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So spooky!

Although, I don't know why the poltergeist was pushing stuff towards points where fishing line could run, like under doors to the left and right and around those pipes at the bottom right.

Who can tell why disembodied spirits do the things they do...

My Uncle, Paul Stephens went on to win multiple awards, he produced "The Avro Arrow" with Dan Akroid and "Where the spirit Lives" about the religious schools kidnapping natives. Powerful movie.

Hmm. I disagree with your description text, @ChaosEngine.

I've never shot something fully-automatic. I have shot an AR-15 semi-automatic, and I know where you're coming from when you say that hitting a target on full auto would be difficult, especially for a relatively untrained person (recoil control).

However, I think Vox and others are basically correct when they say that this modification (bump stock) contributed to the Las Vegas shooting being so deadly. Specifically in that sort of scenario.

The dude wasn't picking targets and sniping, going for accuracy. He picked an ideal shooting location (elevation with clear LOS) and sprayed into a crowd. He'd have been more accurate by keeping the weapon on semi-auto and actually aiming carefully, and certainly would have gotten more hits per bullet fired, but on the other hand the rate of fire difference would have so different that people would have had more time between shots to scramble for cover, etc.

He had position, an abundance of bullets, and lots and lots of time. Given those givens, having a rate of fire approximately equal to fully-automatic means a much higher body count than if he'd have been limited to traditional semi-auto.


The NRA is being more cunning than I figured they would, and has come out in favor of banning bump stocks. I agree with you that they see that mostly as a pointless concession, and a distraction from additional / better stuff that needs to happen.

But it isn't a pointless concession. If banning fully-automatic firearms in 1986 (minus the ones grandfathered in) was the right thing to do, extending that to include bump stocks is also the right thing to do. For the same reasons.

@newtboy is correct to note that technically, a rifle with a bump stock isn't a fully-automatic "machine gun". The user's finger still pulls the trigger once for every bullet that comes out -- semi-automatic.

However, I think that the "spirit" of the distinction is that with semi-automatic firing you have to think and consciously decide to pull the trigger each time you want to shoot a bullet, whereas with fully-automatic you consciously decide when you want to start and stop shooting. By the letter of the law, weapons with bump stocks are semi-automatic. But by that definition of the "spirit" of the law, they are fully-automatic. Pull the grip/barrel forward to start shooting, pull it back to stop.

It's a pretty frequent occurrence for technology to outpace the law. The definitions of semi vs fully automatic include the word "trigger" because they didn't anticipate this kind of conversion that makes the trigger sort of one step removed from the conscious decision to fire. The law would have similar hiccups if a weapon was developed that used a button or switch to fire, rather than a traditional trigger.

When those hiccups happen, the solution is to clarify the intent of the law and expand or clarify definitions as necessary. I'm pleasantly surprised that many legislators seem willing to do that with bump stocks, and that the NRA seems like it won't stand in the way. Mission accomplished, situation resolved? No. But a step in the right direction.

Thoughts:

1) There has been a ban on sales of new, fully-automatic firearms ("machine guns") since 1986. That leaves some loopholes (can still buy them if they were manufactured before then, but that demand plus scarcity makes them expensive, etc.) but in general, there isn't a whole lot of uproar over that 20-year-old ban.

2) These bump-fire stocks don't technically convert a firearm into fully-automatic; the trigger is still being pulled 1 time for each bullet that comes out (semi-automatic).

3) However, they easily allow for rates of fire (bullets per minute/second) comparable to fully-automatic weapons. So, I think an unbiased and reasonable person would say that while a firearm equipped with one of these does not violate the letter of the ban on fully-automatic firearms, it does quite reasonably violate the spirit of that ban.

4) Doing anything to correct that discrepancy will require updated laws. Updating the law requires a legislature that generally supports the update and a president that agrees, or a legislature that overwhelmingly supports the update and can override a presidential veto.

5) None of that exists at the moment in the US. So, it is (perhaps coldly) logical to say that these bump-fire stocks will not be banned as an extension to the 1986 ban on full-auto firearms, at least not in the short term.

6) However, before quietly accepting that, it is worth noting that political fallout amongst those individuals in the legislature that refuse to consider updating the law is a very real possibility. Plenty of people, even on the right, even plenty of gun nuts, say that they are in favor of some degree of "common sense" gun control. Pointing out that bump-fire stocks essentially circumvent the already in-place ban on fully-automatic firearms seems like a good way to test that professed adherence to common sense.

7) Get that word out there, and pretty importantly, try to do it in a way that is as respectful towards the average "gun nut" as possible. Their minds can be swayed. Hunters, sportsmen, and even people that have guns for self defense can be persuaded with reason -- they can still do their thing even without bump-fire stocks, just like they can do their thing without fully-automatic firearms. Congresscritters probably can't be convinced, because they've already been bribed"persuaded" with campaign donations, NRA lobbyists, etc.


So, don't preach to the choir. Try to convince the people that do actually own guns. The good news? You've got "common sense" on your side.

It's PR for the community and its spirit really.

To be honest it's not the average civilian i'd be worried about in any modern town, even in deprived areas. It's the pickpocket gangs, and drunken louts that can be more prevalent at night. I think the average every day civilian would at the very least be fair to the man in those circumstances, if not make some attempt to help him.

Yay for science and the spirit of trying to do something just to prove it can be done! I think.

No, nevermind. I don't think that at all.

*dupeof=https://videosift.com/video/Foo-Fighters-Rick-Astley-Smells-Like-Teen-Spirit

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Smells Like Teen Spirit, eh? Multi-level troll achievement unlocked!

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My spirit animal.

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Clearly fake. Everyone knows that geese are universally mean-spirited creatures whose primary interaction with other animals only include hissing and pinching with their beaks.


Seriously though, when I was a very young child my family had a couple of geese that were raised from little goslings. Those suckers would go after pretty much every other living thing that got anywhere near their pond. They'd chase and pinch our dogs, before the dogs learned to stay away from the pond.

They also once guzzled down a huge amount of old motor oil that got left out after an oil change. We figured they were goners, but I guess they just had extra-oily shit for a while, they never showed any ill effects from it.

Part of the reason George did this was that he and Eric Idle were good friends; Eric speaks about him a lot. There's one story that I love that tells a lot about their relationship. There are a few versions out there, but very roughly...

George heard that Eric was flying to Australia after a bout in hospital, and asked if he was going to be flying over India. As 'the spirital Beetle' he had a strong affinity to the country. As it happens, the flight did cross India, so George gave Eric an envelope to open when they were in Indian air space.

The cabin crew let Eric know when this was the case, and he solemnly opened the envelope. It contained one piece of sage advice: "Shag a Shiela for me."


Bonus fact: George appears in Life of Brian as "the gentleman who's letting us have the mount on Sunday": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jbZRNM-9RKo