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PaperclipPerfector  1yr ago (text post)   31951 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of May 22, 2023

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If the law isn't stopping the crooks/gang-bangers from carrying weapons, why should it stop you?

"Should" is not the question. It does. (also gang bangers aren't that big a problem for non-gang-members in New York). But the state has arranged this situation. Much of it is because a crook or violent nutcase and me are not similarly situated; if a violent nutcase carries an unlawful knife, he might spend a little time in jail for it and get a longer record, and when he gets out he's in the same shape he once was.

If I carry an unlawful weapon and I'm caught for it (which will happen if I do it regularly, or if I ever am in a situation where it would otherwise make sense to use it), not only do I get sent to prison, but if even I survive prison without permanent damage (unlikely, IMO; prisons are full of violent people with a culture I would not be able to adapt to), then when I get out I have no job, and no prospects of getting one that doesn't suck (because I'm now an official criminal), I'm probably broke and homeless as well.

Basically if I'm convicted of a major crime I've lost the game of life and am just running out the clock until I die. Which is all the homeless schizos are doing too, but they have nowhere to fall.

"Should" is not the question. It does.

And I am saying that you really need to examine the assumptions behind that. What systems do you believe that are in place but may not actually be so?

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