I should have figured this kind of thing would be something Bryan Miller would jump in to. No tragedy too horrible that Bryan Miller won’t exploit to smear gun owners as a whole. I don’t think it’s possible to have a reasonable discussion on guns with Bryan Miller. He’s shown himself to be hysterical, and not interested in rational discussion. Certainly not with those who understand what machine guns are, and what their inherent dangers are and aren’t. He’d probably be shocked to find out that I agree that someone was dangerously irresponsible in creating the conditions that lead to this accident. But he can’t have that discussion without bringing the rest of his vile baggage to the table.
UPDATE: I couldn’t resist a comment:
[…] Machine guns are not more inherently dangerous than any other firearm. With proper supervision and a bit of training on use, they are safe to shoot. The reason this accident happened, is because someone supervising had a tragic lapse in judgment. It would be like if pop had handed over the wheel to his high-powered speed boat, and the kid ran it into the pier. Would we condemn speed boating? No. Speed boaters? No. Would we argue that pop has some issues with judgment? Absolutely.
There are about 12 million registered recreational boats in the United States, which caused about 34 accidental deaths of children under the age of 13 in 2005. There are 200 million guns in the United States, which cause 65 accidental deaths per year of children under 13. Given there is more than an order of magnitude more firearms, this is a remarkable safety record. For comparison, the number of cycling deaths in that age group is 94.  Source here.
Yep; that’s why it’s said that they dance in the blood of the victims. They exploit tragedies for their vile political agenda. This, I call the Danse Macabre, after Camille St. Saens’ classical piece, and people like Bryan Miller, Dansers Macabre.
Sebastian, facts such as those don’t matter to him. Even one death per year would be cause for him to dance in the blood.
It was useful to post it however. Rational people that read it will draw the appropriate conclusions.
It’s mostly there to anyone who happens along.
Sebastian, thank you for the comment. It was patient, reasoned, and understanding.
A wonderful contrast to Brian’s post.
Again, thank you for that maturity.
Hell, even Jade is dancing in the blood at this point… it is no great surprise that another anti-rights individual decided to dive into the mess as well.
Kind of surprising that that many children die on bicycles a year, though… of course, next thing you know is that the government is going to be mandating Michelin-man suits for any child on a bicycle. After all, we have to have tax-payers to support the whole “spread the wealth” thing…
I like how the comments are constantly “Wow Bryan, yer an asshole”
I guess he’s fine with being an asshole…
Gee, I had almost forgotten the old ‘guns-as-erection-substitute’ analysis. I wonder what the rapidly-increasing percentage of women who shoot have to say about this.
I don’t even want to SPECULATE what Bryan Miller thinks women use guns to compensate for, but sometimes my mind just won’t stop in time. Ew, I need to go scrub out my brain with bourbon.
Sebastian, I read that article you linked to and found it anything but hysterical. Why do gun enthusiasts get so defensive at the first question? Is it the old slippery slope thing? Are you afraid if you admit third-graders shouldn’t be playing with machine guns then suddenly you’ll have to give yours up?
And your commenters are completely over the top, all that “dancing in the blood” nonsense. Is it not allowed for anti-gun people to use real examples of what they feel are real problems with gun culture?
Mike B:
First, I don’t own a machine gun. They’ve been banned since 1986 from new manufacture, and banned fomr importation since 1968. They ones that are legally transferable are too expensive for me to afford (start at about 5 grand and go up from there), and I don’t really feel like going through all the paperwork to get the federal approval for the transfer.
Second, I’m willing to talk about problems in the gun culture. You want to talk slippery slopes. Look at what they are proposing in Massachusetts in response to this tragedy. Not just that kids can’t shoot machine pistols, but that they can’t shoot certain semi-automatic rifles, which are used in shooting competitions, either. Rather than address the issue at hand, the gun control groups in Massachusetts are trying to end junior CMP and high-power competition. Another freedom taken away. That’s how it’s been for us — one loss at a time. Over time, it adds up.
…so, yes, it IS the old slippery slope thing. as Sebastian just now pointed out, we have plenty of cause to believe that this slope really IS slippery, and that rhetoric such as mr. Miller’s is greasing it further. why should that not make us defensive and angry?
I know the slope is there (despite what Helmke claims) because the post-Heller gun control agenda reads just the same as the pre-Heller agenda.
They are trying to convince us that everything is changed, while acting as if nothing has changed.