A Washington state senator was arrested at the airport in Hong Kong and charged with possession of an unregistered firearm, his office said.

Sen. Jeff Wilson, R-Longview, was detained at Hong Kong International Airport on Friday night after he found a pistol in his carry-on bag and reported it to customs officials.

He was released on bail Sunday and faces a hearing Oct. 30.

  • remotelove
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    1 year ago

    Canada should stop exporting alcohol. In my opinion, that is a much more potent killer than guns will ever be.

    Crown Royal, and the responsible consumers of that product, should be held responsible for all deaths and domestic abuse caused by their products. The people that get drunk aren’t the issue, so we should just ban alcohol completely.

    People who say they are responsible consumers of alcohol are actually not. They actually hide bottles of booze from their family and get completely blitzed whenever they have the chance.


    Before you dismiss my example as a false equivalence, and to a degree it is, I can’t help but see your logic as a shift of blame per my example.

    If someone gets drunk and beats their kids, that person is at fault. If someone stabs someone else with a knife, that person is also at fault. If your car gets stolen and it is used to run people over, it’s the fault of the thief.

    If someone shoots someone else with a stolen gun, it’s now the fault of responsible gun owners who may also be victims of crimes (theft) themselves.

    I should also point out that words are not actions. People can say anything they want. If someone says they are responsible and they actually aren’t, that can create a risky situation. Guns aside, that is life in general. If people act irresponsibly, they should be treated as such. If they drink too much, send them to a doctor. If they don’t obey traffic laws, send them to remedial training and suspend their license after that if necessary. If they can’t operate a firearm or follow laws, take their guns.

    Also, in my personal experience, irresponsible gun owners talk like irresponsible gun owners. In general, irresponsible people act like irresponsible people which is much easier to identify.

    • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      Alcohol is easy to make at home so no way to realistically ban it, plenty of campaigns to lower it’s consumption.

      Knives are necessary to make food and are easy to make at home, already illegal to carry knives over a certain size.

      Cars are necessary for personal transportation because of the way our countries are developed, manufacturers are making them safer and harder to steal.

      Guns? Neither necessary or easy to make at home, manufacturers make them more efficient at killing, easy to ban.

      The only reason these guns exist in Canada is because USA has the gun culture it has, make all guns disappear from the USA and Canada and see how little will illegally make the way inside both countries. The fact that you guys have such easy access to guns is the issue, no matter how safely you store them, if someone enters your house without you noticing, points one at your head and tells you to open your safe to steal your firearms, you’ll do it while pissing your pants and say thank you if they don’t shoot you before leaving.

      Sure, people are the issue, the object isn’t. What you guys don’t get is that all people who want to own guns are the issue, not just irresponsible owners.

      • remotelove
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        1 year ago

        I can easily make a “gun” at home and it doesn’t take that much creativity. With a little bit of chemistry knowledge, you can make extremely dangerous explosives as well. Hell, it’s even easier to make a gun at home with the advent of 3D printing and the wide availability of desktop CNC machines. By your logic, there is no realistic way to completely ban guns either.

        There are plenty of people in Canada and the US that still require guns as a tool for food. It’s not as prevalent as it once was, but it’s still a thing. I still participate in the destruction of invasive species from time to time and it’s a huge benefit to those farmers.

        I will also admit that I really enjoy firearms and the hobby happens to align well with the rest of my engineering fascinations. To me, my guns are just as interchangeable with the new CNC machine I am designing and building. Two different machines, but are incredibly interesting when it comes to precision.

        Also, what you think you want is a perfect world. Until that happens, I am absolutely more comfortable with a firearm at my side in some situations. If we all were good people and always had good intentions, sure! Throw out all the guns. Let’s hold hands and sing. The truth of the matter is that humanity is undeniably dirty. If someone breaks into my house, they will probably be armed and I have no issues putting them down quickly in such a case. It’s a sad and disgusting part of life that many people don’t see, or choose to ignore.

        There are a lot of gun owners from all walks of life, btw. Calling us “wrong” or “the problem” is just something that you need to do to feel better, I suppose.

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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          1 year ago

          Also, what you think you want is a perfect world. Until that happens, I am absolutely more comfortable with a firearm at my side in some situations. If we all were good people and always had good intentions, sure! Throw out all the guns.

          Funny how the USA is the only developed country where people without mental health issues feel this way… It’s as if the fact that people having guns in the first place is the reason why… Heh, that’s funny!

          There are plenty of people in Canada and the US that still require guns as a tool for food.

          Give guns only to the people that can justify not being able to purchase meat from the grocery store and see how many guns are left.

          With a little bit of chemistry knowledge, you can make extremely dangerous explosives as well. Hell, it's even easier to make a gun at home with the advent of 3D printing and the wide availability of desktop CNC machines.

          By that logic I guess we should make owning bombs legal then 🤷 The learning curve, financial investment and ability to build reliable guns at home makes them much easier to ban than anything you mentioned in your previous comment.

          There are a lot of gun owners from all walks of life, btw. Calling us "wrong" or "the problem" is just something that you need to do to feel better, I suppose.

          Nah, it’s just a fact, no gun owners, no gun problem.

          • chingadera@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Lol you mentioned cars earlier. You design a modern car while I design a modern gun. These arguments make zero sense. I vote hard left, and am a firm believer in gun control, but trying to justify the outright ban of guns is nonsense. Someone up there blaming the US for guns in Canada. Guns arent allowed there except under strict circumstances, but somehow that’s averted. Just raise the bar for gun ownership and stop trying to justify working in absolutes.

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              It’s ILLEGAL guns making their way to Canada after being stolen in the USA because they’re so easy to get over there! Gun control in Canada is super strict already, that’s why the vast majority of guns used for crimes in Canada come from your country. We end up having to deal with your crap once country over and innocent people get killed because of it.

              • chingadera@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                It’s not our crap, if they didn’t source them from here they would and likely do source them elsewhere. That sounds like a customs issue at the Canadian border. You can not use us as a catchall just because we have guns, that’s not how this shit works at all.

                • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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                  1 year ago

                  US guns make their way to fucking Europe because there’s so many of them that it’s sometimes easier than to source then from markets that are closer than that!

                  • chingadera@lemmy.world
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                    1 year ago

                    I’m sorry but this is no different than any other smuggling operation, whether it be counterfeit goods, drugs, guns, people. The origin country plays a role, but so do a shit ton of other factors, CA law enforcement and or politicians need to work to find a solution to resolve why it is that these guns are being smuggled, that would be infinitely easier and more effective than hoping the US will suddenly rewrite its constitution to abolish the right to own guns, and then effectively remove them from law abiding citizens as well as our own crime operations. That is a tall order that most people agree is not feasible. You can’t do it in your country with less guns, how the fuck are we suppose to? This is not a US only problem and you pinning it that way is just lazy.

          • chingadera@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            Edit: lol it was you that said that. How are you going to sit there and argue when you contradict yourself? “The only country” also “my country has the same problem but it’s not our fault it’s your country”

            • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              In your country it’s an everyone feels the need to carry a gun issue, in my country it’s a gang gun violence made possible by guns from your country issue.

              Not the same issue at all.