The NRA is very nearly a failed organization at this point.
In regards to recent events there was a time back in the '90s where they were pretty willing to get involved in stuff like this. Ol' WLP himself let fly with phrases like "Jackbooted thugs" and Charlton Heston proudly declared "From my cold dead hands." The NRA of the '90s was a fiery organization that was increasingly positioning itself as an anti-government force.
Then it stopped. I've never seen confirmation as to why but my supposition is that after the "jackbooted thugs" comment that WLP got a tap on the shoulder from the men in black suits and a deal was struck.
If today's NRA had the spirit it did 30 years ago they'd likely already be in the streets.
The car they're describing is from the late 80s / 90s when "freeway speed" was just 55MPH (at least here in the United States). If car travel was forced to be any slower than that people would simply fly everywhere.
A common trip for me back then was 630 miles one way and at 55MPH it was 11 1/2 hours. If you lowered the speed just 5MPH it would take nearly 13 hours!
At that point I would have just gotten on a damn plane as 13 hours (likely longer with fuel stops) is simply too damned long.
America right now is somehow simultaneously the best its ever been and enormously fucked up. I'm in my 50s and the amount of positive change, particularly social, I've experienced in my lifetime is incredible.
There are definitely problems that need solved, Gun Violence is one of them, but the story of America isn't over. We're in a period of turmoil right now but we'll come out of it better than what we started. Just like we have before.
Haven't you wondered why he's all but stopped making videos on his primary channel? In January of 2024 he released a video where he openly says that he can't make money like he used too so he's dialed back his "main" channel and is instead focusing on his Barcade channel.
This isn't the first time he's done it either. Remember, he started off as the "TheiBookGuy" where you bought, fixed, and resold used Macs. When that stopped making money he quit doing it and launched a PC Repair channel and when that didn't pay off he moved to RetroComputing.
Don't get me wrong, I really enjoy his historical retro type content. I also appreciate the projects and energy he contribute(s/d) to the Retro community but in a contest of altruism between The 8 Bit Guy and Perifractic there's really no contests.
It ain't gonna go well for the folks at home either. Your "tongue-in-cheek" comment is a thin veneer over brutality, violence, and death on a massive scale. Literally tens of millions of people.
My ideological opponents are already silencing speech.
Uh huh. I can fire up Social Media and find endless content openly discussing the entire spectrum of Political,Cultural, and Economic beliefs. Nearly all of that is openly discussed on Mainstream Media as well. You aren't being silenced.
As long as fascists exist they must be silenced.
Define "fascist".
When they seize power, they will not do you the courtesy of allowing you to speak...
Which is precisely what you yourself are proposing. Congratulations, you are rubbing elbows with the very people you claim to despise.
If you do not tolerate dissent then you are ethically and morally inferior.
Uh huh, so Cops going door to door to take the guns away from the 24% of Black and 15% of Latinos who own them. I'm sure that would go super well! Excellent suggestion! /s
Censorship of speech is a powerful tool. Why, if you have the true conviction of your beliefs, would you fight with one hand behind your back?
Yes, but have you considered the outcome of everyone doing this?
Moreover, I’ve seen no evidence in my lifetime that letting my ideological opponents speak leads to positive results.
Mmmmm, yes. All ideological opponents should be silenced. This is clearly the way.
Seriously, if this is what you believe then you are clearly stating that you have no interest in a Free Society. You are literally placing yourself in the same group with every other Tyrant, Authoritarian, and Fascists who needs to be resisted.
Free Societies must tolerate dissent, it is a foundational requirement.
Counterpoint: We've tried a lot and there's no magic fix to this issue.
The objective truth is that there are far more gun laws in the United States today than there was 60 years ago. To give a single example; in 1968 you could literally mail order a firearm directly to your doorstep. No background check, no registry, no nothing. In fact that's how Lee Harvey Oswald got the rifle he used to shoot President Kennedy.
Then they will explain how forcing anyone else to take these common sense precautions is a horrible idea.
Using Government Power to force people to do things often has unexpected consequences. Since Black Teens are the single largest group effected by Firearm Homicides, pages 5 and 8, and are almost certainly included in this study as children, that means The Police are going to have to go into Black homes to "force" these common sense precautions.
That is literally 10s of millions of non-white gun owners and as you can see on page 10 in the Johns Hopkins study data the problem of gun violence is massively skewed towards non-whites.
Yes every gun owner needs to take appropriate measures to secure their firearms but how in the hell do you "force" that without ending up in very problematic situations?
The NRA is very nearly a failed organization at this point.
In regards to recent events there was a time back in the '90s where they were pretty willing to get involved in stuff like this. Ol' WLP himself let fly with phrases like "Jackbooted thugs" and Charlton Heston proudly declared "From my cold dead hands." The NRA of the '90s was a fiery organization that was increasingly positioning itself as an anti-government force.
Then it stopped. I've never seen confirmation as to why but my supposition is that after the "jackbooted thugs" comment that WLP got a tap on the shoulder from the men in black suits and a deal was struck.
If today's NRA had the spirit it did 30 years ago they'd likely already be in the streets.