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[smjjames]

I'm really interested in you guys opinions on the upcoming summit. I have little to say myself on the subject, having done little research. I understand the primary goal is related to nuclear weapons and programs thereof.

Also, looks like they are having preliminary/preparatory talks in Finland?

Isn't Sweden the one that often times acts as the neutral go-between for the US and NK, not Finland? Not surprised there would be various preparatory stuff taking place outside of Singapore where needed.

As for my opinion, I'm cautiously optimistic about it because talks are better than slinging third grade playground insults at each other. However, the whole 'doing it on the fly at 100 MPH, in reverse (because it's top down vs bottom up, it's being done fast, and Trump really is winging it)' makes me not very optimistic that much good will come out of it or that he won't do something stupid.

[Kagus]

Hey I missed the part about bears, and I am a big fan of them. You cannot shoot grizzly bears with small guns. Or rather, you CAN shoot grizzly bears with small guns, but it's akin to saying that yes, you CAN kill an M1-Abrams with a screwdriver given enough time and precision.

Basically, if you are a dude in the woods and a bear decides to eat you that bear is going to eat you unless you can blast away enough of it to render it physically nonfunctional.

Capt. Clark & Drewyer killed the largest brown bear this evening which we have yet seen. it was a most tremendious looking anamal, and extreemly hard to kill notwithstanding he had five balls through his lungs and five others in various parts he swam more than half the distance across the river to a sandbar & it was at least twenty minutes before he died; he did not attempt to attact, but fled and made the most tremendous roaring from the moment he was shot.

had shot a brown bear which immediately turned on him and pursued him a considerable distance but he had wounded it so badly that it could not overtake him; I immediately turned out with seven of the party in quest of this monster, we at length found his trale and persued him about a mile by the blood through very thick brush of rosbushes and the large leafed willow; we finally found him concealed in some very thick brush and shot him through the skull with two balls...

.... . . we now found that Bratton had shot him through the center of the lungs, notwithstanding which he had pursued him near half a mile and had returned more than double that distance and with his tallons had prepared himself a bed in the earth of about 2 feet deep and five long and was perfectly alive when we found him which could not have been less than 2 hours after he received the wound

Six good hunters of the party fired at a Brown or Yellow Bear Several times before they killed him, & indeed he had like to have defeated the whole party, he pursued them Seperately as they fired on him, and was near Catching Several of them   one he pursued into the river, this bear was large & fat would way about 500 wt...

...he pursued two of them seperately so close that they were obliged to throw aside their guns and poucnes and throw themselves into the river altho' the bank was nearly twenty feet perpendicular; so enraged was this animal that he plunged into the river only a few feet behind the second man he had compelled to take refuge in the water, when one of those who still remained on shore shot him through the head and finally killed him.

It's also worth noting that the guns they used were, while being flintlock muskets, were also likely of .49 caliber. In short, bear-killing guns are a necessity of continued existence in certain parts of the US.

Fukken bears, mate.

Although, really, what exactly constitutes a "bear-killing gun"? Seems like you'd need to send Ndogo to fetch the elephant gun, if you're looking to actually put the thing down for a dirt nap.

As an aside, how would the efficacy of an individually portable firearm match up against bear spray? Definitely seems a bit easier on the shoulder. $50 a can seems a bit steep though.

[Doomblade187]

Well, it should be noted that some people hunt bear with large caliber (.45 and up) handguns, and they do get kills.

[Karnewarrior]

I don't know about wolves, but I'm quite sure we could build an absolutely devastating single-shot anti-bear rifle if people needed it and the gun problems got truely out of fucking hand.

Actually that would be pretty cool on it's own. Imagine bragging to your friends that you have a gun that shoots sonic slugs the size of your fist. Sure you can't fire it standing up, but you don't need to stand when you can mulch a fucking bear.

[Trekkin]

Also, looks like they are having preliminary/preparatory talks in Finland?

They're what are called track 1.5 talks, so named because by including both non-state actors and government representatives they're conceptually midway between track II backchannels and track I officialness.

It's a good sign, but not necessarily preparatory to the summit. An optimist might see track II as agreeing to want an agreement, track 1.5 as figuring out what the agreement can look like, and track I as actually making it official. (A cynic might say track III is proclaiming that agreements are generally agreeable.) In this case, the non-states are presumably trying to help put together a way to get North Korea's infrastructure to a point where sanctions the US is willing to relax are maximally effective.

What worries me is that China isn't involved, and they basically pay North Korea in food to be a human rights crisis masquerading as a buffer state against US interests in the region (chiefly South Korea). There are ways in which that can stably transition into something mutually satisfactory, but it's hard to say with confidence that any rapid let alone punitive change in their aid would collapse into them instead of the sort of gunboats-up-the-Yalu emergency that could potentially precipitate something unfortuate.

[smjjames]

China IS involved, on the sidelines, Kim has talked to Xi a couple times recently. This summit is just between Kim and Trump.

While China likes to think they have NK on a leash, things aren't as cozy between the two as you might think. I've read that they chafe at China and would rather be out from under China, so, I doubt that NK would pay much attention to Chinese interests (though there is overlap) since they want to do it on their own terms, not Chinas or Russias or whoevers.

[UristMcChladni]

If you WERE worried about the people committing suicide you'd be asking why they're doing it rather than how.

Part of the why is easy access to the how.

There's a pretty simple fact here: fewer people will commit suicide if fewer people have access to guns. We can argue about other ways to help, but it's disingenuous to pretend that removing access to firearms won't help.

[Akura]

I don't know about wolves, but I'm quite sure we could build an absolutely devastating single-shot anti-bear rifle if people needed it and the gun problems got truely out of fucking hand.

Actually that would be pretty cool on it's own. Imagine bragging to your friends that you have a gun that shoots sonic slugs the size of your fist. Sure you can't fire it standing up, but you don't need to stand when you can mulch a fucking bear.

Basically, an abus gun. I'm sure the bear will wait patiently while you set it up.

[smjjames]

I don't know about wolves, but I'm quite sure we could build an absolutely devastating single-shot anti-bear rifle if people needed it and the gun problems got truely out of fucking hand.

Actually that would be pretty cool on it's own. Imagine bragging to your friends that you have a gun that shoots sonic slugs the size of your fist. Sure you can't fire it standing up, but you don't need to stand when you can mulch a fucking bear.

Basically, an abus gun. I'm sure the bear will wait patiently while you set it up.

Yeah, if you're talking about fist sized shells/slugs/projectiles, you're no longer talking about guns, you're talking small cannons or perhaps mortar tubes.

Going offtopic with this tangent anyhow.

[Greiger]

Now I can just imagine hunters driving around in the forest in little mini tanks claiming it is necessary protection from a bear attack while turning bambi's mom into a red colored cloud with a 120mm cannon.

[Dorsidwarf]

Now I can just imagine hunters driving around in the forest in little mini tanks claiming it is necessary protection from a bear attack while turning bambi's mom into a red colored cloud with a 120mm cannon.

The mental image of a tankette with a full sized cannon mounted on top pleases me.

[Greiger]

Anything is possible with enough duct tape.

[Frumple]

Could actually do without that imagery right now, tbh. Too many tank girls, too obvious insomeone'snuendo.

[Egan_BW]

That hadn't occurred to me, but that you mention it that's kinda hot! Thanks bby.

[MrRoboto75]

Could actually do without that imagery right now, tbh. Too many tank girls, too obvious insomeone'snuendo.

Have you seen the lower glacis on that girl?  So hot.