Subject:
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guns vs. household cleaners vs. gamers (was Re: What do other parents do with Lego guns?)
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Newsgroups:
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lugnet.off-topic.debate
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Date:
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Mon, 26 Jun 2000 17:00:35 GMT
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Viewed:
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1007 times
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In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Dave Schuler writes:
> In lugnet.off-topic.debate, Christopher L. Weeks writes:
>
> > Right, but there is something about the GUN icon that freaks people out. I
> > have tried to show people statistics demonstrating how few people (kids in
> > particular) die from guns and they just refuse to come to the obvious and
> > logical conclusions. (e.g. More kids die every year in the US from ingestion
> > of household chemicals like turpentine, bleach, soap, etc. than from • firearms.
> > But no one is frantically lobbying to remove bleach from the public.)
>
> I think part of the reason that no such lobby exists is because the
> frequency of bleach-related violence is very low, and almost no one robs a
> convenience store with a bottle of soap.
I do know of a young woman filling an electric Uzi-style squirtgun with bleach
and using to deface people. But I agree that it's pretty rare.
But, people lobbying/arguing/whining against guns invariably say that it's for
the children. But the children just aren't at risk. There are tremendously
more likely fatal hazards out there.
For instance, the automobile!
> Of course you're correct, though; the incidence of accidental ingestion of
> poisonous chemicals is much higher than it would be if responsible adults kept
> better watch over their kids and/or their cleaning products.
<humorous annecdote>
When I was two, my mom was refinishing some furniture and had turpentine mixed
with white paint in a jar. To dispose of it, she took it to our detached
garage and dumped it in the deep sink and ran some water after it. She had
never noticed that the drain from that sink just jutted out the garage wall and
stopped. I was playing out in that area, not under scrutiny of an adult, but
generally watched, and saw the 'milk' coming out of the garage tube. I opted
to drink it and never noticed the obvious taste difference. Luckily my mom
figured it out when I told her about the garage milk and whisked me away to a
hospital where they ran tubes as wide as my wrist (I swear!) up my nose and
down my esophagus to pump out the poison.
</humorous annecdote>
Obviously she should have been more prudent, but it was kind of a little
oversight that could have led to my death.
> I'd be
> interested to see some numbers regarding fatal ingestion of such chemicals,
I read actualy statistics in a paper source, but they ought to be webbed
somewhere. I don't have a URL for you, but it was basically like half again
the number of gun-related deaths.
> > I've seen war gamers get angry while playing too, but they were inadequately
> > socialized and just had some issues.
>
> Heh! I worked in a hobby store for quite a while, and your description is
> fabulously accurate of many tabletop gamers I encountered!
<annecdote #2>
I'll always remember our group who formed at a pizza place for games once
started without one player (age ~35) who ended up being an hour and a half
late. He arrived after we'd been playing something for 30 minutes and expected
us to start over. One of my friends (age ~14) mocked him and he threatened to
beat the crap out of him.
My friend laughed at him and suggested that he might be able to outrun the
tubby old guy. The "tubby old guy" revealed a revolver strapped to his ankle
and said "You can't beat the bullet."
</annecdote #2>
> However, I found
> that typically the current generation of live-action roleplayers are
> less-than-fully socialized, too.
Gee, you think?
Chris
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Message has 2 Replies:
Message is in Reply To:
 | | Re: What do other parents do with Lego guns?
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| (...) I think part of the reason that no such lobby exists is because the frequency of bleach-related violence is very low, and almost no one robs a convenience store with a bottle of soap. Of course you're correct, though; the incidence of (...) (24 years ago, 26-Jun-00, to lugnet.off-topic.debate)
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