What do I have against the European Union?

Why do I think that Brexit is such a good thing? Here's why.

1. The EU has a horrible policy concerning the Syrian refugee crisis, and they've shown no compunctions about trying to force that policy down the throats of their member nations.
2. Many member nations of the EU have a tendency to rely upon the rest of the EU and their NATO allies for military protection. With the resurgent Russia, the rise of China as a world power, the continued activity of major Islamic terror groups, and the proof that the major republican and democratic world powers can't be depended upon past the next election, it is crucial that individual nations be tough enough to deter attack, or failing that, give any invader a bloody enough nose to retain most, if not all, of their territory and sovereignty. 
3. The EU's laws, rules, and regulations don't come from it's elected parliament, but rather the European Commission, appointed officials who swear an oath to the European Court of Justice. And there are a metric shit ton of regulations. 

Those are just a few of the reasons why I'm not a big fan of the EU. There are more of course, but if I went in depth, I'd be here all day, and I've got better things to do.

Fuck Tranzis - My take on "Brexit"

Great Britain just voted to leave the EU. Good for them. They've stood up for their national sovereignty, and given the Tranzis in Europe a bloody nose. The EU may continue for a while, but with the precedent set by this, and the shenanigans that the EU and some of it's member nations engage in, it is unlikely to continue for much longer. Just as the League of Nations could not survive long without the US, so to is it unlikely that the EU will be able to continue for long without Great Britain.
Britain was the second largest economy in the EU (both nominal and PPP) and has a significantly larger defense budget than France or Germany, the now second and first largest economies in the EU. In fact, Britain is one of only four countries in NATO that come close to matching their defense spending pledges - the others being the US, Poland, and Estonia.
The loss of such a large economy and military has profound implications for the EU. British funds will no longer pay for EU boondoggles. British troops and nuclear deterrent are now allied assets, only willing to help if someone else starts the war.
Great Britain has freed themselves of a parasite.

Moderates

For all those talking about how horrible the NRA is, I want you to consider something:
The NRA are the squishy moderates of the Pro-Gun crowd.
The NRA has a past record of being willing to "compromise" or, if you go back far enough, straight up sponsor gun control (See the 1934 National Firearms Act). The NRA, in fact, has a very strong contingent of "Fudds"*, and WILL accept some gun control - although we're pretty close to the limits they'll tolerate, and it's quite rare for the politicians to propose the sort of gun control that the NRA would be willing to support.

Of the other major pro-gun groups, almost all of them are significantly more hard-line than the NRA - for example, Gun Owners of America (GOA) which emphasizes their "No Compromise" stance on gun control. Don't make the mistake of thinking that all those gun owners who aren't in the NRA are going to side with you. Oh, some of them will - there are plenty of Fudds who don't even care enough to be in the NRA - but many, perhaps even most of those gun owners view the NRA as being anything from "good, but not enough" to "barely better than quislings".

So the next time you complain about the NRA blocking a piece of gun control, you might want to consider something: Why are the Squishiest, most moderate of the gun owners  opposing this? If the moderates on the "pro-gun" side are so worked up about "common-sense gun legislation", how do more extreme groups feel? Are they actually serious about "from my cold dead hands"?

*Fudd, a hunter/recreational shooter of a single gun, who supports or fails to oppose most gun control for a variety of reasons including:

1. They don't think that their gun will ever be banned
2. They believe ownership of firearms should be limited to hunting weapons 
3. They just don't care 
4. Rank hypocrisy.

Gun Control and Orlando

I'm a bit late to this - as part of my job, I'm often without internet for days to weeks - but since the "debate" is still going on, I'm going to put my two cents in.

1. If you say anything about a magazine limit, you're either stupid or ignorant. The man killed 49 people and wounded 53 more. Even if he only used one round per person, that means that he had to reload multiple times, during which times he was not shooting. Magazine limits just mean that he has to reload more often. Given that even inexperienced shooters can change a magazine in seconds, this doesn't really give a tactical advantage to anyone, except the shooter, because it reduces the ability of concealed carriers to carry ammunition covertly.
2. The same thing goes for banning removable magazines. Before removable magazines became popular, stripper clips enabled easy reloading. There are disadvantages to stripper clips (which is why removable magazines replaced them), but don't think for a second that someone couldn't take an SKS (with a 10 round fixed magazine), and a bunch of stripper clips and produce similar levels of carnage.
3. Assault Weapons Ban.  I've already covered, in detail, why an AWB is stupid and counterproductive. We're not going to get another one.
4. If these assholes were smart (which, fortunately for us, they aren't) they'd stop trying to shoot places up, and instead use fertilizer bombs. The Oklahoma City Bombing had more than 3 times as many dead, and more than 12 times as many wounded. Shootings can (and have) been stopped by ordinary citizens with guns. A bombing doesn't take that chance.
5. Stop using the word "Compromise". Compromise implies a give and take. Anti-Gun "compromises" so far have offered nothing in return to gun owners. If you offer me universal background checks, I'll tell you to go fuck yourself. If you offer me universal background checks, in return for which, you'll repeal the Firearm Owners Protection Act and the Gun Control Act of 1986, I might consider it.
6. Stop acting like you can actually control guns. Outside of the US, criminal arsenals (i.e. gun factories) and individuals make guns, ranging from "You couldn't get me to shoot that for a million bucks" to "professional quality sub-machine guns". Inside of the US, hobbyists (and criminals) make guns with the same range of quality - although the hobbyists tend to avoid making sub-machine guns, if only to avoid a felony conviction.

If you're willing to agree on those points, we might have a constructive conversation and figure out something that actually has a chance of working - since it probably won't involve trying to keep track of well over 300 million guns. Otherwise, we'll get stuck in the loop, where people like me explain why gun control won't work, and anti-gunners try to sell us their load of bull.