This is really the amazing part of the internet, seeing a file that has been casually hosted on a web server since 1999, not even budging for HTTPS-- I feel teleported back in time
Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
291–300 of 486 posts
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#292Earlier quoted context omitted.
>What, so [pulling] the trigger automatically disengages the safety? Correct. There's a few other internal safeties to help ensure it doesn't go off unless someone is pulling the trigger and (hopefully) intending to fire. It's still drop safe and not going to go off by itself, but if you fire it (and there's a round in the chamber), it's going off. >As a non-gun-person that seems like an insane design decision There'…
> you're not going to accidentally forget to disengage a safety at the worst possible time That's much better than the opposite problem: forgetting to engage the safety and accidentally discharging. > it does increase the risk when improperly handling the firearm I just feel like having to toggle a switch before killing a man is the least you can do to avoid accidents.
>That's much better than the opposite problem: forgetting to engage the safety and accidentally discharging.
If you're following the firearm safety rules you're not pointed at anything/anybody you don't wish to destroy so it's a moot point. (yourself included, though at least in that case nobody else was harmed needlessly)
A safety lockout (or lacktherof) shouldn't be a factor in your pointing of a gun at someone and pulling the trigger.
>I just feel like having to toggle a switch before killing a man is the least you can do to avoid accidents.
It's extremely rare for someone who isn't being extremely negligent to be in a position where they could "accidently" kill someone.
Could a safety prevent such an occurrence? It's very well possible and that might be a reason to prefer a firearm with sufficient safeties that increases your comfort.
On the other hand some people decided that they're cautious enough and by in large most people avoid accidents and practice good safety practices to avoid harm should one happen.
There's trade offs either way, but ultimately it's preference.
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#293Earlier quoted context omitted.
> It's built into the trigger mechanism. What, so pressing the trigger automatically disengages the safety? As a non-gun-person that seems like an insane design decision.
>What, so [pulling] the trigger automatically disengages the safety? Correct. There's a few other internal safeties to help ensure it doesn't go off unless someone is pulling the trigger and (hopefully) intending to fire. It's still drop safe and not going to go off by itself, but if you fire it (and there's a round in the chamber), it's going off. >As a non-gun-person that seems like an insane design decision There'…
The glock mechanism of safeties is (statistically) rather safe though being simple enough:
https://crimefictionbook.com/2016/02/04/do-glocks-have-safet...
But (as I learned only recently) there are guns around with actually no "proper" safety and one model at least is particularly prone to fire accidentally:
https://www.thetrace.org/2023/04/sig-sauer-p320-upgrade-safe...
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#294Earlier quoted context omitted.
In fairness, everyone I know in the US who owns firearms - which is basically everyone I know here - takes safety and knowledge of the laws around storing/carrying/brandishing/firing them very seriously. But the sheer scale of the US population and the absolute number of guns is just difficult to conceive of from a European perspective. We have something like 60 privately owned guns in this country for every person i…
Oh another “The US is big” post. The EU has 30% more people There are 60 times as many privately owned guns in the EU as there are in Montana. There are 5 time as many guns in the US, but 20 times as many murders. There is a cultural problem in the US with firearms.
Does that include places like Switzerland, where every male is issued with a gun as part of their national service/canton militia?
I think the cultural problem is everyone wants to be like Stallone or Arnie, which would suggest the US population has an inferiority complex towards the old world.
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#295I feel like if something this dumb happened now, there'd be no way to get it resolved that quickly, and without hiring a lawyer. Getting Comcast lawyers to respond to you at all is the one bit in particular I can't picture happening.
Yeah, even accounting issues are unresolvable today. My cable company started charging me for an ultra HD TV supplement... While I have internet only. I didn't notice right away so a couple months went by. I called them, they stopped charging me, and credited my cable account back. But what is utterly crazy, is that that credit is never used. The months come and go by, and balance is still -$50 (i.e. I have an over p…
'miss' a payment, and the credit will be used to cover it.
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#296I don’t understand why she would have to sign a waiver absolving Comcast in order to have her criminal record expunged. What am I missing?
That does seem to me like a fairly obvious case of evil to me.
I guess the reason is that they probably could have sued for malicious prosecution and asked the court to expunge it without signing a waiver, but it was easier to just sign.
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#297Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh another “The US is big” post. The EU has 30% more people There are 60 times as many privately owned guns in the EU as there are in Montana. There are 5 time as many guns in the US, but 20 times as many murders. There is a cultural problem in the US with firearms.
Does that include places like Switzerland, where every male is issued with a gun as part of their national service/canton militia? I think the cultural problem is everyone wants to be like Stallone or Arnie, which would suggest the US population has an inferiority complex towards the old world.
No. Switzerland isn’t in the EU. Include non EU countries and the population and number of guns is even larger, but gun homicides don’t change much.
Even gun suicides are far higher in the US per capita and per gun than in the EU.
The US has a gun fetish. People sleep with them for crying out loud!
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#298What strikes me most is the level of anxiousness people in the US develop when faced with frivolous/absurd charges. This guy is working so hard - hours and hours - trying to convince Comcast to get their shit right and install a video trap! Here where I live, you would just lough out loud, lean back and continue watching TV.
Because you know it would take a judge exactly 1 minute to consider two facts - 1) you had a contract for that cable and 2) installing a video trap is not your job - before he'd slap the charges back into the face of the cable companies attorney.
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#299Earlier quoted context omitted.
>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…
[flagged]
Well that's not entirely correct.
You can own a giant killer dog that goes around menacing people.
Re: Get a cable modem, go to jail (1999)
#300Earlier quoted context omitted.
>What, so [pulling] the trigger automatically disengages the safety? Correct. There's a few other internal safeties to help ensure it doesn't go off unless someone is pulling the trigger and (hopefully) intending to fire. It's still drop safe and not going to go off by itself, but if you fire it (and there's a round in the chamber), it's going off. >As a non-gun-person that seems like an insane design decision There'…
The glock mechanism of safeties is (statistically) rather safe though being simple enough: https://crimefictionbook.com/2016/02/04/do-glocks-have-safet... But (as I learned only recently) there are guns around with actually no "proper" safety and one model at least is particularly prone to fire accidentally: https://www.thetrace.org/2023/04/sig-sauer-p320-upgrade-safe...
Yeah that one has been rather concerning. In theory you follow all the firearm safety rules (especially watching where you're pointing) and
if something goes haywire things turn out relatively fine, but I certainly wouldn't be comfortable using one personally.
A lot of the issues in general seem to come about around holstering which is one of the situations where you're most likely to be "breaking" the rules pointing towards yourself, certainly not ideal.
Reholstering is one of the stronger objective arguments for a safety, but that still assumes the safeties themselves are properly designed.