27 dead in Newtown school shooting

[Officer of Engineers]

Well, I don't think I can defend gun rights anymore, at least not in the case of military-grade, high-capacity semiautomatic weapons.

Here's the problem. I would not dare to go brown bear hunting with the standard military issue 5.56 high capcity magazine firearm. In fact, it would damned irresponsible of me to go moose hunting with a C-7.

The point is, aside from the cool factor, military grade firearms are on the lower mid side of available rifles. My .30-06 has a hell of a lot more stopping power than a C-7.

[dalem]

No six-year-old's life is worth the "freedom" to enjoy this hobby.

Another chump throwing a right he doesn't understand in the first place away because life is ugly. Nice one, Sport.

-dale

[bigross86]

I do have a mentally ill sister and am aware of the multitude of drugs that are used for mental patients and their complex interactions. I also have friends with ADHD diagnosed children and hear from them about their experiences. I have heard more than one story about kids going through school on these meds and being unable to function when then graduated - a couple of these kids ended up in jail. The dependance on these drugs had introduced some kids to illegal drugs and the drug culture when they diverted thier own drugs to sell or aquired more drugs illegally.

I am not claiming to have a solution - I am only discussing the problem.

One of my best mates made it all the way to his second year of uni at age 26 before being prescribed Ritalin. He says the difference for him is the difference between the heavens and the earth. He only uses it when he needs to study for a major test or something, but he says it works wonders for him. Personally, I would never touch the stuff, but to each their own.

I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that in many cases, drugs such as Ritalin can make a real difference, but they need to be prescribed properly and used the right way. Creating a dependency on these drugs from a young age is definitely the wrong way to go...

Think about it, how many fine, upstanding gents do we have on the forum here that have gotten through their entire lives and reached lofty goals without even touching the Ritalin?

[DPrime]

Another chump throwing a right he doesn't understand in the first place away because life is ugly. Nice one, Sport.

-dale

I expect a better reply than that from a senior contributor. Please explain.

And for the record, I'm from Canada, where I guess we "threw that right away" a long time ago. We seem to be doing alright.

[bigross86]

It seems pretty self explanatory to me...

[DPrime]

Here's the problem. I would not dare to go brown bear hunting with the standard military issue 5.56 high capcity magazine firearm. In fact, it would damned irresponsible of me to go moose hunting with a C-7.

The point is, aside from the cool factor, military grade firearms are on the lower mid side of available rifles. My .30-06 has a hell of a lot more stopping power than a C-7.

I was speaking more about capacity than stopping power.

I wouldn't go so far as to advocate the outright banning of all firearms, but why does anyone outside the military or police need an M4?

[zraver]

The problem with amphetamines is you need ever increasing doses. I've got adhd, Adderall (amphetamine salts) worked at first but the effects wore off and the side effects got worse. Eventually I just said bleh and stopped filling my scripts.

Also a lot of people who don't have ADHD/ADD get diagnosed with it anyways and end up with an addiction. Adderall didn't get me high so putting it aside was easy when it stopped working. For someone who doesn't have it....

[zraver]

Another chump throwing a right he doesn't understand in the first place away because life is ugly. Nice one, Sport.

-dale

He is Canadian, he didn't have that right in the first place.

[Officer of Engineers]

I wouldn't go so far as to advocate the outright banning of all firearms, but why does anyone outside the military or police need an M4?

How do you ban a M4, btw, the civilian sport version, the AR-15 is legal in Canada. For hunting purposes, you are restricted to 5 rounds no matter which semi-auto you use.

However, there is no restrictions on lever, bolt, or pump action rifles.

In my hands, I was just as fast with a .300 SAVAGE lever action as I was with the C-7. You spend more time reacquiring your target than you do reloading.

[Parihaka]

The 1996 Dunblane school massacre, followed by the firearms amendment acts, followed by the Cumbria shootings.
I'm sorry but anyone who suggests that a firearms ban ends mass killings is doing both the victims and society in general a disservice.

[InExile]

The 1996 Dunblane school massacre, followed by the firearms amendment acts, followed by the Cumbria shootings.
I'm sorry but anyone who suggests that a firearms ban ends mass killings is doing both the victims and society in general a disservice.

I don't think anyone claimed on this thread that a firearms ban will end mass killings.

The issue is the frequency of such attacks in the US.

[USSWisconsin]

One of my best mates made it all the way to his second year of uni at age 26 before being prescribed Ritalin. He says the difference for him is the difference between the heavens and the earth. He only uses it when he needs to study for a major test or something, but he says it works wonders for him. Personally, I would never touch the stuff, but to each their own.

I guess the point I'm trying to get across is that in many cases, drugs such as Ritalin can make a real difference, but they need to be prescribed properly and used the right way. Creating a dependency on these drugs from a young age is definitely the wrong way to go...

Think about it, how many fine, upstanding gents do we have on the forum here that have gotten through their entire lives and reached lofty goals without even touching the Ritalin?

Well I can't be counted as one of them (but "fine gent" and "lofty goals" are a stretch in my case anyway): ;)

I had a similar problem myself in grad school. I was having trouble focusing in my second year - which was very bad in one hour exams – particularly my in medical school courses. I saw a good psychiatrist and she suggested Ritalin. I used it only as needed (doses as prescribed but less frequently than allowed – usually not on weekends or breaks) to get through exams, big papers and crunch times. Once I finished my course work and transitioned to working - I stopped using it. I was not much fun to be with when I used it (about 2 years in the mid 90's). I know this medicine can help some people - but what I haven't seen is the benefit of steady use over extended time. It seemed to help me a lot for a week or two, and then loose its effectiveness. Taking breaks from using it, for a week or two, helped. Increasing the dose did little to make it work better - but increased the irritability side effects linearly to the dose. They tried Adderall too, it was much more trouble for me, too many side effects – less effective – I went right back to the Ritalin and threw away the Adderall before I finished the first script. I know everyone is different – I am not prescribing for anyone here – only sharing my own experience. For me, it was a chemical crutch to get me through a tough spot – one that needed to be used as little as possible and put down as soon as it wasn't needed (similar to pain meds in this respect). From the accounts of others close to me, I have heard of lots of problems with prolonged use of this type of medicine – specifically in children.

[DPrime]

How do you ban a M4, btw, the civilian sport version, the AR-15 is legal in Canada. For hunting purposes, you are restricted to 5 rounds no matter which semi-auto you use.

However, there is no restrictions on lever, bolt, or pump action rifles.

In my hands, I was just as fast with a .300 SAVAGE lever action as I was with the C-7. You spend more time reacquiring your target than you do reloading.

There's no easy answer, but maybe the five-round mag rule is a good start.

The Canadian policy is by no means perfect, and no, no one is so naive as to believe we can completely eliminate the risk - its about mitigating it. Maybe you're that quick with a bolt-action, sir, but I doubt very much that would have been the case here, or with most mass killings like this. We would probably be looking at a fraction of the casualties here if he had gone in with an Enfield .303...

[antimony]

How do you ban a M4, btw, the civilian sport version, the AR-15 is legal in Canada. For hunting purposes, you are restricted to 5 rounds no matter which semi-auto you use.

However, there is no restrictions on lever, bolt, or pump action rifles.

In my hands, I was just as fast with a .300 SAVAGE lever action as I was with the C-7. You spend more time reacquiring your target than you do reloading.

Good that this has been brought up, I was about to ask this.

I see a lot f talk about assault rifles, but the things that define something as assault rifle (Telescoping stock, Pistol grip, Bayonet mount, Grenade launcher, Flash suppressor etc.) seem to be relatively irrelevant to me. What remain legals are semi-automatic/ SLR rifles. Now my understanding is that it would be difficult (speed and accuracy wise) to get off shots from a bolt action compared to a semi-auto SLR.

You seem to dispute this. But you are ex-military. Are you sure that your objections holds true for civilians?

If i were to ban "assault weapons" I would focus on semi-auto rifles/ SLRs rather than what is currently defined as "assault rifles".

[Officer of Engineers]

Now my understanding is that it would be difficult (speed and accuracy wise) to get off shots from a bolt action compared to a semi-auto SLR.

You have to differentiate between reacquiring aim and spray and pray. For spray and pray, there is no beating the semi-auto but once you add in aim reacquisition, then the speed difference drops way down.

You seem to dispute this. But you are ex-military. Are you sure that your objections holds true for civilians?

The Mauser Action has been the choice of militaries for over 80 years and they put up murderous fire also. It did not compare to the M1s but you would be an idiot to discount their fire.

However, I did say I was just as fast on a LEVER action but I am almost as fast on a pump. My only bolt action is a 7mm Mag and I am NOT shooting more than one round per 20 seconds on that rifle.