You Can't Smoke Here - - Bang Bang You're Dead

[Canary42]

https://uk.news.yahoo.com/waffle-house-waitress-shot-dead-over-cigarette-143600902.html#1MV1mN

Of course had the waitress been armed, this wouln't have happened (so the NRA thinking goes)

[Gromit]

// "This senseless tragedy is a shock for the Waffle House family," she said. //

In tragedy there is often comedy.

America is complex, but this is just as much an argument for prohibition as it is for gun control.

[Jackdaw33]

You are joking, Gromit?

[Gromit]

Jackdaw,
Does the mugshot look like a sober man?

This tragedy was caused by three things.
1. A violent man
2. Alcohol (or drugs)
3. The availability of firearms.

Blaming just guns is kind of missing the problem.

[Jackdaw33]

I see. We all know about the massive increase in violence as a result of prohibition in the 20s. I thought for a moment you were suggesting the prohibition of tobacco.

[mikey4444]

This is dreadful ! If there was ever a case for gun control, this is it.

[sandyRoe]

If he'd lived in a society where the weapons weren't readily available the worst he might have done was punch his victim.
The gun is the problem.

[mikey4444]

sandy...common sense of course, but not to enough Americans unfortunately, which is puzzling.

[Old_Geezer]

Yeah, because we all know how well the draconian prohibition of alcohol worked when it was imposed on the population.

A society needs to work out for itself that everyone having a firearm is more perilous and leads to greater tragedies than no one having a firearm.

The problem is getting to the stage where the bad guys are no longer armed. That's a difficult path but steps could be taken if the will was there. There are parallels with the other prohibition but the owning of arms and imbibing on a social beverage are very different matters.

[ToraToraTora]

Bit extreme but we know that smokers are a selfish lot.

[Jackdaw33]

Wondered how long it would take for someone to blame this on the smokers

[Retrochic]

Gromit " this tragedy was caused by three things. "
1. A violent man
2. Alcohol (or drugs)
3. The availability of firearms.

"Blaming just guns is kind of missing the problem."

Wrong! The shooting would not have happened if the drunk violent man had not had access to a firearm

It could just as easily have been perpetrated by a sane and sober ( but peed off) man with a gun

gun being the common denominator here.

[ToraToraTora]

....and he's a smoker retro, dangerous combination, specially when they need a fix!

[ummmm]

Don't be so ridiculous!!!

[Retrochic]

^^^ Ummmm needs a fag lol!

[ToraToraTora]

yes...ably demonstrated by ummmm, PMSL!

[ummmm]

Well I've never needed a cigarette bad enough to a) not go outside or b) shoot someone.

[Svejk]

I seem to remember a chap getting killed in similar circumstances when the smoking ban was introduced in England. (can't remember if he was shot or stabbed but killed he was)

[Gromit]

If he didn't have his gun on him, he could have pulled out his knife and killed her.
I am all for gun control and and Americans not murdering each other on an industrial scale, but in this instance, shouting gun control kind of exempts the violent drunken man behind the trigger.

[Retrochic]

Gromit -he could have pulled out a knife and assaulted her -he could have punched her and knocked her out. There would however have been a chance of survival. A point blank gun shot to the head ..... Gun Laws don't stop violence -just makes the violence less deadly.

[mikey4444]

Retrochic is perfectly correct here...there is a world of difference to attempting to kill someone with a knife, and pointing a gun at the head and pulling the trigger.

Yet again, the availability of a firearm has radically altered the equation.