Recent Comments

1. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   When I was at school, there was a run-down cafe we’d go to to smoke at lunchtime. Every day, at lunchtime, there would be a group of workers from the factory next door having their lunch. One would read the ‘stories’ our of The Sun, a ‘red top’ newspaper famous for junk stories and pictures of ladies who forgot to put their tops on.

   They took the stories as total fact and would discuss them in all seriousness. Headlines such as “Freddie Starr Ate My Hamster” and “Wereolves Seized in Southend” and “There Are No Virgins in Essex”.

   Other ‘red top’ newspapers were much the same nonsense.

   And I got a great idea. Bearing in mind this was 40 years ago, I think it was pretty prescient.

   - Every newsagent should have a hidden camera taking pictures of anyone buying a red top newspaper.

   - All these photos would be sent to a central agency.

   - Come election day, when you dropped your vote into the box, you face will be matched with the photos. If you were on the red-top newspaper file, a lever would flip and your vote would fall into the hidden waste-paper basket. If your face did not match, the lever would go the other way and your vote would stay in the box.

   That way all the stupid people would think they voted, but their votes would not be counted.

   Now I am older, I can see some moral or ethical problems with my plan, but I’m not so as to make me think it was a bad plan. :-)

2. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   You are wasting your time replying.

   1BlackLivesMatter replies to posts he disagrees with using “How so?” or “No” or even just “?” to waste people’s time and gain attention. He does not read the replies. He does, however, then delete his inane post so the respondent looks silly and the evidence of his provocation has gone.

   1BlackLivesMatter is just a worthless racist troll.

3. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   The concept that there are ‘good guys’ and ‘criminals’ is an over-simplistic fallacy It only works in Hollywood and TV shows.

   Having society flooded with guns (or drugs or loan sharks or unregulated prostitutes or untrained drivers or uninsured vehicles or all manner of other sources of social harm) makes it easier for people who would turn to crime to do so. Or to use those items when upset, angry, hurting, vengeful, drunk or high. It is the availability of guns that allows their criminal use.

   That is why societies around the world tend to regulate the use, possession, distribution, advertising or promotion of things that cause social harms.

   One exception is the tobacco industry, which is immensely powerful. Some places have successfully banned alcohol. Drugs are another problem area but much effort is spent trying to manage that.

   But there is one particular and weird outlier: guns in the USA.

   To the rest of the developed world, the gun ownership and shootings in the USA are a weird mix of fetish, fear, macho and unnecessary deaths and woundings.

   In countries where guns are regulated, it is hard for the amateur or newbie criminal to obtain a gun, and little need to possess one anyway. It prevents people who are already in possession of a gun, or with easy access to one, using a gun to do a first act of crime or violence.

   Yes, there will be criminals that will still obtain and use guns. But they will be far fewer, a rare newsworthy exception rather than an routine business-as-usual hourly death-by-shooting.

   But when guns are strictly controlled, anyone with one stands out as abnormal, making it hard for criminals to obtain or carry them. Then it really does become a reality of ‘good guys’ and ‘got a gun so probably a criminal’.

4. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   And tanks. Tanks are banned, that’s why gangs of criminals are going round in tanks doing crime all the time, because only the outlaws have tanks. Now if everyone had their own tank, a good guy with a tank could stop those crims. And there’s no way having 300 million tanks in the country could result in accidents or tanks getting into the hands of bad guys.

   Repeal the tank ban now! And thereby end tank crime!

   Remember: the only way to stop a bad guy with a tank is a good guy with a tank.

   PS Send your cash donations to National Tank Association HQ, c/o NoNewWars.

   Buy a tank today!

   This message was brought to you by the NoNewWars Tank Depot. Discounts for bulk purchases. And don’t forget your ammo for the weekend!

5. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   Another statistic:

   US gun manufacturers make enough bullets to kill every man, woman and child on the planet. Every year. Twice.

6. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   Wow.

   How about people popping some of their spare guns and ammo in a box and sending it to Ukraine? The Ukrainians would be armed to the teeth!

7. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   Once upon a time, people would wear a little St Christopher on a neck chain to protect them when travelling.

   Having a gun at home in those circumstances is the same concept. Pointless, but makes the superstitious feel better.

   And make money for the people selling the necklaces and guns.

   Except not many people get killed by St Christopher necklaces.

8. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   And if mental health is such an issue, then surely having lots of guns around is not very wise.

9. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

   Commonplace, sadly.

10. 1 day ago on Jeff Stahler

    If you have shares in a gun manufacturer, why would you care? You’re not a schoolchild so not at risk.