American Logic: 14 Yr Old W/Guns=Safe, 14 Yr Old W/Sparkler=Dangerous

[SoCalMusicLover]

On this 4th of July, our thanks to the NRA, and all the "death before my guns are taken" folks for SAVING the 2nd Amendment, given to us by our wise slave owning forefathers.

If only they had been prescient enough to guarantee the rights to fireworks, which every year we hear loud & clear about their danger, and how their use should be LEFT TO PROFESSIONALS.

So, I can't go down the street and buy my sparklers or piccolo pete's. But thankfully I can go get a weapon, and take my children out shooting, because it's much safer, and our founding fathers wanted it that way.

[PJMcK]

1. You forgot your sarcasm thingy

(sarcasm, too, wink)

[Warpy]

2. Dodgy fireworks manufacturers are offshore now and don't have the NRA

to shill for them so of course there are safety concerns. Kids are stupid. I know I had to be burned by a dead sparkler once to gain the appropriate level of respect for them. I think I was six, not fourteen. No scar, just a memory.

There's a fireworks tent maybe a fifteen minute walk from my house. Even if they stopped the sale in this state, dumb shitheads would just pop down to Mexico and get worse ones. At least the ones here are regulated away from massive stupidity.

[deathrind]

3. It defies logic.

[Press Virginia]

4. 14 yr olds were shooting guns long before the NRA existed

They were shooting guns when the founders wrote the 2A.
why don't you worry about 16yr olds with cars? Far more of those kids will die in accidents involving them than in a gun range with their parents

[Act_of_Reparation]

22. If we've always done it that way, it must be right!

[Press Virginia]

39. Way to miss the point

[Act_of_Reparation]

41. Oh, I got the point.

I just promptly dismissed it because it was dumb.

[Press Virginia]

44. Dumb is blaming the NRA for something that

It had absolutely nothing to do with.
dumb is pretending you got that point

[Rex]

40. Perfect!

[ileus]

34. My children started at 5 or so.

[LongtimeAZDem]

5. Both activites are lawful here, but both require adult supervision (nt)

[ret5hd]

7. What's fucked up is you equating an abortion to a tattoo.

[Buzz Clik]

11. Did the author of the OP equate sparklers to guns? No! So what is your problem?

And for the record, pal, calling someone "fucked up" isn't exactly civil. Brush up on your manners.

[ret5hd]

13. Pffft...the author of the OP spotlighted the ludicrous situation of essentially saying that...

a child is safer using a firearm than a firecracker.

You however want to compare a medical procedure to an artistic expression???

And what exactly is it you want? For the 17 yr old to be able to get the tattoo or for the 14 yr old to be denied the abortion? Get your god out of our govt and I'd be glad to tattoo the 17 yr old myself!

At least I could deduce what the OP was getting at.

On edit: And you should brush up on your reading comprehension skills. I didn't call YOU "fucked up", I called your action of equating 2 unequal things "fucked up".

[uponit7771]

8. wow... wtf is this? a baby is a lot more consequential than a tattoo !!!

[Humanist_Activist]

15. Wow, that's a fucked up comparison...

Pregnancy, particularly for 14 year olds, can be quite risky, NOT have a tattoo carries no risk that I'm aware of.

[Buzz Clik]

16. Really. That's where you came down on this?

Yet another example of why I cannot stand this fucking place.

[Humanist_Activist]

17. The problem is, and the one many people are responding to...

is the fact that people fucking suck as at assessing risk.

Fireworks are more heavily regulated than guns in many localities, that's the ridiculousness of the assertion in the OP, to lay it bare. Yet, while the risks are real for severe injury, accidents and even death in fireworks accidents, they are, compared to firearm injuries and deaths, a drop in the bucket. The differences aren't marginal.

Yet you brought up abortion and tattoos, why is that?

[Electric Monk]

23. So leave then. Go away and don't come back. You've shown why you aren't good company.

I cannot stand this fucking place.

[Buzz Clik]

24. At a time of my own choosing.

Not at your behest, that's for damned sure.

[Electric Monk]

25. But you hate DU so much....

The Lorax character you're using as an avatar must be 'ironic'.

[Orrex]

26. He's a total Once-ler.

[Buzz Clik]

27. Send a note to the admins...

I cleared my ignore list down to zero. You are now the one and only member.

Find someone else to annoy.

[Electric Monk]

32. Ok, I did, since you asked so politely. Clearly, one of us is on the wrong website.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/125911233

[sarisataka]

9. Thanks for the reminder

Have to take the 12 year old and we'll go get fireworks

[Heeeeers Johnny]

10. And get tattoos!

[Buzz Clik]

12. Tattoos are less expensive than fireworks and they last longer.

[IronLionZion]

14. Gun can be had much younger than 14 in many rural states

and any sensible parent would send their kid for a gun safety training first.

You won't be procuring food or stopping tyranny with your sparklers, is what the NRA would say.

[SoCalMusicLover]

18. Stopping Tyranny.....LOL!

Anybody who thinks they are going to fight the government with their weapons stash, is a complete fool.

I guess the idea is to make sure you have enough weaponry that you could fend off a military level attack by the government.

[Odin2005]

19. Those of us here in flyover country learn how to use guns safely in middle school.

Of course we are just a bunch of dumb, inbred hicks to you folks in SoCal...

[ProfessorGAC]

20. I'm From Flyover Country

I think there are too many people too in love with their guns making too many generalizations and rationalizations for my taste!

Nothing to do with hicks, or in-breds or SoCal. . .


Now, what say you?

[Odin2005]

36. Which is why I am for the most part OK with the idea of requiring gun licenses...

...to keep guns away from careless idiots, regardless of whether they are 9 or 90

Unfortunately there seem to be many whose ultimate goal is confiscation and see reasonable things like licenses as a Trojan Horse, making many perfectly sane, law-abiding gun-owners rightfully suspicious.

[Heeeeers Johnny]

21. This is why we can't have nice things.

Texas teen gravely injured by homemade sparkler bomb
HOUSTON, Texas - A Texas teen was gravely injured by a homemade sparkler bomb so powerful, the family said it left a four-foot hole in the ground and could by heard by neighbors four miles away.

Rowdy Radford, 15, from Matagorda County, lost a leg in the explosion, and may still lose his eyesight, reports CBS affiliate KHOU-TV.

The powerful conflagration was the result of a simple experiment, his family said. The boy had wrapped just 180 sparklers tightly with electrical tape, producing a bomb so powerful that it forced an amputation of his left leg below the knee, scorches to his face and chest, and heavily damaged

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/texas-teen-gravely-injured-by-homemade-sparkler-bomb/

[Calculating]

28. Sigh

People always gotta find a way to ruin things by doing stupid/dangerous stuff. The article isn't clear on how it happened though. Seems like 180 sparklers taped together would just burn really quickly and hot. Did he put them in a confining container or something?

[Jerry442]

29. I think you're right.

I was going to say more, but when I saw it on the screen looked like it might put ideas in someone's head.

[gratuitous]

30. "A simple experiment"?

Uh no, that's sending a gold-engraved invitation to catastrophe, sending catastrophe a limousine, and ushering catastrophe into your home with open containers of gasoline festooning the place while striking sparks off a magnesium fire-starter.

One hundred and fucking eighty sparklers? Sweet Jesus, that's incredibly stupid even for a 15-year-old.

[FSogol]

31. Reading the article, his actions were condoned by the adults in his life:

"Rowdy has always been known for making his booms and he makes his booms by scaring everybody," his aunt, Samantha Hansen told KHOU.

"They do it every year," said Rowdy's mom Wendy Smith. "But we didn't know this was going to be a big one."

His name (Rowdy) even belies a reckless nature.

[ileus]

33. Fireworks aren't used to save lives.

[Orrex]

37. Nor are they often used to murder or in suicides.

[KeizoOshima2]

35. America really has its priorities wrong

You can thank the NRA and the other gun nuts for this nonsense.

[Blue_Tires]

38. Only white 14 y/o with guns = safe

[GaYellowDawg]

42. Bingo.

[ManiacJoe]

43. Small amounts of knowledge can be deadly.

He knew just enough to be dangerous.