social behaviour should be actively discouraged.

Is it me or is that a self-defeating statement.

Look I agree the guy was bloody stupid but the trigger-happy attitude is what pisses me off. I mean if someone did that here you would not that "he has an M-16 and is spraying the street because you CANNOT GET THEM. I have never heard of a crime in Australia since these guns laws involving an automatic rifle.

[elSicomoro]

Hmmm...maybe the caps were a bit too much...let me see if I can assist here.

Jag, if criminals want a gun, they will get a gun. Period. You could pass 50-11 laws to restrict their ownership and use. And would they work? I doubt it. If they banned handguns in the city of Philadelphia, I could probably still go over to W. Erie Ave. and buy one for $50-500.

An honest law-abiding citizen is very rarely going to act a fool with their gun. Sure, you have the rare instances. But for every Columbine, there are millions of people who store, carry, and use their gun properly. Why would an honest citizen WANT to ruin their chances of owning a gun by being stoopid?

"It is impossible to make anything foolproof because fools are so ingenious."--Unknown