If drinking alcohol and smoking cigarettes doesn't "correlate to the age of responsibility" (i.e. 18), in what Kafka-esque world do we live in where owning a gun does? — Maw

In the USA Maw, where the right to own a firearm at age 18 is a protected right until someone proves themselves incapable of possessing that right.

I am absolutely sicken that this is a conversation we've been having for years now. It continues to happen, and yet nothing is done, and people callously shrug their shoulders. How the hell are we talking about opiates now, as if these are mutually exclusive issue? — Maw

I was responding to Benkei's observation that children are dying in the streets as a result of the abuse of firearms with the children that are dying in the streets as a result of the abuse of Opiates. I was stating what epidemic I was willing to fight but that does not relieve me of teaching my children how to responsibly handle a firearm, the knowledge of another firearm present and what to do in the event of an active shooter, BEFORE they are in the situation they might encounter.

According to this, there were 4,235 drug-related deaths in 2015 for 15-24 year olds. According to the above, there were 4,140 firearm homicides in 2015 for 15-24 year olds.

@ArguingWAristotleTiff, seems like guns are just as much a problem as drugs are. — Michael

Agreed

So you're telling me there aren't any politicians who are against opiate use, heroin, cigarettes and guns that you can vote for? — Benkei

Not all in one Presidential candidate no.

What threats? — Benkei

Opiates that 40% of high school students have tried and Heroin that is $4 a hit and easier to get that a tobacco cigarette. That is a hill I am willing to die on.

Meanwhile, children are dying. — Benkei

Children are dying from all kinds of threats Benkei and there are some threats that are 'hills I am willing to die on' to protect my children and others children from. A human out to injure others with a firearm is not the most prevalent threat to the greater population of children than those I am willing to take on.

It was a suggestion. — Michael

Voting for a President is based on more than a singular position, on a singular topic.

See my earlier posts on gun control laws. This might *gasp* require you to vote for a Democrat who's pro gun control if there's no Republican option for it. — Benkei

Sorry, I thought you had an actual suggestion.

But this is peripheral, and ignores the fundamental issue: should private civilians have access to guns, and if so, what restrictions/regulations should be implemented? The idea that the 2nd Amendment's intent is to allow individual citizens the access to guns for reasons of self-defense, hunting, or other private uses outside the scope of regulated militias is dubious. But even if we are to accept that, a 19 year old was nevertheless legally able to purchase an AR-15, an incredibly destructive weapon, but is unable to purchase a beer. A few months ago, Senator David Simmons of Florida sponsored a bill, SB-1288, which would increase the minimum legal age of purchasing cigarettes and tobacco chew, etc. from 18 to 21. Sen. Simmons stated, "“Raising the age limit for smoking to 21 years is essential if we are serious about saving lives." And yet, Sen. Simmons has an A+ rating from the NRA. — Maw

I think that the age of 18 being set to purchase a fire arm correlates to the age of legal responsibility. If you are 18 and get a DUI they don't put your parents in jail because you are 18. If at 17 you get a DUI, you loose your license till you are 21. The age of 18 makes legal sense in the age of enlistment into our military as well where they will be trained and issued a fire arm.

you're solutions aren't tackling the source of the problem, only symptoms. — Benkei

Oh well please, let me teach my children to watch a person bleed out if they have ever been injured by way of malice instead of trying to come up a with solution to save the person's life. Once again, from the time he fired his first shot until he fired his last was six minutes. There is something about that six minute time frame that might relate to a swing in a mental breakdown, I don't know.

I'll pray for all the US children that will die for years to come because grown ups don't have the balls to do what's necessary. — Benkei

While thoughts and prayers can be of a comfort they are not a solution either. So what exactly do I as an adult "don't have the balls to do"?

Here's another perspective. Many 16-19 year old girls like to have sex. Who's to say that the experience these girls had with your brother wasn't overwhelmingly a positive one. — Perplexed

With all due respect, whether or not a girl of 16 yrs old "likes to have sex" is irrelevant when you are speaking sex with a man over the age of 40 yrs old. @Hanover would know better than I what the law is but I can tell you what a mother or father of the age of 40 would think of such a pursuit.

So should I or shouldn't I put up a website telling the world that my brother likes to sleep with 16-19 year old girls? If not, why not? — Tree Falls

Yes if you have facts and not just hearsay.

You also need to combat the "good guy with a gun" bullshit as the good guy is always too late and most people are a crappy shot any way. — Benkei

The use of the word "combat" and the "good guy with a gun" bullshit is a bit ironic in that in this instance, the school security guard was armed with a flashlight and nothing more. One shot from the bad guy with the gun took out what could have been, what should have been, what will be in the future "the good guy with a gun". It is not a perfect system to curb this trend but it is most definitely a start.

Another prong to help curb this trend is being studied by my son's University Embry Riddle in that they were awarded just over a three quarters of a million dollar grant to figure out a way to buy the kids within the school the extra 6 minutes that Sandy Hook Elementary school needed to save the lives that were lost in that school shooting.

"The Sandy Hook shooting took six minutes from the first to last shot," said Foley. "We are figuring out how to keep a shooter away from students long enough for police to arrive and stop the shooter. In essence, we are figuring out how to enhance security design to give the kids at the next Sandy Hook six minutes before the bad guy can get to them."

"The funds will be used to test various barrier technologies (doors, windows, window films, and locks) to determine how long each technology will delay an intruder's ability to move past that barrier. Each product will be tested against 9mm, .357, 5.56 x 45mm, and 12 gauge shotgun ammunition and brute force attacks."

The first line of defense HAS to be the administrators of the school because that is who, we the parents, are entrusting with our children's safety.

The proverbial horse branded with the NRA logo has left the barn and maybe it needs a revamp or maybe the mental stability of our nation needs to be weighed but this time, the signs were there, the dots were connected by fellow classmates and people did speak up, it is just no one was listening. The community approach has been "See something, say something" and this time it failed us, we failed us.

So to clarify my dilemma, suppose the age of my friend's daughter were 16. Should I then tell my friend about my brother's preference for girls that age? — Tree Falls

Yes.

And crucially, if you think I should tell my friend, then why shouldn't I broadcast my brother's sexual choices to the world? — Tree Falls

I understand the degree of responsibility you feel in protecting your friends daughter from knowledge that you have come to understand and the view of the law in which he was given a slap on the wrist. I know as a Mom you wouldn't need to get but one sentence into what you are expressing before all ties would be quietly severed with your brother and my respect for your choice to tell me would be golden. As a parent I can understand your concern and would Thank you for the heads up. I would also let your brother know that I said as such and let him deal with the consequences of not seeing anything wrong with a 16 yr old being hit on by a 40 yr old man. Let him see the reality of what other people actually think. Let the father or mother of the 16 yr old talk to your brother about his interests, you know, adult to adult.

My friend's 16 year old daughter is not inherently more valuable than other 16 year old girls. — Tree Falls

No one is suggesting that but as Hanover said if you have the proof then you take it to the law. If your brother makes a simple and common mistake in believing the word of a young lady who might say she was 19 when she was really 15. That mistake would cost him legally but more importantly and maybe something you should make your brother aware of is that 'common sense' is not lost on the convicted inmates within a prison who become aware of what some would consider a pedophile within their community.

Does a bird know it's beautiful? — Noble Dust

This bird is not just beautiful but it is a bad ass for choosing it's lunch. :D

I don't know... I don't think we can know. There comes a point when a person resigns to their fate in the face of danger that they cannot control - and then they are relatively at peace, since they no longer try to control what they cannot control. That's what I personally think. Nature helps you do this too - you don't have the strength anymore to fight. — Agustino

What you are saying is that he has resigned himself to no longer thrive but just to exist? A eternal version of "It is what it is?"

It is impossible to "keep yourself from ever being in the position he is in now". We don't have such control - any day you, I, anyone can be afflicted by illness, and there's nothing we can do that will guarantee, beyond any doubt, that it will not happen to us. We are finite beings, and hence perpetually vulnerable. All you can do is do your best, hope for the best, and then accept whatever happens. That's my outlook, anyways. — Agustino

There has to be another answer then to just accept that each of us, you and I are that vulnerable in life. I have watched this happen too many times and it is just sickening. Waiting 5 hours for a diaper change at 75 is not the way it should be. Two showers a week even when my Dad had 5 straight days of a stomach illness is unacceptable. Discontinuing daily physical therapy because the state is paying for his care, to the point that he cannot use the walker and must depend on the wheel chair is not care in my book....but what do I know? He refuses to move out of the only state he has called "home" so to move him here where I could give him what I see as "better care" is not an option either.

It is hard to dissect how much of this decline is due to nature vs nurture but I know the odds are not in favor of the nurture factor, as much as the nature part is taking over.

We need a chatroom. I have things I need to say in real time, not in the form of posts to sit there waiting to be heard, but things that need to be heard here and now. — Hanover

I agree. Seven days later but I agree.

We are here, talk to us. — Sir2u

It is the reason I came here, to this thread, as it can like a quieter thread, a calmer thread when necessary and I Thank you both for listening though I am not really sure how to put my feelings into words, except to say I can see life slipping away from my Dad which is causing a part of me to hang on with everything I have. I tried to fulfill his every desire and with almost perfect success we pulled it off except the ending with 911 or so I thought...when I was at the Airport leaving for Phoenix I got a call from my Uncle who was with my Dad at the nursing home and my Dad said that he was having trouble with his memory but was I with him the day before? ~~~my heart crushed in the public airport, I couldn't see as the tears just fell like rain and I said yes Dad I was....and I will be again.... but if he didn't remember two days ago how on God's green earth will he remember me a year from now?
When he cannot remember me does it get easier? Does this confusion scare him as much as it scares me? Can he tell he is slipping away?

And how, How do I keep myself from ever being in the position he is in now? Everybody goes there thinking they will work hard enough to go home again but that was 2 years ago now...

My fellow thinkers , I believe that I took my Dad out of the nursing home to see.his parents at the Mosilium, his home where his wife lives and to his favorite restaurant. On our last stop after being crushed emotionally by his cold wife, we were trying to transfer him back into the car when he could not make it and I held him off the snow, telling him how very much I love him as we waited for 911 to aarive. I am not sure how to handle this and I feel myself slipping into a depression of grief. My heart is breaking..... I need help

@Lone Wolf
Thank you! I am still here in the.Midwest frozen tundra getting about an inch an hour!. :D I will maintain my ladylike decorum and not comment about how long it has been since I got 8 -10 inches in an hour! Buahaha :D Can you tell the cold is getting to me?

@Alurayne@Bitter Crank
Welcome to The Philosophy Forum~ BitterCrank's response rings true for me in so many ways that I might use it as a map to get myself off the ledge of anxiety, which still occasionally happens. You don't have to take any medication you don't want to and "You might find us better than a sleeping pill or a poke in the eye with a sharp stick."
Excellent advice (Y)

@René Descartes
Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!
It's good to have you here~

Presumably the American Dream is about more than the amount of lucre one has accumulated. Isn't it also about the freedom to think, speak, and act politically; to go anywhere in the country without permission; to enjoy the great outdoors without running into too many fences with NO TRESPASSING signs; to pursue the kind of life one wants to pursue, or at least try; free libraries, health, education, and welfare for all; a wide assortment of religious, social, and political views not just tolerated but expected... ???

Maybe all that is utopian. — Bitter Crank

Utopian? Maybe. But I often challenge those who believe in God to show me evidence and when it comes down to it, neither of us knows yet. But until we know, many believe living a life believing in God is not a bad way to live, which is a fair argument.
The same goes for living The American Dream. All America promises is the right to PURSUE happiness, however that happiness is for us to define not others. I find that placing my degree of happiness on any one thing, such as money, is counter productive to my overall happiness in life. Rather I try to live by the idea that if you do what you love and you do it honestly, the rest will follow. So far so good but as with all of life it has it's little up's and downs.

@WolvesAtMyDoor
Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!

Who said "The American Dream" is based upon the value of a form of currency?

Tomorrow I head home to see my Dad and my Uncle in Chicago. I am not exactly sure what I am going to find other than all of us being two years older than the last time I was home. Two years is a slice in time when you are at the selfish age I am, where I am raising my family while my parents age, where as two years is almost a lifetime for a man my Dad's age, confined to a Nursing home. With love and light I shall travel and hopefully leave him full of smiles and hugs to last him until I see him next time, knowing there won't always be a next time.
Wonderful time to get PMS....who wants to get on a flight with me in a confined space, at an anxious elevation for a few hours or few hundred miles? Takers?

How much would existence improve if we spent our days merely entertaining each other? — TimeLine

I would like to think we get a slice of those days, while we are all together here, through the years.

Last nights' Super Blue Blood Moon from the university my son is attending.

I am interested in watching the impact of the fluctuations of the Stock Market on the value of the cryptocurrency. Is anyone here using Monaco?

@Coldlight
Welcome to The Philosophy Forum!
It's good to have you aboard~

@NobleDeep
Welcome to The Philosophy Forum

@NobleDeep I love Dobermans. Such loyal stoic animals that like the Rottweiler, they would fight to the death to keep you safe~ (L)

I have no idea, but I doubt that it would be a good idea to find out. :s — Sir2u

Yes you are right they are all volunteer Fire Fighters up in the forest. Plan B

Not if it is made properly, no more risk than a normal house. There are plenty of examples on line. — Sir2u

Will the fire fighters come if I get it wrong? Or do I drive it to them? 8-)

@Hanover
Nuh huh, if that was you, you would have a Swcheppe hair do. Are you sure that isn't a young picture of Fred?

Find an old container or school bus and build it up yourself. Lots of fun to do and works out cheaper. — Sir2u

MMm I am thinking the indoor fireplace might cause a bigger bus fire....maybe? :-O

@Bitter Crank Hummingbirds Glory is what I see~ Beauty attracts beauty~
@TimeLine I have done some grafting with various flowers, some are easier than others. Orchids are one of my favorites~

@Akanthinos These are for you. This was my horse Dasher whom I loved dearly and broke my back with but he is living a great life in Northern Arizona. Dasher was a true athlete.

Amazing animals in their natural glory. We had just finished a work out and were doing exactly what every animal does after a good bath. They TOTAL it by rolling in sand, dust, dirt, whatever they can find.

One more of Dasher because of the Beast he is and my youngest Indian who is now attending an Aeronautical University and kicking ass at it.

I am fully at peace, healthy and content now as the accident was three years ago, but it took a very long time to overcome because I had a number of other things that I needed to face and overcome along with it. Which I have. So thanks you lovely and sweet thing, but the worst time in my life only made me stronger. And I sleep like a log. — TimeLine

I know you are stronger now but you can tuck this away for a day when we are not as strong or brave.

@Tobias
Welcome to The Philosophy Forum! It is awesome to see you and you should know you walk among friends here.
Warmest wishes,
Tiffers

@TimeLine
{{{TimeLine}}} <<virtual hugs
Everything is going to be alright, I promise you. Even if it doesn't seem that way right now or didn't seem right back then, it became a part of who you are as you present your character today and that is a pretty cool lady. Everything will work out exactly as it is supposed to and you are exactly where you are supposed to be at this very moment in life. You are free to enjoy the aroma of fresh growing roses that have been misted in the setting sun, only being surpassed by the heavy scent of Gardenia flowers satiny in the dusk, as the Night blooming Jasmine begins to wake to greet the moon. Look up to the stars for grounding here on earth. For wherever you travel, wherever you sleep at night, you can look up to the Heavens and as sure as the sun sets, the stars stand stoic watching over you against the deepest of blue skies. Sleep well dear one and enjoy the sweetest of dreams, knowing that I will stand vigil until the first rays of sun beg you to rise again.