Kyle Dickerson – Page 75 – If we had a Marriage, These Would be its Thoughts

Rational Dialog? Nah. Guns Edition

December 9, 2015 9:25 am

It seems that about 40% of the country is convinced that the best possible response to gun violence is for more untrained people to carry around firearms on a regular basis. Another 40% of the country wants “stronger gun control laws” but what that means depends on who you ask. And probably about 20% of the country either isn’t sure what the best response is or doesn’t care.

I don’t claim to know what the appropriate response is, but I have some relevant observations.

I’ve known about the ban on using federal research money to study gun violence for a long time. It’s always been stupid. If we want to make policy decisions based on anything but emotion then we need data. Banning federal research money from being used to study one of today’s most prominent policy debates it’s absurd. This is something everyone should support. If you think more people having guns will reduce gun deaths then the data gathered in legitimate research should support you. Maybe it’s true, maybe it’s not, currently we have very little data from which to draw any conclusions.

One accusation from we-need-more-guns advocates is that anyone who wants to modify the process of obtaining firearms is a “Constitution shredder” as if the Constitution is a holy document handed down by God himself. Here’s a clue for that group: if the Constitution hadn’t been “shredded” in the first place there wouldn’t be a 2nd Amendment to worship. If the Constitution hadn’t been “shredded” slavery would still be legal and women wouldn’t be allowed to vote.

The Constitution is what “the people” want it to be. Personally, I’m surprised that given the absolute refusal from the we-need-more-guns groups to enter into rational dialog on how to reduce gun deaths there isn’t more call for simply repealing the 2nd Amendment and ending the “Constitution shredder” argument entirely.

The discussion should be focused on concepts like:

What does society gain by allowing easy access to firearms?
What does society lose by allowing easy access to firearms?
Is that trade-off worth it?
- Other countries seem to get along just fine without widespread gun ownership.
Why does the U.S. seem to uniquely, among industrialized nations, have this problem of gun violence?
What might be reasonable restrictions on firearm access?
- Many, maybe even most or all, Constitutional rights are tempered with reasonable restrictions for the public good. Saying no restrictions should be applied just makes you look ignorant.
Does requiring secure storage of firearms help reduce deaths?
Should firearm owners undergo mental health assessments?
How about anger management classes?
Should safe-handling courses be required for firearm ownership?
Would any of these changes substantively alter what society loses by allowing easy access to firearms?
- Does it change whether the trade-off is worth it?

Is anyone with a loud mouth actually trying to discuss and consider these questions? Or has the public dialog been entirely reduced to “guns are the problem” — “Nuh-uh, guns are the solution!”?

Vacation Wall Art

November 2, 2015 4:51 pm

We rearranged the family room a few months back and took down the pictures that had been on the wall. I had an idea to put up in their place and it’s finally finished (for now).

I took some deer netting and hung it on the wall to use as a structure to attach pictures to. If I could find a lighter color net I would since the wall is a light color, but I’m not going to worry about it too much.

The pictures I’m going to hang are prints from some of our prominent family trips and I made a travel map for each trip indicating where we went, how we got there, and when the trip was. The travel maps are surrounded by the pictures from that trip.

I like how it came out overall.

The finished product:

The individual travel maps I made:

Halloween 2015

October 31, 2015 10:36 pm

Heather survived another Halloween, though just barely. She was asleep within 3 minutes of lying down in bed. She was not super enthused about trick-or-treating, but I’m fairly sure it was only because she was already tired. We did make it all the way up and down our entire street, which is a little further than last year.

We carved a pumpkin, of course. Heather made 5 concept drawings which I then adapted into pumpkin-ready designs. She chose the final design, “Beak,” and yesterday we carved it. Then she decided it need eyelashes, so we added those.

Heather wanted to be a witch this year and I shaved the bark off a stick to make her a wand:

I decided I wanted to put up some decorations, but really only came to that decision this morning. So I spent the morning designing and making jellyfish / ghosts (depending on who you ask) to hang in the yard. I cut up water jugs for big jellies and used yogurt cups, spray-painted black with holes punched through the sides, as small jellies.

I strung thread across from the trellis to the fence so that the jellyfish could hang over the lawn and be more mysterious as to how they were floating.

I had planned to use some glow sticks to light up “eyes” cut from cardboard tubes, but I ditched that idea in favor of the jellyfish. Instead, I tried to use the glowsticks to light up the jellyfish. It didn’t work very well, or basically at all. The glowsticks simply aren’t bright enough, even with 4 inside a single jelly. But I had some LEDs kicking around and a few button batteries so I used those instead, which worked great. Now that I know, I’ll have to get enough batteries next year so I can light them all up properly.

Heather’s 4th Birthday

October 29, 2015 8:33 pm

Heather turned four this year. But not without some Heather-style anxiety. In the days leading up to her birthday she would occasionally have little meltdowns about not wanting to get older. She liked being three and didn’t want to get bigger or do different things. We assured her that it was not an instantaneous event–She would still get to go to pre-school, dance class, and gymnastics. That seemed to help her calm down.

She had a party on Saturday with friends from church. They painted pictures, ran around the house like loons, and ate cupcakes. It was a blast.

Over the weekend Heather started asking if we could play “miniature ball” by which she meant miniature golf. So we did that Monday evening. She’s never played before and we’re not sure where she even got the idea from. She was really excited though. When I got home from work she just about tackled me.

She started out enthused and interested:

But by the 18th hole she just wanted to be done:

I had a great game. I averaged 2.66 strokes per hole on 18 holes and my worst hole was only 4 strokes! On the way to the parking lot I asked Heather how it was. I told her, “I had a great game; probably my greatest game!” She responded, “I had a boring game; probably the boringest game.” I think she had fun overall, but she was definitely ready to be be done. She burned through most of her energy being excited all day.

On her birthday I made a treasure hunt for her to find her presents. Mom would do this for us every so often growing up and I thought Heather would really enjoy it. She thought it was amazing.

IMGP4007as — The first clue in the treasure hunt.

IMGP4021as — Another clue had been eaten by the frog.

I compiled a video of the footage Jess took of the treasure hunt. It’s at the end of the post if you’re interested. I was able to trim it down to 7.5 minutes, which I realize is still quite some time to watch a video, but it’s still pretty great.

We did the treasure hunt and opened presents during lunch so Heather would have the afternoon to play with gifts. Jess convinced me that this was a better plan than waiting until having cake after dinner then opening presents and immediately trying to send Heather to bed.

IMGP4042as — She is in love with this book about anatomy / physiology.

IMGP4057as — She immediately started pointing out solar flares in this book (not on this page though).

IMGP4062as — A rake to help Daddy rake the leaves!

IMG_20151028_134040as — Magnetic building shapes are a hit.

We had dinner at the Ale House (or, as Heather prefers to call it, the Ollie House). It’s Heather’s favorite restaurant. They apparently have the best mini corn dogs, fruit, and milk dinner in town. Then it was back home for cake, colored blue per Heather’s request.