Miscellaneous And Off Topic Subjects

[froot loops]

I think the problem is that rifle the dude was firing could get off 30 rounds a second from what I've heard. I'm no expert on guns, so I have no idea.

I traveled to Orlando for about 4 years and we used to go on Wednesdays to Buffalo Wild Wings at night. It was Disney night, all the Disney workers got in with an Disney ID at a discounted rate and they had dancing outside and Karioke inside. At 10 PM there was hardly anybody there, by midnight the place was wall to wall people. I imagine this Pulse thing was similar. If you have that sort of weaponry I am sure you can take out a lot of people before even the quickest person could respond.

[Da Geezer]

Another way to define "Evangelical Christian" is a Christian who believes in a "salvation moment" or "accepting Jesus into my life". I don't know of any Christian denomination that does not send out missionaries, following the Great Commission as has been said. As a Christian, I doubt if most Christians can even delineate what makes an Evangelical as opposed to a Mainline Christian.

[Mike]

An AR-15 does not shoot 30 rounds per second unless you can pull the trigger 30 times in one second. A typical magazine holds 30 rounds so if what you say is true, the shooter would have to reload after one second of shooting.

[Da Geezer]

I think the problem is that rifle the dude was firing could get off 30 rounds a second from what I've heard. I'm no expert on guns, so I have no idea.

C'mon froot, then google "AR-15' and read about it. How long do you figure a gunman can shoot such a 30-round-per-second weapon before reloading? You have exactly the paradigm that most anti-gun people have. No knowledge, no research, just statements that cannot possibly be true. BTW, automatic weapons are already banned in the US.

[iam416]

Did the islamist even use an AR-15? http://www.motherjones.com/politics/...o-mass-shooter http://townhall.com/tipsheet/mattves...rifle-n2177835

[froot loops]

C'mon froot, then google "AR-15' and read about it. How long do you figure a gunman can shoot such a 30-round-per-second weapon before reloading? You have exactly the paradigm that most anti-gun people have. No knowledge, no research, just statements that cannot possibly be true. BTW, automatic weapons are already banned in the US.

Whatever jerk

[hack]

One quick thing I read on this after Hack raised it was that the vast majority of christian missionaries go to countries that are already majority (or way more) christian (mostly Oceania and Carribbean).

I'm fine with intra-squad squabbles, but keep it within. And if you're keen to go help people, then just go help.

[hack]

Thanks for sharing that story, Doc. Very interesting. What year? Muscat is the only beautiful urban place in the Gulf. Oman's form of Islam is neither Sunni nor Shia. Sort of a third way. Is why the sultan is such a quiet powerbroker now in the region. Unfortunately the overall Wahhabization of Islam machine has made inroads there too, as women are all covered now. Still, a good country. Rock climbing paradise.

[hack]

Hack:

I've heard that France has "the most restrictive gun laws in the world", but I don't know how one would measure that. The news today includes an attack on a police chief in France by a man invoking ISIS. The attacker stabbed the chief outside his home, and then took the wife and 3 year old boy inside. He then live-streamed the torture and death of the wife for 12 minutes before killing her (with a knife).

I've said upthread that Muslims may seem on the back foot in the US but it's much worse for them in Europe, and seemingly especially France. I think it's pretty clear that swapping guns for knives in this country would be good. After all, we used to say about Brady Hoke that it was like bringing a knife to a gunfight...

[Da Geezer]

Any policy value in comparing Paris and Orlando?

Certainly the efficacy of gun control laws as has been discussed.

I think we can also see the futility in viewing the Islamic terrorist threat as a law enforcement matter. Mateen was on a terror watch list (do-not-fly is a mostly political list) and was interviewed by the FBI on two occasions. In order to get his clearance for his work, Mateen was supposed to have gone through an extensive security check in which any contact with law enforcement was to be investigated. Like with 9/11, the FBI didn't relay that Mateen had been questioned.

To get in front of these attacks the US may have to go on a war footing. Maybe we can't use Marques de Queensbury rules when the opponent has a knife in one hand, and a rifle in the other.

[Da Geezer]

Hack: I heard an interview this morning (with Lt. Col. Allan West so consider the source) that Islam views immigration as one tactic, if you will, of conquest. Have you ever heard that?

[Dr. Strangelove]

Some interesting graphics on 126 mass-shootings in the US since 1966, mass-shooting being an incident in which 4 or more people were killed.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/national/mass-shootings-in-america/

[hack]

That's definitely always what the Palestinians have been aiming to do to Israel, but that's one homogeneous group of Muslims, and within it there are two factions at each others' throats in Hamas and the PLO, or whatever it calls itself now. I think that if you are going to debate Islam in America you have to appreciate the diversity within that group. If you ask the various Muslim communities in Michigan, most would tell you that before 9-11 they had no contact with each other at all. There's no reason to view Muslims as a monolith, and far more reason to do the opposite.

[Da Geezer]

thanks.

and thanks for the World Affairs article. That certainly changed my opinion on some things. Specifically, I had never viewed the green movement as being a "post-oil" movement in geopolitical terms. Saudi had us by the nuts in the 70's.

[hack]

Thanks for reading and considering! Good we can have these exchanges.