drwho, Queen Elizabeth is Head of the Commonwealth of Nations, but not Head of State of the Commonwealth. The Commonwealth does not have a Head of State because it operates entirely by agreement and cooperation between the independent states, which are free and equal.

Confusingly, some of the member states of the Commonwealth of Nations individually recognize Queen Elizabeth as their monarch or ceremonial head of state because of historical ties from the days of the British Empire.

As for the European Union, at the present time the UK is still a member although the UK government is negotiating to leave the EU, possibly as soon as next year.

Done a clickfest

Phil, we Yankees don't visit Australia because we can't bring our guns.

done

TallMike, this may be hair splitting, but is no "Head of State of the Commonwealth" because the Commonwealth isn't a state. A head of state is for a country, not an association. There is no head of state for the EU, either. The reason some countries recognize the Queen as head of state is because they are constitutional monarchies. It has little to do with their membership in the Commonwealth.

That's a great reason to visit Australia then Diane! I am not comfortable with trigger happy people.

Never visit the U.S. then spellit. Nothing is ever going to be done about our horrific white on white violence. Made excusable by the monetization of the 2nd amendment. The mental illness component of this problem is not with the shooters but with the society that allows it to continue.

Diane, you're quite right, you can't bring your guns, but if you're so desperate that you can't have a holiday without shooting a gun, there are plenty of gun clubs and ranges where you can shoot even high powered rifles, just not semi automatic or automatics or military grade assault rifles. That would just be stupid!

It's sad that we're flippant about it, when the reality of innocent lives lost due to lack of balls in the government still plagues the US.

Come to Oz instead, Tasmania still has some of the wildest untouched wilderness to explore - and no bears or crocodiles!

I stayed a fortnight in Washington and was shocked at the number of shootings reported daily. Sadly London is going the same way.

Not so many in Oz spelt!

Phil was yesterday's massacre in Florida reported in your press?

Big headlines on news here in UK

Of course tuco,

along with the usual conversations at work about how absolutely ridiculous the US gun laws or complete and utter lack of them, is sadly going to mean more and more innocent, often young lives will be lost.

And also it's reported how so many politicians receive ridiculous sums of money from the NRA and yet people still vote for them

start todays easy

ding

It isn't the gun's fault, or the "gun culture's" (whatever that is) fault, it's the criminal's fault. It isn't the car's fault, or the alcoholic beverage's fault or the "drinking culture's" fault, it is the drunk driver's fault. In a free society, personal choice carries with it personal responsibility. Joe Kennedy Sr made millions of dollars licensing liquor (Gordon's Gin and Dewar's Scotch among others). So is he and his family guilty of all the death, alcoholism, and health issues associated with alcohol abuse and consumption? The victims are just as dead in both cases.

The knee jerk reaction borders on comical. The Left screams - Ban Guns. The Right screams - second amendment and the families bury their dead.

No knee jerking here KnightTime. Your attitude is what allows the killing to continue. We have to do something. Doing nothing and making stupid comparisons to alcoholism and car fatalities doesn't work.

Yeah the victims are dead in both cases. My mother-in-law killed by a drunk driver. My town the site of a mass shooting. I just pray KnightTime that you don't have to live through either.

And for what? So that anyone can own a weapon of mass murder? Who are truly the mentally ill? The ones pulling the trigger or the ones allowing them to pull it?

Gosh, no one is offering thoughts and prayers!

You are the best angie!

The comparison is valid not stupid. The stupidity comes in when you impose your morality and judgment on a tool yet look the other way on a libation. Dead is dead. Who are you to say I have not lived thru having someone I know die from a gun or from a drunk or from some other criminal act. You know nothing about me other than what you infer from my limited comments.

And to your point about a "Free Society" KnightTime. Haven't we cracked down on DWI? I sure have noticed a difference in the 46 years I have been driving? You don't think MADD and SADD had anything to do with it? We had assault rifle bans before. It was people like you who fought to overturn them.

Again you know nothing about me or what I support. and BTW I fought for this country - with a gun.

Dead is dead is meaningless and belittling the victims. It is saying so what? You are dead. No different than if you were killed by a drunk driver? Or am I missing your point?

I posted figures about the deaths caused by alcohol and nicotine before. The destruction caused by those two things far outweigh deaths by mass killings using an assault rifle.

So are you concerned about people dying or people dying by a certaain method?

See, that is the problem. We can pass laws to punish the tobacco companies for selling a deadly product, we can crack down on DWI, but we can't do anything about guns? BULLSH*T

Free your mind from your phallic need for a firearm and embrace the fact that there is no rational need for anyone in this country to be able to own an assault rifle. NONE

And there is no rational need for a person to smoke, or drink for that matter. Good luck trying to change things based on rational need.

I am concerned about people dying of course. Your questioning that is obfuscation. Like saying I love abortion because I support a woman's right to choose.

Right - if it challenges your logic it is obfuscation.

You are changing the subject from guns to death because you cant accept that the gun, in most cases an assault rifle, is the problem. You can't accept it.

I accept it is a problem

What I question is YOUR solution.

My logic is rock solid. It is you who veers off using unrelated events to make your point. Smoking has nothing to do with gun violence.

return to the assault rifle ban would be a start in the right direction.

In your opinion

It is already settled law in the SCOTUS.

Define assault rifle

Any weapon that has selectable firing modes and can be fired in fully automatic mode.

That is not what the guy in Las Vegas used and I am guessing it is not what the guy in Florida used. So your ban would not work

See that is another ridiculous point you gun guys use. It wouldn't have helped there so why do it? Do you realize how stupid that makes you sound?

To you, I guess facts sound stupid.

Doing nothing doesn't work. Do something.

The las vegas guy did inot have automatic weapons

Automtic weapons, for the most part, are illegal.

Uh, fully automatic weapons were found in his hotel room.

Uh no they weren't

http://www.latimes.com/nation/la-las-vegas-sh\nooting-live-updates-fully-automatic-guns-foun\nd-in-shooter-s-1506974803-htmlstory.html

Those were semi-automatic

with bump stocks

I guess fully is the most important thing here? So you are quibbling over being able to kill at a lesser rate?

No, I am the one who said that killing at a higher rate deserves attention, i.e. alcohol and tobacco, but you said the rate is not relevant

And since you served in our military why would you want to live in a country where you can't walk around safely or send your kids to school where there is a chance that someone can turn a weapon that you used to defend their right to go to school safely on them?

I walked around safely all the time. I do not live in fear.

I am more concerned about a drunk driver than a shooter. WAY More concerned

Statistically, mass shooting is not even a blip on the radar.

And I live in a state that has the most lax gun laws in the country

Do you know how many school shootings there have been this year? Are you aware that the government has been suppressing the statistics on gun violence?

Are you aware that it is illegal to sue a firearm manufacturing for a defective product?

You win.

Have a good evening. I have to go clean my guns.

be safe

https://www.responsibility.org/get-the-facts/\nresearch/statistics/drunk-driving-fatalities/

KnightTime is totally correct about the death toll by drunk drivers as opposed to gun deaths. But what he misses is the last part in the link below. How much this death toll has decreased once we took steps to combat the problem. We can and we should be doing something, anything to if not end, diminish the death toll. Doing nothing, rolling back restrictions on mentally incompetent people from purchasing firearms is not the answer.

And angie you are the best because you are right, thoughts and prayers don't work either.

VOTE PROgressive. Not CONservative.

done

what was that book I should read? post is too far down now

The Fatal Shore

Chat is archived too. :-)