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Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

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271–280 of 486 posts

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Registered to a different person" -- for the most part, guns are not registered in the USA. Was this in a state or city with a registry for AR-15s? "Loaded straight into fairly skinny jeans without checking the safety." -- Glocks do not have safeties. The idea with most newer striker-fired pistols, like the Glock, is that the gun goes in a hard-sided (molded nylon or kydex) holster. If it's not in the holster, it's…

> "Registered to a different person" -- for the most part, guns are not registered in the USA. Was this in a state or city with a registry for AR-15s? Handguns are registered to a tiny degree. The NICS checks records may be kept only on paper, and are kept by the gun dealer until they close business. Then the BATFE or a related govt. office gets them. By order of congress, this office is not allowed to computerize.

In some states and in some cities, handguns are registered; but in most states, they are not registered to any degree.

A registry connects a particular gun -- a particular serial number -- to a particular person. A NICS check doesn't do that -- it's a criminal background check. Just because you have a NICS check, it doesn't mean you bought any particular gun. You could pass the background check and then decide you don't want the gun after all.

You may be referring to a Form 4473 -- the DRoS (Dealer Record of Sale) -- which does record which person received which gun (with serial number) -- and all licensed dealers maintain these records, for all guns they sell (not just handguns). These records form a sort of a search tree, since the manufacturer records which wholesaler the serial number went to the, the wholesaler records the retailer and the retailer records the end user. These records are useful in regulating the traffic in arms; but the decentralized nature of them means that the government can not go on fishing expeditions -- can not just go out and query the database and see what looks interesting today.

Here's how the DRoS are used in regulating the arms trade. Say police come across a big box of guns from Colt. They can go to Colt with a suitable warrant and say, hey, where did these go to? And then go to the wholesaler, on down the tree. It turns out this information is often sufficient to localize shady gun dealers who are trying to sell to the mob, the cartels, &c.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#272

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

>Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals Europe? Literally lots of people have guns, where I live, from 01 Sept there's plenty of gunshots ringing out scaring one of my dogs. I know two people in the uk that have shotguns (police checked, locked away in the attic). There are many ww2 firearms in circulation (Serbia, I believe just had an amnesty), so 'literally' is incorrect. The diff…

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Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#273

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Registered to a different person" -- for the most part, guns are not registered in the USA. Was this in a state or city with a registry for AR-15s? "Loaded straight into fairly skinny jeans without checking the safety." -- Glocks do not have safeties. The idea with most newer striker-fired pistols, like the Glock, is that the gun goes in a hard-sided (molded nylon or kydex) holster. If it's not in the holster, it's…

My nightly bedside weapon is a Beretta 92 with the safety decocker. I know a lot of people think it's silly to have a safety on that gun, but I want to be awake enough to think about it twice if I wake up in the middle of the night.

There are some good things about safeties -- service pistols had them for decades. There didn't used to be nylon holsters, after all.

Another thing that people do is set up a holster behind the headboard or somewhere else where they know to get at it.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, this is a huge problem with U.S. gun culture. The "make my day" crowd is hoping that they will get to end someone's life legally. Case in point: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jan/08/texas-vigila... The guy had a choice: * Replace a wallet * Shoot a guy dead Obviously, we don't usually hear about the people that pick the first option, but there are plenty of takers for the 2nd.

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Yes, the "he had it coming" "play stupid games, win stupid prizes" argument.

America has this weird contradiction of being a place where anyone can get rich, be great, etc. But on the other hand, a criminal is irredeemable, can't change, will never get better, will get theirs tomorrow if not today.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#275
post #159

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you’re missing the nuance here. If I can protect myself using a weapon, I don’t need to vote for mass surveillance to protect me. The ability to engage in shootouts with the police isn’t what prevents the formation of a police state. The problem with a police state is that state violence becomes a way to exercise political power.

Precisely. Policing in any country is always a mix of public service and protection racket. A police monopoly on protecting people from other people, or society from itself, leaves no safety for anyone. It's ironic that some of the most vociferously anti-gun people in the US are also the ones with the clearest view of the police as an armed gang. But absent armed police and without the right to protect themselves, wh…

People don't agree on whether there is a positive or negative correlation between security and safety; whether increased security makes the society more or less safe. Some people also think that everyone interested in security (including the police, the military, and people buying guns for self defense) is inherently suspicious.

Trust makes the society safe. When there is a lack of trust, careful security measures can be used to compensate. But security can also lead to an arms race that makes everyone less safe, as measures that improve someone's safety may have a negative effect on others.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#276
post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is that it's often the only choice. ISPs often have a monopoly over their territory.

Interestingly... in the UK... they did something similar to the DSL Provider / ISP split we did here in the states. So you could order cable service from one company and layer 3 from a completely different company. People tell me it's done wonders for competition there.

Well yes. Openreach were fixing a problem with my phone like yesterday, that’s generally a monopoly.

My layer 3 service is from A&A, which suits my needs. Other people probably wouldn’t want to chat with the engineers on IRC when there’s a problem though so they would go with talk talk or Bt or whatever.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The amount of incidents involving firearms is astonishing. I'm glad I live in Europe where literally nobody has guns except police and heavy criminals that only really use them to shoot their rivals. I thought most people in the US were proud of their firearm handling professionalism which of course includes not brandishing, threatening or murdering people. I'm really a bit surprised to hear this. I did a similar job…

What are you talking about? What country in EU ? Because for example here in CZ, there's a lot of firearms. But guess what, you must pay for a gun license and have a doctor examination with possibility of psych. evaluation, then a gun license exam is really hard also practice test of gun handling and shooting is pretty hard and not cheap. So you will think twice to get it and you really don't want to loose it. Basica…

> where you can't legally defend against attackers and biggest cities are controlled by gangs

Good grief, where do you get your information?

* In the UK, it's perfectly legal to defend yourself ("reasonable force").

* Beat policemen don't carry guns; firearms officers do. Any policeman can arrest anyone they suspect of an offence.

* Drug dealers rob one another; it's a direct result of prohibition. If you rob a drug dealer, he isn't going to report it to the police. That's nothing special to the UK (or to big cities).

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yep . . . just as I thought. Your source uses ages 0-19 as "children and adolescents." Guess what happens when you lump in those extra two years of 18-year-olds and 19-year-olds, who are legal adults? You also lump in a disproportionate amount of street gang-related shootings, which have different causes and different solutions, and make it look like suburban teens are uniquely at risk from firearms . . . when they'r…

Do street gangs wait until you're 18? I don't quite understand how including the two extra years would skew the data.

It's not just two extra years, it's the year that makes the biggest step change in a person's life, and the year after.

Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)

#280

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There were some cases of officers shooting through the floor of their cruiser because the seatbelt tang somehow could get inside one brand of holster and pull the trigger. It does seem like the right balance hasn't been found yet.

Which brand? What is the "tang" of a seatbelt? It us hard for me to imagine a seatbelt buckle actually getting into a holster, but I would like to learn more about this.

When I read about it, I couldn't understand it either. They didn't explain precisely, but IIRC, it was a pistol with a tactical light, which explains why there might be more space that usual. I couldn't find the particular incident, however.

This sort of thing is unfortunately somewhat common:

https://www.thetrace.org/2023/04/sig-sauer-p320-upgrade-safe...

https://safariland.com/pages/service-bulletins

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