Xbox Deals Politics Thread

Since we keep going off topic in the Xbox deals Thread, here is a home for things related to politics.

I'll start it off, have you ever seen this gun deaths graphic from fivethirtyeight? https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/gun-deaths/
I think anytime we start talking about gun reform, it really helps to illustrate what type of gun deaths we have and how many we have to get a baseline of what we are fighting for. I believe that all sane Americans want less gun deaths in this country but the steps we take to lower that number is where we argue.

Well, feel free to bring up whatever you want here without the fear of the thread being purged.

I know the latest topic was Black Panther but since I haven't seen it yet, I don't have any comments. If you are talking in specifics you may want to use the spoiler tag since it's such a New movie.

Please keep in mind, even if we disagree on a political issue, we can still be friends on Xbox or wherever, the banter in this thread doesn't need to carry back to other threads. I assume none of us are politicians, so really we are just discussing opinions, ideas and whatever else.

The topic was not really black panther, only the implication that people who want border security are racists. I will continue to challenge this type of posting when it happens in the Xbox thread. It seems to happen fairly often. This is the third time I have personally seen fit to post in response to someone doing this kind of stuff. I don't like doing it, but like people getting away with BS even less.

As far as gun deaths, you are right, all sane Americans want fewer. The question that seems to be posed by the left, to me at least, are we willing to part with our second amendment rights? I am not as I believe that this was put into place by the founders as a final check on the power of the government.

I appreciate the attitude of your first post as well. A conversation instead of a battle. We can disagree and still be friends. We all want what is best for our country and our fellow humans.

MattZack said:

The topic was not really black panther, only the implication that people who want border security are racists. I will continue to challenge this type of posting when it happens in the Xbox thread. It seems to happen fairly often. This is the third time I have personally seen fit to post in response to someone doing this kind of stuff. I don't like doing it, but like people getting away with BS even less.

As far as gun deaths, you are right, all sane Americans want fewer. The question that seems to be posed by the left, to me at least, are we willing to part with our second amendment rights? I am not as I believe that this was put into place by the founders as a final check on the power of the government.

I appreciate the attitude of your first post as well. A conversation instead of a battle. We can disagree and still be friends. We all want what is best for our country and our fellow humans.

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Hi, Matt. I agree with much of what you had to say, although I would change one aspect of this: "The question that seems to be posed by the left, to me at least, are we willing to part with our second amendment rights?"

I would say that the vast majority of those of us on the left are looking to alter, not eliminate, second amendment rights. I think if we're being intellectually honest, the circumstances have changed vastly since the amendment was created and I believe there's a compelling argument to be made that the Constitution must be a living document, although one where changes to existing rights are considered very carefully.

During the time in which the amendment was created, the idea of a well-armed citizenship repelling a tyrannical government was not so far-fetched. These days, not so much. I don't care how many farmers and hunters have AR-15s, you're not going to stop a government that has drones, helicopters, the most well-funded militia in the world, etc., etc. I honestly do believe that the idea that the second amendment is necessary to prevent a tyrannical government is more of a smoke screen that's used because the actual argument ("I like having guns, I'm responsible, and I should be able to have them") is much less compelling.

One thing I worry about is that the debates that you frequently see online encourage tunnel vision on the part of participants. I've seen many arguments where liberals seem to focus only on gun control while conservatives who are concerned about losing their rights focus only on mental health. A holistic approach seems necessary. Furthermore, I don't think most of us know just how underfunded mental health resources are. It's a lot more simple to look up gun laws in a specific state.

This is obviously just one example, but a friend of mine found out that a former co-worker was murdered (along with her parents) by her brother a while back. He had been in and out of mental health facilities and most recently had been discharged *even though he wanted to stay* because they didn't have the room and resources for him. You have to wonder how often stuff like that happens in this country. This most recent killer had dozens of brushes with authority figures, etc. and continued to just live his life without any obvious signs of being monitored or being offered help.

Anyway, TL;DR- Most of us aren't looking to get rid of gun ownership (it's not realistic, anyway), and all the arguing detracts from the fact that there are many components (including mental health and gun availability) to the problem.

Re: Politics Board Book Recommendation Thread

All the President's Spin. Excellent look at Bush's clever use and manipulation of the media.