How insane is the USA? Two examples.

[thewayne]

Kentucky woman shoots her El Paso Uber driver in the head, killing him, fearing she was being kidnapped and taken to Mexico.

She was being taken to a casino to see her boyfriend. There's a freeway interchange where there are large signs that say Juarez. And guess what? Sometimes you have to take freeway exits that are labeled one thing in order to go in another direction.

After she killed him, she took a photo and sent it to her boyfriend.

Here's hoping she never sees Kentucky again.

From the article: "...Copas did not call authorities before shooting, and she didn't summon help immediately after opening fire, the document states.

Rather, she took a photo of the injured driver and texted it to her boyfriend, detectives said in the affidavit. Then she called for help, the document states." The article also states multiple shots were fired.

You know, most anyone with anything resembling any common sense, or who had visited a foreign country, would know that you don't just waltz across the border. You have to present ID. It will be interesting to find out if the driver had a recording camera, as some do, and if there's audio, to find out if she asked him where they're going. And she had a phone! She could have called the police!

But we gotta have guns to defend ourselves! Except we're too stupid to know when we need to defend ourselves, which isn't very often, and much less often than we think.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/passenger-shot-killed-uber-driver-believed-was-taking-mexico-police-sa-rcna90901


Florida Man empties AR-15 high-capacity magazine towards his pool servicing tech.

Fortunately in this story, no one died.

This one is baffling. For some reason, the pool tech came to the house to service the pool at NINE AT NIGHT! To make matters worse, he didn't call the residents! He had been servicing this pool for six months. The home owner yelled at him to leave, when he didn't, he fired two rounds. The pool technician suffered some minor wounds from broken glass and fled. THEN the homeowner emptied the rest of the magazine into his pool deck.

The homeowner won't face any charges because of Florida's Stand Your Ground/Castle Doctrine laws. But I'll bet he's going to have to find another pool company, not to mention have to get his pool deck rebuilt.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/florida-man-wont-face-charges-firing-pool-cleaner-thought-was-intruder-rcna91467

Comments

[dewline]

Ye gods.

And the National Firearms Association wants Canada to start acting as if the Second Amendment is part of our constitutional law. These instances show me just how brilliant that suggestion truly is.

[thewayne]

Oh, PLEASE DON'T! One of my favorite bits of gun stupidity was the woman in the Home Depot parking lot.  She sees a shoplifter running out of a store, being chased by HD security, pulls out her gun and starts shooting at him.  And then she wonders why she's arrested by police. I had a concealed weapons permit back in the '90s.  We were trained that the only legal use for lethal force was to prevent the unlawful use of lethal force against yourself or others.  That's always been my gold standard.  And that doesn't prove true for any of these three cases.

[dewline]

There are situations where I can make specific allowances - rural life, wilderness survival, dramatic prop usage in film, TV, live theatre - to be sure. I still expect firearms ownership to be treated as either a privilege or a work requirement, with specific limits on both.

[thewayne]

Definite, articulable reasons for firearms ownership - fine.  Agreed, absolutely.  England allows private gun ownership, and has gun shops.  But you've got to have a good reason to own one and have to go through the permitting process!  That's what I wish we had here.  You live up in the Yukon, yeah, you're going to own some high-powered rifles!  That's part of your basic survival kit.  Bob in downtown Montreal?  Not quite the same need.

[dewline]

No, Jean-Robert en centre-ville Montréal really doesn't have the same need as Jay in Pikwanigawan or Ernie out in the farm country around Montmartre...

[thewayne]

Heh.  Had I been sleeping properly for the last few weeks, I probably could have come up with Jean-Robert, but my brain is kinda fried.  But I'm up to a bit over 50% getting a good night's sleep instead of 25%, so that's an improvement.

Sleep Deprivation

[dewline]

I am continuing to deal with my own sleep issues. The CPAP machine is doing its job properly, as far as I can tell. It's other concerns affecting my sleep instead of apnea nowadays.

Re: Sleep Deprivation

[thewayne]

Ditto.  Family issues over the house and interpersonal relations between bro and sis, and general chaos within my house mucking up my sleep.  Partly my doing, though I'm getting better at that part.  I've got a week and a half off after next week and we're taking a littlte vacation, but a pretty grueling week next week, just need to continue getting some slow improvement.

[conuly]

dramatic prop usage in film, TV, live theatre

There are safe ways to handle live firearms on film/TV, but it's generally unnecessary nowadays. So there's really no reason to do it anymore, and it's more likely now than ever that any production that's using live firearms is actually screwing up safety all over the place because if they cared about safety, they wouldn't do that.

[thewayne]

Take, for example, the filming of Rust.  You could easily give Baldwin a large pink plastic gun and CGI in a revolver and no one would have died.

[conuly]

That is exactly the example I was thinking of, but I didn't want to bother to look up the name.

[gingeriana]

all these crazy stories... ALWAYS from more southern states, always
school shootings? also predominantly southern
gun lobby? same geography! nobody learns from basic statistics, i guess

[thewayne]

The ridiculous thing is that if you look at the NRA, they make more money from their corporate sponsors than they do from their members!  Therefore, who do they listen to.... Fearmongering, front to end, all to sell guns, bullets, and accessories.  The NRA is de facto the gun manufacturers' lobby and trade association.  They just don't say that quiet bit out loud.

[devilc]

There's a freeway interchange where there are large signs that say Juarez. And guess what? Sometimes you have to take freeway exits that are labeled one thing in order to go in another direction.

Which is why I always keep the Lyft app open on my phone to see if the route we're taking matches up whenever I use a Lyft.

For some reason, the pool tech came to the house to service the pool at NINE AT NIGHT!

WTF? Yes, I can see why he got shot at.

You still don't need an AR-15, tho. A revolver or a small gauge shotgun are much better and more effective.

[conuly]

WTF? Yes, I can see why he got shot at.

Really? Because while I agree showing up at 9 is suboptimal, I think the usual and sane response is to ask who they are and why they're here and, upon being told it's the pool guy, to tell them to go home and reschedule for a reasonable hour and that you've already phoned the police.

[thewayne]

So many ways this could have been prevented.  Pool guy calling ahead or knocking on the door.  Owner having dialed 911 on the phone and waiting to press Send.  Owner could even have a handgun in-hand behind leg while asking person to identify themselves.  The pool guy had been servicing the pool for SIX MONTHS, should have been known to someone in the household. At least no one was shot.

[conuly]

He could've gotten shot knocking on the door too.

[thewayne]

Valid point that.

[thewayne]

But... but... AR-15 more MANLY! (you know I'm joking) I think the Uber app also shows the predicted route.  I've driven through El Paso many a time.  I know the exact route the driver was taking, and he was on the proper route.  The woman freaked out over nothing and all she had to do was to ask.  Instead she murdered an innocent man. See you in two weeks!

[disneydream06]

Insane is a soft description.
I would say this country is closer to Bat Shit Crazy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hugs, Jon

[silveradept]

Two more pieces of evidence that private gun ownership should be regulated to within an inch of its existence, since there are far too many people who still believe there's a constitutional amendment to own as many firearms privately as one likes. If someone is the kind of person whose first action will be to reach for their guns and then fire them, they are almost assuredly not a person who is qualified to own and use firearms.