Yes. That was how Napoleon came to own several acres of the USA... That was why Lafayette became famous... That was because France and Britain hated each other so much at that point in History...

Sorry, yes I was relating to the war of independence, sorry if thatmay have confused any of you. And Steve, Americans back then werent a bunch of peasants, it was no different than England back then, I mean most people were English. I guess here in America they focus on this stuff more, I mean some class in Australia would mention it, but hey in my class last year the stuff took like 15 weeks to cover, all those dates and people and battles.....

Wow, Jacob, my Hamster's history skills are more advanced than yours. Jeez, man, go to school at least once in your life.
As for burning down the whitehouse, yes, fine, Boilers did do that (we have our own terms for you, too), but they let Dolly Madison go in and get the paintings. We really aren't that different. Come on, Yanks and Yorks can get along well enough, if we stop dredging up 200+ year old grudges.
Getting back on track a little, It's not suprising that Danny was not familiar with the 2nd ammendment. A lot of people in the states don't even know it. The National Rifle Association seems unable to understand it. It's unbelievable the number of dirt-stupid gun nuts that are dead-certain it reads literally "the right to bear arms", when it really doesn't. They all use the same damn argument, too- "If we made guns illegal, then only criminals would have them, and we wouldn't be able to defend ourselves". FIrst of all, I agree wholeheartedly that illegal guns are not nearly as easy to attain as people think. I myself plan on moving to Canada, Australia or the UK just to get away from all of this crap. They've tried it there, and it works. IT WORKS- let me reiterate that for those of you who want to say it doesn't work. IT WORKS, WE HAVE PROOF, ILLEGALIZING AND RESTRICTING GUN OWNERSHIP DECREASES THE CRIME RATE.
And, even that aside, even if changing the rules is out of the question, which it sometimes feels hopelessly to be the case, it doesn't matter- the second ammendment does not cover your right to bear arms! It covers an american citizen's right to form a "well organized militia". If people actually knew HOW TO READ, they might realize this. I want to know under what circumstances a child shooting his friend over a toy, or a thirteen year old buying a gun at Walmart constifies a "well organized militia". This crap makes me sick. The 2nd ammendment is a relic from two hundred years ago, and the only reason it's still around is because our country is full of bloodthirsty, primitive dumb asses who are easily manipulated by incontinent members of an increasingly disfunctional and corrupt senate.
I do agree, however tentatively, though, that guns themselves are not evil. They are a tool, just like a hammer or a saw. Unfortunately, the only thing that a gun does is kill or wound things. Yes, you can kill or wound things with a hammer, but that's not it's only use. It's dumb to blame the guns for people using them, yes but there's an easy remedy to it no matter what's to blame, and that's TAKE AWAY THE FRIGGING GUNS!
Sorry to be so verbose, but you guys picked the one topic I'm probably most adimate about.

Though this has gone far from the original post, I shall tell you what I think of guns... Well, people say that "Guns don't kill, people kill." Hah! Come on, guns help kill and sometimes DO kill. Think about it... without guns, the murder rate would go so far down... Guns help people find an easy way to kill or rob. It would be so much easier to just shoot someone in the head than to struggle with them, trying to slit their throats. With guns, people who are about to be murdered don't have a huge chance of surviving. And, if a small child or mentally unstable person is left with a gun, think about how they may accidently shoot themselves. I actually knew someone who shot them self in the neck when they were a child, and they ended up being retarded ever since. I really don't think it's possible for all guns to be banned, but it would be a damned better place without them... I am in favor of gun control... Any one who is opposed to gun control must have a death wish or have an odd urge to get them self robbed...

And, if I may add... Some of the knowledge of history in this topic is startling and sad... Tom not knowing of the war of independence, Statikk thinking the holocaust started because guns were banned, and many other sad things... Come on, people... You must want to know a little more about history!

Also, on the subject of Merkin... I don't mind it, it's like calling someone a Brit. But finding it funny? That's a bit of a stupid sense of humor to find the word American to be funny when shortened...

Heh! Just because you Brits pronounce the letter e as a short a! But, on the subject, I guess I'm kind of nuetral on gun control. From point of view, it has its good points and bad points...

I was recently told it was the Revolutionary war and that the war of Independance was something else.

The Revolutionary War and the War for Independance are the same thing. Or there is some war I was never told of.

1) I doubt your hamster can even count.
2) I do go to school.
3) Dont try and provoke me.
4) Why are you getting involved?
5) Are you American...if so...what gives you the right to have a go at me?

1. I doubt you can prove any hamster can't count

1) I doubt u can prove hamsters can count.

1. I probably couldn't

Quite...

1) Can you proove Cows can fly?

Yorks? Is that another word for Brits? It sounds more like it means Yorkshiremen, in which case probably just me, Tom, and Chris qualify... :D

Anyway, Merkin isn't a dialect word, like Boilers seems to be, it's just a contraction of American. More like Brit, really...

Anyway, I agree with everything you said about guns. Just one question: Is Dequibenzo your real name? (I like to know these things...)

1) I doubt that anyone cares.

What Tom meant was, we can see that Cows can't fly, but we have no evidence that Hamsters can't count. Anyway, Deq was only being sarcastic...

Good point Sydney!

Yeah, York is another word for brit, and I do think it comes from Yorkshiremen. Just like Yank comes from Yankee, which refers to Americans from the North during the civil war. It all gets blurried with time to mean more broad things. As for boiler, it refers to the generalization of english cooking just consisting of stuff that's been boiled until it's tasteless and grey, which I know for a fact is untrue, but there you have it anyway.
And, no, that's not my real name. It's the name of a character from a book I'm writing (long, LONG story about that, and nobody wants to hear it right now).
Oh, and, Jacob? Yeah, I admit, that was a little harsh of me. Sorry, I was up really late when I wrote it, and... well, you know how it goes. No hard feelings, I hope.

I agree.

1) But can you proove this?

1) Ok...maybe the Hamsters counting thing was abit of a shit example...how about...ahem.

Can Hamsters fly?

(Im sure to win the argument with that...ha ha)

That depends on whether you mean an unmodified hamster or one that's been modified to be able to fly...

What's your real name?

Hilarious...im sure...*Drips with Sarcasm*

His real name is Albert...

I'll give you a hint, that's not it. Why do you want to know, Danny? Remember, I'm from the states- wer'e raised to be paranoid as all get-out when it comes to the internet.

So, it's looking like the general concensus here is that, no matter what your opinion on gun ownership and use individually, the US as a whole should seriously reconsider it's gun policies overall, because the 2nd ammendment is too often misinterpreted to really be effective anymore. Is that about right, amigos?

I like to know these things. As you may have noticed, I refer to everyone by name (when sober), and you don't want to be left out, do you?

Anyway, what am I going to do to you with your name? It's not like I'm asking for your address, phone number, and credit card number...

Oh, let's save the conspiracy theories for another day, shall we? I'm reminded of my Economics teacher, Mr. S., who would often preach to us how the government was watching our every move using the Onstar auto navigation system, even those of us who don't have Onstar, even when we aren't in our cars. Yeah, that was a fun class.
Well... all right. It's Ian, and the ironic thing here is that after all this discussion about how Brits and Merkins (I can use it too! Whee!) aren't so different after all, people here in the states still can't seem to get my frigging name right, and I'm told it's pretty common in europe.

They can't get Ian right? It's quite common here, I know several people called Ian.
Funnily enough, Dequibenzo isn't very common around here.

I dont like the name Ian...reminds me of Ian Beal that low life worm...Euk!!

I don't actually know anyone called Ian, but it's not exactly an unusual name... Besides, two of my favourite authors are called Iain [not a typo - that's the original Scottish spelling]... :D

Yeh, so n e way...like i sed.

Guns kill ppl, but so do ppl, guns basically make it easier 4 people to kill people. Take guns away then u will have 2 take everything lethal away.

And as Ian said: Most deadly things have some purpose other than killing. Guns do not.

Yes...quite. But most peeps use guns as its easier to kill someone, if you take guns away then they will kill someone in a different way, more ingenius way and the perpatrator will go un-punished. Also, guns can be useful for other things such as:

1) Scaring people.
2) Opening bottles.
3) Knocking people unconcious.
4) Demonstrating the saying 'Its as easy as shooting fish in a barrel' .
5) And...ermmm...juggling with.

I defer to your superior knowledge of the subject... :D

So, Jacob, you are saying that it wouldn't do any good getting rid of the guns, because people would find another way to kill each other?