science
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dart board;; science bs
rule #1: be kind
Well that's one way to phrase it
Thought this was Not The Onion with a headline like that.
That's a very /notTheOnion headline.
It makes me picture a scene:
The clock tower strikes, high noon. Shudders snap closed along the deserted street. Two men stare at each other, hands at their waists.
"Well if it isn't the famous outlaw Franky Flynn himself... it looks like your blood lead levels are about to go up partner"
"Yep... in the flesh. Funny thing though, studies have shown that exposure to Franky Flynn can cause blood-lead levels to rise in lawmen by up to 600 %"
"Well... [spits], I do my own research"
"BuT I nEeD tO PrOtEcT mAh FaMiLy"
The chances of you or one of your family member using the gun on your/themselves, and being shot by accident by a family member, are each exponentially higher than you actually having the need to use a gun to protect yourself. Even in a third world country like the US.
There are so many examples of places on this world where it statistically shows banning guns reduce deaths and injuries. The US is THE example why gun ownership is a bad idea. But sure, go ahaid and kill eachother and yourself. Just keep your dystopian violence on your side of the ponds and borders. Fucking idiots.
It's a good thought and you're not even wrong. I used to think the same way.
Then tens of millions of people voted for Trump not once, not twice, but THREE times.
Trump lost, fascists threatened civil war, J6 happened... Trump STILL got re-elected, and pretty much on day one he sent the message loud and clear that his violent fascist foot-soldiers can count on getting pardons if they commit violence in his name.
Now consider how many of those violent fascists have guns.
Still feel safe without guns?
Yup, without guns these people would be a lot less dangerous so I would feel safer. Also, are they plotting to murder you? Are you in organized crime and do you have a lot of enemies who want to see you dead? Do you get a lot of death threads or something?
Even is someone would break into you house it's probably to steal your TV. You don't need a gun to kill them for that, it's a fucking TV. Buy better locks.
Is there an armed robbery in the store you are at? Lay on the ground, follow their instructions. They just want the register money. No need to escalate the situation with gunfire. They get the money, they leave. Or there's a shootout, you, bystanders and the robbers get shot, all of you either die or get insane medical bills and possibly get handicapped so you can't work anymore, end up homeless and die of a fentanyl overdose.
So unless someone is plotting to kill you, you don't need a gun and you would be safer without one, as the chance of getting hurt by your own gun or by cops because they see you with a gun is significantly higher than you actually needing to protect yourself, and also a situation where you owning a gun actually made a positive difference in the outcome of a violent situation.
I really like guns, I love to shoot guns for sports. I've used many guns during my military service. I'm am so insanely happy guns aren't allowed here. The only people with guns here are cops, the military, a handful of hunters and sports shooters and organized crime. Those gun owning criminals aren't plotting to murder me, so I'm better off without a gun and so is everyone else.
The fascists are literally branding leftists as domestic terrorists and throwing them in the gulag... for things as innocuous as being opposed to the genocide in Gaza.
So yes, these people are heavily armed and out to get us. They will commit violence against us and get pardoned by their dear leader.
But I agree with most of the rest... It's crazy that in Texas you can shoot someone dead for stealing your TV and get away with it.
I envy you that you don't have an abundance of armed fascists in your country, and that your government hasn't been taken over by fascists... but unfortunately that's the reality that we're dealing with here in the states.
I'm having a hard time understanding the point you're trying to make.
Sorry, let me translate to US English:
Guns bad! Pew pew = ouch ouch! No pew pew = no ouch ouch!
Get it?
We speak more or less the same language, as I'm sure you're aware. I'm Danish, by the way.
I don't understand what your point is, though. I get that you don't like guns, but I'm having a hard time understanding where all of the other stuff is coming from.
Little known fact that bullets can cause outside blood.
So I assume this study was meant to narrow down the previously-established association between gun ownership and household lead levels by focusing on gun storage. But couldn’t it also be the case that lead exposure (from guns) is causing caregivers to store their guns less carefully?
(Or in other words—maybe the danger of elevated household lead due to gun ownership is independent of storage practices; but lead exposure also leads to more dangerous storage practices, which causes the correlation.)
Interesting take. That's not the conclusion that they're drawing but it's certainly possible. I also want to know the mechanism for the increased lead levels. Are kids chewing on the bullets? Is lead somehow deposited in the home?
Edit: I read it again and I feel like something is still missing. Firing a gun leads to lead particles on clothing that come back home. But lack of storage leads to more lead in the children. If you don't store your gun, are you waving it around your house? Firing it in the basement?
I also want to know the mechanism for the increased lead levels. Are kids chewing on the bullets? Is lead somehow deposited in the home?
I think you can interpolate what's happening from this part:
Firing a gun leads to lead particles on clothing that come back home.
So it sounds to me, like when you fire a gun, a few things happen. The bullet travels down the barrel and as it does, it makes some contact with the barrel, some particles of lead scrape or spald off. These particles are largely expelled by the barrel exhaust, but some of it can be deposited in or on the gun. So any gun that has been fired many times becomes a source of lead particulates that can get into the air. I'd expect a gun safe provides the same amount of protection from this exposure as a zip lock bag would. (But i'd still recommend using the gun safe). Theoretically, you could also reduce this exposure by thoroughly cleaning the gun before bringing it into the home, though I have no idea what level of cleaning would be necessary to achieve this, it could be a lot.
I totally agree with your Ziploc bag analogy lol. If the only concern was reducing lead exposure, I bet just a plastic bag would be enough. However, if we are only talking about using the weapon and bringing it home, does storage really matter? If the particles are all over your clothes, you are just dragging that lead everywhere.
I'm thinking it's more to do with what one of the other commenters said, lack of storage suggests a certain attitude. If you're not storing it, you are probably moving it around the house, cleaning it on the table, etc. So maybe both groups of people have the same amount of lead on their weapon, but the storage group takes it straight to the gun safe instead of leaving it in their pants and letting it sprinkle heavy metal surprises around the house?
You've pretty much got it, seemingly from first principles, good job!
Yeah, thats... basically exactly what happens.
Now, fully cleaning the gun after every usage... well, on the one hand, theoretically that would help with the gun being ... less of a profilic random micro/particulate lead dispenser.
On the other hand, well, all that lead is now literally being handled by you, so, you need gloves, maybe a mask, maybe functionally a clean room as well.
At that point, you might as well be a small armory, if you want to have all the stuff and practices in place to properly contain the particulate lead.
Another big element at play is that different barrels basically corrode or gunk up differently.
For example, chrome-lined barrels are generally slightly more expensive, have essentially greater durability or longetivity, but because of imperfections of the actual lining process, lead to slightly less accurate barrels.
Chrome lined barrels would presumably have less lead exposure factor, due to lead having a harder time to stick to the barrel.
Vs non chrome lined barrels that gunk up more quickly, but, when clean, can be slightly more accurate.
There are other ways of coating or treating or just making a barrel, as well as many other kinds of seemingly esoteric details of gun design, that could potentially affect how much of an... 'ambient particulate lead exposure' risk it is.
Another thread on this someone posited it might be how frequently the people are shooting and storage has a correlation. Copper ammo was also suggested there. I like tungsten but whatever works.
I think a causal relationship can be inferred, based on the proposed mechanism: firearms tend to have lead dust on them, and failing to properly store firearms tends to lead to cross contamination with living spaces, especially carpets and the floor where babies crawl and put things in their mouth.
The next step should be to investigate a link between safe storage practices and environmental lead content in the home: in the carpets, etc.
Unsafe storage just reduces blood levels in children
Edit// While increasing lead
One of those problems who only exist on the place where you can buy a Assault rifle on the same store where you buy milk, eggs and a frying pan
The amount of upvotes is pretty hilarious considering you can't buy assault rifles anywhere. Shows how uneducated people truly are on the subject.
"Assault rifles" aren't available without special federal licensing and several hoops to jump through with ATF-- assuming you're trying to describe a rifle that's tactical in appearance and is "full auto".
An "AR-15" is Armalight Rifle, not assault rifle. They're actually a smaller caliber than pretty much every hunting rifle out there. While tactical in appearance, they're still 100% semi-auto, as are all firearms purchased by anyone in the US.
I'd also like to point out several places like Dick's Sporting Goods, Walmart, and a few others have reduced or completely eliminated carrying firearms all together, and might only carry ammunition (which you do need to be at least 18 to buy with ID or 21 in some instances). Other retailers have started adopting stricter rules on sales to reduce liabilities as well.
The issues with firearms has primarily been laxed storage by family/parents making easy access, lack of education in safety (where accidents often happen from mishandling), or the glorification in the media giving those seeking the attention their "15 minutes of fame"... (Personally, for the 'mass shooters' I feel its less to do with mental health issues like the media tries to claim it is, while realistically, I think a lot of it is desensitizing and glorification having made a name for themselves, however wrong/bad it is, and again, getting that spotlight).
I'll just add, both my son and daughter had firearms exposure in a safe and controlled environment and know how to handle them. The point is, if a friend ever says, "wanna see my dad's Gun?" They'll know how to handle the situation by understanding the dangers, walking away and telling an adult. If they're ever facing a school situation they'll better understand what one looks like and tell the nearest adult, etc.
Assault rifle you say? Where is this magical place? Last I heard assault rifles were next to impossible to get unless you were a licensed arms manufacturer.
One of those problems who only exist on the place where you can buy a Assault rifle on the same store where you buy milk, eggs and a frying pan
I'm guessing this was copy pasted from a translator. It didn't get it right. This is how it should read:
One of those problems that only exists in a place where you can buy an assault rifle at the same store where you buy milk, eggs and a frying pan.
Also, you can't buy assault rifles at Walmart. The rural stores carry hunting rifles. I live in a suburb and the one near me doesn't even sell ammo.
Meanwhile, instead, give up your privacy for age verification.
Instead of a safe, which requires parents to be accountable, why not have routine in home government inspections? It's to protect the children.
(Also, yes, no guns would do it, just drawing a parallel here in our stupid governments oppressing us)
And yet MAGAts are always fighting against any sort of gun safety laws.
Are kids handling bullets?
So like Canadians and Scandinavian kids have lower lead levels than usanians?