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Started by Thurnez Isa, December 29, 2006, 04:11:55 PM

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Junkenstein

In next week's news, new York attorney General shot. Suspect unknown and at large. Police investigations based around known antifa groups.

Nine naked Men just walking down the road will cause a heap of trouble for all concerned.

The Johnny

Quote from: Junkenstein on August 06, 2020, 07:24:26 PM
In next week's news, new York attorney General shot. Suspect unknown and at large. Police investigations based around known antifa groups.

Pretty bold move, too bad he's gonna get "suicided" and the lawsuit will get dropped.
<<My image in some places, is of a monster of some kind who wants to pull a string and manipulate people. Nothing could be further from the truth. People are manipulated; I just want them to be manipulated more effectively.>>

-B.F. Skinner

Cain

Quote from: Elder Iptuous on August 06, 2020, 07:19:49 PM
If the NRA disappears, I would think that the money will simply flow into a different organization, such as GOA, giving them the dominant voice in the conversation.
And they (GOA) seem to take a more hardline approach to gun control than the NRA, for example, opposing the NFA.

Eventually I can see that being the case, but in the short-term I suspect things will be a lot more diffuse. The GOA might be the obvious successor... but if I'm someone with a lot of money to throw around, I might want a more pliable organisation, meaning I go for someone slightly smaller and flood them with cash. Without an obvious, agreed upon organisation to back, there will be a lot more competition than bandwagoning and in the meantime that makes the message more muddled.

Elder Iptuous

That's totally possible. I dont know anything about the large money flows. 
But as an inveterate member of the gun nut community, it appears to me that there is widespread agreement that the overall membership and support would flow immediately if the NRA fell.  The organization is very secondary to the meme.

altered

It would flow immediately, but only the NRA has the existing power to make it the obvious choice. There's no general agreement on the next step after the NRA (for all that there are constant threats to withdraw support). So the powerbase would immediately fragment, as Cain suggests.

TANGENT TIME: This also highlights a flaw of the organization. It isn't a resilient movement, it relies on propaganda and membership/"sense-of-belonging" to stay in one piece. Basically a cult. Even those who agree will end up fighting each other without a Daddy NRA to organize everything.

You aren't the only firearms enthusiast on this forum, by the way! I'm big on the engineering side of it all, but following both the bleeding edge and the unknown, old and abandoned gets you locked hard in the middle of the shitty mall ninja contingent. Doesn't help that I like non-firearm mall ninja aesthetic for cyberpunk hacker looks and their knockoff military gear for general utility and durability. (Speaking of which, a funny story for the Open Bar...)

Fortunately, I'm more interested in the old and abandoned, so I can just go hide on Forgotten Weapons if I want to avoid the freaks. Thank god Ian has a no-tolerance stance on Nazi bullshit.
"I am that worst of all type of criminal...I cannot bring myself to do what you tell me, because you told me."

There's over 100 of us in this meat-suit. You'd think it runs like a ship, but it's more like a hundred and ten angry ghosts having an old-school QuakeWorld tournament, three people desperately trying to make sure the gamers don't go hungry or soil themselves, and the Facilities manager weeping in the corner as the garbage piles high.

Elder Iptuous

I love that channel!

I certainly know that there is a decent number of gun enthusiasts on this board, some of which are more knowledgable than me.

I don't think I agree on the point of the gun community requiring an organization to keep it from fragmenting, as it is a single message "movement" at its core. I would say that the secondary messages of the NRA, and specific point behind which they have thrown their weight have caused friction in the community before, and the members may grumble and say, "well, as long as the core message is there, I'll still support them as they are the only real game in town"  That's why I think that if they crumble, we would all move to whoever raises that simple banner the highest.

I could be wrong, though.

altered

Ah, but it ISN'T a single message community.

The hunters just want to keep their long arms.

The competition shooters want no bans of high capacity magazines or various add ons, and ideally they want to have access to forward grips and SBRs and all those zoomy whiz bam things that right now are under NFA purview but aren't DD or automatic.

The subgun competition shooters want a full NFA repeal so they can have their fully automatics.

The war gamers want a full repeal of the NFA so they can have access to Destructive Devices, though most don't want explosives going on a walk in public (marker rounds and flares only kinda deal).

The war gamer camp includes some weird outliers, mostly boaters and survivalists, who have many uses for destructive device weapons that don't involve kabooms. (Flares, harpoon or rope launching, etc.) Most of this subgroup don't want a FULL NFA repeal, just for large bore long arms to be taken out of the DD category.

And then you have your crazies.

The crazies want a full repeal of the NFA, but there are three camps:

Similar to competition shooters, destructive devices and fully automatics unnecessary. Mostly worried about "banning all guns!!!!!!"
Similar to subgun competition shooters, automatics a must but DD unnecessary. Mostly worried about "police state" type shit.
And the real freaks, who want to be able to buy full scale howitzers and anti-tank ammunition. Actual overthrow of the government is their fantasy.

If the NRA goes away, everyone will flock to their special interest fraction of the gun lobby, and it will take YEARS before one of them consolidates enough power to replace the NRA.
"I am that worst of all type of criminal...I cannot bring myself to do what you tell me, because you told me."

There's over 100 of us in this meat-suit. You'd think it runs like a ship, but it's more like a hundred and ten angry ghosts having an old-school QuakeWorld tournament, three people desperately trying to make sure the gamers don't go hungry or soil themselves, and the Facilities manager weeping in the corner as the garbage piles high.

Elder Iptuous

That is all true.
There is factions.
But dont you think that these groups all funnel their funding and support into the NRA because it is the large singular group that embodies the simple single message?  I agree that there are factions, and that can result in friction when specifics are raised.   Like the subgun crowd getting pissed that the NRA backed the FOPA of '86, while the fudds applauded it. But they still dont cancel membership.

altered

That's only because they have the Power and Influence.

Remove the NRA, and no group has that Power and Influence. It needs to be built back up.

Without any group ALREADY having that Power and Influence, no group will get it for awhile. In the meantime, it's a bunch of tiny, disparate communities with mixed messaging. About the only thing they'll ensure is that no one bans rifles or shotguns, since everyone can agree on that. The rest is going to be the (more numerous and optically better) "fudds" frowning quietly at all the rest of them and sabotaging their efforts.

This is a great time for everyone else to advance gun control legislation. Which, in case it isn't clear, I'm all for -- despite otherwise falling in the "war gamer" camp. Big fan of the Swedish model, myself.

Which means that whatever replaces the NRA eventually will have a much harder fight, given the culture and the law will not be in their favor.
"I am that worst of all type of criminal...I cannot bring myself to do what you tell me, because you told me."

There's over 100 of us in this meat-suit. You'd think it runs like a ship, but it's more like a hundred and ten angry ghosts having an old-school QuakeWorld tournament, three people desperately trying to make sure the gamers don't go hungry or soil themselves, and the Facilities manager weeping in the corner as the garbage piles high.

Elder Iptuous

That could very well be.
And it seems we may get a chance to find out!
I, personally, am not wedded to any camp, except my own self interest.  And the firearms issue is probably one of the matters that I feel I have the most embarrassing bedfellows! :lol:

Trivial

Sexy Octopus of the Next Noosphere Horde

There are more nipples in the world than people.

Elder Iptuous

Hahaha.  This is the best of all possible worlds.

chaotic neutral observer

Quote from: Trivial on August 14, 2020, 05:39:34 AM
https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/y3zeew/gun-enthusiasts-celebrate-man-who-shot-himself-in-the-balls-as-their-king

Thoughts:

"Wow, way to stick it to THE MAN."

"For the purposes of recording video of aiming a firearm at one's own genitalia, is it strictly necessary to have said firearm loaded?"

"I bet he doesn't turn off the breaker while rewiring lighting fixtures, either.  I mean, the wall switch is good enough, right?"

"A Real Man would have used a shotgun."
Desine fata deum flecti sperare precando.

Cramulus

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-facebook-policy/facebook-announces-curbs-on-internal-debate-of-political-issues-idUSKBN268373


Facebook employees have their own internal social network.

News about facebook gets posted on that network, but employees aren't really allowed to share their opinions because of the professional environment.

Facebook's updating its rules for employees, allowing them to engage in political debates on that network.


Reuters suggests the dissonance is employees who want to express disagreement with Zuckerberg. I don't know though, maybe it's that people want to support Zuckerberg against the internal haters.

The need for "debate" signals Facebook Corporate is divided.




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