In Blade Runner 2049, Weta Workshop had their laser pistols set up with a solenoid that moved back and forth with a trigger pull. Adam Savage looked at them in a Tested video. I don’t know if it’s cost prohibitive, but it sure seemed like the right way to do it.

However, you don’t get smoke with that. You can definitely rig something up as they did it with a knock off nerf blaster in the 80’s or even a cap gun, but at some point I assume the level of complexity makes modifying a real gun cheaper.

You could weld shut the barrel of a gun, which is what a lot of them do, but it seems like it’s a cost cutting measure when they used real guns that would retain their value. Alec (as a producer) used a cheap setup with a cheap armorer that didn’t know what they were doing. It’s both of their faults.

That, and also that’s not how the English language works.

I don’t know why they’d go for this. They already write the laws that Congress approved, and it costs far less than a billion. Heck, you can buy a congressman that’ll sway the others for as low as 20k.

I don’t trust anything that wormy little turtle scrotum says.

Unless it’s death. I’d believe him if he dies.

Alas, I don’t live in Kentucky and can’t do anything about him continuing to be a political figure.

It used to give good info, maybe 10 years ago. And remember when everyone’s number was in the phone book? Why isn’t there an online version of that anymore? Not this “buy now” scam stuff.

Try using a non-alcohol-based lotion. If you can’t find one, I’ve had good success with Eucerin. I put lotion on my face and scalp right after my shower, and don’t have any itchiness or flakes.

I couldn’t find a shampoo that fixed anything for me.

If you have it on your elbows or knees (very common), you can try Aquaphor at night. That is pretty sticky, but keeps your skin calm and moist.

A dermatologist can give you some prescription lotion/cream, as well. That also works, but it’s typically a small tube and expensive.

Your 20 year old car hasn’t been getting regular software and hardware updates from the manufacturer, though. United has.

At the beginning of the revolutionary war, militias, minutemen, and even the Continental army relied on soldiers to bring their own weapons from home. They would never have held off British troops long enough to have a revolution at all otherwise. This was an 8 year war, and only after 1776 did they begin to supply the Continental army with arms from France on the regular. Spain as well.

It was absolutely their intention to have regular citizens armed. With nuclear weapons? No. Be serious. With small arms able to be used by one person. To my knowledge, private citizens didn’t have access to cannons at a reliable quantity to count on them in battle.

This is what our flawed founding fathers experienced first hand and amended the Constitution with.

That will never fly as a “middle ground” because the second amendment was never written as a hunter’s law. It’s a Revolutionary, shooting-at-people law that didn’t take into account advances in technology because they didn’t matter.

What they had different were people upset with a government across the ocean and soldiers in their homes, and the only people upset with the colonists were slaves that weren’t allowed guns, education, or freedom. So that made the problem we face way less likely.

Any middle ground like you suggest would take a constitutional amendment and mass adoption, and the ones with the guns that aren’t likely to shoot up the place (Jan 6th excluded) are not keen on either.

Even if it’s only one life saved, that’s great. But can’t we want to fix the systemic problems that lead to gun violence as well? It also fixes a lot of other bad things that don’t lead to gun violence, like homelessness, depression, preventable deaths, inadequate health care, etc.

What I’m saying is that guns aren’t the problem. They make the problem worse. I’d like to see us try to fix both instead of a half measure of different gun laws.

I wonder as well. My filter is made of plastic, and my water lines are plastic. Sometimes my cup is plastic. Do I get more micro plastics after the filtration process?

Exactly, I hold grudges against food places for years. Conversely, I’ll frequent good places for just as long.

It never has to go long for non-chain places. They always go out of business so we can’t be the only ones. I bet this is really common.

Well hold on. About a week later I sent 1 dollar to Sorry Dude. So it may not be over yet.

They did pay into the federal system more than they took at one time, but it hasn’t been like that for a long time now. They couldn’t handle having federal funding cut off.

I’m not sure that it’s worth the time to describe different scenarios to you when you don’t understand how safeties work.

Instead, I suggest looking at the Active Self Protection YouTube channel.

I don’t think guns are supposed to be a deterrent. Someone running to mug you isn’t thinking clearly about the possible complications or repercussions.

A carried gun is a commitment to kill someone before you are killed in a life or death situation. Not too feel cool or show off, or brandish as a warning.

Plus if you dress like a cowboy, someone might try to mug you FOR that gun, making you a bigger target.

That’s all pretty heavy, and the odds are low that you’d encounter that situation. So not a lot of people are willing to complicate their lives for it.

I imagine fewer people don’t believe the Roman Empire existed, though. There’s not a lot of Roman-deniers out there with an agenda, though.

It’s more likely the crooked people in positions of power taking money from crooked companies lining their pockets that are killing America more than the previous OP’s cynicism. What power do we have against it? If we had any at all you’d be using it, wouldn’t you?

Wow, can you imagine trying to fix dry eyes by using eye drops, only to have to get them surgically removed to prevent your death? Going blind over eye drops? 4 deaths even…

You see those videos of workers in India doing barefoot work making pots and small metal parts. Turns out that's everywhere, including your eye drops.

I'm sure the companies responsible won't have any consequences, but I wish they would. That's so incredibly reckless and who knows what else we use every day that's manufactured this carelessly.

The pot. The origin of the saying is a cast iron pot sees its own reflection in the shiny, stainless steel kettle and sees all black (the cast iron).

So it's really projection. Calling out others what you see in yourself.