I’ve been having an internal debate about whether I should keep HBO after Game of Thrones finishes in a few weeks, mostly because I am really curious about the second season of True Detective. I liked TD Season 1, although it wasn’t as life-changing as I thought it would be, and I’ve lowered my expectations for Season 2 accordingly. I hope Rachel McAdams is good. I hope Colin Farrell is good. But I worry that Vince Vaughn is going to be the scene-stealer, this season’s out-of-nowhere performance, a la Matthew McConaughey. Vince dramatically slimmed down for the role and he’s quite honestly looking better than he has in a decade or more. Too bad that Vince is basically like an attractive version of Wayne LaPierre. Vince covers the new issue of British GQ and some his views are… not appropriately thought out.
On getting stuck making “assembly-line comedies”: “I’m not blaming anyone else but myself here. The machine can make you idle. You read a script and then you agree to a role, then soon enough you’re on set looking at a scene that has had all the juice and the life sucked right out of it. You become a hired gun doing a very inoffensive PG-13 movie and, well, you kind of just go along with it. Like anything in life you’re either growing or you’re dying. When you get too comfortable you start to decline.”
On the American government: “Edward Snowden is a hero. I like what he did. My idea of treason is that you sell secrets to the enemy. He gave information to the American people. Snowden didn’t take information for money or dogmas. Governments claim to write endless laws to protect us, a law for this, a law for that, but are they working? I don’t think so. The consequences are that there is a staggering loss of freedom for the individual. I look at the drug wars and they are absolutely f***ing ridiculous. There is a black market and the prisons are overcrowded and it’s not preventing drug use. There’s a corruption that goes all the way to the top.”
On the American right to own a gun: “I support people having a gun in public full stop, not just in your home. We don’t have the right to bear arms because of burglars; we have the right to bear arms to resist the supreme power of a corrupt and abusive government. It’s not about duck hunting; it’s about the ability of the individual. It’s the same reason we have freedom of speech. It’s well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back. All these gun shootings that have gone down in America since 1950, only one or maybe two have happened in non-gun-free zones. Take mass shootings. They’ve only happened in places that don’t allow guns. These people are sick in the head and are going to kill innocent people. They are looking to slaughter defenceless human beings. They do not want confrontation. In all of our schools it is illegal to have guns on campus, so again and again these guys go and shoot up these f***ing schools because they know there are no guns there. They are monsters killing six-year-olds.”
On whether guns should be allowed in schools: “Of course. You think the politicians that run my country and your country don’t have guns in the schools their kids go to? They do. And we should be allowed the same rights. Banning guns is like banning forks in an attempt to stop making people fat. Taking away guns, taking away drugs, the booze, it won’t rid the world of criminality.”
I have never, ever understood the “more guns = more freedom” equation. It never made any sense to me, and Vince Vaughn’s gun rant left me utterly unmoved. Why would those poor Sandy Hook children be blamed for their own deaths, because of course we should be arming 6-year-olds to take down armed psychopaths? That’s the logical conclusion of Vince’s stance. Am I the crazy one, or is he? Here’s the thing: I believe in legal gun ownership AND I believe people should have to register their guns AND I also believe in gun-free zones (schools, churches, mosques, community centers, public buildings). I loathe open-carry laws – because there is truly something unsettling about seeing an armed rando at a Chinese buffet – and I believe that the fastest way to escalate a mundane disagreement is to have every single person armed to the teeth. I’m sure that makes me a communist in Vince’s eyes.
Photos courtesy of British GQ.
Dear Vince, I support your right to bear arms nowhere near me. Please post where you are going to be on a regular basis and I will be sure to stay far, far away. Please do not come to my city. Thank you.
+1 He’s the dangerous one.
Exactly. The absolute last thing I need to worry about is whether the two idiots arguing on the crowded subway are armed and likely to pull guns on one another. Guns are banned from courthouses because, despite Vince’s uneducated claims, people did shoot one another and other random innocents when guns were not banned – and those cases usually involved family cases, not organized crime or anything like that. Guys shooting their wife’s divorce lawyer or the judge who issued custody orders.
Yeah that comment was so dangerously inaccurate I had to check to see if I was on Fox News dot com.
I used to like him, but that comment was so stupid I just stopped. Full stop. What an idiot.
Gah! Thank you.
Why are some people so blindly trusting of their fellow man?
We’re sharing this planet with a lot of idiots (just read Yahoo or Youtube comment section) and sorry, I don’t trust those people with a deadly weapon.
mimif, you’re exactly right! People who spout this kind of talk about guns are almost always inaccurate with the facts because the facts don’t support their opinions. Just look at the drop in gun violence in places like Australia and Britain …they had a gun massacre and their governments put into a place sweeping reforms about gun ownership and gun violence dropped dramatically.
I sure wouldn’t want to live somewhere where people are walking down the street openly carrying guns. That is just frightening to me! But then I’m Canadian. But I just don’t get this obsession so many Americans have with guns. If you pile up the tragedies of children shooting each other or accidental gun deaths and of course, intentional gun murders against cases of people stopping crime using a gun they had on hand… sorry, but I don’t think the latter is really doing the super-hero crime-fighting stuff the gun advocates think it is! Its’ just not worth the danger, and too many people who own these guns are stupid and impulsive and liable to pull out a gun over some minor disagreement! It’s ridiculous! Imo, their 2nd Amendment has been completely taken out of context and the times for which it was written. Just like many things from that time, it’s no longer valid. The people who wrote that were not thinking of people owning 100 semi-automatic assault weapons and carrying them to lunch everyday!
This dude is the precise reason why I will not be watching True Detective, S2.
Suzy –
Those most passionate about gun this or that are usually also the ones who are the most fearful and least trusting. There is a tremendous failure of government in the US to earn the respect and trust of the average citizen. And I’m sure you’ve seen the now more public fallout between people and law enforcement.
The people with the most passion for fire power are scared and have their feelings reinforced daily by dramatic news sources and sympathetic peer groups.
What’s scary to those on the outside looking in is the awareness that overly fearful people often act irrationally. And guns allow fearful reactions to easily become permanent mistakes.
+2
And anyone who thinks teachers should be armed was either home-schooled and has no experience in a school, not schooled at all, or slept through high school. Where, exactly, would teachers keep these weapons? On their persons? With little kids clustered around? Or older kids scheming to take it off them? In their desk drawer? Locked, right? How often is a teacher’s drawer that is supposed to be locked actually unlocked? All the time because they have to access things in the drawer. Weapons near children very quickly become weapons in the hands of children. There are a thousand distractions an hour in the average classroom. Let’s not add a weapon.
Always so logical, Miss Lilac.
I taught for 30 yrs. before taking early retirement last year. In my first school, we had a lot of kids who were from a Children’s Home, put there by the courts after being removed from their families (for the usual reasons: abuse, neglect, drugs, etc.). Pretty much all of these kids had emotional/mental health issues, and some were pretty disturbed (and being wards of the state, of course they had limited therapy alloted for them (one hour/wkly). It would’ve been INSANE to even consider having a loaded weapon in my class/desk! Considering how many times I was physically attacked by some of these kids, when I think that they could’ve found access to a gun…!!!
Vince Vaugh, just STFD and STFU!
Completely agree. Rather than making schools safer, guns in schools are more likely to lead to instances of said guns being taken and used by someone other than the teachers. If a 6ft 17 year old student with a mind to commit a heinous crime wants the gun from the locked drawer of a teacher, he will get it…I can’t imagine anything more senseless than guns in schools. Anyone that believes the answer to gun crime is more guns, is clearly lacking in intellect and moral integrity.
Preach!
Totally agree. Guns in schools is a terrible, terrible idea. I would quit teaching the day they allow guns to be carried on campus.
The thing is, if he had to be in a classroom every day, he would totally (I’m being optimistic here) change his mind. It’s really tiring to keeping hearing people who don’t work in schools tell us what would be best for us.
Anyone who thinks guns should be in schools has never been a teacher. Especially in the last decade. It would be a dangerous situation. With the undisciplined, ruly students who unfortunately make up the majority of students nowadays, a gun wouldn’t be used to protect anyone but be used to hurt either the teacher or another student. I say this as a former teacher, who once watched a kindergartener physically beat up another kindergartener during school assembly. We’re talking about 5 year olds! Would a gun in that situation have made things better or worse? Also, as someone who has also worked in self-contained classrooms with emotionally disturbed students I can’t imagine how scared I’d be knowing there was a gun “locked” in the desk. But Vince’s views don’t surprise me. He grew up in the wealthy suburbs of Chicago. We’re talking about white male privilege to the nth degree.
Thank you. I taught for 30 years in a white suburban high school and there is NO WAY I would want to have a gun in the school. I, myself, would not have a gun in my classroom and if that would have been forced on me I would have quit. How would a teacher feel if something happened to one of the students because of a gun in the classroom?
Actually, I’m a teacher and I’d be comfortable if somebody- one specifically designated and trained somebody- had a gun. It wouldn’t be me. I come from a pro-gun family, but my house is gun free. I wouldn’t be comfortable doing it, but I’d like to know someone on campus could take down a shooter.
Today I learnt something new, V V is a bloody idiot. Not to be disrespectful but I am so glad not to live in the USA, I am not sure if when you live there you understand how psychotic this type of arguement sounds to the rest of the world. It just shows what can happen when there is too much specific detail in a constitution. I am so glad ours is vague and lacks dogma.
“I am not sure if when you live there you understand how psychotic this type of arguement sounds to the rest of the world.”
believe me, there are PLENTY of us living in the US that agree with you.
No, it shows what can happen when people IGNORE the specific detail in a constitution. We don’t have the right to bear arms because we should be able to engage in armed debate with our own elected officials. The entire 2nd Amendment reads:
“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”
A WELL-REGULATED MILITIA. That would be the specific detail the rabid ‘pry my gun from my cold, dead fingers’ types selectively choose to ignore. That and ‘security of a free State.” Sigh.
You guys are all idiots. I can’t wait till someone robs a convenience store where you’re shopping and no one with a gun saves you. I carry my firearm daily, everywhere. Just because you carry one, doesn’t mean you’re going to pull it out anytime there’s an argument. Why don’t you do America a favor and educate yourselves. You all have a victims’ mindset.
Bonehead by name, bonehead by nature.
@Bonehead: Your username is very appropriate. I was in that exact situation and a savior with a gun was not needed.
ETA: you beat me to it, Jessiebes!
“I can’t wait till someone robs a convenience store where you’re shopping and no one with a gun saves you.”
wow, what a compassionate person you are, wishing ill toward others who don’t share your love of GUNSMURICAUSA!!!!!1!1!!
probably not a good idea for someone who wishes harm/death to someone with a different opinion to carry a gun…just sayin’…
A “victim’s mentality” is one that leaves a person so damn fearful that they rely on a false sense of security; that carrying a firearm somehow gives them power and control over life’s inherent unpredictability.
Stop being so scared.
Seriously.
Find a real way to empower yourself because your guns won’t save you.
Yup, you just carry it everywhere terrified the boogeyman will finally reach out of the darkness and grab you. If the American cliche is over armed and weaker you fit it perfectly.
I would rather take that chance than see an average joe walking around with a gun hanging on his belt. if i piss him off, he might decide to shoot me. on the other hand, the odds of being in a convenience store that is being robbed are relatively low. I’ve seen plenty of drunk asses fighting like animals in the street and pulling knives and beating each other up on spring break, I can’t imagine what would happen if they were allowed to carry guns. I have a concealed weapon I carry in my car in case I am attacked or get lost in a dangerous neighborhood, so I am not anti-gun. However, I am opposed to living in the wild, wild west. besides, bonehead, do you really think you have the cahones to kill somebody? get real. if you had a gun and a guy was robbing a store, what would you do? Pull it out and tell him to stop? like he’s going to listen to you. Shoot him so he shoots back and people are caught in the gunfire exchange? you will do more harm than good.
I will use mine to defend myself if needed, but I’m not ignorant enough to walk around with it on. i’m not a cop and it’s not my job to kill people. you pulling a gun on a robber is not going to stop him, imo, and if he has a gun, you just made it a whole lot worse. you’re not trained to take someone down, and anyone who is not, would more than likely choke and not be able to shoot. i would rather put my faith in God than you, no offense.
This “victim’s mindset” notion is also a crock of crap people seem to think justifies arming themselves to the teeth. My dad had a victim’s mindset — but he was literally caught between the Nazis and the Soviets during World War II and saw much of his family, friends and community members perish. I can excuse him for being scared and subsequently believing the worst in people.
But unless you’ve been a victim of war or face violence on a daily basis, get a grip. As Kitten said, stop being scared. There’s really no reason to believe that everyone you encounter is out to get you. Until your gun fantasies become self-fulfilling prophecies
Convenience stores are a rather different setting than schools, Bonehead.
I know a couple of small business owners who are armed, but unless you know them personally, you probably wouldn’t guess it.
Violence in such situations tends to escalate when multiple people pull guns and try to play hero. Innocents get caught in crossfire. I’ve been the subject of two mugging attempts. The first, in London, I smashed the guy’s face with my umbrella. Broke his nose and possibly his jaw. Second time, here at home, the guy cut the strap of my bag from behind while I was unaware of it until he pulled the bag away from me. A gun would have been useless to me AND would have been in his hands when the police caught him 5 minutes later (we got the license plate of his vehicle.) Do not assume people who oppose carry laws have never been in danger.
People get shot daily in locations were people are allowed to carry guns. It isn’t about whether you are armed, it is about whether you are mentally prepared to engage in a violent altercation when and where it occurs.
Walking around with your finger on the trigger is a very sad way to live.
I’d be more worried about turning it on myself in a moment of depression. Had I owned a gun over the past twenty years I’m quite certain I would’ve blown my brains out by now, which on a good day disturbs me.
You know what? If I was robbed I’d just hand over my belongings. They’re just things. Rather lose them then get hurt or even killed by some muppet who can legally carry a gun!
“Iwould rather take that chance than see an average joe walking around with a gun hanging on his belt. if i piss him off, he might decide to shoot me.”
NORMAL PEOPLE DONT JUST GET PISSED OFF AND SHOOT PEOPLE. Many people who carry guns often have the opposite mindset. They take defensive shooting classes and learn when to shoot and when not to shoot.
if someone is trying to rob you, sure hand them your stuff. But if their intention is more sinister and they want to harm you, like in MOST cases, then at least you have something to deter them.
Nowhere did he say arm the teachers. He said he is for guns in schools. For example, a trained guard in each school with a firearm would certainly help — even if it’s as a preventative measure…Much likes airline pilots now keep a pistol in the cockpit. If you are fully aware there’s a gun on the other side of a door you are thinking of entering to shoot people, it might stop you. I think that’s enough. What we are doing is certainly not working.
You mean the lack of gun control in this country? You’re right, that’s absolutely not working.
And given the fact that Republicans work hard as h*** to cut school budgets, where is the magical money for all these trained, armed guards coming from?
Yes, this. And that whole thing about mass shootings happening in only gun-free zones since 1950 is just not true. But then again, Vince Vaughn and his fellow conservatives live in fact-free zones!
The worst attack on a school in American history took place in 1927, when a man in Bath, Michigan detonated a bomb that he killed 38 children. I hate that “nothing bad happened in the old days” mentality. Horrible things have been happening since time immemorial, and whether or not guns were available hasn’t made much difference. This is coming from a 2nd Amendment supporter. I support the right to bear arms, but I don’t sell it as the solution to all of society’s troubles. I am a realist.
All that’s missing here is a tin foil hat..,
There’s plenty of those over on the Game of Thrones post. 😉
Only in America is this a sane argument.
Except there’s nothing sane about this argument.
Wrong. It’s not sane here, or anywhere. It’s just dumb.
Well the Texas State Legislature this weekend just passed Texas Senate Bill 11, which informally known as “campus carry,” would allow guns to be brought on to university property (the kicker is that the private universities get to opt out of the law lol). So unfortunately there is a subset of people in America that think like Vince Vaughn and find his arguments perfectly logical as @Damn notes. So much so that it’s about to become state law. So whether it is dumb or not (and I think it’s moronic) these people due yield significant influence and Vince Vaughn is one step closer to seeing his rantings become reality.
Exactly.
The argument is insane but a significant enough portion of Americans keep fighting for it, so it’s not to act like these laws just magically get passed.
I think it has more to do with this country’s history of ‘Cowboys’ than the Constitution. The proud white man protecting his country with his pistol by his side – eye roll.
Texas continues to prove it does not want my tourism dollars
The gun issue is very largely divided along political lines.
85% of Americans favor making private gun sales subject to background checks and 80% support laws to prevent mentally ill people from purchasing guns–this is almost unanimous across party lines.
But when you get into issues like school violence, 56% of Republicans would like to see more teachers and school officials armed, compared with just 23% of Democrats. Democrats also largely support a ban on assault rifles compared to Republicans.
It’s states like Texas who have such a vastly large population compared to say, Massachusetts, who get to control the vote, regardless of whether it’s state or federal.
That being said, that doesn’t mean that every American who believes that our gun culture is problematic should somehow be discounted. Because there are a LOT of us out there.
no, it’s not sane, it’s ridiculous. american here.
How is this even a discussion? I’m incredibly pro gun. We own a ton…. all of the ones for sport and recreation and locked away with 2 keys that my husband and I hid separately so without both of us that safe isn’t opening. We also have 2 hand guns stored in safes that only open to mine or my husband’s fingerprints, and we do not store them with the loaded clip in just incase one of the smaller safes is knocked over.
We respect our wepons. They can kill people. Home protection is one thing, but until you’ve set foot in my home threatening my children you’re the polices problem. People who carry guns everywhere or in their purses blows my mind. It’s not a freaking wallet, it’s a device to kill another human.
Seriously, we love our guns. We love hunting and going to the range, but I love my children so I don’t want them to have access to a gun until they can understand the gravity of it. People like him are who make it hard for people like me. Not all gun enthusiasts are lunatics!
“It’s not a freaking wallet, it’s a device to kill another human”
Exactly!
I am not against all guns all the time. But I do think that their lethal nature should require a lot of effort in training, storage, etc.
+1
If you want a gun in my country, the police checks you out, your house, they talk to your neighbours and your relatives.
We never had a school shooting.
It’s actually easier to get a gun illegaly because the war was 20 years ago, but people just don’t use them. If my neighbour said one day he was getting a gun we would think he’s insane.
This is what I’ve never understood about opposition to things like mandatory and thorough background checks on those attempting to buy a gun – why/when would it ever *not* be in the best interest to ensure a person is not a convicted felon, doesn’t have a history of criminal activity (bank robbery, home invasion, stalking….), hasn’t spent time in a mental institution, etc. before officially handing him or her a weapon that can do mass damage? And why the disparity between types of guns; someone correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe background checks occur only on certain types of weapons but for others it’s deemed unnecessary, as if the fact that the weapon still fires a bullet is irrelevant?
I’ve heard arguments that increasing the strictness of background checks is unnecessary or that it could improperly bar someone from being able to buy one (however that’s supposed to happen), but even if that is true, then I feel like they’re basically saying just as long as no one is ever denied the right to purchase a gun (or that the current laws that make it so easy to obtain one are never touched), that that bit of “freedom” is worth the price of an occasional classroom of 6-year-olds shot in the face. Just as long as no one touches the guns, we’ll just all have to deal with our own President weeping on the news because first graders were massacred. Just protect the guns.
Actually, I just checked and we did have one school shooting. 2 people were killed in a school shooting in 1972. But since then, nothing.
I can’t f*cking stand That Callous gun nut assh*le brand of Libertarian that he reps for. is Like all the hot buttery D*ck “pull yourself by your bootstraps” racist classist repubs use plus a creamy layer of “But you can Legalize pot Tho” UGH
I hate that he is doing This season of True Detective cause i HAVE TO watch
I lost it at hot buttery d-ck.😂 I hate you so bad for that but you know I will be watching it with you too.
Mimif You DO NOT call me out on anything til after july! You called me Lyle Lovett yesterday FFS!! (I agreed But screw you!)
I sill cannot believe Lyle Lovett was married to Julia Roberts. That just is wrong.
Wait. mimif called QQ Lyle Lovette? I can’t fathom the context, at all, but it still makes me laugh.
kiddo, on my Gram IN FRONT OF THE WHOLE INSTAGRAM!! ( cause im having Curly hair and I look Like Lyle Lovett 🙁
Yeah I’m *really* not looking forward to his schtick on True Detective. Fingers crossed he doesn’t totally ruin it! And I’m getting Michael Madsen vibes from these pics, which bugs me because Michael Madsen is sleazy and gross and I would hit it, but Vince Vaughn is just a douchey tool.
Wow, I had no idea he was such an idiot. I mean I knew, but not the extent of it. This is a special level of idiocy.
I agree wholeheartedly !
This only goes to prove ‘actors’,and I use that term loosely in his case,should be seen and not heard!
Exactly Beth. I liked him a lot better before I heard him speak.
His “theory” is disproven.
Gun violence is practically non-existent in countries with strict gun control laws. I’m from Kansas City and just woke to the news that a 3 year old boy was killed last night in a drive by shooting. 2nd amendment nuts drive me insane in the face of these all to common tragedies.
There are more accidents that happen from idiots with guns than saving people from deranged psychos. Just the other day I heard of one in my town where this guy was practicing his gun stance or something lame in his living room. Well, the gun accidentally went off and the bullet went through the wall into his kid’s bedroom and killed her.
I know everyone says, well, I’m a “responsible” gun owner. Yeah, sure, everyone *thinks* they’re the responsible one. I’m sure this guy *thought* his gun wasn’t loaded.
Don’t forget about the Dad who let his 3 year old try out a fully automatic rapid fire machine gun at a gun show, which led to horrible results.
yay, guns. ‘Murica and all that.
Or the mom at Target with the toddler who got a hold of and deployed the handgun in her purse that was within easy reach of him.
or the guy at the gas station in my town who didn’t like how loud someone’s stereo was, told them to turn it down, they didn’t listen and he shot at them, killing one.
I grew up in a time and place where guns were in most homes for hunting purposes. I personally knew three people, one of whom was four years old, who were accidentally shot and killed. I knew several more who were accidentally shot but lived. People think they can just be “responsible” but guns are accidents waiting to happen. Not to mention the intentional deadly use.
One of my friends was accused of murder as a child because his friend was playing with his own family’s gun and shot and killed himself. The family couldn’t deal and said that my friend had to have been at fault. He was never charged or anything, but as a 10 year old seeing that/being accused of that is a really traumatizing thing.
On the local news (Los Angeles) right now (5:30 a.m.), a story just came on about a teen (mentally challenged), who was shot (by another teen) once in the back, and twice in the chest for wearing the *wrong colored* tennis shoes! The shooting was at a car wash, and it happened in front of the boy’s mother.
Words just fail me.
Don’t forget the recent story of a teen who woke up to hearing tapping on his bedroom window rolled up the window and shot the individual making those noises in the head.
Turns out it was his 15 yr old friend playfully throwing pebbles at his window and he killed him immediately without knowing who or what he was shooting at.
#MURICA
That is horrifying. Sigh.
Or the woman who heard a noise downstairs in the middle of the night, fired shots in the direction of the noise and killed her four year old stepson, who had gotten up to look at the Christmas tree?
Look up the rates of knife violence, though.
Oh, silly comment editor! I wanted to add: People are violent and will find weapons to use. Plus gun violence still happens, but it’s perpetrated by people who obtained firearms illegally.
@Amy – His story is an anomaly, which is why it stands out. Most teens will not start firing into the night if someone throws pebbles at their windows.
But do most teens have their own guns or easy access to their parents’ guns?
I think if they did, we’d see far more incidents like this one.
Not many mass killings with a knife though. Not many accidental killings of little kids and friends with knives either.
I agree with him. Sandy Hook Elementary now has an armed security guard And we all know those ever present “Gun Free Zone” signs work remarkably well to deter the nut cases and criminals.
John Lott wrote a book “More Guns, Less Crime” which is an extensively researched book on the subject.
+1. He’s right. And he didn’t say anything ridiculous like the students at Sandy Hook should’ve been armed, he’s saying that if there were armed security guards there likely would have been a different outcome. Look, as a parent with an elementary school aged child one of my biggest fears is some nut or terrorist taking over a school. They are soft targets for anyone looking to cause mayhem. The two unarmed security guards at the front desk of our school will serve as zero deterrent to an armed intruder. They can do all the shelter in place drills they want but security guards that are armed are the best defense against anyone trying to shoot their way in. Stop them in their tracks.
And as for his comments on our ever intrusive corrupt government he is spot on again. The more laws they write claiming to protect us actually are chipping away at our individual freedoms.
+1. Everything I wanted to say just…better. Especially about having a school aged child.
I’m on the side that I think he was speaking of having armed security at the schools. There is no perfect answer to this very sad reality but VV is correct in that the bat shit crays are going after soft targets because they think they are in a video game and don’t want anyone to shoot back at them.
What I really think should happen and immediately so is that EVERY class room should be equipped with a bullet proof door that locks from the inside so at least there is somewhere to hide. The Sandy Hook tragedy may have been lessened had there been safe places to hide. IIRC, teachers huddled kids into the bathrooms and tried to hold the doors shut because there were no locks on the doors.
We may never be able to prevent someone from trying to commit a heinous act but we can try to add some safety.
I don’t remember the details but what about the nut case that killed the summer campers, was that in Norway? I think the cray from Sandy Hook idolized him.
There should be a gun in each school possibly looked in a safe in the front office. Kids don’t have to know its there. After voulnteering at my children’s schools the last few years and imagining the horror it would be if a gunman entered the school with no possible way of stopping him until he just decided to stop is madness. Our schools have armed police but with several campuses spread out there should be a few designated people at each school just in case.
I don’t think armed security is feasible at schools. I mean, I suspect many people would take a job like that because it’s a job, and if I were in that position, would I really risk my life for minimum wage? Hell no! I don’t buy that most armed guards would actually take action if a threat appeared.
Now, maybe the mere presence of an armed guard would be a good deterrent, but I think we’d be better off building bullet proof classrooms, etc. It makes me sad that we even need to have this discussion at all :/
But no one is acknowledging the INSANITY of this though. Bulletproof doors in classrooms? Armed security guards? Hidey-holes for kids to duck and cover? Practice drills so that 7-year-olds know how to respond to an armed psycho with a gun running loose? This is the state of affairs in American schools these days? Why should the focus not instead be on strong-arming the laws that allow who gets a gun/how they get it/ensuring they’ve proven they’re a responsible owner (none of this “it’s loaded/safety’s off and it’s in my purse while I’m at Dairy Queen” nonsense) instead of teaching a bunch of kids that they may one day be ducking bullets? In no other first-world country do people have to live like this, and it’s mind-boggling how there is so much opposition to getting a grip on gun ownership.
There are a lot retired police officers out there too I am sure would take jobs as security officers in schools . It’s not like we would have to higher Joe Schmoe off the street or arm the children. That’s ridiculous and really a stupid argument . To say that is just being completely dismissive of logical argument. This isn’t directed at the person thread, it’s directed at those who are willing to have a logical conversation about this, and not just shit out the kids will be able to get the guns , are you crazy? Arming children! I mean come on.
There was an armed guard at Columbine. Neither one of you are right. Both idiots.
Oh so you’re going to come on here and call us idiots because we have a different opinion than yours? What are you five years old? I don’t agree with every comment on here but I respect the right of other’s opinions. Maybe you don’t have school aged children, or any children IDK, and perhaps you’d feel differently if you did. No place for your childish name calling, grow up.
I stand what I said. You are both idiots. Don’t like it, go buy a gun.
Wait, what? You have security guards at schools? You talk like that’s a normal thing … but as a non-American, it sounds insane to me.
Beyond insane: I just wiki’d school-shootings since 2000, by geographic area. (This includes non-fatal shootings.) Oceania – 3. Asia – 9. Europe – 14. Canada – 7. USA – 152.
Another website includes school-shooting incidents where no-one was injured, and by their stats there have been 124 incidents in the US since December 2012!
Okay, I now see why you need/have security guards. But there’s clearly something seriously freaking wrong. I “knew” America had a lot of school-shootings but I had no idea it was THAT common.
It’s almost impossible to notice weird things about your own culture, so I’m curious … do Americans realise how abnormal this level of violence is, or do you just kind of assume this happens everywhere?
“do Americans realise how abnormal this level of violence is, or do you just kind of assume this happens everywhere?”
the sane, logical ones do. the wackjobs who (inaccurately) quote the second amendment do NOT.
Yes. Once again, there are over 300 million people living in this country. Most of us realize that gun violence is a huge problem.
Yes, some Americans do. And I never felt safer when I lived in the UK, knowing that there wouldn’t be random drive bys or school shootings. People just don’t realise more guns equals more violence.
Nah, a gun in everybody’s hands and we’ll be SAFER.
Duh.
Cause it’s like the more guns and bullets the more people can take out the bad guy – and then when the good guys roll up and see teachers pointing weapons they can take them out – which is really only doing us good – the whole point being when we’re all dead by each other’s weapon the world will indeed be a more peaceful place.
If the USA wants to burn itself down in a hail of gunfire so be it.
Lucrezia:
As someone says below, it’s a vicious circle thing, though, isn’t it?
Most people outside the US can see the insanity. Huge numbers of people inside the US see it too. But how do you get from A (the US now) to B (where other developed countries are vis a vis gun violence), when guns are already entrenched within a society?
People in the US who see the problem are also much more aware of the problems inherent in making the problem go away – and that awareness makes them sound to outsiders less against guns than they actually are.. Those of us outside the US tend to say, “Well, just be like we are, guys,” – but it’s not that simple.
“do Americans realise how abnormal this level of violence is?”
Of course.
I know, right?! That comment above about schools needing bullet proof doors in classrooms? I’m still blankly staring at my computer screen because what the heck. Americans will eventually kill off each other with their guns. O___o
“Americans will eventually kill off each other with their guns.”
Nope. I don’t think that’s gonna happen.
It’s the “urban vs. rural” mentality. When you live in tightly packed environment guns tend to cause more problems then they solve, but if you live out where the police can’t (or won’t) get to you in any kind of reasonable time frame gun ownership makes a whole lot more sense.
I used to live in a very densely populated area and was all for gun control. Now I live out in the middle of nowhere and I’ve changed my views. That said I’m not sure what the answer is. There doesn’t seem to be a good one either way. While I think it’s ludicrous and sad that we’re talking about school security, it really is a concern that I’m not sure how to solve.
I’m not American and I always have difficulties to grasp this American “obsession” with guns (thanks to celebitchy commenters I see that the discussion on this topic is alive and well). Still this point you talk about rural areas where the police would have difficulties to reach is a very good one that usually we Europeans wouldn’t think of. Sure a difficult question…Still I wouldn’t like to raise a child in USA just because of this factor. This gun owning makes me really nervous. I wish that the gun lobby can be surpassed one day in USA and some compromise solution can be found!
Yes, this is a very good point. Out in the boonies where you could be waiting an hour for a response from emergency services, sure you should be able to protect yourself. But in the middle of Manhattan or Phoenix? Just doesn’t make sense.
Wren – aren’t rural areas in the US also low crime areas? What would an American in an isolated dwelling be afraid of in terms of crime? I’m asking because I’m interested if it’s different.
I’m in a very rural area in the UK and we haven’t had a single violent crime in the last three years. Last year, there was one spate of garden shed thefts (same fool did them all; he had gambling debts and was selling the stolen power tools from the sheds on eBay!), a drink driving or two and a couple of cannabis possessions. That was it. The local town has a few Saturday night fist fights/drunk and disorderlies, but that’s all. So nobody would ever need any guns. The farmers have shotguns, but those are for keeping down rabbits and the like; certainly not for protection.
I definitely think there’s a difference between the rural and urban. I know a few people who grew in very rural areas, and guns for hunting were and are simply a part of their lives. It’s not for me, but as long as the proper training and licensing happens, ok.
But no one needs the crazy automatic weapons, and no one with severe mental health issues or a history of violence should be allowed access. Easier said than done of course, but a stronger effort must be made.
They can be, yes, but if they aren’t, well, you’re kind of on your own. There are rural gangs where I live (crazy sounding but true) and the police are spread very thin. Where I lived before there were a lot of meth labs. While you think a rural area would be low crime it isn’t always the case.
@sixer. I live in a rural area with a comparably low crime rate. That didn’t stop someone from trying to break into my home Easter Sunday @11pm while we were sleeping. My daughter wanted to sleep on th sofa and woke us up screaming that someone was trying to break in the backdoor of our house. We called 911 immediately and turned on all of the lights in the house. We clearly saw a guy standing out in our yard. who took off running when he saw my husband look out of the window. The cops took 1/2 an hour to show up!!! We do not own a gum and I can promise you I was wishing we had one wjo;e we were waiting for the police.
@Angel-It’s stories like yours that make no sense to me.
You were wishing you had a gun? Huh????
By your own admission, the guy ran away as soon as he saw your husband looking out the window. Based on that, do you REALLY think he was a viable threat to your safety?
What difference would having a gun have made, aside from the fact that you/your husband could have potentially ended up shooting the guy and having to live the rest of your lives knowing you took the life of an unarmed man? Or perhaps the intruder would have grabbed the gun from your husband’s hands and shot you or your husband. Would you actually have preferred either of those outcomes?
Do people really not get that the vast majority of break-ins happen when either the home owner isn’t there (and your guns can’t do sh*t for you) and/or by an unarmed intruder??
The guy ran away and the cops came. Nothing was stolen and nobody was hurt. This is what most commonly occurs with break-ins because most burglars are non-violent criminals. Many are teens or drug addicts looking for quick cash–they don’t have enough dough to buy a gun and they have no desire to hurt anyone.
Having a gun may have made you *feel* safer but it’s all an illusion. The reality is that you wouldn’t have been any safer in that situation if you had a gun. In fact, things could have turned out much worse.
Ugh.
Everyone I know who has a gun “for protection” lives in suburban area that are closer to rural areas than urban and they all tell me I’m crazy not to bring a gun on the subway. A year ago, a local paper ranked towns in Massachusetts by gun ownership. The towns with the most gun owners were all rural or distant suburban and heavily conservative
Kitten, thank you for your intelligent and rational response to Angel L. It’s a perfect example of how a gun wasn’t necessary and indeed would have likely made the situation worse had one been within reach.
I disagree about rural vs. urban. In the rural areas I’ve been in, guns were not only more common but MUCH more irresponsibility used, like toys. I’m obviously super biased here, but I’ve been around people who were stupid, immature, reckless with guns. In rural areas it seemed more likely that guns would turn up in random situations. I HATE the feeling of “damn, that fool’s an idiot. Damn…that fool has a gun that he’s playing with while he’s drunk/high/raging/showing off”
Mortal dear is not a good feeling.
Lott has been discredited on certain issues, like the time he used the name of a former student as an online identity to attack his critics and defend his work, calling himself the “best professor I ever had”.
and the time people asked for the method and his evidence of the survey results he used for dubious claims in his book and he couldn’t produce any of it.
not exactly a paragon of truth and virtue…
Definitely discredited:
A more recent paper (“the best study on the topic” by Webster’s account), written by Stanford’s Abhay Aneja and John J. Donohue and Hopkins’ Alexandria Zhang, goes one step further. It methodically picks apart the existing literature — including Lott’s — and reaches a dramatically different conclusion:
Overall, the most consistent, albeit not uniform, finding to emerge from both the state and the county panel data models conducted over the entire 1977–2006 period with and without state trends and using three different models is that aggravated assault rises when [right-to-carry] laws are adopted.
In other words, let more people carry concealed guns, and assaults go up (Aneja et al. found no consistent impact on other kinds of crime). The explanations for this are about as plausible as they are for the opposite theory: Put more guns in circulation, and more bad things are bound to happen.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/wonkblog/wp/2014/07/29/more-guns-less-crime-not-exactly/
thank you, cr…that’s even better!
Not trying to defend his stance but I don’t think he’s saying the children of sandy hook should have been armed. I think he means in a gun free zone that no one, not even security, has a gun and that having an armed person of authority in schools would at least give innocent children more of a chance if someone insane shows up.
There were armed security officers at Columbine in 1999. Didn’t stop the massacre.
But that was the first and I don’t think law enforcement had any protocol in place to know what or how to handle the situation and many lessons were learned from that. There was a documentary somewhere about that and it was very interesting….might have even been on HBO.
Cricket’s right…Columbine changed the way law enforcement handled these extreme situations…I remember reading that…
@Lilaflowers Thank-you I’m glad you beat me to it. I was going to write the same thing. An armed guard may create a false sense of security but it’s unlikely that the guard can deter someone intent on inflicting mass carnage unfortunately. If people want to stop these things they need to make it harder for people with mental health issues to get guns in the first place. If society won’t address that first and foremost then unfortunately these issues will just keep happening, armed guards or not. Columbine changed a lot but the fact remains that an armed guard will not necessarily be able to prevent this because he himself is a target for anyone attempting to inflict harm. I took an active shooter class, it’s pretty obvious that someone hellbent on inflicting harm is going to try and take out an armed guard first. In fact the instructor’s words were in this situation I wouldn’t be standing near an armed guard.
@Cricket, no, Columbine was not the first. Very far from it. It was the worst at the time, but no where near the first.
@Cricket, Columbine was not the first. There have been school shootings since the 60s and a bunch in the 80s. There was a string of them in the early and mid 90s. Columbine was (at the time) the deadliest but there were a few other school shootings that happened before and right after that one.
I think Columbine was the first during this 24/7 news era, which is why people might think it was actually the first. Sadly, no. We’ve had decades to get a grip on this but the gun lobby won’t let us.
The Boomtown Rats song “I don’t like Mondays” was about a girl who shot up a schoolyard in California in the 70s or early 80s. That was the answer she gave when arrested
Layday says: If people want to stop these things they need to make it harder for people with mental health issues to get guns in the first place. If society won’t address that first and foremost then unfortunately these issues will just keep happening, armed guards or not
This is the what the pro-gun Americans keep missing. They believe the adding more armed guards, or arming teachers or letting everyone walk around with guns and allowing guns everywhere from churches to bars will prevent gun violence and massacres…but it won’t. You have to stop the nutcases getting hold of the guns in the first place. If guns were not so easily accessible (in a nation of ADHD people with impulse control…oh the irony), then people wouldn’t be able to pull a gun out and shoot. And the impulse would pass. The person would have time to think. If they had to pick up a knife instead they might still do it or they might not, but the damage would likely be less likely to be fatal and certainly there would be less overall deaths because it’s much easier to walk through a school shooting from a distance than it is to go stab each kid. I mean, the US is against even investigating the people who want to buy guns or any real regulation…then someone who is violent and schizophrenic goes off on a mass shooting and everyone is like: why? how could this happen? Meanwhile the psycho has an arsenal of weapons in his basement! No one needs an arsenal of weapons. It’s one thing to be maybe an antique gun collector, but no one needs tons of semi-automatic guns and some people have like a 100 guns! All these horrific crimes and the regulation on gun buying and ownership is getting less not more. Frankly if having a bunch of babies killed at Sandy Hook couldn’t change their minds, it seems like nothing will. They tell themselves more guns equals more safety and ignore all facts and research to the contrary and their country gets more and more violent. Frankly I would be scared to even go on vacation in the US these days!
@Suzy from Ontario I couldn’t have wrote it better myself. Take heart at least you don’t live in gun crazy Texas like I do. I went to jury duty and was in a pool of potential jurors for a murder trial. The defense lawyer asked about who owned guns and how many and it was insane the number of people who owned guns and how many they listed they owned. I was thinking to myself what is going on? Are you planning on going to war with these arsenals as your own individual militias? Against who? I guess you got to be prepared for Jade Helm 15 and all these other crazy right-wing conspiracy theories where the government is coming for you. I get guns for sport and hunting and all that but some of these people sounded crazy …I don’t care if people own guns but I don’t think anything good can come from an obsessive gun culture except needless violence.
@Layday — “where the gubbmint is coming for you” –there, I fixed it for you.
Yeah, Texas is top of the list of ignoring the “WELL-REGULATED” clause in the 2nd Amendment. Regulations are not infringements. Right to free speech =/= right to shout ‘fire’ in a crowded theatre, for example. Right to liberty (surely higher in the Constitutional hierarchy than right to bear arms) =/= right to commit criminal behavior without punishment that may include imprisonment.
But hey, we’re being rational here. That never works.
Suzy from Ontario, sadly I think you’re right about the fact that if Sandy Hook wasn’t enough to change people’s minds nothing will. I cannot describe the rage I felt when I heard the news about the shooting, it felt almost like an out of body experience. I just knew that it would cause the gun nuts only to double down. A rational discussion of our gun crazy culture in the US seems all but impossible.
Yes, having a gun just feels like it would escalate things so fast.
Why are actors asked questions like this??? I really didn’t want to know his stance on gun laws! I’ve already had my doubts about him being cast in True Dective 2, after all the crap he has made, but, now, I’m going to have look a him and think “this idiot wants everyone packing”! Can’t actors just talk about the roles they do, or the hair products they use!
I’m trying to convince myself to watch it despite disliking him as an actor but he’s not making it easier…probably if he would talk about tan spray it would work better.
He looks like Eddie Cibrian in those pictures. That’s all I got.
I was thinking he looks like that guy who plays Liz Lemon’s on-again, off-again idiot beeper salesman boyfriend, Dennis Duffy, on 30 Rock. Which seems appropriate somehow.
What do the rest of us, those who live in countries that have restricted gun ownership, say when we live in a society that doesn’t see university and school massacres?
Is Vaughn for real?
Previously, I didn’t like him as an actor. Now I don’t even like him as an individual. He just comes across as an uneducated, uniformed gun mad individual. A future gun lobby spokesperson.
Yes, and his mother is (or was, things could’ve changed after the Wall Street crash) one of the foremost fund managers in the entire country and he was raised in the lap of luxury because of it. I never much liked him because of his stupid guy comedy schtick, and when I realized that he came from money and it all was really, really a big put on, I liked him even less. H’es another idiot extremist who thinks that the answer to unchecked extremism is more unchecked extremism.
Everyone in Hollywood is the child of people of infuence, its all about who you know, not the talent you’ve got.
I’ve always had him on my List of Actors That I Irrationally Dislike.
Looks like it was actually more rational that previously thought.
I’m Australian, we have pretty strict gun-control and I’m personally very anti-gun. So my default position is “weirdo gun-nut” when I read something pro-gun.
But these particular quotes actually strike me as pretty reasonable. I disagree with him, but he’s not sounding like a nutcase. His arguments are at least consistent. A lot of the time it seems like the pro-gunners say “guns rights because … rights! Duh!” which isn’t an argument at all. “Gun rights because we might have to overthrow an evil dictatorship” is at least an argument.
I’m possibly biased because I can’t recall seeing him in anything except Swingers, which was awesome.
” ‘Gun rights because we might have to overthrow an evil dictatorship’ is at least an argument.”
…I guess?
I mean, it’s an argument all right, but it’s a terribly-made and completely unfounded, illogical one. Yet it is an argument that is tirelessly trotted out by right-wing gun nutters every time the gun control argument is raised.
LOL @ the idea of Jimmy Redneck and his rifle taking on the US government who have f*cking tanks, drones, bombs, missiles, etc.
Really, the US government is not scared of us and only morons with their heads up their asses think that they have a fighting chance against a military that has invested billions into it’s armed forces.
Additionally, it’s historically inaccurate that a well-armed citizenry can effectively overtake, much less provide a worthy opponent against a strong government. It didn’t work for The Whiskey Rebellion in 1791 and it sure as hell wouldn’t work today.
Gun rights to overthrow the government? That one always gets me a giggling! Yeah, private guns are going to hold up against one of the largest militaries in the world, and F16s 15s loaded with bombs will be stopped by a semi-automatic, some rifles, and a hand gun. Yeah, right. That argument will never hold water.
As an Australian I would offer you to Google: Ferguson + Police + Riots or even Ferguson + Military and see what the pictures look like.
The truth is our government isn’t going to swoop down and shuffle us into camps because it makes no economic sense. So the argument that those guns will defend us when the evil government tries to switch to a dictatorship? Yeah…Google those pictures and then imagine Vince and his gun trying to take down those guys.
It’s a fantasy created and maintained by the ruling class of people who 1. Typically hate the government for intervening way back since the Government had to send agents down to allow black students to attend school with white students (you can research and see this was around the time a lot of southern ‘big government’ hate started) and 2. Are already the ruling class of people and who need guns to feel less threatened by a changing world that doesn’t put them at the top all the time.
Kitten-spot on. Sadly, though, most of these people think they could take on tanks and bombs, because they’re the good guys. MURICA!
They might have to overthrow an evil dictatorship? Really? Are they living in a cartoon?
These people couldn’t even see Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld lying them into the Iraq war and stealing half their freedoms, but they need their guns because they might need to overthrow an “evil dictatorship”. I saw a video yesterday of a woman at a Rick Santorum speech ranting about how Obama is an “Muslim Communist dictator who needs to be out of the White House”… delusional. These people say words they don’t even know the meaning of, convinced by lying news organizations that incite and continue to perpetrate lies to keep ratings high among people too ignorant to listen to the facts and truth, and these are a lot of the mass gun owners. One day, one of these delusional nutcases is going to listen to too much Faux news and try to oust the “evil dictatorship” that they are convinced is “destorying ‘Merica” even though none of what they beileve is reality. It’s like Sarah Palin telling people that Obamacare would have death panels that would kill people off. It’s ridiculous! So that said…does having all these guns so they can right an evil dictatorship of a government really a sensible thing to say or even a valid argument? It just seems like a lot of the people that say that are living in some altered reality. Maybe they all think they’re John Wayne and living in some movie where they might have to be the hero with the gun. I don’t know. But they aren’t rational people looking at the facts of reality imo.
Just to clarify, I did say I didn’t agree with him! (I think most of you got that, and are just leading off on the tangent, but I’m pretty sure Amy misunderstood, so I want to clarify.)
What I’m saying is that it was a better attempt at discourse than I’m used to hearing. A bad/illogical/nonsensical argument is better than just saying “gun rights are in the Constitution, so you can’t take my guns away”. Which is the pro-gun “not-argument” I’ve heard a lot. Vaughn is at least thinking about *why* it’s in the Constitution. That means you can have a conversation and point out all the reasons why it’s a dumb argument. You can’t talk with someone who thinks “rights” are self-evident and not to be questioned.
i dont agree but i still have some thoughts that kind of agree.
obviously a gun free society would be best and other countries show that it works better without guns, especially cops who are trained to use non lethal force.
the problem though is that there are already so many guns in the United States. how do you get rid of them? how do you take them away from the people? its not the old lady with a little revolver as the problem, its people with literally an armory with ammunition to last a decade long war.
so you have this vicious circle of basically needing a gun because the chance that the burglar or the guy yelling at you in the supermarket has one too.
how do we solve that problem?
Agree completely and just to add, what about all he illegal guns? That is such a huge problem! How to we get those out of society here in the US? If you look at most of the inner city shootings, it seems most are due to illegally obtained guns. The poor children can’t walk to school in fear of coming in the cross hairs of a drive by or gang related incident. If I had to bet, I’d think close to 100% of the weapons used in those circumstances are illegally obtained.
But also where is the accountability of the responsible gun owners, aka Mrs. Lanza who thought it was a great idea to take her obviously mentally disturbed son target shooting and buy him a gun?
See that’s my issue. The answer to illegal guns on the street is to get a gun yourself. That’s what they’re basically saying with the whole “everyone should have a gun argument.” This is a hard issue but I don’t think anyone is looking at it logically which is the problem. If I need a gun to protect myself from someone who got a gun illegally, am I really solving the problem?
Not to mention that we have large areas of our country where law enforcement really just doesn’t exist for practical purposes. Rural police and sheriff departments are ridiculously underfunded and understaffed, something criminals can and do take advantage of. I’ve changed my stance on guns since moving out of a densely populated place. When law enforcement is at least 30 minutes away if not longer, well, it can change your mind. I’m not sure what the answer is, we have such a wide range of environments and populations in this country. All I can say is I’m not optimistic about the government’s ability to take away EVERYONE’S guns, especially the bad guys.
Yes, but, honest question here: how much of a threat are you under, living out as far as you do? Other than from animals? Is there really a rash of criminals going 50 miles to rob you of your ipad and jewelry? There’s a lot of rural area around where I live, and the only instances I’ve heard of rural people having issues with criminals were the ones that ran meth labs…
Actually there is a fair bit of rural gang activity out here. It sounds crazy but it’s true. And the meth labs and their customers, but those aren’t as numerous as here as other places I’ve lived. Friends of mine have had cattle shot, there’s tagging, and there’s places you don’t live because of the gangs. Combine that with a small town police department that’s scraping for funds and it’s not as safe a place to live as one might think. They try, but there’s such a vast area to cover and everyone knows it.
Good lord. What is wrong with people?
I wish I knew.
My cousin’s kids have been in intensive therapy for two years now (along with most of their classmates…and their parents) because of easy access to guns in this country. I sincerely hope that Vince never has to explain to his kids why twenty kids who went to their school won’t be showing up for class ever again.
“I believe that the fastest way to escalate a mundane disagreement is to have every single person armed to the teeth.”
Amen. I agree 100% with Kaiser’s opinion. This NRA propaganda that people love to spew as fact just makes me crazy. THE NRA CREATED THIS SECOND AMENDMENT BS AS A WAY TO KEEP THEMSELVES RELEVANT. Sorry for the all caps. As others have said, he’s downright dangerous with his blather.
“I believe that the fastest way to escalate a mundane disagreement is to have every single person armed to the teeth.”
I just read a headline someone posted on facebook about an argument about who makes better Kool Aid that ended with a shooting. F-ing KOOL AID, and they thought that it was an argument worthy of SHOOTING someone.
This 100% and a part of me has to believe that ironically the people who think their gun will solve everything lead some very sheltered safe lives.
Go into a rough part of town and see if you feel better imagining every person including you with a gun.
People with access to guns commit more violent crimes and escalate violence. I saw a shocking story yesterday about an 80 something year old man who killed his neighbors :husband, wife, teenage daughter and little son all over his frustration with their fighting over property markets. …that is insane but that’s what happens when you’re so enraged and you have a weapon that ends lives/problems so quickly.
I’m going to watch True Detective 2 but I’m annoyed that they claimed they were going to represent the “real” Los Angeles and then more or less cast a lily white crew. Vince is 1/4 Lebanese or Syrian, and he’s about the most “ethnic” main character. This was a great opportunity to have a more diverse cast and yet they did zip. Also, Vince sounds positively nutty.
I can agree with him up to a point about the origins of the second amendment.
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.”
None of these random people walking around with guns are part of a regulated militia. We established law enforcement as an organized institution. We established an organized military system for defense. If we take the historical intent, no where in the constitution does it limit gun ownership by age, or by who may be part of a militia, nor does it stipulate any crime which limits the carrying of guns by anyone who spent time in jail.
Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold would be carrying legally, and Colorado is not exactly the strictest state on gun control, so his theory is kaput.
I’m not against people owning guns. But everyone carrying a gun puts us back into vigilante and wild west territory. And I haven’t heard of any large scale insurrection against the US government whereby large numbers of people have joined a militia, fighting for new government.
Yes to everything you’ve said. Thank you. Although there are creepy, extremist militia groups in the U.S. — Timothy McVeigh was part of one, the Michigan Militia, I think — their barks seem worse than their bites (McVeigh excepted of course).
Since the Second Amendment calls for a Well Regulated Militia that sort of kills the insurrection element, doesn’t it? I guess you could interpret it as regulated by someone other than the government, but I doubt the government would agree.
Yes, it does. This second amendment angle that the NRA cooked up when they realized that gun ownership was decreasing has always felt like a stretch. I think the Founding Fathers — who likely couldn’t begin to conceive of the caliber of weaponry available to average citizens today — would be horrified to know how it’s being twisted.
“I can agree with him up to a point about the origins of the second amendment.
“A well regulated militia being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed.””
Yes, that’s the only thing I can agree with in this case. I’m not saying this is wise, I’m just agreeing on the origin. This point aside, I still disagree with him about this issue. Times have obviously changed A LOT and the concept of a well-regulated militia seems far-fetched considering how we are currently living in a gun crazy culture where many people want to be “heroes” (a la George Zimmerman) and extremism is on the rise.
I would love to hear Vince debate Abigail Adams
LMFAO Lilac.
He doesn’t seem to be thinking about things logically at all. Not surprised, in the last few years he’s gotten very odd in what he chooses to publicly state.
And let’s not forget this is coming from a guy who grew up extremely privileged, and has continued that through his adult life. Good for him and all, but he might be singing a different tune if he grew up in a neighborhood where drive-by shootings or other armed crimes were more common.
Yes, that’s struck me before about him. He seems to have zero clue about the real world. His perspective is warped, to say the least.
In Brazil there is policy and legislation of fire guns possession but they work more In favour of criminals and badly prepared people so the good guys always lose anyway. If I’ m not mistaken happened over 40.000 deaths involving fire guns In Brazil in a certain amount of time, the huge majority were victims of criminals. People with good intentions are defenceless. Well never happens school or university massacres in Brazil.
“It’s well known that the greatest defence against an intruder is the sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.”
Was this research done in the science department of How to be a Burglar Academy. Did they have clip boards and white coats? Or was it more like Family Feud “we asked 100 burglars what the one sound that will stop them..or cause them to pull out their own gun and shoot you first”
Survey says
URGH
The best defense against an intruder is the sound of a gun cocking? Wouldn’t they have to be really close to hear that? I’m thinking the best deterrent to an intruder would be a dog barking. Less guns, more dog adoption!
danielle, you make a great point…I’ve seen a few studies done by alarm companies that indicate that a dog, not an alarm, is the BEST deterrent to a burglar. if they hear or see a dog, they don’t know if the dog is trained to attack, or if it simply may just be a dog that’s aggressive toward strangers, etc.
if an alarm goes off, they know they have at least a few minutes to get away, but a dog is an immediate threat.
ETA: yes, I know that a gun is an immediate threat too, but a dog can deter the person from even entering your home. and a gun-owner is much more likely to either shoot a family member or be shot with his/her own gun than to use it against an intruder. just happened recently where a man shot his own son who had forgotten his house key.
One of our dogs was kidnapped because she got loose one night and interrupted an attempted break-in across the street. They tossed her out on a highway where a good person saw and rescued her. She came home to a hero’s welcome because, by then, our neighbors had found the abandoned tools and partially removed basement window
oh, your poor pooch! I’m glad she got home OK. how scary for you! 🙁
In the face of all these anti-Vince, anti-gun toting posts I feel compelled to post a good pro-gun argument for no other reason than being a point of difference. But I can’t think of one.
It’s very telling that here in the U.S. we are inundated with stats and financial costs of everything from healthcare to defense to entitlements to dog catchers, yet not one word about the financial burden of the consequences of gun violence on the public.
I think it is almost criminal that publications like GQ allow idiots like this such a platform to voice such lunacy.
He is a celebrity and he has freedom of speech, at least in America! You may not like what he is saying, (I sure don’t agree with him), but he does have a right to say it!
Freedom of speech in America is protected by the first amendment which in fact only protects citizens from persecution by the government. It is not a license to spew drivel on a public platform.
I’ve always wondered why we don’t employ veterans to protect our public schools. Maybe trained military professionals would be a deterrent for crazies looking to slaughter children.
yes thank you!! It’s the bad guys with the guns that we need to protect against unarmed schools etc—- guns protect people. In the wrong hands they kill innocent. You always want to protect yourself!
I think a lot of schools hire retired military or police officers as their security guards. My kid’s school does.
I understand where you’re going with this but in general we are REALLY bad with Veteran’s health.
In the 80’s we used to employ Veterans to Post Office work…the term ‘Going Postal’ is still used as a euphemism for snapping and shooting up a place.
I don’t really like to weigh in too much on these topics, especially when I like the person as an actor – SO excited for Vaughn on TD2 – but I think he’s being misunderstood. I don’t think he means children/teachers should be armed. He means that there should be armed security at schools. I understand from reading the previous comments that Columbine had armed security but there was no required action in effect if in case a shooting does happen. Columbine has changed school security/school shootings and the way they’re handled/perceived soo much over the years. I do think that if Sandy Hook had armed security those kids would have been a bit safer. Even if you have 60 teachers, one armed person can still take down more than half in just a matter of minutes.
I’m not going to touch anything else he said. I love Celebitchy and respect a lot of the opinions around here, so, to each their own.
Everyone seems to forget the little “for a well regulated militia” portion of the 2nd amendment. There are too many guns in the U.S. Too many people with NO BUSINESS having a gun in the U.S. The regulations & license procedures to drive are far more strenuous than those to own a handgun which has 1 purpose. To kill a human being. VV just made the list of actors to never watch in anything again . Which is sad as I wanted to see McAdams & Farrell.
So rather than advocating for serious gun control (yes it is possible, I grew up in a country with zero gun ownership. Only cops and the military had guns while on duty and you know what, we still had crime, but nothing on the scale of school killings or drive by shootings or mentally ill people murdering twenty innocents in a grocery store) AND proper mental health care he thinks American schools require well trained armed guards. Next, hospitals and malls… Before you know it, we need ranks patrolling the streets?
I used to live in the States and loved it for many things but the level of gun violence scared me. Even though I lived in one of the wealthiest, safest neighbourhoods possible (Redmond, WA), I felt unsafe with a spouse traveling often… So I applied for a gun permit – easy to get, and went gun shopping. Here is the thing: holding a gun in my hand made me feel powerful and all sorts of kickass. I put the gun down, realized that this is how it made me feel ( a reasonably stable, intelligent, well educated woman) and that it was the WRONG feeling. It made me feel less safe, paradoxically, because it made me understand how easy it becomes for someone to react in the face of a strong emotion by pulling the trigger. I never did buy the gun. That looks cool in movies but I never want to be around them in real life. I have strongly believed since that day that what we need is less guns, not more, and different ways to deal with crime, such as preventing it.
Interesting. Holding even unloaded guns gives me the heebie jeeebies. It’s possibly the singularly most uncomfortable feeling I’ve ever had.
I have to disagree with what you say is the “logical conclusion of Vince’s stance” because he didn’t say he wanted to arm 6 year old children. He said that he wants to arm the staff at schools so that if a sick person with murderous intent comes to try to kill everyone, he or she can be stopped without having to wait for the S.W.A.T. team to arrive.
One thing that annoys me about the America press is that we see the bad gun incidents all the time, but we don’t see the bad guys who are stopped. For instance, around the time that the theater was being shot up by that madman, a guy stopped a gunman in a shopping mall by shooting him. The hero was legally carrying a gun and saved lives because no one died due to his quick action. But the mainstream media didn’t report it far and wide. There are so many cases of law abiding people stopping people who wish to kill others, but unfortunately that news doesn’t get the clicks like the killing of people does.
(I have to say that I am very pro gun because had my boyfriend’s 9 mm not been in the closet when he decided to beat me and not let me leave or call for help – blocking the doorways and windows and ripping the phone off the wall – and I knew that he was going to kill me, had I not been able to get to it, I would be dead right now. My pointing the gun at him and his knowing that I knew how to use it made him stop in his tracks and then eventually leave. (I had a 2″ spread at 25 feet and he was less than 10 feet from me.)
As for Vince, I have never liked him but might give his articles a view from now on. Oh, and I totally think he had work done. I didn’t recognize him. Either they airbrushed the horrible bags and dark circles out from under his eyes or he got them removed.
This guy has always given off spoiled frat boy, proudly ignorant bro-lite vibes, imo; sooooooo not my type, and I’ve rarely been able to get past it to enjoy his performances very much.
(Not a deep assessment, to be sure; but some of his recent comments just confirm my earlier suspicions and uneasy spidey-sense about him.)
I’m not him and I don’t know him. I think the basis for this words – that were poorly structured together – is that maybe he believes that if everyone is carrying a gun or at least has a right to do so, then someone will think about it twice before they put a gun into your face or go to a school to shoot innocent victims, because they know others will be able to defend themselves. Kinda like the idea that all countries should have mandatory military service, if all people are trained then someone would think twice before messing with you. Maybe? I think…
This interview is weird, or at least the excerpt that is posted here. Seems like he kinda reads the news but not really, but he most definitely has an opinion. And truth be told, a lot of people are like this.
Yes. That is what he meant, but he makes horrible analogies and has an awful delivery. I sense even the NRA supporters don’t want to be associated with his dumbassity.
I think that is what he meant, but there’s really no actual evidence to back him up. It’s an emotional thing, not a rational thing.
Just…such a sheltered spoiled life.
It’s always funny to me that the people most in favor of guns are usually the ones who lead the safest lives. Where I grew up everyone hated guns because we saw their true purpose everyday. More guns didn’t magically solve the problem, especially since the guns only made it easier for the bad person to get the upper hand. To be frank I’ll be kind of happy when this generation of people passes. I suspect in the future gun ownership much like smoking will be naturally extinct. I just don’t see this massive NRA fervor in the young generation.
Once we stop pretending this gun obsession is about safety maybe we can start treating mental illness and crime more productively.
So much YES to this comment. Every single word.
You got me thinking about the only person I know who has a license to carry a concealed weapon. A guy who is a Democrat (classic Boston Brahmin) but is also really into guns in that going-to-the-gun-range-with-his-buddies kind of way. He grew up in a very privileged, wealthy, upper-crust Boston neighborhood–private school, squash-playing, pheasant-hunting, sweater-vest-wearing kind of a guy. I never made the connection between his privileged upbringing and the gun-love, always assuming that it was due to him not being a natural fighter who could defend himself with his fists.
Anyway, your comment really resonated with me. I really do think a lot of his fear comes from being raised in a sheltered and wealthy lifestyle. Being sheltered protected him from seeing first-hand the very real violence that guns cause, and being wealthy made him fear that he would be a target for criminals.
A bit pathetic when you think about it that way.
Exactly Kitten.
I know people who own a gun, old grandpas who aren’t shooting anybody unless they’re physically in their house and bearing down on them. This class of people however, who are, “Hey look at my gun rack. Look at my gun collection. Let’s go hunting. Hey did I tell you I got a new pistol?”
It’s immediately about income and comfort level. You have excess money to spend that you don’t need to worry about diverting to your health, education, home or etc. It’s people who’ve never had a true taste of hardship and horror to know that the “Good guy with a gun stopping a bad guy with a gun” is a fantasy cemented in their cozy lifestyle where everything is perfect and safe and they’ll be the ones to keep it that way. Privelaged people who think the less privelaged and unsafe are that way because they didn’t take the proper steps (in this case gun ownership).
It’s funny too. The people I know who really NEED a gun for protection hate guns, partly because it’s a reminder of how unsafe they are and that they might really need to use it one day and there’s a chance the bad guy could still get the upper hand. People like your friend live in great neighborhoods with police patrols and alarm systems. Ironic.
I remember reading up on that tragic case earlier this year, where the mother was shot with her gun by her toddler. She was a well-educated women living in Idaho, someone you’d think had little to fear. For whatever reason her and her husband were gun nuts and collectors, apparently owning a slew of them. Sad though it all was, it was very puzzling to me why middle-class family assumingly living in a safe area needed to be heavily armed. I can agree that people who are well off seem to be the ones who collect armories,
So perfectly articulated, Amy. Thanks for helping me to recognize something I hadn’t before.
One of many reasons why I love this site 😉
Excellent point(s)!
I live in Rio and I see people who are not criminals being defenceless while criminals are walking free with guns. I’d love to own a gun but nowadays it’s a hassle if I want to do it legally while criminals can have all the guns they want.
You’re the one living inside of safe bubble. Not everyone who owns a gun is a dangerous person with the desire to kill you or someone you care, guns can be a defensive tool.
Go study Human history, people kill people with whatever means within reach. Even rocks!
Guns are not the enemy!
The problem with most defenses of guns I’ve seen so far is it goes to the end point of a problem and puts a band-aid on it.
You mean to tell me if good people were allowed guns in Rio things would be better? Hmm, what about corruption? What about police not intervening as they should? What about government turning a blind eye to issues in the economy and justic system. Everything else is wrong in the culture concerning crime. Giving guns would placate the people but do nothing to curb the majority of issues that require a gun in the first 2place!
Guns are tools to kill. Luck be on your side you’ll be able to fire a warning shot and have a criminal run away scared but the reality is the tool of defense is killing the other person before they kill you. Yes clearly we’ve been killing each other for centuries. Guns just made it a whole lot easier and more effective with the added bonus of killing more people and children accidentally with the weapons they got for ‘defense’.
What you want is Utopia. Fantasy.
Your reality is much safer and romantic than mine so keep on living in it.
Lol, I guess that’s one way to bow out when the logic doesn’t line up.
Yeah according to the murder stats for my state Utopia is far from where I’m living – I just refuse to buy into a lie that will only make an already dire situation worse.
Of the teachers in my daughters school, I would trust about 1/3 of them with guns- as in keeping them away from kids and shooting accurately. I would be VERY worried about one of the emotionally deficient kids getting a hold of them.
Btw, it’s obvious he’s had some major work done. His face doesn’t make me cringe anymore.
Stop misrepresenting the 2nd amendment. I love that my country’s well regulated militia protects me from the British. I value that. You Vince, are not a well regulated militia.
God if Vince and his ilk were our well regulated militia…that’s almost more horrifying than the alternative.
Vince Vaughn smoking a cigar on a street corner leaning against a lamp post, tossing you a playful wink as he lifts his AK, “Don’t worry ma’am, I’ll protect you.”
Shudders
When a heartbreaking tragedy like Sandy Hook occurs and certain people’s very *first* reaction is to say “don’t even think about taking my gun, etc.” it disgusts me beyond words. They don’t even pause for a second to mourn the loss of innocents. They go straight to political insults. And it doesn’t get much worse than mowing down 6 year olds with bullets. Now I don’t think VV had this reaction but I don’t agree with his solution. I’m with kaiser-what’s the problem with registering a gun if you’re responsible? Or a wait period? Reasonable regulations-not taking every single gun whatsoever. On an aside-I think that NRA president is pure evil. Seriously. He makes my skin crawl.
*sigh* This entire discussion just makes me think about the never ending grief of those families more. God be with them.
Plus, the entire mentality that they’re not willing to sacrifice unlimited gun rights for the good of society (because personal sacrifice is for communists, you know?) They want to force rape victims to carry a baby to term but won’t support stricter gun laws to protect school children? I know I know, there’d be no rape if women always had their hand on the trigger of an assault rifle. While sleeping, in the shower…any moment you’re not fully armed, you’re to blame for what happens.
These are two separate issues entirely. While it’s true that most 2A people are idiots who oppose abortion, not all of us are.
Actually gun nuts and the 2nd amendment are two separate issues. In my experience, gun nuts aren’t even sure how the amendment is worded.
That’s Vince Vaughn?? Yeah right after 20 hours of photoshopping. He wishes.
I have many more meaningful comments regarding this interview, but I really want to talk about why the car’s headlights are on in the cover photo. They’re outside! In full sun! Sorry, pet peeve of mine.
Geeze! Between this and Gyllenhaal’s “theory”, the male celebs are really bringing the dumb!
i’m so glad i live in canada! he’s an idiot.
I don’t care what he thinks. I only care about how he looks and boy, does he look good in these photos.
Look into Kennesaw, Georgia. Every head of household, exempting the mentally ill, convicted felons, and conscientious objectors, is required to own and maintain a firearm. Rates of crime in that town have plummeted.
How does one enforce a law that says every household must have a gun? Does the sheriff just go door-to-door and ask to see your firearm? Seems like a waste of time and resources if you ask me. Or maybe it’s just not enforced at all. That’s more likely, isn’t it?
Also, isn’t Kennesaw the same city that had a $1.8M racial discrimination lawsuit filed against it?
I know it’s unrelated but I’m just saying that Mayberry might need a new sheriff after all.
Kennesaw:
Kennesaw, Ga., population 30,175, mandated in 1982 that “every head of household … maintain a firearm together with ammunition.”
The ordinance amounted to a pro-2nd Amendment rebuttal to Morton Grove, Ill., which had just banned handguns within its city limits. Because the Kennesaw City Council did not impose penalties, or order enforcement, the law remains mostly symbolic…
Today, Kennesaw maintains a low crime rate, but not remarkably so, compared with other Georgia towns of similar size. It reported 21 violent crimes in 2011, according to the FBI’s uniform crime statistics database. That put it well below Douglasville, which recorded 179 violent crimes, but above Milton (14 violent crimes) and Peachtree City (eight violent crimes..
In Kennesaw, the city’s regular spokesman on the gun issue doesn’t make any big claims. “It’s hard to say what impact the ordinance itself may have,” Police Lt. Craig Graydon said. “It seems to help some, but we’re not sure how much impact it has overall on crime.”
http://articles.latimes.com/2012/dec/20/nation/la-na-more-guns-20121221
“The ordinance amounted to a pro-2nd Amendment rebuttal to Morton Grove, Ill., which had just banned handguns within its city limits.”
Um, ok. They wanted to show up a town thousands of miles away so they went through the trouble to create an ordinance that they don’t even really plan to enforce? That’s pretty juvenile…and a great example of how intolerant and irrational people can be in the gun debate.
I absolutely support the 2A. In countries where guns are illegal, rates of gun violence do go down – but they aren’t zero, because people obtain guns illegally. Rates of knife violence tend to go way up. Should we ban knives?
That’s kind of the crux of the argument: People who don’t care about the law will still have guns, but people who do care about the law won’t have any. I certainly think that banning guns on college campuses is idiotic, given the rates of rape there. Not to mention that I’m fairly certain that not one of those poor students who were murdered on recent college campus shooting sprees had a gun on their person, nor had been trained to use one.
If you don’t want a gun, don’t get one. The vast majority of gun owners are law-abiding citizens and have done nothing to merit having their guns taken away. The gun violence that the media likes to focus on is by and large committed by mentally ill people or criminals – most of whom obtained their firearms illegally. Look at that. They still managed to circumvent the law. Because, y’know. They’re criminals.
The caveat to that is that many guns obtained by criminals are done so through lax laws of certain states in their process, regulation and registration thereof. The criminals didn’t manufacture the guns themselves. Knives are dangerous, but you have a much greater chance of escape and they are not likely to mistakenly stab someone in an accident, like how a gun is accidentally fired. I have a greater chance of surviving a knife attack rather than a gun attack. I have a greater chance of surviving a physical attack with no weaponry. I have a greater chance of survival if the vast majority of people aren’t carrying guns at all.
And a greater chance of being hit by a stray bullet
@Nymeria – Kiddo and Lilac are spot on. It’s not that guns are the only weapons that can kill, but they are one of the only weapons where it’s all to easy, and maybe even more likely, to kill or injure the wrong person. Frankly, I’m more worried about some near-sighted vigilante/idiot with sloppy impulse control missing wide and hitting me than I am about a knife-wielding criminal on a rampage.
And let’s face it, if it’s a massacre you want then a gun is certainly the weapon of choice. Someone armed with a knife, axe, baseball bat or large rock has to be awfully motivated to rack up a body count before the police arrive or a couple of bystanders tackle him.
Don’t get me started on the so-called law abiding citizens that show no regard at all for the responsibilities that come with owning something that can be so easily lethal. In my opinion, anyone who owns a gun that’s involved in an accidental shooting resulting from improper security/storage should be prosecuted – something similar to the vehicular assault laws for DUI’s.
Knife violence which usually tends to result in less lethal attacks and can be stopped much easier than someone stepping into a room and spraying it with bullets within a few seconds?
Makes sense. Logic!
But guns aren’t just about criminals, it’s also about the accidental shootings, the ‘stupid’ shootings, etc.
Your argument seems nice and logical, but it also really overlooks a lot if issues with guns in the US.
This is false. I grew up in a no-guns country, only police and military carry guns. There is absolutely no knife crime culture, it sounds archaic really. LOL In any case, not to an extend for me to even remember the last time a knife crime was on the news. Of course, there is crime, there will always be for as long as there are humans. But school shootings and such drive by shootings are non existing.
He’s just an idiot, now he thinks he’s all that because he’s doing a serious role for once.. gtgo vince, please.
Then he’s a moron and that will mean more trigger-happy people “accidentally” shooting black students and getting away with it.
Also why do these gun rights people need assault weapons? Why do they boo-hoo when we try to ban those? They aren’t needed and were used in the Sandy Hook and Aurora shootings allowing those nut jobs to load off several bullets at once without reloading and resulting in so many lives lost.
A school full of gun-toting kids — what could possibly go wrong? 🙄
Vince looks great. And sounds idiotic.
Look at utopias for guns to see how well this works out, Vince.
Look at Colombia, Sierra Leone, Somalia, Nigeria, etc…
Look at how safe those children are. Look at how safe the women are. Look at how safe the countries are.
Here is the reality about this and any country: the biggest danger is not the government but the people themselves. People put the government in place, and people can tear it down. This country’s largest threat lies in the fringe groups that want to destroy the government and replace it with one that is more totalitarian and/or theocratic. They are also the most loudest and vehement supporters of laws like the ones Vince is endorsing.
Guns don’t belong in schools. Guns don’t belong in churches. Guns don’t belong in areas where you’re supposed to feel safe, where you’re taught to be kind to another. The presence of a gun automatically suggests that one SHOULD harm someone else, which is the antithesis of said message.
Just to let you know. In COLOMBIA, MEXICO or any country in Latin America we don’t have the “PSYCHO” problem: and by that I mean a dear mommy buying her psycho son an arsenal of guns and training him how to shoot just to make him happy. And I am talking about Sandy Hook. We Don’t Have Psychos Buying Guns Online To Kill Innocent Children . We don’t. NOW… the drug problem, that’s another issue. Who is the BIGGEST consumer of cocaine in the world?… let me guess, let me guess….. USA. What is the most PROFITABLE business in the world? …. let me guess, let me guess…. COCAINE. In Latin American you DON’T get food stamps, section 8, free phone, free daycare, free free free free. You know what you get: Nothing, Zero, Nada. No work and 4 kids to feed? Nobody is going to help you (well, maybe friends and relatives). Can you imagine if one day the government of the USA decided to CUT ALL THE BENEFITS TO THE PEOPLE WHO CAN’T (OR DONT WANT) TO WORK? Wouldn’t be a 3rd world country, would be a 4th world country. Add that to the drug problem and Africa, Colombia and all those beautiful countries you are naming would be paradise compared to that.
This guy keeps a tally per year called GUN-Fail “keeping records on accidental shootings, guns left behind in bathrooms, and the like.” He uses Pinterest and other sites to help him sort the info. he collects. Some of his findings have been surprising, such as noting that there have been a lot more children accidentally killed by guns than the number being reported…
“I was particularly interested in using Pinterest to count and to show the faces, where possible, of the kids under the age of 15 who had been accidentally shot to death. I had collected their stories and photos and compiled them into annual reports for 2013, 2014 and 2015. Why? Because CDC data for that age group put accidental gun deaths at around 60 per year, and that was a number that gun enthusiasts were apparently comfortable dismissing as irrelevant. But in the course of collecting GunFAIL stories, I got the sense (and so did the New York Times) that the number was much higher, and began compiling the stories in one place to prove it. Pinterest seemed like a natural fit for the collection, given that I could illustrate each one with the most important element missing from the statistics: the faces of the dead. What else was Pinterest handy for collecting? Stories about just how often people accidentally fired guns at Walmart. (Yes, just at Walmart. We were up to 38 such incidents.) About just how often people accidentally fired their guns while shopping, dining or otherwise going about their public business. About just how often people accidentally fired their guns into their neighbors’ homes. And just how often people accidentally fired guns at gun shows, too.”
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2015/05/19/1386006/-GunFAIL-proves-too-hot-for-Pinterest
Thanks for the link, that is really interesting and sadly horrifying.
I seems to me that VV was doing what VV does best. Run his mouth. And, he has every right to run his mouth because it’s a free country. Although I don’t agree with everything he spouts out, I do believe that there should be armed security personnel at every school because politians probably do have armed personnel to protect them and their kids. Why can’t it be the same for every student? If someone wants to legally purchase a gun, take the training class and do it the right way, I wouldn’t have a problem with it.
The problem with armed security at schools is that they tend to attack pupils. Happens often enough if you google the statistics. Furthermore it creates a bad and negative and suppressive atmosphere at a school.
I attend an institute of higher education and we have security (although unarmed) – mostly they annoy the students. And the security has been banned from patrolling the library because they caused too much trouble there.
Politicians kids are unlikely to get shot at school because:
a) personal security for high-ranking politician’s kids – no kidding they sit with them in the classroom
b) the schools are located in areas where the police takes their duties seriously and is well equipped
c) the schools have pupils from well-off families whose children are unlikely to go on a rampage because they don’t get bullied because rich parents prevent that with good lawyers
d) as soon as some looney makes a threat against such a school he is arrested as a preemptive strike – doesn’t happen at schools without these “special” pupils
Oh well, welcome to USA. That’s the problem. That pretty much any PSYCHO can get a gun. Sandy Hook anyone…… Hellooooooo………
Tightening the gun laws might be a good idea?
Excluding people with certain mental issues from owning guns?
Police officers in schools hasn’t protected our kids. Rather, it’s led to significant uptick in school children being charged with real criminal sentencing for minor offenses that were previously handled by school administration. Wanna guess what ethnic demographic gets targeted the most?
@ Veronica
Thank you for your comment.
350 million US-Americans.
600 million firearms.
Those war criminals who started the Iraq war are still alive. The haven’t been shot. And that is just one example. Go figure.
This is one of the last huge blocks stopping our country from growth. When we come to terms that more guns only equal more death maybe we’ll begin to hold stricter laws. We have every example in the book checked off and the world as proof our Laws don’t work but we continue to live this way. Very depressing.
What an asshole. I really thought that he was an smart guy who liked to portrait douche characters on the big screen, but despite the chances that he has had of traveling all over the world and despite his fame and wealth he is showing a redneck/ trailer park mentality that just left me speechless. Comparing forks and guns? How low is his IQ….? What I don’t understand is how all this “Macho Men” that support the Open Carry and think that the government is going to take their beloved guns and high power assault riffles don’t go to SYRIA, VENEZUELA, COLOMBIA, MEXICO, IRAK, IRAN, AFGHANISTAN, AFRICA to fight Terrorist groups, guerrillas, armed militias, etc etc. It’s sooooo easy to carry your AR-47 in a supermarket in Texas to TERRORIZE all the moms that are doing grocery shopping, right assholes? How many of them would travel to Brazil, Colombia or Venezuela to fight against the South American guerrillas? How many of them are enrolled in the USA army fighting for the country’s freedom? But of course, most of these A-holes are 300 pound white males that spend most of the time watching TV and drinking beer, wouldn’t pass the 1st week of Army training. Vaughn thinks that the schools should have guns? I bet the asshole send his kids to private schools with a bodyguard to PROTECT them of the psychos that can easily get all their rifles and ammunition online. I will never, ever, ever watch a movie with this clown on it. EVER. His redneck buddies will support them from now on, maybe they can all go hunting together.
Another confused libertarian. He needs to meet up with Gary Oldman and they can do their ignorant government-hating spiel together. Snowden wasn’t trying to incite hate of the government; he’s trying to get people motivated to participate in civic life and hold politicians accountable. And the stance on guns is just ridiculous. Look up what Obama said about Australian laws on gun ownership and you’ve got your answer. It never ceases to amaze me how people are so black and white about EVERYTHING.
As an American, I’ve known many more Americans who are either pro-gun control or anti-gun. For what it’s worth, I’m anti-gun and always have been. I’ve never come across anyone I’d identify as a gun nut. While I know those people exist, I’m sick of seeing non-Americans label all (or even, most) Americans as gun nuts. Making a blanket statement like that is obnoxious. The media has people all over the world thinking we’re gun obsessed and there’s nonstop violence every day in every corner of the U.S. That’s patently false.
Back on topic, I never liked Vince Vaughn. He’s an obnoxious bloated frat boy. I’d love for him to go away and quit talking about anything.