sailingpj

Education seems like a good option to me. There would have to be a lot of it though, and it would have to be targeted toward a lot of different audiences. I don't think your comparison with drunk driving works all that well. Despite tons of money spent on education and commercials, there are still tons of people that choose to drive drunk. They are giving out more DUIs every year. http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_19621314 http://totaltrafficla.com/2011/12/27/980-christmas-holiday-chp-dui-arrests-across-california/21045

How about a state by state registration system? Like DMV? Annual registration, and when you re-register your gun they run your name through the system to make sure you are not flagged for any reason that would disqualify you from owning a gun. Those state agencies could also manage CCWs and permits for some of the more exotic firearms.

Beavah, I love this game. We have a problem, lets wipe the slate clean and come up with a solution. As I see it this is the problem. 1) People who are mentally unstable have on several occasions used guns to kill people. 2) Criminals use guns to commit crime. If we can agree that those are the two main problems that we wish to examine, then lets do so and move on to the constraints that must be placed upon our solution. 1) The essence of the 2nd amendment must be upheld. 2) Any extra cost must be accounted for somewhere. 3)The police are not meant to be used for home protection. 4) What else? Any other constraints or can we move on to solutions? (This message has been edited by sailingpj)(This message has been edited by sailingpj)

Take a look at the summary of Feinstein's new legislation. She is expanding the definition of assault weapons to include handguns and shotguns. http://www.feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm/assault-weapons "Following is a summary of the 2013 legislation: Bans the sale, transfer, importation, or manufacturing of: 120 specifically-named firearms; Certain other semiautomatic rifles, handguns, shotguns that can accept a detachable magazine and have one or more military characteristics; and Semiautomatic rifles and handguns with a fixed magazine that can accept more than 10 rounds."

I have three things to say. 1 anecdote and 1 fact relating to the original question, and one side comment relating to the discussion on the last page. First off, I have a fair number of acquaintances that own guns, and plenty that don't. Almost all of them are sharing the save our constitution/buy more guns facebook pictures. In the past couple months the number of those posts has probably doubled or tripled. The county I live in will not experience any increase in the number concealed carry permits issued. As of 2007 55 CCWs have been issued. At that time there were 246,000 people living in this county. That is approximately 0.022%. The sheriff here simply chooses not to issue any permits unless someone has either a lot of political influence, or some law enforcement ties. http://ag.ca.gov/firearms/forms/pdf/ccwissuances2007.pdf Going back to that 14 year old who defended his house. Packsaddle asked about leaving children home alone with unsecured loaded guns. Nowhere in the article does it say the gun was either unsecured or loaded. For all we know the gun was securely locked in a gun safe in his parents closet, and when those parents felt their son was responsible enough to watch after his younger siblings they trained him on how to properly use the gun and gave him the safe combo.

So what about you all? What successes did you have last year?

I had a class once that made a study of Columbine. Along with the student's other underlying psychological issues, they were all under a lot of stress from bullying, and other sources. It is my personal theory that stress can often be a catalyst for violent reactions in certain people. Think of it like chemicals, there are many that you can mix together and have very controlled reactions, but if you add just a little to much of something, or add the wrong chemical you can have a very dangerous reaction. I don't know, like you said thankfully this sort of thing doesn't happen enough for there to be much research. I've played a lot of video games though, and I played cops and robbers with my cousins using bb guns in their back yard, I don't see it desensitizing me to violence. Humankind has a history full of violence. It is our default state, so when people have problems they revert back to their root programming. I think that that is what these massacres are about, and no amount of legislation or armed guards at schools are going to stop that. If someone bent of violence cannot get to a school then where will they go? The library? Attack a school bus? How about a park? Once someone makes that decision they will find a way.

I'll also just leave this here. http://wrseascouts.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/happy-new-year/

So I haven't been on here in a few months so I didn't see the thread I spun off of till just now. I just thought I would bring you all some good news about the second oldest program in Boy Scouts. Despite having been given a new and relatively crappy manual a few years ago, and despite a general lack of support from many paid scouters, our membership numbers are improving. For the first time ever all 4 regions have Regional Boatswains, and while I don't know about the other regions, the western region is well on its way to having effective council and area boatswains region wide. This past year saw record attendance at AMR, the largest Sea Scout regatta in the country. We had ships attending from all over the region with the award for most distance traveled going to the Hawaiians. We have new units springing up all over the region, some of them trying to regain a foothold in towns where Sea Scouts died out more than a decade ago. Our National Flagship was just donated a wonderful new boat, not that they need an ice breaker in San Francisco, but it will allow them to expand their program even more. We have a ship in SoCal that has over 50 active members, and membership is up over most of the country. 2012 was a very good year for Sea Scouts, and I bet that if you all take a moment to put on some rose tinted glasses and look back it was probably a pretty good year for your unit as well. So lets hear it, what great things happened in your unit this year?

Callooh, do you know of any studies on the effects on children of having single fathers? It would seem logical that if not having a father has a negative effect then not having a mother would have a similar effect. What if there is something else to blame? It seems to me that all the people who have snapped and gone on shooting rampages were under a lot of stress before they snapped. It has been shown that physical activity alleviates a lot of mental stress(I can dig up a citation or two if you want). For all of human history up until a few decades ago we lived in an intensely physical world. With the invention of the automobile and all our fancy technology most people do not get much exercise at all. People do not have an outlet built into their lives to burn off the mental stress that accumulates over time. Their stress levels rise and they cannot contain it and well, snap. I can point you to studies showing the increased stress levels, and you can go to your local mall to see the widespread effects of not having enough exercise. I do not know of any studies that back up any of the rest of what I said, but given humanity's obsession with violence throughout history that seems to be a far more likely scenario than video games affecting people.

BDPT00, Feel free to ask the guy on that commented on the article to cite his sources. I would rather not link my facebook profile to that article right now. The wikipedia entry has some good sources cited that you may want to check out. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homosexuality#Cause The American Psychological Association, American Psychiatric Association, and National Association of Social Workers stated in 2006: Currently, there is no scientific consensus about the specific factors that cause an individual to become heterosexual, homosexual, or bisexualincluding possible biological, psychological, or social effects of the parents' sexual orientation. However, the available evidence indicates that the vast majority of lesbian and gay adults were raised by heterosexual parents and the vast majority of children raised by lesbian and gay parents eventually grow up to be heterosexual.[2] The Royal College of Psychiatrists stated in 2007: Despite almost a century of psychoanalytic and psychological speculation, there is no substantive evidence to support the suggestion that the nature of parenting or early childhood experiences play any role in the formation of a person's fundamental heterosexual or homosexual orientation. It would appear that sexual orientation is biological in nature, determined by a complex interplay of genetic factors and the early uterine environment. Sexual orientation is therefore not a choice.[4] The American Academy of Pediatrics stated in Pediatrics in 2004: Sexual orientation probably is not determined by any one factor but by a combination of genetic, hormonal, and environmental influences. In recent decades, biologically based theories have been favored by experts. Although there continues to be controversy and uncertainty as to the genesis of the variety of human sexual orientations, there is no scientific evidence that abnormal parenting, sexual abuse, or other adverse life events influence sexual orientation. Current knowledge suggests that sexual orientation is usually established during early childhood.[4][134][135]

Here is another article about this scout. http://www.contracostatimes.com/news/ci_21725617/barnidge-one-giant-negative-among-all-boy-scouts I found the current top comment rather interesting. "The major problem with the BSA position on homosexual members is that a boy doesn't realize that he is homosexual until he has many years into scouting, and likely until he reaches the point where he is considering becoming an Eagle Scout. For the Boy Scouts to punish a young man for something over which he has no control is, in my mind, barbarian. Medical science is now very clear that homosexuality is a normal part of human sexuality and is not a "choice" as some would claim. It was not a problem with scouting in the past, not because there were no homosexuals (the statistics haven't changed), but because they suffered in silence. I do not have a problem with the BSA refusing to allow homosexuals to be troop leaders, it is their legal right. But to punish a child over something the child cannot control is unacceptable. They do not discriminate because of race, size, eye or hair color or any of the other things you are born with so why, other than a persistent primitive belief that sexuality is a choice, a persons sexuality. As Mr. Barnidge points out, their lack of basic tolerance is a serious flaw in an otherwise outstanding organization. I'm sure their prejudice resonates in the Southern and Central parts of the United States, but in a modern society it stinks."

I was homeschooled the majority of my school years. It sucked. I learned a ton of insanely bad study habits, did not learn how to relate to my peers, and was left with huge holes in my education. Saying that, scouting helped a lot with that second problem.

Yeah, the first part of my post is definitely tongue in cheek. I do agree pack, it is my own damn fault for not doing my own research the first time. I assumed that the counselors knew what they were talking about the first time I went to them. The second time I was given different information. At that point I researched and learned that both people I talked to were wrong. The third time I went in with a very specific question about the transfer agreement between my school and the UC system. The counselor did not know the answer to my question, and instead of saying so she made something. Yay, I don't go to that department of the school anymore. I make the time to do exactly what I want to do. Despite spending way too much time on reddit (that is where I found that link btw) and facebook I still manage to spend 22 hours physically at scouts (you'd think that in that time I would actually get some progress made on my QM now wouldn't you), 18.5 hours working, and ~40 hours a week on school work. Oh, and I still have time to read a book or two a week. I may grumble about the things I can't control, but I buckle down and work on the things I can control. I was dealt the ace, king, and queen of spades, I plan to shoot the moon. Even if I miss I'll still be the first human to leave our solar system. I may not be there to witness it, but that's where the whole cake thing comes into play.

On a different not about my school, they don't have the funding to have a summer semester next year, and they keep on not offering the classes I need due to the same lack of funding. The whole go to JC for 2 years then transfer thing isn't working out so well. First the counselors give me wrong info on multiple occasions, now classes are not being offered. Looks like I gotta go to state to get my BS, then look at University for graduate school. I couldn't get directly into the UCs that have the program I want because my educational background is a little too eccentric. They loved my SAT scores, but not that much. btw, I'm just rambling because this is really starting to annoy me. Feel free to ignore, delete, whatev.

I really can't believe it. My professors are actually requiring me to attend class. They won't pass me if I don't. Oh, and they won't pass me for just attending class. I have to actually participate in a constructive manner. I can't believe this. It is horrible. What with all this homework how do they expect me to have a job? Or a life? http://www.uwgb.edu/dutchs/nosymp.htm More seriously, they are giving me so much homework that it is cutting into my scouting time. Oh, and that hour a week, just with my home program, not counting time spent doing stuff at home, I spend 22 hours a week on scouting. That does not take into account my other positions outside my ship.

Well this seems like a good time to remind everyone that youths do drop in on these forums from time to time. Some of us even stay a while. I personally don't see any problems with any of the mods. I have yet to see any of them do anything that crosses any line. It is rare to have mods that are willing to talk to people about why they decided to moderate something. So I give them two thumbs up, 20 stars, and I feel the mods deserve the highest of fives. https://s3.amazonaws.com/data.tumblr.com/tumblr_maifl9jqVa1rq3b5ko1_500.gif

Instead of moss you could put some plywood boxes on the roof, fill them with dirt, then plant grass or something. Bingo, you have a living roof that will keep the rain off the trailer. If you live in an area that grass doesn't grow well then plant some local vegetation.

Yes, that was several months of rather vicious debate.

You know, I just realized that allowing someone to count nonconsecutive time for the active requirement allows people to come to a meeting once a month and count up 12 weeks a year, which is 3 months. Do that, or even a little more, and you have you 6 months needed.

I can find out, but that is just the tip of the iceberg. Every section has things like that that are just weird. The manual also often ignores the fact that there are a lot of ships out there that use powerboats. Most of the manual covers sailing ok, and ignores powerboats.

Well that's why all ships should ditch the powerboats and go to sail. One of the sailing ships near me fills up their fuel tank once a year. I think they have a 100 gallon tank.

There are some states that do require the boating licenses, but that is not anywhere near the standard. Some states require everyone to get a license. Some have an optional certificate thing. Some require certain age groups to have a license. Some have requirements based on the type of boat being used. In some states all it takes to get the license is a 20 minute online class. I just googled the Alabama boating laws and it seems that there you take an online course, pay the fee, then take you certificate of completion to the Driver's License Examining Office and they give you your Vessel Operator's License. I see no mention of having to actually get on a boat with an examiner and demonstrating that you can safely operate the boat. Oh and visitors are free to operate boats without the license. The point is that with driving there is basically a national standard already in place for people's everyday lives. Everyone at some point takes both a written and practical exam. Given that everyone does that, I see no need for BSA to offer a driving safety class. I don't know of anywhere that getting a DUI while boating doesn't transfer to your driver's license. Heck, here in California people get DUIs while riding a bicycle and it counts against their driver's license.

Well apparently a Sunfish is the only kind of catboat that exists. As a Laser sailor I find that offensive because Sunfish sail very differently than any other catboat. According to the manual everyone uses a fender board because "Fenders are hung over the side but are never allowed to rub against the wharf or pier,..." "A dock is the space alongside a wharf or pier that the boat occupies. You cannot tie a boat to a dock since the dock is the space the boat occupies." There are a dozen sailing specific pages in the Boat Handling section, and only 1 1/2 powerboat pages. That is just a few things I noticed on a quick check. There is a lot of stuff in it that simply doesn't make sense, or is specific to one area or situation, but they don't say that. You can download the manual for free from newseascout.org

They probably don't require it because for the other activities you don't need to be licensed. Most anyone can go put a boat in the water and run someone over, but before you can drive a car the government has to test your skills.