While I dislike describing these things ("He's a gun nut! He'll kill us! People like him should be locked up!" are common reactions to simple facts) there are multiple reasons rifles are lumped in.
- Any additional regulation sounds like progress to voters in favor of it. It can be nonsensical, unenforceable, make criminals out of previously law-abiding citizens (CA magazine size laws), be disregarded publicly by police departments, and they will still cheer for it.
- They are mostly used for target practice, hunting, pest control, and some home defense. People who vote for gun control typically don't do these things. Questions of the form "Why do you need (X number of rounds | optics | calibers | forward grips)?" sound reasonable to them; if you have ever faced a bear / pack of coyotes / intruders it's pretty self explanatory.
- They are the only real firearms that can present a significant threat to trained teams. Rifles can be aimed precisely, deliver a good sustained rate of fire, and punch through body armor, all from 500 yards.
- With a good amount of practice and .308-.50 rounds, you can take down opposing vehicles and assets (power stations, fuel tanks, etc), and have enough distance between you and the target to exit the area safely.
For those in favor of gun control (beyond what we have currently) on HN, let me ask: How well do you think you would fair in a large riot / national emergency / civil war armed with only a SAFE Act compliant handgun? These things do and will happen, maybe not in your lifetime, but certainly in the future. The laws we enact should not just be focused on making us feel safe. They should consider those that may have to justly defend themselves against a larger force.
This is true for the time being, but there is a small percentage who will switch if the advertising becomes obnoxious past a degree.
Several of my non-tech-inclined friends have switched to using only the mobile site (on their own, not from ranting on my part) due to concerns about location tracking, constant notifications, and battery life.
I'd like to mention News Feed Eradicator here - not only does what its name implies, but it adds a motivational quote in the empty space. The quotes are usually about goals, procrastination, etc and it's saved me a lot of (potentially) wasted time.
As an American who hadn't been out of North America until 10th grade, my student exchange to Lyon was very enjoyable and showed me how absurd life can be in America sometimes.
The beautiful old architecture paired with modern public transit made it an excellent city for adventures. We could be anywhere we wanted via bike, scooter, skateboard, and metro in almost no time, and there was so much to see. Coming from living in a car-centric US suburb, it was extremely liberating.
One of my fondest memories was when my exchange student was here in the states, and we were eating at an Applebees. The waitress took his 3/4 empty soda glass away, and he swore at her in french. She just shrugged and returned with a free refill. His jaw just dropped since drinking that much soda, and free refills, was totally foreign to him.
A common problem I've had with standalone GPS units is that they get confused when two roads are very close to one another. Highway overpasses, on-ramps and off-ramps, routes right next to highways, etc. You wouldn't want your self driving car to think it's on a freeway and should do 65 when you're really on the dirt farm road right next to it.
You can create filters using the FB Purity extension.
There's a couple of issues with it though, namely allowing an extension to view / modify your account as a security risk, and it breaks periodically as Facebook changes layout / css names
I still do, but strip away as much of the interface as possible using uBlock Origin style rules, FB Purity, and Newsfeed Eradicator[1].
I use lists extensively to organize friends into groups (work, school, various hobbies). The number of unread posts in a list appears next to it, so I can see the amount of activity in each at a glance instead of endlessly scrolling.
If I really care to see what someone is up to, I just go to their profile.
Maybe it's due to my age bracket (early 20's), but having a an account is a major social benefit and I don't have everyone's email address.
Misconstruing the phrasing of the amendment is a weak way to argue against it. At the time it was written, "well regulated" was commonly used to describe something that worked well, was in good repair, etc.
A militia being "well regulated" (in modern English) by the government that it might need to fight is the opposite of that.
If anyone needs a primer, I suggest starting with the existing literature, namely Calvin and Hobbes.
http://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/2012/05/28
https://riteshjsr.wordpress.com/2010/05/22/recurring-motifs-...