Hi Vulcan,
Thanks for taking over the night shift with this thread! I was about to respond to Toad with regard to being able to go pheasant shooting, but you got there first.
Originally posted by Vulcan
Nice, but ummm I can do either of those in NZ as well. Looks like I'm not missing anything 
Indeed, we can too. In fact I was out with Mother Nature yesterday, and passed through some woods where I've sometimes seen the hunters with about 15 pheasants hung up on the side of their Land Rover. I'm sure I could join the hunters myself, if I were so inclined. Not sure what the gunfire I heard was about; as far as I knew, hunting season starts on August 12.
Good morning, Mr. Toad. I'm getting mixed signals from you! You remind us that there's no way your 2nd amendment will ever be rescinded, but then add
"There is no middle ground because the antis want it all."As you know, I have never suggested that America should give up its guns. So who are these antis you speak of? So I looked at the NRA website, where it didn't take long to discover that New York mayor Michael Bloomberg is quoted as wanting new legislation that all but bans handguns.
Why would that be then? How could anyone who is anti-gun reach such high office in political life? How come the NRA message has not reached him? Doesn't he realise (as you do) all the advantages conferred upon citizens by handgun ownership? But wait - Bloomberg must have been elected. And if this is such a big issue, it must have formed part of his election manifesto, ie. he was
elected by democratic process on the basis of his intentions and his beliefs.
The
NRA/ILA website has this to say about Michael Bloomberg:
Much as we predicted with the introduction in Congress of NRA-backed lawsuit preemption legislation--S. 397 and H.R. 800--the anti-gun drumbeat against these bills has begun.
Last week, the New York Times reported that several city officials across the country are urging the Senate to reject S. 397 when it comes up for a vote. Exhibit A among those city officials is New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R), who, in a WABC radio interview last week, stopped just short of calling for an outright ban on handguns, telling interviewer John Gambling, "I`m not so sure I wouldn`t think that that is a good idea."
And would any discussion of gun control be complete without mention of U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.)? Following the now familiar formula of trying to sink the legislation under the weight of bogus, anti-gun "poison pill" amendments, Schumer revealed his strategy, announcing he fully intends similar action this time around. "I`m not sure what it will be," he said, "but we will add amendments to this bill that may make the sponsors less enthusiastic about passing it."
So, according to the NRA, the anti-gun lobby is active within the offices of both mayor and senator.
And yet, according to
Bloomberg's own website, his list of accomplishments include this one, endorsed by the FBI:
Crime has declined 15% citywide in three years. 2004 was the third year in a row with fewer than 600 homicides, a feat which had not happened for 40 years. According to the FBI, NYC is the safest out of the country's 25 biggest cities.
What we have here is a NYC mayor who, by the NRA's own definition, is about as anti-gun as one can be. And yet he presides as mayor over a city in which homicide has dipped to a 40 year low and crime has declined 15% in 3 years. Less guns = less crime ???? What a concept!
Originally posted by lazs2
The euros here hate American firearms freedom so much because it highlights their lack of freedom.
I think what actually happens is that the yanks are fond of crowing about all the guns they can have and how it makes them so much better than everyone else, whereas we are fond of countering this by pointing out the vast numbers of people who die accidentally, or as a result of criminal intent, by gunshot wounds - a situation greatly exacerbated by your G4A policy. Oh, and Vulcan is not a Euro.
