Thanks for the laughs, Russia!

Dear Irina, very funny the pictures about UkraineВґs Prime Minister. I suppose this kind of smear campaign is going to continue. Ukraine is in a very key geographical position. Please be safe.

P.D. Do you know how to use a AK-47?

(just in case)

Yes Raul, she does. Hard as it may be for you to believe, but she was actually taught by this guy/girl/something over in Africa when she was a model for the Ukraine's 'Ha, ha. We've got water' campaign:

My god. That guy or girl is really lethal. Beware of Irina.
 

There are over 300 million guns in the United States, almost one per person. Although there is a lot of controversy over the gun culture here, especially in the south such as in Texas, many citizens are trained to protect the property they stole from the Native Americans over the past few hundred years.

Here, for example, two average citizens simulating a surprise attack while sunbathing run a scientific test on gun grips and their effectiveness on machine gun fire in case we are invaded by the most notorious of bathroom fixtures, the commode.

My guess is that if Ukrainian women are equally trained, Russia will have to abandon its plans of annexation through control of plumbing facilities.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sUdijlomfw

Dear Irina,

Here in Paraguay you can own a gun with a license, well two types of license. One for owning a gun and another for transporting a gun in your car. But if you have contacts you can buy a gun with no problem. With the corruption here, even a policeman or military officer can you sell one cheaply if you are not very strict. If SeГ±or Brick told me that that girl/guy trained you, well even the Spetsnaz are no match for you. Take care.

SeГ±or Kirk,

Did you see The Lord of War with Nicholas Gage. It was an excellent movie based on five traffickers, specially a Russian national called Viktor Bout. I also remember a long time ago a movie about Charles Whitman in your state who was a very good marksman.Killing is part of our human nature. Be safe

Guns are a mixed blessing, IMO. Having spent a lot of time on a farm, there is definitely a need for them to hunt, slaughter, and to protect livestock and those that live there. City folks don't understand that in the country there is no help coming, you have to do it yourself. If someone comes by to steal your horse, or car, or rape you, you are all alone.

A gun is the only thing that can possibly protect you, especially if you are infirmed, older, small, weak, etc. and even if you aren't. I remember that people would come onto the farm to steal or take gas from the vehicles. At night, there are coyotes in the chicken pen, rattlesnakes in the yard, and javelina (wild pigs with tusks) and more…all require a gun to have a chance at not being hurt badly.

In the city, the problem exists with armed intruders, thieves, etc. and the police usually take up to an hour or more to show up assuming you were able to call them. They usually want to wait until everything is safe before showing up, then they can just do the paperwork for the crime.

However, there are a lot of people that do not know how to properly handle and maintain a weapon, and often children are hurt in addition to tragedies at gun ranges (suicides are common there), accidents, and the occasional mass shooter with a vendetta or mental illness.

Suicide by cop is more common than people think, since there is no easy way to kill oneself, all ways are illegal and it is illegal to help someone die. You don't ask to be here, but they sure as shootin' want to make it is hard to leave! ANers they aren't.

There is really no death with dignity option for chronic conditions, extreme poverty, old age, etc. so people have to resort to guns to dispatch themselves. Often a person will steal something small at a store then walk into the parking lot to wait for the police. When they show up, they will brandish a knife and walk toward the officer, and then they will shoot him. The suffering never ends until your life does, and this is the best people can do, oftentimes. A true tragedy of existence.

Unless you own a fair amount of property outside the cities, it is difficult to shoot recreationally, and at a range you are limited to paper targets in a standing position, rather boring and unrealistic.

In Texas, it is legal to carry a rifle exposed anywhere except schools, churches, hospitals, courts of law and other public buildings. You can walk down the street with a rife and go into a store unless they prohibit it in downtown San Antonio, for example. It is a little weird, I have never done it because the police *will* show up and question you, more than likely, if they receive a phone call. If you are of color or have an attitude, you may be shot first and questioned later.

There is a law pending that will allow not only allow concealed handguns with a permit, but exposed pistols as well. So probably this year I could actually walk around in my 1860s cowboy outfit with two revolvers and a rifle and technically no one should be able to stop me. The problem is if a group of black young men, for instance, were to stand in front of your house in the street all holding rifles, there would almost certainly be grief and eventual bloodshed, even though they are only exercising the right to bear arms in a legal fashion. It is a little crazy.

And as a mention that often people neglect, if sufficient and proper hearing protection is not worn with no malfunction, incredible hearing damage can occur and with it permanent loss of the soundscape and communicative abilities for that person and those around them. Ears generally do not "heal" nor can the hair cells ever renew themselves, unlike reptiles such as birds and lizards. Once destroyed by sound, they are gone forever, there is no cure.

So thieves that you shoot in your home may not steal your car or jewelry, but they may steal your hearing (in addition to your money to lawyers, and your time), and PTSD-type symptoms of tinnitus, emotional stress and trauma are devastating conditions to manage for the rest of your life.

I wish there were a better alternative to personal protection and means to prevent oppressive governments from their actions against their own people than guns, but right now it is really all we have, unfortunately. So good or bad, in most states in the USA one can have a gun if you are not a felon or mentally ill and can pass a background check and some minimum classes of safety, storage, cleaning, and use.

Here is an example of Cowboy Action Shooting, groups that are dedicated to supporting gun knowledge and history of their development. Watch all the way through for various types of shooters, first person camera angle, black powder, etc. There are various types in the groups, but they tend to be religious, conservative, friendly, and more country than city, though not always.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HMXYyEgjyuY

SeГ±or Kirk,

What you wrote is very important. Here we have a very twisted view of the US because of the movies and the news, sensational news. They broadcast news of every shooting in the US without any deep critique. Just another show and we become more indifferent every time this kind of thing happens. One thing I remember that some of the shooters are often under very strong medication. How is it that in the US wages war on drugs but at the same time pharmaceuticals with the big help of doctors manufacture drugs that are related to shootings? Take care.

@Raul The US is definitely a drug culture. Since most people live in denial about life in general, they are easy prey when things begin to go wrong, as they always do, and there are huge companies that makes billions of dollars selling drugs that "manage" the situation until another one comes along.

Of course, the first step is to highlight your condition and make you feel bad about it, then sell you an expensive drug that only causes other problems while sometimes slightly mitigating the condition temporarily.

So people go through their day medicated, making poor decisions, and seeing the "reality" that they want to see, depending on the meds. When they stop taking them because their body can no longer process the poison they are ingesting, it causes additional changes and stressors, and sometimes they pick up a gun, go down to the workplace where they lost their job because of their health problem or mental illness, and start shooting, then put the gun to their head and pull the trigger.

What is hilarious are the names they come up for the concoctions they push for clarity in thought (labeled as depression often) and other industrial diseases such as sadness, sexual dysfunction, boredom, etc., I believe there are even people whose job is to review all the currently taken names and develop new ones. Amblify, Derminon, Elevinion, or other absurd-sounding names.

Yep, guns, drugs, and alcohol plus the realities of existence don't make a good mix, and the US has all three in easily available quantities. Anyone who tries to take away any one of the coping mechanisms (the guns also provide a feeling of power when poor, economically disenfranchised, etc.) meets instant and strong resistance. People do not want to really solve their problems, because it means giving up their rose-colored glasses and seeing things as they are, not as they want them to be.

--- > Edited 11-09-2015 19:24:37