Re: "NASA to study "city-killer" asteroid as odds of hitting Earth go up"

On Sat, 15 Feb 2025 22:32:11 +0100, D <nospam@example.net> wrote:

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On Sat, 15 Feb 2025, Paul S Person wrote:
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But surely in the US you must be able to find the very best education when
it comes to how to handle a gun? It's an invaluable life skill! =)

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The Army taught me.

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That's fascinating! Did you ever kill anyone? How come you choose the army as
your employer?

It is part of Basic Training. And it was in 1969. There was this Draft
going on at the time.

I managed to /not/ get sent into a combat zone. And weapon useage was
strictly controlled in non-combat zones.

On a sad note, I think about how many lives could have been saved in the
recent swedish school shooting if only the students and/or teachers had
guns of their own. Then probably only 1 or 2 students would have died. =(

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I'm not familiar with the specific situation, but two things occur:
1) If everybody is shooting, how are the Police supposed to take out
only the bad guys? It's a lot easier when there is a clear difference
between shooters and victims.

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Easy! If they would shoot the shooter, the police would not even have to get to
the place, so the problem will not arise.

You are missing the point: if you 30 3rd-graders all firing at random,
they will likely /all/ be dead very quickly. That the shooter dies as
well is no consolation, as it deprives the public of the satisfaction
of a trial.

Note that the police arrived after 5 minutes. Then they camped outside waiting
for thing to calm down for about 45 minutes, and then they went in and found the
killer who by that time had killed 10 and committed suicide.

Are you sure you aren't talking about a recent event in Texas?

Even for Texas, that behavior was ... substandard.

Much better if a teacher had a gun and could just shoot the killer on sight.

And then be shot by the police when they arrive, unless they follow
police instruction to  "drop the weapon!".

Because, as far the responding officers can tell, the teacher /is/ the
shooter because the teacher is holding a gun.

This sort of thing has happened in living memory (several years ago):
a homeowner shot an intruder, called the police, wandered outside with
the gun in his hand, and ignored them. His wife was a widow shortly
thereafter.

Also, add to that the deterrence factor for the killer knowing that he goes into
a school where the employees are all carrying guns. Then he would not do it.

The only form of deterrence that works in capital punishment: a hanged
perp is a perp that is deterred from ever re-offending.

2) If that much lead is flying around, I would expect the death toll
to be /much/ higher.

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Not correct statements. Obviously people are trained before being allowed to use
a gun. It is easy... you just point and click. I've done it myself on several
occasions (using targets, not humans!). =)

Depends on the State. And do you /really/ think 3rd-graders are going
to remember their training when they are excited?
--
"Here lies the Tuscan poet Aretino,
Who evil spoke of everyone but God,
Giving as his excuse, 'I never knew him.'"