naomis8329

Forgive me, I forget that I am lucky to live in a country were we have not had conflict or serious strife for over 60 years. I'm also reminded how lucky I am to have the most wonderful family and friends both in person and here on Nexus. The amount of love and support I have from you guys is amazing, and at times the only thing that makes me smile and keep on trucking. Hopefully Werne will realise this also and come to see that we care for him as he is a member of our wonderful extended family. We're all over the world, from different cultures, walks of life and beliefs yet, unbelievably we all fit together here. If only RL was as wonderful and easy to live. I love you all and wish only the best for you. If it was within my power I would make sure you all were protected and safe. I really need to start practising my magic don't I :D

Any form of gun reform is all good and well however, unless it applies to all with no State being able to "opt out" through referendum etc, then it wont get very far. Again you can't have one rule for one and something completely different for others. The American constitution whilst one of the most amazing documents of all time, seems destined to stall any meaningful reform to protect its citizens. "The Right to Bear Arms" will be fought zealously I would imagine and until everyone can see that reform needs to be implemented for the safety of others, then these types of disasters will keep on happening.

I find this a very sad statement to be sure. With that type of attitude one will end up alone and very sad. I take it you have some form of feelings for your partner, its not just a relationship based upon physical need? If you live together then there must be feelings involved. If not it is a very sterile relationship to be sure and once your partner figures this out I would imagine they would cut their losses and go. For anything in life to succeed, and succeed well, one must work at it. Nothing is free in this world. From the moment we are born till the moment we die we struggle to survive and fit in with the rest of humanity. Some find it harder than others but with love, support and education we learn how to mix with other, interact on the same levels as the rest of the world. We learn morals, right and wrong and we learn social behaviour, what is acceptable and what is not. Without these guidelines and people to support us we are nothing. Cast adrift in a world that neither wants to know nor cares. If we do not make the effort to fit in why should anyone else. We may not succeed the first time, but that doesn't mean we give up. We try again and eventually we will find others who fit with us and they become friends, maybe a special person will become a lover, partner, wife or husband. To gain that level of trust we need to have feelings for others. We may not like certain people, we may find others funny, we may find others acceptable in different ways. No two people are alike and for that I am grateful for the world would be a sad and cheerless place if it were. I do hope you find happiness and feelings for those around you. I do hope you find your life choices to be the right ones and that you don't lead yourself astray. No-one has a perfect life. We all have sadness and tragedy to deal with at some point. Whether we recover from it depends upon the support network around us, and I do hope that you one day find yours.

I happen to agree here. You can't be blackmailed into spending your time sorting them out. You have a life too. You need to encourage him into finding a new outlet for his time and efforts. This may take a little time and a fair bit of cajoling but once they accept the fact that there is a big wide world out there for them to explore, hopefully this will take the pressure off somewhat. If it doesn't work then you will have to cut all ties and hope for the best as you and your bf have a life and don't need the constant pressure of someone trying to interject themselves into it. A relationship never works if there are three of you in it (and I don't include children there, they are an added blessing not an interruption :D). Be fair but firm. Be caring but harsh. An iron fist in a velvet glove comes to mind here :)

Look at it as a life experience and use it to make you a stronger person. Or you could just rant, rave and through soft things at your monitor :laugh:

:tongue:

In the short run I would agree with you. But if you look at things in the long run if people were more educated (needing atleast 4 years of education on firearms safty, history, and accountability, etc... to atleast own a simple handgun) this would probably dramatically if not absolutely reduce violent crimes involving firearms without out needing to touching the 2nd amendment. This is not excluding cooperation between various government agencies to enforce already existing gun laws and extreme restriction on assault rifles. People who wish to own firearms like its a way of life should need to be so hardcore about ownership to the point its an accomplishment to them to have the privilege to say they have atleast a bachelor's degree in firearms to fully appreciate and understand their right. A three day course suffices for the Federal Government in Canada for anything non-restricted, another eight hours for Pistols and Tactical looking weapons (restricted). To say the least it's common sense when it comes down to dealing with firearms. Safe and proper storage of firearms is more than half the battle. Out of my own curiosity how would a year or two of the history of firearms aid in reducing violent crime let alone how do you spread several simple rules over a course of four years? History is a main focus as well as safty IMO. There should be extensive view on historical tragedies and shooting involving firearms. I am talking like the scene in "a clockwork orange" where Malcolm McDowell has his eyes stretched open to be forced to watch ultra violence films for hours on end. Maybe not to this extreme but have extensive studies and reviews of historical films related to shooting tragedies around the world. being forced to watch interviews of 1st hand observers and parrents to the ones killed. be tested like history exams and have textbook homework and lectures focused on every firearm they can beable to legally own. Understand their legal rights and accountability. Have lab work to show the student can clean and store a gun properly as well as be able to disassemble and put it back together. I am talking about extreme education here. People who wish to own firearms need to understand and respect their right to own one to the point it's a career to them. A gun owner needs to have more of a philosophical view point as well as a understanding to it's destructive power and understanding how dangerous it can be on the inoccent and how wrong it is to abuse a firearm. Four years of this kind of education would probably make a person understand and respect a firearm leading to reducing violent crimes involving guns in america. who would you trust with a gun a firearms scholar or a licenced owner? To be honest I would go with the Scholar, mainly because licensed owners have been known to turn their weapons onto others without provocation or remorse. I agree though that education is definitely the key here and not just a 3 day course. We're talking long term education, proving that the gun handler knows how to look after and store their weapons. They should also carry an indemnity insurance against the the eventuality of their weapon being used by a family member or 3rd party in the use of a crime. Licensing should also carry a mandatory period whereby all these things can be checked, and double or triple checked. A gun should not be purchased without meeting the full burden of the law and if a weapon is sold without meeting the requirements, then the store/shop should be forced to close or fined heavily. Only by penalising those that should know better, will deterrents mean something. If you kill without compunction or remorse then you should expect to face the full force of the law. Should you do so in fear of your life or the lives of your family then common sense and investigation should clear the shooter of blame. I can imagine that policing any new laws would be very difficult especially in the US were each state can decide upon its own interpretation of the law. Any gun reform needs to be universal and across the country not a question of "one rule for one, and another rule for someone else." Police officers have to look after their weapons and explain in great detail the discharging of them. Everything has to be accounted for and the same should go for members of the public. If you are responsible enough to own such a weapon then you are responsible enough to take the blame should anything go amiss due to negligence or mishap.

I must be bloody tired. It took me at least 3 minutes to work out what this picture meant :facepalm: Happy New Year yaw'll. I wish you all health, love and happiness, today, tomorrow and always :D

Except for Werne who's too busy destroying children's balls on a whim :(

As I said previously surely it is a matter of education from a young age if need be. If children grow up learning to respect the weapons they have access to then this will help in the long run. It seems that it is the few that cause the problems rather than the many and, as usual, this causes problems for all. Yes we have a strict gun policy in the UK and it can be thought of as draconian especially in the sporting world as many of our athletes that compete in shooting competitions can only train abroad as it is illegal to use even those kind of weapons over here. This is the extreme and not one I would recommend in the US as your gun culture is more ingrained than the UK. What we don't have we don't miss to a greater extent. There is gun crime of course and that is on the rise in some areas, but then we had a rise in knife crime for a while and an amnesty was declared and many weapons handed in. A few years earlier, a gun amnesty was declared (primarily after Dunblaine) and again a large number of illegal weapons were handed in. These courses of action do help get illegal weapons off the street, but from what I understand the weapons used by the young person at Sandy Hook were legal were they not. If there is to be a crack down then surely it should be on those who sell illegal weapons, modified or otherwise. They should be easy enough to find and deal with. However, I guess it is like drug dealers, for every one you get rid of two more take their place. An enigma and not one easily remedied by the look of it.

Its not how old you feel, but how old the person you're feeling :thumbsup:

Just been watching New Year celebrations on the other side of the world. Amazing isn't it to see others welcoming in the New Year and we're not even close yet :laugh:

I'm coming to this rather late and after much soul searching I think the powers that be really must take the blame for what has happened. Any gun culture has the chance to encourage this type of disaster. If something is easily available then there will be those that abuse the privilege and ruin it for those that treat guns with the respect they deserve. To be honest I have heard a number of different reasons as to how or why this happened. Why the gunman did what he did and who was to blame, the most recent over here in Blighty being he played CoD. Go figure, but if that was the reason then the next thing we know there will be gaming reforms before there are firearm reforms. Each time something like this happens, being to the East of Blighty or the West, I hope and pray it will be the last. Unfortunately that does not seem to be the case, but what we should remember is it is people that kill people and guns or knives or bombs are the instruments that are used. Surely it is a matter of education? Yes guns are available in many countries around this amazing world of ours legally and are used responsibly by many people during the course of their work and at ranges etc, these people have been trained and respect their weapons and know the damage they can do if handled wrongly. If possible maybe education should start, not just in the home, but in educational establishments also. Showing children the outcomes of a gunshot, what can happen if someone is shot, that is an amazing deterrent. Teaching children that guns used for a reason ie law enforcement, by soldiers in the enforcement of their duties etc etc, is the only reason for firing any weapon, and in extreme cases, in the protection of themselves and their families, then this will enforce the respect necessary for having these type of weapons in their homes. My family live in the USA. My parents and sisters have never had a gun in the house, have never handled one nor would they want to. My youngest sister had a close encounter with a weapon after accidently cutting up another driver when she nearly missed the exit on the highway when trying to get my father's lunch to him. The driver she cut up followed her up to the junction, pulled along side her and pointed a gun at her head whilst shouting obscenities at her. As you can imagine it freaked her out and she immediately returned home and called my father and the authorities. Of course she could do nothing other than give a description of the other driver and the make and colour of the car. She was driving my dad's red sports car at the time and he mistakenly thought it was her car, she was only 18 at the time and it freaked my parents out so badly that my dad sold the car and bought a 4x4. A sad state of affairs to be sure, but luckily my sister came out of it relatively unscathed, except for a few months of nightmares and refusing to drive anywhere without a passenger for a wee while. She's fine now and is an University lecturer (I'm so proud of her :D But back to the topic at hand, the aforementioned was used as an example of what happened after an innocent encounter. It could have turned out very differently to be sure, but luckily the gunman either thought twice about using his weapon, or it was not loaded. Either way my sister survived the encounter and I thank the Lord for that every day. Restraint, respect and education, must play a part in any gun culture. I have only ever seen weapons on the TV or at the airport. I have never heard one discharged in RL nor have I ever witnessed a "real" gunshot. I have a respect for these weapons of destruction and trust that those using them daily are trained to the highest level in using them. I also hope that what happened at Sandy Hook never happens again. We had a similar tragedy here in the UK a number of years ago and I remember it well. My thoughts, prayers and best wishes go out to the family and friends of those lost especially now.

What is it with the Mr Bean pictures? I'm gonna end up having nightmares at this rate :D

:facepalm:

Its 3:55am here in good ol' Blighty. Can't sleep, can't think and am awaiting the countdown to begin. Hopefully 2013 will be better than 2012, but I wont hold my breath. Found out my sister is emigrating to the States. I love how I got my family in and I'm still over here. Doesn't seem right really as I'm the "proper" citizen, but hey that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess. Anyway, have a great New Year and don't forget to party in moderation and love excessively. Never waste a moment on regrets, look to the future and plan with abandon. Speak laterz :D

My sons have it and play it regularly :D

:ohdear:

that is so true :D

Well I'm all alone and sending my best wishes on this fine mid-morning. Take care all and I'll speak to you laterz :D Good to see the lunatics are still running the asylum :)

Know the feeling very well there :)

:facepalm: What a topic to come in on, if you'll pardon the pun :D

Most definitely. Will increase the sales of Croatian Dictionaries if nothing else :D

I love Florida would prefer to be there than here :)

lol they made me laugh :D