Gun control discussion

**pomtzu** · 01-01-2013, 05:01 PM

Originally Posted by chocolatepuppy

No desire to be Rambo. Would just like to protect myself in my own home.

But I sure as heck wouldn't keep my gun on the dresser like you do.

If I had one it would be on the nightstand - it's much closer than the dresser and I wouldn't even have to get out of bed!

**mon** · 01-01-2013, 05:20 PM

I am not really sure what there is to discuss. Folks who want guns get them. Those who do not, do not. Right , wrong, legal or illegal. People have the free will to get what they want. As far as the law goes....

**Karen** · 01-01-2013, 05:31 PM

Originally Posted by pomtzu

But I sure as heck wouldn't keep my gun on the dresser like you do.

If I had one it would be on the nightstand - it's much closer than the dresser and I wouldn't even have to get out of bed!

All depends on how your furniture is set up ... At the old house, my dresser was right next to the bed (old New England house, second floor room with sloping ceilings ...) and it was where my glasses rested at night - close enough so I could reach them without any effort!

**RICHARD** · 01-01-2013, 05:49 PM

..France counts 1,193 cars torched on New Year's Eve

Associated Press – 54 mins ago.

PARIS (AP) — Hundreds of empty, parked cars go up in flames in France each New Year's Eve, set afire by young revelers, a much lamented tradition that remained intact this year with 1,193 vehicles burned, Interior Minister Manuel Valls said Tuesday.

His announcement was the first time in three years that such figures have been released. The conservative government of former President Nicolas Sarkozy had decided to stop publishing them in a bid to reduce the crime — and not play into the hands of car-torching youths who try to outdo each other.

France's current Socialist government decided otherwise, deeming total transparency the best method, and the rate of burned cars apparently remained steady. On Dec. 31, 2009, the last public figure available, 1,147 vehicles were burned.

Like many countries, France sees cars set on fire during the year for many reasons, including gangs hiding clues of their crimes and people making false insurance claims.

But car-torching took a new step in France when it became a way to mark the arrival of the New Year. The practice reportedly began in earnest among youths — often in poor neighborhoods — in the 1990s in the region around Strasbourg in eastern France.

It also became a voice of protest during the fiery unrest by despairing youths from housing projects that swept France in the fall of 2005. At the time, police counted 8,810 vehicles burned in less than three weeks.

Yet even then, cars were not burned in big cities like Paris, and that remained the case this New Year's Eve. Minister Valls said the Paris suburban region of Seine-Saint-Denis, where the 2005 unrest started, led the nation for torched cars, followed by two eastern regions around Strasbourg.

For some, the decision to tell the public how many cars have been burned on New Year's Eve is a mistake.

Bruno Beschizza, the national secretary for security matters in Sarkozy's UMP party, said on iTele TV that publishing the numbers motivates youths to commit such crimes. "We know that neighborhoods compete," he said. Gang rivalries center on who can torch the most cars, with claims made on social networks like Facebook and Twitter, he said.

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Don't they make BIC lighters in France?

WHO NEEDS A LIGHTER WITH THOUSANDS OF LIGHTS?

**pomtzu** · 01-01-2013, 06:09 PM

Originally Posted by Karen

All depends on how your furniture is set up ... At the old house, my dresser was right next to the bed (old New England house, second floor room with sloping ceilings ...) and it was where my glasses rested at night - close enough so I could reach them without any effort!

What I said was meant only as a "tongue-in-cheek" statement.

I figured we needed something to lighten the mood of this thread!