Gromnir

a reality where individuals, as 'posed to the state, decide what is newsworthy and what isn't? a reality where the promotion o' propaganda and conspiracy theory is a matter o' choice as 'posed to having force o' law? ... doesn't sound at all like what soviets would want for themselves. the current US approach may be busted, and no doubt putin and xi ('mongst others) does indeed loves to work in this reality, but as much as our adversaries enjoy the chaos o' our approach, is doubtful they or the soviets would wanna use it as their domestic model. so yeah, the soviets would love this reality, but only so long as it remained an American peculiarity and not soviet. timely example: Commentary: I won’t work in Attorney General William Barr’s Justice Department any longer "Unfortunately, over the last year, Barr’s resentment toward rule-of-law prosecutors became increasingly difficult to ignore, as did his slavish obedience to Donald Trump’s will in his selective meddling with the criminal justice system in the Paul Manafort, Michael Flynn and Roger Stone cases. In each of these cases, Barr overruled career prosecutors in order to assist the president’s associates and/or friends, who potentially harbor incriminating information. This career bureaucrat seems determined to turn our democracy into an autocracy." so not the kinda thing one would expect to see in pravda, да? HA! Good Fun!

one o' our dogs has become increasing neurotic 'bout house rattling bass as she has gotten older. literal has gotten worse every year. neurotic is so understating. we do not see thunderstorms often where we live. lucky. however, heavy wind and rain is enough to make the poor pup terrified. get that frequent during winter. if a large plane flies overhead? is now enough to make her shiver uncontrollable and urinate. we have a fan with obnoxious high decibels o' noise production. learned to sleep with the fan during the hot summer months but am serious considering keeping the fan running all night long and perhaps 24/7 just to keep our dog from going crazy. crazier. am picturing our self this winter with the world's loudest home use fan aimed at the ceiling and Gromnir wearing noise canceling headphones while silent praying our dog don't notice the rain on our metal roof. HA! Good Fun!

it is smart to ignore national polls. only the battleground states matter insofar as the election. however... https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-election-forecast/florida/ trafalgar is a notable outlier. most o' the recent polls for florida while having biden ahead is w/i margin of error. is too close to predict as o' today. there are so few undecideds this year, so will be less funkiness than 2016. biden is also far more consistent in popularity than were clinton. that said, is 'tween five and eight states with any relevance to the election results... save for trump shenanigans insofar as voter fraud bs. less than 77k votes determined the 2016 election. three states with less than 1% difference 'tween clinton and trump decided the election. 2016 is not same, but lesson should be learned how national polls is nothing but misleading. good news for trump is that unbeknownst to the President, puerto rico don't have any electoral college delegates. HA! Good Fun!

should read our firstest covid-19 post in the original thread... or not. too long ago and hard enough to read one Gromnir post, much less two. just as covid-19 were becoming recognized as a concern, we predicted the second amendment folks would appropriate, same way they did the gadsden flag. warning: don't expect the following explanations to be reasonable. what is has been largely insulated from what is reasonable for the past few years o' US politics. you want an explanation which is reasonable and you will first need to find a way to get around the endemic divisiveness of the past few years as well as the unfortunate realities o' human nature. two main reasons: 1) trump failed to deliver ppe. in february, when members o' the task force and experts were warning the administration 'bout the dire threat covid-19 posed, the trump administration were encouraging the producers o' masks to sell their inventory... to china. the white house were specific informed that by january it were too late to provide enough masks for all american citizens, but it were possible to create enough supply for health care workers. the trump administration ignored such warnings and instead pushed US manufacturers o' ppe to send their inventory overseas. by late february/early march, when it became obvious the wh miscalculated... trump will never admit a mistake. he always doubles-down. masks and ppe were a sore subject for trump as they represented an obvious administration blunders. obvious trump solution is to claim masks were never needed in the first place. 2) mask wearing instant became entangled with second amendment rights. why? 'cause second amendment folks is all too willing to turn every government action into a life or death fight 'bout Liberty. https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510356/no-compromise am recommending listening to the podcasts although am admitting is highly unlikely most will have the endurance to do so. the thing is, once alt/far right groups latched onto masks as a liberty issue and they became vocal and visible in their opposition to blue state governors, trump predictable picked a side. trump's tweets is illustrative 'cause the measures adopted by the three governors in question had nothing whatsoever to do with firearms. the problem is that all too many 2nd amendment honks is o' the no compromise variety who believe any government action which diminishes liberty makes it all too likely the radical democrats will be showing up to their door to take their guns with their next decree. why do such folks follow basic no shirt, no shoes, no service laws and individual store guidelines but balk at masks which could save lives? regardless, once masks became a trump issue, fox news and breitbart went into full disinformation mode in support o' the President and next thing you know masks is, believed by all too many conservative voters to be at best ineffective and at worst lethal. don't ask for a reasonable answer. HA! Good Fun!

gross misunderstanding. the reconstruction amendments 'tween 1865 and 1870, as well as the civil rights legislation o' the mid 1960s is the governmental action which most ardent addressed mayor lightfoot's concerns. weren't the Court. what brought 'bout real change were the will o' the people as realized through legislation that were written and enacted to end abominable evils. in 1850, before the civil war, the state supreme court o' massachusetts held that, among other issues, the US Constitution did not make school segregation illegal. the court decision resulted in widespread anger and a groundswell o' public support demanding change. in 1855, massachusetts solution were to pass state legislation desegregating schools. problem. solution. scalia were an originalist and a textualist. am not sure why folks tend focus only on the first aspect, 'cause they is not same thing. scalia, to whom acb has been unfair compared, specific observed how the intent o' the authors o' a law were largely immaterial when applying textualism. is the meaning o' the words, fair interpreted and in context o' the time and framework o' the legislation, which guides a textualist judge/Justice. more than one person has suggested an originalist would need have brown v. board of education fail. after all, the writers o' the reconstruction amendments specific addressed school segregation as they debated the amendments and from the legislative history it is kinda clear they didn't believe equal protection would result in segregation. for scalia, finding school segregation illegal based on equal protection were not a hard case, 'because he were a textualist. didn't matter what the legislators thought or intended 'cause the clear meaning o' the written words o' the fourteenth amendment would, from scalia's pov, have precluded school segregation. course the Court in brown applied a sociology argument to decide the case, so... judges and Justices is 'posed to declare what the law is and not necessarily what it should be. if law is not to be interpreted as something immutable as it were written, then how should it be interpreted? at what point in history were school segregation Unconstitutional? am not asking when school segregation were wrong, but rather when it were repugnant to a Constitution which the mayor o' chicago correct observes did not view her as a person worthy o' protection in 1787. were school segregation Unconstitutional in 1787 and nobody realized until 1954? perhaps some folks believe society evolves and so too should the Constitution? sadly, hasn't history (recent and remote) shown how easily our idealized notions o' American values may be subverted by voices filled with hate? if you believe as a nation the US progressed forward in an ever improving cycle as evidenced by Court decisions correcting the mistakes and failures o' Congress and the people, then you are a poor student o' history. those obsidian board history buffs such as @Hurlshot and @Guard Dog will no doubt be able to name many examples from US history which tends to prove society may regress with equal speed and vigor as it progresses. to let you know just how not-controversial the decision were, buck v. bell is one o' the most brief decisions you will ever read. ... in our federalist system, is Congress which is purposefully designed to represent the evolving standards o' the electorate, not the Courts. does it seem wise to have those nebulous evolving societal standards nobody can adequate identify or define be established by an elite group o' nine men and women who have lifetime terms? we got concerns 'bout acb. she is not a textualist same as were scalia. woulda' liked to see her sit on the appellate court a bit longer 'cause a few o' her espoused and more controversial positions has not been tested in the crucible o' a rl decision. am not liking the dissembling all nominees to the Court increasingly engage. of course acb has an opinion 'bout voter intimidation, but she cannot answer even simple questions 'bout such? say she ain't lying when she avoids answering even the most simple questions is undermining her perceived legitimacy as an impartial and honest adjudicator. etc. regardless, originalism is all too often used interchangeable with strict construction and textualism. fail. blame originalism for the evils Americans perpetrated 'pon their fellow men for more than two hundred years o' the history o' this nation is also a fail. however, having read slapjack definitions o' originalism even at law school sites, am not surprised by the confusion o' many, though such understandable and correctable ignorance is all too often magnified by politicians with an agenda. ... oh, what the hell, originalism? HA! Good Fun!

not particular insightful alpaca info australians make it more humorous somehow. HA! Good Fun! ps most notable attribute o' alpacas which is complete missed in the video is their "wool." alpacas shown were recent shorn.

well, the pictured cows is dairy cows. just as stinky. just as dumb. dairy cows tend to be less ornery 'cause is tougher to milk a hostile bovine even if is mechanical milking. clean a cow and then they smell more like wet grass than anything-- less smelly. clean a cow wouldn't inspire us to embrace it. milk sometimes ends up as cheese. whole lotta varieties o' cheese which requires a cow to exist. minor quibble, but we would point out steaks and cheese. ... an alpaca? they is docile (typical) and fluffy, but perhaps not big enough to fit the requirements. 'course there is bigger alpacas. have never hugged an alpaca, but we have given neck rubs to a few... am admitting the manner in which the critters lean into and respond to a neck rub with obvious appreciation brought a childish smile to our face. alpacas do have vocalizations which may startle folks who ain't familiar with the critters. HA! Good Fun!

description o' pathfinder:kingmaker we has heard often were not that everything which needed to be patched were patched but rather there were a recognition it were as patched as it were gonna get, so if you were considering playing, you might as well give it a shot 'cause perhaps is patched enough. HA! Good Fun!

we were waiting for the laugh track and the snl actors 'cause it reminded us more o' an snl mock trailer than anything. it is kinda funny as a trailer, but am not seeing how you do 90 minutes o' fatman. HA! Good Fun!

and trump instituted a muslim ban to combat extreme far-right religious fundamentalist terrorist groups, thus exposing his hidden leftist agenda. wait, that doesn't make sense, does it? the right v. left nonsense will mislead. for instance, the wolverine watchmen, one o' the groups accused o' targeting the michigan governor, has a member who in a online video displayed an anarchist flag on his wall, which fox news says proves these clowns is lefties. 'course the following is a picture o' the home and yard o' the wolverine watchman's s'posed leader. shouldn't be so hard to condemn hate and violence, particular when is americans doing unto americans. shouldn't need resort to whataboutism so utter transparent. shouldn't take a moment's hesitation for real republicans to condemn this kinda nonsense. is funny how @Hurlshot joked 'bout the predictable whataboutism spin towards antifa. took trump a long time to respond to the situation in michigan and when he finally did it were exact 'ccording to the script hurl envisioned. worse actual as in his tweet trump were claiming ownership o' federal law enforcement and doj as well whimpering over the absence o' a personal thank you from governor whitmer. 'course hurl weren't exact channeling the oracle o' delphi or anything as trump's response were comical and nevertheless terrible predictable... albeit a bit more unhinged than even we woulda' predicted. clown indeed HA! Good Fun!

would be nice if a few real republicans were around who had the courage to speak against hate. HA! Good Fun! ps antifa sucks. while there may not be a genuine singular antifa leadership or group, those who identify as antifa has consistent stated they is approving' the use o' violence to respond to hateful protests and messaging by those they identify as fascists-- is their raison d'être in fact. use violence to respond to admitted subjective offensive speech is wrong when is white supremacists doing or antifa or the federal stormtroopers william barr and donald trump illegal and Unconstitutional sent to portland.

am agreeing save for two small qualifications: 1) we were a "fan" o' harris previous to her Presidential run 2) it appeared as if the campaign decided that for the debate, harris should play the role o' the backup qb running out the clock. while we never considered harris one our favorite options to replace trump, in her capacity as a US senator she did a fantastic job questioning committee witnesses. jeff sessions, william barr and brett kavanaugh all got pantsed and had their lunch money taken by harris. like her or dislike her, she were highly effective at making uncooperative witnesses look like bumbling dissemblers, and as much as we dislike william barr, "bumbling" is rare gonna be the way we describe him. ... after harris' failed run at the Presidency, a narrative which gained disproportionate traction were that American voters couldn't handle a strong woman. dunno. maybe. am unable to speak for voters not Gromnir. am knowing the reason we approved o' harris were precise 'cause she were smart and tough and were willing to adopt a take no prisoners approach with individuals who were lying or misleading. strong woman were not a problem for us. have mentioned previous how we began to dislike harris as she ran for the democratic Presidential nomination in part 'cause she were one o' the democrat candidates most willing to adopt the tactics o' trump. no need to repeat old criticisms. nevertheless, is noteworthy how we actual started out as a harris fan and then soured on her more recent. perhaps more significant, am thinking the biden/harris ticket is cognizant o' the current advantage they got over trump/pence in most battleground states and almost daily, trump does something to further annoy women and seniors. even though we think pence did better than harris in the debate (better by an extreme small margin), am suspecting he didn't help his campaign with suburban women last night, and he needed such help. as long as biden and harris do nothing overt to blow their lead, they win... or so appears to be the strategy. am not sure if we complete agree with such an approach, but is reasonable under the circumstances. trump and biden can't beat the covid-19, healthcare and economic pain issues which is foremost in the minds o' most Americans. when the backup qb is in the game and you got a big lead in the 4th quarter... *shrug* similar to shady, the needle moved not at all for us insofar as our approval o' harris. if every american were viewing same as Gromnir (what a horrific notion) can't help but think biden and harris would consider such a quiescent non reaction to be a victory. HA! Good Fun!

we already addressed this. full quote on subject: "however, the githyanki comment is, if true, valid. why have a githyanki companion? or rather, why have all the companions open hostile. am thinking it is likely each companion introduced early in the game may have a legit reason for being hostile or general unpleasant. get three companions early and they is all backstabbing grumble monkeys? didn't need make the companion a githyanki, and even if for the story larian were trying to tell they genuine wanted a githyanki companion, that don't mean all the early companions need be so unlikable... though have not played bg2 ea so am taking the author's concerns as legit. didn't need be a githyanki, or rather, didn't need all have the same antisocial issues as the githyanki unless the authors wanted such." identify that the writers wanted a gith companion is both illustrative and missing the point. coulda' been githzerai. coulda been an atypical jolly pirate o' gith, or even an outcast githyanki. coulda' been whatever the writers chose 'cause, y'know, imagination. regardless, a githyanki companion (while hardly necessary) who is hostile is indeed reasonable, but that were missing the forest for the trees. author o' the article used a specific example to illustrate a personality quirk (set o' quirks) common to all the initial companions. weren't so much that a priestess o' an evil god or an undead rogue would individual be untrustworthy or unpleasant companions. rather is no reason you need start with a priestess o' shar, an undead rogue and a githyanki who is all curiously homicidal unless that were your intent. author of article asks obvious question: "why?" perhaps going for comical grimdark by making your companions as unpleasant as possible, 'cause, y'know, that's drama. oh, and as you mention romance, am gonna suggest the more valid criticism is that your companions who a few hours past were trying to kill you become devoted and even amorous is stretching credulity far more than is having a githyanki companion act other than murderous, but somehow such eye-roll fodder is not only considered reasonable but is expected in crpgs. baffling. HA! Good Fun!

fly won, but am gonna give pence a distant second... but not by much over harris. overall pence scored a few more points than harris, but on covid and transfer o' power he sorta flubbed and flopped. harris really coulda' hammered pence on the rose garden and the white house failure to follow the cdc guidelines. curious omission. harris wouldn't answer 'bout Court packing. am curious why the biden ticket thinks the issue is so untouchable. meh. this debate pushes the polls even less than the last. HA! Good Fun!

ps keep in mind we do not personal have a problem with unlikable or antagonistic companions. unlikable and antagonistic characters is frequent more compelling. nevertheless am recognizing not only is our opinion a bit o' an outlier, but even Gromnir would get annoyed if all companions were uniform overt, unpleasant and caustic. HA! Good Fun!

our issues with the article were starting early as the author's rosey-hued recollection o' bg1 baffled us. the bg 1 companions were little more than a collection o' catchphrases. am thinking the identification o' the original bg game as the most well liked is questionable, but even if such were true, we would not hold up the companions as being a noteworthy positive. the admission larian were following d&d rules regarding movement, after spending a page grumbling 'bout bg3 movement, were also curious from a guy who were touting decades o' d&d experience. however, the githyanki comment is, if true, valid. why have a githyanki companion? or rather, why have all the companions open hostile. am thinking it is likely each companion introduced early in the game may have a legit reason for being hostile or general unpleasant. get three companions early and they is all backstabbing grumble monkeys? didn't need make the companion a githyanki, and even if for the story larian were trying to tell they genuine wanted a githyanki companion, that don't mean all the early companions need be so unlikable... though have not played bg2 ea so am taking the author's concerns as legit. didn't need be a githyanki, or rather, didn't need all have the same antisocial issues as the githyanki unless the authors wanted such. will hold off judgement 'bout the game, but based on reviews so far the writing is uninspired and as much as many folks were approving o' bg3's low-level d&d and a slower progression than similar d&d pc games o' the past couple decades, a few o' the combat related concerns is utter predictable. unlike obsidian's pillars games, which attempted to make even low level combat compelling with multiple and useful abilities accessible from the start o' the game for every class and character build, d&d combat is still, after all these decades, notoriously punishing and unsatisfying at low levels. combine worst aspects o' bg1 and toee combat? non magic wielders is relegated to their auto-attack and if there is more than three enemies in a turn-based combat encounter, it can feel soul numbing slow. am also genuine baffled how a party o' n00b adventurers is taking on multiple intellect devourers, but such could be explained with narrative... devourers is injured or recent concussed or... dunno. will wait a bit. HA! Good Fun!

it is reassuring that the pentagon, unlike the wh, is taking serious and following cdc guidelines. sure, the vice commandant likely got covid-19 from the wh, as he attended a gold star event at the wh a day after the now infamous rose garden event. that said, charles wray and all the other military brass now in quarantine were wearing masks when they were forced to be in close contact with each other. furthermore, as soon as pentagon folks became aware o' a positive test by the coast guard vice commandant, the brass immediate had anybody who were in close contact with wray quarantine according to cdc guidelines. not being afraid o' covid is much different from being an idiot about the dangers o' covid. HA! Good Fun!

hour long, but if you still have a covid-19 question, you should find an answer... even if you do not necessarily like the answer. am not providing a comprehensive rundown o' topics, but video addresses vaccines (including how safety is established) and timelines for an anticipated return to something approaching normalcy as well as what is meant by aerosolization, rates o' infection which lead to asymptomatic and hospitalizations, "second wave" nomenclature, models projecting death for the winter, how to approach holiday travel, and the disproportionate impact o' covid-19 on minority communities.

so, no proof? HA! Good Fun!

proof. you made this claim previous. any reputable study we has seen shows a more direct link between lack of education and belief in conspiracy theories. iq is not specific addressed most times as iq tests themselves is less objective than one would hope for when conducting these kinda studies. education is concrete and objective. "what is the highest level of education you attained?" is no judgement involved. iq test score is objective proving how you scored on an iq test as 'posed to how intelligent a person is. iq tends to be lower for conspiracy theory believers, but is a fail to draw any such conclusions 'bout intelligence and conspiracy theory belief in part 'cause iq tests is themselves suspect. bs receptivity is higher 'mongst believers in conspiracy theories with diminished iq being identified as a factor, but again, lack o' education AND being a loser (denotative and not connotative) is the more relevant indicators. if you feel like you personal have gotten the fuzzy end o' the lollipop and you lack education, then your bs receptivity goes up predictable. more unfairness you believe you suffered and less education received results in increased bs receptivity. schizotypy is presenting the best correlative juxtaposition or predictor o' a belief in conspiracy theory. not clinical schizophrenic, but possessing psychological characteristics which is common in a schizophrenia diagnosis is what is schizotypy. schizophrenics and individuals with schizotypy tend to score poor on iq tests, but again, a typical iq test is a transparent flawed way to assess a person with attention span limitations and disorganized cognition. try and refrain from seeing the profound in unsupported claims regarding high intelligence and a belief in conspiracy theory. such claims is not gonna help your position and may hurt. bs receptivity/schizotypy... not need look very far to find obsidian board examples. HA! Good Fun!

'Don't Be Afraid Of It': Trump Dismisses Virus Threat As He Returns To White House HA! Good Fun!

you were making claims 'bout the effectiveness o' gun laws, and referenced rural districts 'n such. you have referenced current city gun control laws when identifying the ineffectiveness o' strict gun laws. complain how strict local laws don't work but reject evidence they has indeed worked because they are local? how does that square? you got a basic fundamental misunderstanding 'cause all firearm laws pre 1930s were gonna be state or local. there were no real meaningful Court decisions until 1939... save one: presser v. illinois (1886). SCOTUS made clear the 2nd amendment were a prohibition on the national government and not state or local. "We think it clear that the sections under consideration, which only forbid bodies of men to associate together as military organizations, or to drill or parade with arms in cities and towns unless authorized by law, do not infringe the right of the people to keep and bear arms. But a conclusive answer to the contention that this amendment prohibits the legislation in question lies in the fact that the amendment is a limitation only upon the power of congress and the national government, and not upon that of the state." 2nd amendment honks may claim God is on their side, but the better part o' the entirety o' US history and and all relevant Court decisions until 1939 (and perhaps far more recent as miller serves only to confuse,) is favoring state and local gun control... and such gun control ran the gamut from incidental to draconian. definition matters not save for your arguments regarding strict gun control laws. @Guard Dog am not certain as to causes. urban is more likely to result in homicides and violent crimes as 'posed to rural regardless o' general poverty stats. fact. why? dunno. most homicides is actual crimes o' passion as 'posed to planned, but even gun violence which don't end in death and would appear to be premeditated is having similar skew towards urban. sure, w/i the municipality, poverty appears to be a major contributing factor, but why is so much more likely in urban? am recalling a british paper which found that impulsivity in rats increases once a non-specific population density is reached, with a sharp escalation in the prevalence o' aberrant behaviours once the threshold is exceeded. *shrug* HA! Good Fun!

again, this just isn't true. the thing is, we ain't had draconian gun laws in the US since the mid 20th century. is ironic, but the wild wests stories is mostly fiction because o' draconian gun laws. recall, the ok corral killings resulted from enforcement o' municipal gun laws. old west towns w/o such gun laws ordinarily had gun murder rates many times that o' those which had law and order and gun laws. do a little research on bodie, ca, in the late 1800s and then compare to wichita, abilene or dodge city. as early as 1619 in the colonies, one could receive the death sentence for selling firearms or gunpowder to native americans. concealed carry laws, btw, were the norm rather than an exception going as far back as the founding, and extreme stiff penalties were enforced. were 29 states in 1847, and nineteen had concealed weapons prohibitions or outright prohibitions on pistols. most US gun law restrictions were municipal, but in 1875, wyoming banned possession o' any firearm (pistol or long rifle) within the limits o' any city, town or village. etc. again, until 1934, draconian gun laws were the norm and they were the norm 'cause they worked. those old west towns which is misrepresented in movies provide some o' the best evidence for just how effective were such laws. is worth the effort to do a little self education and compare places like bodie to wichita in the mid/late 19th century. compare homicides as a whole and deaths from firearms in particular. for all the folks who thinks gun possession is some kinda God given right which were codified in the Constitution and is only now under threat by far-left libs is revealing a profound lack o' historical awareness. HA! Good Fun! ps to clarify in case it were missed, we haven't had genuine draconian gun laws in this country in a long time. argue such is a good or bad thing, but is difficult to claim such laws were ineffective when they did exist.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2018/02/15/its-time-to-bring-back-the-assault-weapons-ban-gun-violence-experts-say/ https://law.stanford.edu/2019/10/15/the-assault-weapon-ban-saved-lives/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5993698/ where the numbers is not clear is the suggestion the assault weapons ban made Americans safer. too much sketchy info to prove such. in fact, Gromnir has argued numerous times how bans on so-called assault weapons is stoopid 'cause is handguns which cause a disproportionate number o' firearms deaths, with blunt force weapons signifficant oustripping long rifle as cause o' death in US homicides. if goal is to make americans safer, the focus on assault weapons misses the point. wasn't our argument that assault weapons ban made americans safer or reduced gun violence. what it did do were make it less likely for folks to use such weapons in crime. laws regarding machine guns and assault weapons has indeed worked. is proven that with terrible enough punishments, people stop using those kinda weapons to commit crime. the argument that criminals don't care 'bout laws and thus ignore such laws is not supported. create a draconian law which prevents gun ownership would likely save lives. is a pointless discussion however as "strict gun laws" cannot actual exist in this country. HA! Good Fun! ps am suggesting a closer reading o' third link as it shows how following the expiration o' the aw ban, numbers returned and even increased to pre 1990s levels.

yeah, but try and explain causation v. correlation to folks is doomed. is a reason why so many folks is having their minds blown by how similar is 5g and covid-19 infection maps. the assault weapon ban, because o' how severe were the punishments, did indeed lead to a reduction in a certain class o' weapons being used in crime. not even @Guard Dog would deny such. warning: kinda sweary is not wrong 'bout the enhancement o' crimes committed with automatic weapons. make a genuine punishing law which prevented gun ownership o' any kind would not be Constitutional, which is why the whole "strict gun laws" bit is relative nonsense. only in the US would our strict gun laws be considered particular strict. regardless, you are wasting your time trying to explain causation v. correlation. HA! Good Fun! ps however, am gonna observe how poverty is less direct responsible than might be imagined. poor and rural don't have same gun violence numbers. urban environments, even republican urban such as fort worth, tx, has higher gun violence numbers than rural even where poverty numbers is similar. fort worth has higher gun murder numbers than nyc btw.