Gun Legislation, Crime, and Events

[gehringer_2]

46 minutes ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

 

interestingly enough, there is an argument to be made that the big increases in urban crime in the 70's-80's which have taken a few decades to fall back, line up with the increase in lead burden in children from the huge increases in the use leaded gasoline that were occurring during that period. Lead isn't good for brains, esp young ones. Things like poor development of impulse control follow. 

There are a lot of environmental scares that pretty much just that, but I tend to believe that one was real and never has been fully recognized for the disaster it was. The combined political pull of big oil and the auto biz meant that no-one was ever going to be held to account for what happened or even look all that closely.

Edited Wednesday at 04:08 PM by gehringer_2

[gehringer_2]

On 10/4/2025 at 6:18 PM, Archie said:

They are always starting something but then claim they are the victim.  Its never ending.

LOL - more projection.

[CMRivdogs]

1 hour ago, gehringer_2 said:

interestingly enough, there is an argument to be made that the big increases in urban crime in the 70's-80's which have taken a few decades to fall back, line up with the increase in lead burden in children from the huge increases in the use leaded gasoline that were occurring during that period. Lead isn't good for brains, esp young ones. Things like poor development of impulse control follow. 

There are a lot of environmental scares that pretty much just that, but I tend to believe that one was real and never has been fully recognized for the disaster it was. The combined political pull of big oil and the auto biz meant that no-one was ever going to be held to account for what happened or even look all that closely.

You could also include the absence of led paint in many of the older lower income apartment buildings 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, CMRivdogs said:

You could also include the absence of led paint in many of the older lower income apartment buildings 

when we were kids they painted some yellow pencils with lead chromate - double whammy.

[chasfh]

22 hours ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

 

Awesome!

Will you be taking credit for the “broader drop in violent crime” from 2021 through 2024 as well?

[chasfh]

18 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

when we were kids they painted some yellow pencils with lead chromate - double whammy.

You mean the yellow pencils we use to chew on out of boredom during class?

[Deleterious]

A bit shocked this didn't already exist, but glad they are starting it again.  Schools do not have to offer it and kids can not be forced to take it.

Whitmer signs bill for Michigan firearm safety class in schools

[Tigeraholic1]

2 hours ago, chasfh said:

Awesome!

Will you be taking credit for the “broader drop in violent crime” from 2021 through 2024 as well?

No, it was the lack of lead paint. 

[chasfh]

1 hour ago, Deleterious said:

A bit shocked this didn't already exist, but glad they are starting it again.  Schools do not have to offer it and kids can not be forced to take it.

Whitmer signs bill for Michigan firearm safety class in schools

The safest thing anyone can do with regard to firearms is to stay the hell away from them.

[CMRivdogs]

Maybe if they put a huge tariff on bullets..

 https://wydaily.com/latest/alerts/2025/12/24/police-man-shoots-self-in-foot-at-williamsburg-premium-outlets/

Quote

JAMES CITY COUNTY — A man shot himself in the foot Tuesday afternoon at the Williamsburg Premium Outlets on Richmond Road in James City County.

According to the James City County Police Department, police and EMS were dispatched at approximately 1:17 p.m. to the Premium Outlets in the 5700 block of Richmond Road to reports of a shooting with injuries.

Officers arrived to find that a 32-year-old Newport News man had allegedly accidentally shot himself in the foot while standing beside his vehicle, police said. He was transported to Riverside Regional Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries.

I'm willing to bet he skipped those open carry classes held down the street

[Deleterious]

When I was a kid, our chief of police shot himself in the foot.  While in his office.

[romad1]

20 hours ago, Deleterious said:

A bit shocked this didn't already exist, but glad they are starting it again.  Schools do not have to offer it and kids can not be forced to take it.

Whitmer signs bill for Michigan firearm safety class in schools

Dislike that the sponsors are bad faith actors.   In general, definitely a good idea to teach this.  The crazed gunstrokes might benefit from some fear of the objects of their love.   I'm also approving as a national security dweeb.   Firearm familiarity is a net positive for those entering basic military training.  They do this in most countries with large military forces and the US military has to overcome a lot of challenges with those suburban types like me who come onboard learning how to shoot.  In my case, it was no issue because i had grown up with some small experience and a healthy fear of these things.  In others i observed, it was fear of the noise and ignorance of the mechanisms that caused them to have to do remedial training. 

 

[chasfh]

2 hours ago, romad1 said:

Dislike that the sponsors are bad faith actors.   In general, definitely a good idea to teach this.  The crazed gunstrokes might benefit from some fear of the objects of their love.   I'm also approving as a national security dweeb.   Firearm familiarity is a net positive for those entering basic military training.  They do this in most countries with large military forces and the US military has to overcome a lot of challenges with those suburban types like me who come onboard learning how to shoot.  In my case, it was no issue because i had grown up with some small experience and a healthy fear of these things.  In others i observed, it was fear of the noise and ignorance of the mechanisms that caused them to have to do remedial training. 

 

I am functioning Asperger’s who jumps a mile high at sharp loud noises made in an unexpected and unpredictable manner, so I would be completely useless in an infantry. Well, that plus I’m 64 with advanced scoliosis.

I’ll keep delivering boxes to food-insecure people of modest means for a Latino-based pantry facing down a federal government trying shut it down instead. That’s my war.

[romad1]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

I am functioning Asperger’s who jumps a mile high at sharp loud noises made in an unexpected and unpredictable manner, so I would be completely useless in an infantry. Well, that plus I’m 64 with advanced scoliosis.

I’ll keep delivering boxes to food-insecure people of modest means for a Latino-based pantry facing down a federal government trying shut it down instead. That’s my war.

When we get needy for your services we will form scoliosis battalions.   Probably won't get there until later in the war. 

[chasfh]

3 hours ago, romad1 said:

When we get needy for your services we will form scoliosis battalions.   Probably won't get there until later in the war. 

Right around the time they conscript the over-65s, the under-16s, and the intellectually disabled.

[romad1]

8 minutes ago, chasfh said:

Right around the time they conscript the over-65s, the under-16s, and the intellectually disabled.

There is a horrible history there with McNamara.  The studies show that a cadre of lower than average IQ (draftees ?) during the Vietnam War that he authorized to be inducted we’re causing more casualties per unit because they would blow cover, fail to understand basic field operations, get lost, etc. 

 

[gehringer_2]

1 hour ago, romad1 said:

There is a horrible history there with McNamara.  The studies show that a cadre of lower than average IQ (draftees ?) during the Vietnam War that he authorized to be inducted we’re causing more casualties per unit because they would blow cover, fail to understand basic field operations, get lost, etc. 

Politics. The war never would have gotten off the ground if the draft hadn't been concentrated among the poor, low skilled and minorities. It was no accident at all that the pressure to bring troops home just happened to become politically unbearable the year student deferments were ended. The services needed higher quality manpower, but US society was not going to be willing to let the Pentagon use it in Vietnam, so it turned out to be righteous confluence of interests for all -- except the ARVIN.

Edited Friday at 10:50 PM by gehringer_2

[romad1]

4 hours ago, gehringer_2 said:

Politics. The war never would have gotten off the ground if the draft hadn't been concentrated among the poor, low skilled and minorities. It was no accident at all that the pressure to bring troops home just happened to become politically unbearable the year student deferments were ended. The services needed higher quality manpower, but US society was not going to be willing to let the Pentagon use it in Vietnam, so it turned out to be righteous confluence of interests for all -- except the ARVIN.

More on the topic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_100,000 

This had a very Orwellian or even Oliver Cromwellian name "New Standards Men" because they were brought in under a "new standard" which was very low.  Mcnamara planned to have them educated and brought up to speed. 

 

Cromwell's contribution to pop music is the name "New Model Army" for his English Civil War forces which adapted new training and organization to create a professional force of long-service units rather than seasonal militias.   

[gehringer_2]

19 minutes ago, romad1 said:

Cromwell's contribution to pop music is the name "New Model Army" for his English Civil War forces which adapted new training and organization to create a professional force of long-service units rather than seasonal militias.   

what's the expression in one of Shakespeare's plays spoken by an army grunt?  "I took the King's shilling" (?) - which would have been pre Cromwell.

[chasfh]

17 hours ago, romad1 said:

There is a horrible history there with McNamara.  The studies show that a cadre of lower than average IQ (draftees ?) during the Vietnam War that he authorized to be inducted we’re causing more casualties per unit because they would blow cover, fail to understand basic field operations, get lost, etc. 

 

The way it looks to me, the nature of the battlefield really has changed, hasn’t it? For millennia it literally didn’t matter how smart a guy was—you just sent him forward with the line as part of a brute force attack and they were mere chum, so it almost didn’t matter whether he got mowed down or how many went down with him. But by the time Vietnam came around, operations were far more complex and multi-faceted, which required a minimum level of intellectual capacity not needed during the Crusades (which used children!), for instance, and could lead to the failures you describe. Today, of course, there is no real battlefield as in the type imagined during the Charge of the Light Brigade. If there that kind of hand-to-hand engagement anymore, it’s more street to street, building to building, trench to trench, hill to hill, tree to tree, etc, which also requires a higher minimum of intellectual capacity to execute properly than chivalrous open field combat.

Am I close?