Welcome to Nice Ashes, I'm Nate.
I'm Mike.
This is our second to last CAO flavors episode.
But it's the last new flavor we'll be trying.
This is the Cherry Bomb.
Smells fantastic.
And it tasted fantastic when I was wetting it to cut.
Man is this going to be like the new best thing or is this going to be...
Is it going to be the new Moon Trance?
We'll find out.
So quick recap.
Moon Trance as of last episode was still number one.
And the Gold Honey was a number two choice.
So we'll see if this Cherry Bomb can dethrone it.
I'm going to guess no.
But I shouldn't prejudge.
Yeah, the first few puffs are very, very interesting.
We'll see.
That definitely has a cherry flavor.
Yes.
Yes, cherry flavor.
I think the Tobacco is better quality than the Gold Honey.
Just initially.
Initial thoughts.
Yeah, I'm feeling the wrapper.
It's still a little loose for my liking.
But I still think it's better than the Honey.
And the wrapper's a little darker.
Yeah, nothing overly offensive the first few puffs.
About a quarter inch in.
Nothing overly phenomenal, but nothing overly offensive either.
So we'll see how it turns out.
No, it's got that cherry tobacco flavor.
But I actually taste it.
Yes, I taste it too.
This is the most I've tasted the flavor this early, I think.
Outside of maybe the Moon Trance.
Because the Moon Trance is consistent throughout.
But the other ones, even the Honey, took about halfway through the cigar.
To get the Honey flavor.
Right.
Well, that Moon Trance is lightning in a bottle.
Yeah, yep.
So.
And I think now having smoked, well, with this one, it will be all of them.
I think it is fair to say the Moon Trance is lightning in a bottle.
But we'll see how we feel at the end of this one.
To see if they captured it twice, or if they just came close.
Yes.
So what are we going to talk about today?
Well, I thought we were going to talk about our solution to the gun loss of front school
shootings.
Yes, that's what I thought we were going to talk about as well.
Do you have an opinion about that?
I do.
I strongly dislike the narrative that is talked about in the media.
I dislike the narrative as well.
I disagree with any of the solutions that anybody in the mainstream media has.
Nope.
Me either.
At all.
I don't think that prayer is effective.
You don't think prayer is effective?
Yeah, I don't think prayer is effective.
I don't think doing nothing is the solution.
I don't think banning firearms is the solution, right?
Yes.
The talk of extended magazines is stupid because you can make them.
The people that conflate semi-automatic sporting rifles with assault rifles because of the
plastics that are on them are stupid.
Yep, exactly.
There's no mainstream narrative that I agree with because most of the mainstream narrative
is not informed about firearms.
Yes.
Do you want my thoughts first or do you want to give your thoughts first?
Oh no, you go right ahead.
Oh, I mean, I don't care either way.
I think mine is more easy to implement than yours.
I don't know though because I don't think we talked about it.
Here's my solution or my thoughts, I guess.
Up front, I read an article from, I don't know, it was a medical journal and they were
talking about mass shootings and mental health.
What they said was that mass shootings, there's not enough statistically speaking.
One is too many, right?
For statistics and to be able to draw conclusions and the causation arguments, there's not enough
of them to directly link mental health issues with school shootings.
So that's one.
Two, this article also said to put that burden on therapists was unreasonable and for a lot
of the same reasons we talked about last episode where having all teachers carry firearms was
unreasonable.
That's not their purview.
That's not their role.
That's not their purpose.
No.
Yes.
The thing that this article concluded with, this medical journal concluded with was that
the discord between pro and anti-gun was maybe the real issue, the real barrier to reaching
a solution.
There are some people who when you say gun control, they do the knee jerk, you can't
take my guns.
Or there's some people where they say, gun control and they say, we shouldn't have any
guns.
But it's those extremes, those polar opposites that are preventing logical and some kind
of solution that actually works or would work.
And so my thought was then, because reading this one about the Texas shooting here, he
posted.
He said, and it might've been a private message, but it doesn't matter.
He was using some social media app.
Okay.
And he said, I'm going to shoot my grandma.
And then he shot his grandma in the face.
And then he posted or messaged, I shot my grandma in the face.
I'm going to go shoot up a school.
And then he went and shot up a school.
Okay.
And a lot of other school shooters have done similar things with social media or messaging.
And if I were to, in my home, we've got a couple Amazon units that play us music and
control some smart bulbs and things.
But if I'm sitting in my home and I say, Hey, I'd really like a, let's just say a Swedish
made penis pump.
All of a sudden on my phone, every ad that I see is going to be for a Swedish made penis
pump.
Okay.
It's just going to happen.
If I Google Swedish made penis pump even once, that's all I get for years is emails about
Swedish made penis pumps.
And I'm just picking something ridiculous.
Okay.
Like I'm not pro or against Swedish made penis pumps.
But that's just the nature of our consumer society is if you mention or search or express
interest in any way, shape or form about something, you get all of these targeted ads.
And I don't think anyone could sit here and dispute me.
Like yes, you can use a VPN and yes, you can use incognito mode and yes, you can, you know,
hide your things.
But the fact of the matter remains is if you post something on Facebook or Twitter or Instagram
or Tik Tok, it's all marketing for them.
Okay.
They've got the algorithms.
They just, it automatically happens in the background.
They find your interests and they market to you.
Okay.
So that's, that's number one.
Number two is all of these shooters or most of them have used some form of social media
or messaging.
Okay.
And I understand that Apple has end to end encryption on their, on their text messages
and WhatsApp has an end encryption and a lot of these places use an end encryption, but
the end to end encryption doesn't stop them from marketing to you based on things that
you might be interested in.
So there's nothing to say that these companies couldn't put an algorithm in place that says
if a user says they just shot somebody, uh, flag it, report it, have some human look at
it within 45 seconds, within a minute, within five minutes, you know, these places have
call centers.
They've got tech help desks that are 24 seven.
They've got these people, they've got the staff.
Okay.
They've got the data.
That's all they do.
They don't care about social media platform.
They don't care about social media at all.
They care about data aggregation.
They care about data collection.
They care about algorithms to sell more shit to you.
There's no reason they couldn't put those algorithms to good use.
There's no reason somebody should be able to shoot their grandmother and then two hours
later shoot up a school.
There's no reason that shit should have been reported instantly.
That should have been instant report.
That's my thought.
That's my initial thought is it's not so much.
It's a big brother aspect of that.
I don't like it either, but it's already happening is the point.
Oh, it's, it's, it is definitely already happening.
You know, target knows that your daughter's pregnant before you do.
Yes.
As they say, even, even back in the day before social media was as big as it is, target was
tracking.
Yes.
And apparently Evie has big thoughts on this.
Yes, she does.
I'm not, you know what?
I'm not saying it's right.
I'm not saying it's right at all.
I'm just saying that they already use it for marketing, for consumerism.
And if they wanted in any way, shape or form to make a positive, like why would we keep
your data to sell you more shit?
Maybe saving the lives of children would be a good like, but we've also saved the lives
of kids.
You know what I mean?
Like, uh, I'm not saying that's like the ideal or that's what it should be, but you know
what, we have all this data.
That's all every company ever does.
You know, any, any raffle you enter in a mall, they take that data and they sell it.
They sell it.
They sell your data.
Uh, even a paper form that you fill out in a mall to win a, a, win a Hummer or to win
a motorcycle.
Um, that's all sold.
These companies already do it.
Anytime you sign paperwork, they collect your data.
Yeah.
So ideally, would I rather have, you know, personal responsibility and training and licensing
and other things?
Yes, of course.
Um, but to get the instant most instantaneous change, just put an algorithm.
Is this person going to shoot up a school?
You know, I mean, I know the logic will be different than that, but if you can tell when
somebody is pregnant before they know it or before their family knows it, you can tell
when somebody's going to shoot up a school.
Like humans aren't that complicated.
I'm sorry.
Um, well, I agree with that statement.
You can tell.
Um, so I, you know, if you want to come after guns, come after guns, but you know what?
Guns don't know.
They don't know that their owner is going to do something terrible with them.
They don't know somebody's going to steal them and do something terrible with them.
Uh, but these big corporations and these media giants, they know everything.
They know a lot more than you think they know.
They know a lot more than you would ever want to think that they know.
So that's my, um, fix it within like a week solution.
Is it ideal?
No, uh, but it doesn't change any gun laws.
It doesn't change what you can or can't buy.
It just, you know, if you're going to be an absolute idiot and post that you shot your
grandmother and then they're going to go shoot up a school, it's going to stop you.
You know,
And I don't think these people do it for reasons other than they want to be famous.
They want to be the famous person that shot up something.
And that's what algorithms, algorithms, algorithms, algorithms, um, that's a Midwestern conundrum
right there.
But, uh, that's what those will tell you is if they want to do it for real, if they want
to do it for fame, uh, if they're part of these neo-Nazi groups online and they post
about shooting up somebody, maybe take that seriously.
Maybe report that right away.
Um, there's already laws that are constitutionally allowable for speech.
If you give a credible threat to somebody's life, guess what?
That's not protected by the first amendment.
So I don't see how this is kind of out of the purview of that.
This is, this is very, very well within the realm of things that are already legally acceptable
within America.
Well, I guess that goes into free speech laws and what we think social media companies are,
but I truly think that these companies are violating the spirit of the first amendment.
I think they are too, but they're, but the point is they're doing it.
And they've got all this data and nobody can stop them.
And the government doesn't want to stop them.
They want it to, you know, the government could if the government wanted to.
No, because they're on the payroll.
They're on the payroll.
Right.
You know, the corporations and the government are definitely acting for the benefit of both.
Yes.
And that's, and you know what, and I, and I will acknowledge this because, uh, my solution
may feel like kind of a cheat, um, but I was just trying to look at our country as it is
today and things that are already currently happening and what's the quickest and easiest
way to stop this from happening.
Social media knows everything.
The phone companies, you know, Verizon, uh, T-Mobile, AT&T, Sprint, they have all your
data.
Um, they can flag certain things, even if it's unencrypted, they can flag certain things.
They already do it for, for child pornography.
Um, and that's acceptable.
Hey, we're going to stop child pornography by if you send an underage picture to somebody
else, you're flagged and you're reported to the FBI.
They already do this.
See, I'm going to say something controversial.
I don't think that they should be monitoring your private messages at all.
Uh, unless they get a warrant, unless the government gets a warrant, I don't think that
they should be monitoring.
And I don't disagree with that.
Not actively monitoring.
And I am not coming out as pro child pornography or whatever.
No, and I, and I've not, and that's not how I took that.
And you know what?
I'm also not, I'm also not coming out as pro, uh, plotting to commit crimes of any, of any
kind.
No, no, no, no, no.
Um, uh, but I do want to, I do want to clarify that, um, you know, in my ideal world, yes,
if Verizon wants to read my text messages, uh, they will serve me with a warrant and
then they will, you know, act in accordance to the warrant.
And if they're looking for school shooting things and they find child pornography things,
those child pornography things would not be admissible in a court of law because that's
not what the warrant specified.
Okay.
And that's how warrants typically work is they have to specify exactly what it is they're
looking for.
And if they find something else, they can't just go back and say, well, we happened to
find this, so now we're going to do a warrant for this.
Um, you know, and so I'm very much for that.
Uh, but it's just, there has been so much with these school shooters using social media
to post your message.
Um, and they already do it for child pornography and I'm not saying that that's, that, that
that makes it okay.
But if, you know, and, and, and we talked about this too, the government doesn't have
a morality there to act in the best interest of the citizens, uh, regardless, irregardless
of morality.
And if they've deemed that monitoring messages for child pornography is best for the citizenship
and not necessarily for morality and not for the intent of the constitution and all of
that, there's no reason to say monitoring for school shooting activity, uh, wouldn't
also fit under that same thing.
Um, would I rather there be a different solution to this?
Yes of course.
Um, but any of us that are of our age or younger, I hope, I think, um, know that anything that
you post or message through like Facebook, for example, it could be, um, could be Twitter,
could be Instagram, it could be WhatsApp, it could be, uh, Tik Tok, whatever, whatever
platform you're using, even truth network or whatever, uh, Trump has, you have to understand
that it's not fully private.
It is for them to monetize somehow some way, whether that's through promoting it and making
it a featured post, or if it's through harvesting your data and serving you ads that you will
then click on, you know, I mean, that's, I mean, they're, they're businesses for business
reasons.
They're not in it for the greater good.
Um, but there's no reason they couldn't be in it for the greater good too.
Right.
Um, not that that's ideal and, and I get what you're saying and it makes complete sense.
And you know, even I'm sitting here and like, why would I ever advocate for that?
But it's already happening.
I can't change that.
There's nothing I can ever do to say, Hey, if I look up a penis pump, don't give me more
ads about penis pumps.
Like I don't want it.
Uh, there's just no way around it.
Somebody is listening to this out loud at their home and they have an Alexa device.
They will probably get advertisements for Swedish penis pumps.
I hope so.
I have a potential.
It's a potential that I think, I think Alexa has, um, algorithm because a lot of TV shows
use it too.
And I've never had my Alexa like get triggered by a TV show.
So I think there's some sort of algorithm where it somehow knows.
Um, I don't know how I'm very difficult to advertise to because I will get the advertisement
that is actually, they want you to choose what the advertisement is.
Have you ever seen that before?
And uh, I get those a lot, a lot.
They don't know what to do because I'm not buying products that are paying for advertising,
you know, uh, storm bowling is not paying for advertising on YouTube TV, right?
They're just not.
Yeah.
And if they are, it's during a bowling program.
Uh, and then that's easy.
But you know what else is YouTube is taking that data and they're probably soliciting.
If they get enough people that fit your profile, they might go and solicit storm bowling to
sponsor an advertisement.
They might say, we have X number of listeners or viewers that we think would, you know,
convert, convert your ad to money in your pocket.
So I mean, there's, there's that too.
I mean, I'm just saying like, it is a crazy insane amount of data that these companies
have.
That's, that's the only thing I'm saying.
I've seen a bowling, uh, this is just, I know this is a total aside.
I've seen Bolero and, uh, like Bolt, like Kaggle, like the big companies that own bowling
centers advertise in the last decade.
Yeah.
But I have not legitimately seen a bowling ball company advertise in the last decade.
I think that a lot of it is so performance driven now, uh, that, uh, there's so much intensive
research that they know they already have their market.
You know what I mean?
Like they don't need to advertise so much as inform their customer.
You know what I mean?
Yeah.
But even, um, even YouTube with as much money as they make, they still have to find new
advertisers.
That's true.
You know, and I'm not saying they're, they're actually going out and soliciting these bowling
ball companies, but they have their own algorithms based on what people watch.
And I'm sure they take all of this data.
You know what they do?
They ship it over to their sales department and their sales department has all these cold
calls that they have to do.
And they say, Hey, look, we've got X number of viewers that are watching this or they're
doing this.
And we think that fits with your industry.
Do you think that fits with your product?
And they're going out and trying to find more advertisers.
So you know, I mean, I'm just saying that these people are collecting all this data
anyway.
We get North Dakota on our television.
We get North Dakota ads all the time.
Yeah.
Because I bought my TV in North Dakota, I think.
And they think that maybe I'm from North Dakota or I live in North Dakota.
Possibly.
I know that it'll reset to North Dakota, my location, you know, when they do the G location.
And I don't know why.
So that's well, and that's like spyware that they put baked into the TV.
You know what I mean?
Like they pre-program that.
And so it's like that happens at all levels.
Every everything you ever possibly buy, if it's got a computer chip in it, it's got a
default something or something.
So they know where it was sold.
You know, you know, general home regions either ever.
I get Toyota, Honda, Ford and Chevy ads and I never get Dodge advertisements, but I talked
so much shit about Dodge.
They're listening.
I know they're listening.
They have to.
I mean, that's the whole point.
I know they are.
Is like, even if it's illegal, they're still doing it and there's no way to prove it really.
And there's, you know, if you say, Hey, I think you're listening to me.
You know what they would say?
Well, you're just paranoid.
But they could use that.
But there's, they're uploading data packets from your cell phone.
Yeah.
You know, I mean, you can like, you know what, if you're technologically advanced enough,
you can prove it.
I'm not saying you can't prove it.
Really?
Like I'm just saying like, you know, I'm tech, I'm technologically savvy and I just, I don't
have the energy or effort to try and prove it one.
And then to try and like to take it to court and pay lawyers for hours upon hours upon
hours.
Like I don't have the same money that these tech companies have.
Like, it's just not reasonable.
It's not feasible for one single person to come in and say, Hey, you're, you're stealing
my data.
It's illegal.
Don't do it.
It's just not going to happen.
Anybody with the resources to do that would be co-opted into the organization.
Yes, of course.
And but you know, the point is they're doing it anyway and they're doing it for evil for
most, most, most parts, except for child pornography and, and maybe some human trafficking.
But there's no reason then that they couldn't just say, you know what, we're terrible companies.
And really the only thing we have going for us is we caught like one child pornographer.
What if we turned on an algorithm for school shooting and we could bring that to our, to
our board or to the media and say, look, we've, we've saved, you know, all of these, we've
stopped all, we've thwarted all of these school shooters.
And that's not to say that they would get the same punishment they would if, as if they
actually had shot up a school, but maybe they would get help and maybe they would get treatment
and maybe they would get what they needed to not shoot up a school.
And maybe they wouldn't, you know, within like certain ideological boundaries, you know,
like the right libertarian groups would probably be more okay with that than something like
my solution.
Well let's talk about your solution.
I just wanted to say, yeah.
I mean, I just wanted to figure out something like quick and easy and something that's already
happening and you just like, you, you make a few like keystrokes and then boom, you've
got an algorithm for school shooters and then you report those people the same way you do
with child pornographers.
Right.
And then that's easy.
It's done.
Um, because most of these people have, have interfaced with social media in a way, shape
or form to tell people what they were doing.
They're, they've been radicalized by these, these groups.
Um, oh, there is definitely, there's always going to be little signals, you know, as they
say that something's not quite right.
Uh, so right before we get into your solution, which will be part, you know, the second half
of this episode, I think I'm about halfway done with this.
I am more than halfway done.
Okay.
I, you know, I'm, you know what?
I've liked it too.
I think I still prefer the moon trance, but I definitely think this, I think this dethrones
the gold honey.
This has got to be the, this has to be their number two.
About halfway through the cherry flavor has left like that sweet, uh, what do you call
that?
Syrupy flavor.
Yeah.
The, uh, the maraschino.
Sweet.
Yeah.
Like it's very sweet.
Yep.
And there's like a very slight cherry undertone.
The first half was a very strong cherry flavor.
So far, I don't know.
I think the first half was better so far, but we'll see how it goes.
I'm on the second half and I like it still, but the cherry is calmed down a lot.
Yeah.
It's very sweet though.
And that's what I want out of a flavored cigar anyway.
Yeah.
You know, kind of a sweet, smooth experience.
Um, so, but yeah, so far this is definitely second best.
Yeah.
So we've done a point check, uh, and now we're going to hear Mike's controversial solution
to school shootings.
Sure.
Uh, so if you just, if you're just tuning in, oh wait, this isn't live radio, uh, but if
you're just tuning in, welcome, you're about to hear some shit.
Yes.
Uh, this idea I've only heard floated around in the mainstream media in the last couple
weeks by Bill Burr, who's a fucking comedian.
Yeah.
And there's been some people who have addressed his comments, but this is an idea that has
been around in gun circles, uh, since I've been in gun circles.
Is that like a drum circle?
Yeah, kind of, right?
Uh, there was actually, uh, a guy that was a big time, uh, U S pistol shooting association
guy who, uh, really turned me onto this idea, uh, cause I shot in the U S pistol shooting
association leagues, uh, for a little while.
I'm not like a huge, uh, person in there or whatever.
I'm not, I'm not involved anymore, but I I've done it.
Yeah.
And, uh, we basically need to get gun rights groups and gun rights groups adjacent, uh,
altogether with some of the, um, shooter at her victim advocacy groups.
And we need to draft comprehensive legislation that would create a logical licensing system
for firearms.
And uh, I'm talking the reason why I say we need, we need to have the U S pistol shooting
association and the NRA and ducks unlimited.
Well, I think you're confusing, you're confusing the NRA with a gun, straight advocacy group
because that's how they are.
Yeah, I know.
I mean, I'm not a member of the NRA.
I heavily criticize their decision making, but there's what is the U S gun, blah, blah,
blah.
There's another gun rights organization.
That's a lot more legitimate.
Yeah.
Yep.
Uh, U S gun owners, I think is what it's called.
U S gun owners.
Yeah.
Uh, and pheasants forever and you know, stuff like that.
And then you need to get like whoever the hell the organization is who wants to ban guns
together and you got to have a licensing system generated by people who actually know firearms.
You know, we need knowledgeable people to be doing it.
Otherwise it just won't, it won't function.
Yeah.
You can't be showing people here.
Here's my 10 22 Ruger and having them say, well, that's an AR 15.
That's right.
Steve Crowder, right?
That's a good guy.
Uh, I actually liked that video.
I think it's cool, but I do.
It points out to people that they're, they're dumb.
But uh, like, and I, I mean, like I had advanced licensing system, kind of like, uh, Minnesota,
you have to have an endorsement for everything.
If you want to have, you know, I have a driver's license, you have a driver's license.
If I want to run a four wheeler on a public trail, I need a four wheeler endorsement.
So I have to do the class and it's all online and I just write the test and it's not in
person for it.
Or, you know, and you just do it because it's not that dangerous.
You know what?
Let's compare apples to apples.
It's the same thing.
Sure.
Yeah.
Let's compare apples to apples.
Let's, let's like, uh, cut through the shit here and just say, if I want to buy a gun,
I can go buy a gun at, uh, at 12.
Okay.
No, it'd be 18 to buy a gun.
Oh, you can hunt.
Okay.
So that you can at 12.
Well, actually you can hunt at eight.
Okay.
Well, let's just like, let's just call it 12 just for the, for the sake of it.
Um, but if I, if my dad wants to buy me a gun at age 12, uh, he can, um, you know, I
guess like legally, technically it would be his gun.
Um, yes.
But if I want to go hunting, right?
So I can have a gun.
I can shoot guns at any age.
Really?
Um, the government's not, not checking.
They're not, they're not saying, Hey, uh, you're buying a youth shotgun.
Uh, is that for you or is that for your son?
Like the, the gun store doesn't care.
They don't ask.
They don't ask that question.
You go buy a youth gun.
They're like, Hey, you want a youth gun?
Great.
We don't care.
Uh, but if I want to go hunting at 12, what do I have to do?
I have to sit through a class and then I have to take a test and then I have to get licensed
to go hunting.
Um, if I want to go, if I want to go fishing, you literally take a string, tie a hook on
the end and put a bait on the end of that hook.
I need a license for that.
If I want to go bang somebody and have unprotected sex and create children, I don't have a, I
don't have to have a license for that.
Um, if I want to drive a car or a vehicle, I need to have a license for that.
If I want to drink beer, um, I don't really technically need a license for that.
I just need proof of age.
Uh, but then to drive a car well intoxicated, I don't need a license for that either.
Um, so I'm just, I'm, I'm, I'm not trying to, you know, whatever.
I'm just pointing out the inconsistencies of, of some of these things where people say,
well, we can't have a license for guns.
Uh, the only reason we have a license for, for driving automobiles is because the constitution
didn't explicitly state, uh, the right of the people to drive shall not be infringed.
Uh, but you know what?
We have endorsements, like you have a tanker endorsement, a bus endorsement.
You have air brake endorsement, you have a manual transmission endorsement.
You have-
What?
You have a manual transmission endorsement.
I drive manual and I don't, I don't have an endorsement.
If you have a class B or a class A or a class C license, you have to have a manual transmission
endorsement.
Okay.
So your class C license allows you to drive certain, uh, weighted vehicles.
And then B is even heavier.
and then A is with the trailer over a certain weight. There's all sorts of restrictions.
I'm just gonna, you know what, I'm gonna go ahead and say that I'm against driver's licenses.
Just like, just okay, just based on, just well, let's just say based on principle,
based on legal principle, because all rights and privileges not outlined in the constitution
revert to the state and the individual. And I don't, you know, every state has different
rules for the driver's licenses too. The driver's licensing system is a state thing.
Yeah, but every state has it, so that makes it federal.
Because how the federal government gets around it
is they'll withhold federal funding if you don't do certain things as a state.
And that's how they ensure compliance with a lot of these things. But I don't want to,
I don't want to, yeah, and I don't want to distract from your point. I want to hear your solution.
I just wanted to kind of do the counterpoint of licensing and the crazy things that we need
to have licenses for versus guns. Oh, you need to have a fucking boating license.
Yeah. I don't think you and I do because we're old enough, but people under a certain age have
to have a license to drive a boat on the water. Okay. Wait, so how about this? How about this?
Yes. You can drive a boat with an open beer in your hand and clearly intoxicated and nobody's
going to give you a DUI. Yeah, but there is such a thing as a BUI, which is a boating under the
influence. There is, but it's way more relaxed. Like it's way more relaxed than a DUI. Like you
could be driving around with a beer. They take you to jail, you pay your fine and then you...
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. He got two of them in that one weekend. Okay. So I'm just saying like there's,
you know, a lot of inconsistencies in the licensing thing. There's a lot of weird things that we
are currently needing to be licensed for that everybody takes for granted. Like nobody's out
there petitioning like, I shouldn't need a license to fish. Nobody's doing that. There's no petition
for that. Is it ridiculous? Yes. You know, do we, should we have to have a license to fish?
I don't know. Well, it depends on the state you're in because like Wisconsin, Minnesota,
North Dakota have massive DNR slash game and fish departments and they need revenue and their major
revenue sources through licensing. And they use that revenue to support the fish population and
do research and they're using the money. I thought they used the money to go and bust people on the
lake. That's bad now. Did you know that? No, I didn't. In Minnesota that's illegal. Okay.
Yeah, they can't do that anymore. Well, that's odd. So for people who don't know DNR, which is
the game and fish people here, they used to be super cops. Department of Natural Resources. Yes.
And they could break into your house to find out if you had any game. And check your fridge or freezer.
Yeah. Yes. But they, so they used to break into ice houses that were out on the
ice or fish houses out of the ice and ransack people's fish houses when they weren't there.
So anyway, yeah, and they can technically give you a DUI or drinking underage or
they never harassed us with that when we were, when I was younger. Yeah. When you were 21.
Yeah. When I was, yeah, when I was drinking, of course I was 21. But, but let's hear your
controversial. Anyway, so the controversial thing is that we need to have a licensing system and we
need to fundamentally as a society accept. Well, the gun people are people who know about guns.
Like myself, I would consider myself an enthusiast. I fundamentally see different types of firearms as
being different. I think that a muzzleloader, traditional muzzleloader should be able to be
purchased by anybody at any age, regardless of their background or anything like that.
And right now. That's like the worst way ever to shoot somebody.
It is. Yeah. Or anything, you know, like it's a terrible, it's terrible. Sure. And I think that,
you know, you should have a series of trainings and licensures and background checks.
And your background checks should be like every two years, let's say.
Well, and I think even for a muzzleloader. That style of firearm. Even for a muzzleloader,
I mean, if we're talking licensing, we should have just a basic gun handling license where it's like,
don't point a loaded gun at something you don't want to hit. A basic gun handling license that
anybody can get. And it's an online course. Yeah. And there's no age requirement, no age requirement
just like, yeah, you pass it. If you're a fucking felon, you can go out and buy a muzzleloader.
Yeah. I think that nonviolent felons should be able to own single action rifles and shotguns also.
Yeah. Why not? I happen to think so. That way they can hunt. Right? Hunting rights is a big issue.
And in my world. They can hunt, you know, what for a home invasion, you need one shot. Yeah.
I mean, a single shot is more than sufficient for most people to be honest. Yeah. And I think that
should be if you know what you're doing. Right. You should be able to take an online class
and pay your little fee for your background check and you have the license. And so the way they'll,
and so on and so forth. And I think they should break up pistols from long guns. And I think they
should break up repeaters that are manually operated versus semi-automatic firearms that
reload the chamber on their own or through the action of firearm. And there's all that is
details that could be banged out in deliberation through the process. Yeah. Well, let everybody
else figure it out. Right. But you have to have the general gun safety first. And then. Yes.
You would have, well, you would have a series. You'd have to have break action shotgun training
and licensure before you can go to pump action shotgun. Yeah. I mean, that makes sense. Like,
you should have an understanding of everything. Yes. And I don't think they should break up
rifles from shotguns, but I do think pistols are their own thing. Oh, yeah. Any kind of pistol,
whether single shot or not is a totally different beast. And they're totally different. Yeah.
Single shot revolver or semi-auto pistol. It's way, way different because the barrel is so much
shorter. A single action revolver is a lot different of a gun than a semi-automatic pistol.
Oh yeah. And a single, how about a single action revolver that has a breech load black powder.
I mean, they still make percussion cap, you know, breech load,
black powder pistols that you could buy the way you don't even need a background check right now.
You can just go fucking buy them. Like you can go to the, to your local sporting goods store and
pick it up for the rack. I mean, they're not under case or anything. Yeah. But they're, you know,
everything. Yeah. Everything is every type of firearm is different. You should have different
trainings and different, a different level of background check, right? Different things should
be acceptable. I don't think that people who are convicted felons should be owning semi-automatic
firearms, but I do think they should be able to own a break action rifle that shoots one or two
shots. Why not? I mean, non-violent, non-violent, non-violent. Yeah. Yeah. We're not talking about
spousal abuse abusers. I'm not talking about convicted rapists. I don't think a victim should
be getting out of jail pretty much anyway. No, that's a separate issue. But that'll be a different
episode. So the whole point in my mind of the licensing system is that you have to renew your
license every two years. Let's say during that renewal process, they do the background check
that is equivalent or necessary for your level of licensure. And then when you buy a firearm,
you show the license, there is no background check at the point of sale. The background check is done
with the license. That way you get rid of any quote unquote gun show loophole. You get rid of
any of that at all. You get rid of all of it. You take that responsibility off of the shop owners,
right? So it's a win for small business. And it's a win for safety because you have to have
a valid license. They actually at the liquor store, they scan the back of my driver's license now to
make sure I don't have any provisions, you know, that say I can't be served alcohol.
And it takes my date of birth into account. And there's no reason you couldn't have the
same thing on the gun licenses. And it will show the owner of the single scan of the barcode,
which licenses you have, I'm sorry, you want to buy a semi auto pistol, you only have semi auto
rifle or long gun certificate certification, you can't buy this pistol. Go take your class and come
back. And it's also a revenue stream because the police could, let's say in a certain area of the
country, they have issues with illegal firearm sales. The police can go undercover and catch
these guys and throw them in prison because there should be a felony to sell somebody a firearm
they're not legally allowed to have. You know, that's the only way you can do it. That's goes
with your licensure system. If you are selling something that they're not supposed to buy,
it needs to be a serious crime. Yeah. But what if you're on the black market and you're selling to
criminals anyway? I mean, that's a whole counter argument of people like, well, you can make more
gun laws, but criminals are going to get guns anyway. That's where, which is true. When the
police go to these people's homes for other offenses and they find firearms and they see that they
don't have a firearm certificate for those firearms, they can now charge them with a felony and put them
in prison because they are in possession of a firearm. Yeah, but is that admissible in a court of law based on the
warranty you wanted with the big data? Maybe, maybe not. Right? Maybe, maybe not. So. But at least you're getting the
guns out the street and you're now you have a target on that person. Well, and you're making it,
you're making it very easy for people to comply with the law because it's all online stuff, right?
It's all online training. You take a little quiz and then you've got your certificate. You've already
done the background check as part of the licensing. So you don't have the wait times. And people who are already firearms owners,
I already have to pass a background check to buy a firearm. Yep. I'm pretty sure that I can pass the training,
right? It's not like the training is a one and done. You can reapply or whatever. And during that
background check, they can maybe do some psychological testing, which is questionable. I understand that.
It's questionable. And you can beat a, you can beat a psych test online.
I think though, here's my only gripe with your plan,
is every two years is too frequent. I think, I think it should be the same as the concealed
carry, which is I think five years in most states. Sure. But you know what? You know what? That's,
that's a small little, little complaints. Okay. And if you have, if you have the gun advocacy
groups and you have the anti-gun advocacy groups working together to come up with something
reasonable to say, actually, Hey, you know, you know, it's more dangerous than gun violence
driving an automobile. Let's come up with something that makes sense for the realities of
gun violence. And let's try and curb them in a reasonable way that everybody will accept as, as reasonable.
You know, because it's not going to be, and that's the whole thing of that article that I read is the
dichotomy, the difference between the pro-gun and the anti-gun is so huge and people are so triggered
emotionally one way or the other. And if they could come and put their stuff aside, like you said,
and work together and say, what actually makes sense here? What actually makes sense? Well, and
you could come up with some really good, really good solutions that almost everybody would be
happy with. I hear city liberals say often, especially on television, which is only on
television, right? That we need to ban firearms and nobody needs this and that. And
those people are just not taking into account that realistically, and I know that we've talked
about it before, even on this program, America is an empire and there's massive differences
between one area in a different area of the state and even more differences between one state and
another state. You know, if I were to go fishing in the same state, I would be able to go fishing
in Florida. I would carry some sort of kit gun to shoot snakes that were trying to get into my boat.
They don't need to carry or have a gun at their house to shoot wolves like I do, right? Or a bear,
which we had one in the yard last night, right? So I didn't shoot it, but we had it in the yard
last night. They don't have to worry about that problem because they don't have that animal and
I don't need to worry about snakes. Well, and let's go to the other, because you're an average
citizen and I'm an average citizen, but farmers get their own hunting seasons on animals that
are destructive to their crops. Okay. Absolutely. And they can sell or give away these licenses
to avid hunters to come in and clear out these, you know, quote unquote pests that are destroying
their crops or their livestock or whatever. And so that's already an acceptable governmental,
acceptable, you know, hunting use or firearm use or trapping use. Absolutely. But that's already
accepted use. So, you know, that's, and that's just, and that's just to prove that that people
that don't shoot up schools need guns to protect their livelihood. And it's not necessarily from
the government or from Russia or from, you know, invading forces or criminals or whatever. It could
just be the deer eat all my corn and I sell corn to live. I can't provide for my family if these
deer are allowed to eat my corn. Absolutely. And more to the point, people say nobody needs an AR-15.
But if you go, let's say out West where they have huge cattle ranches, those guys mostly carry AR-15s
to shoot things like mountain lions because the ammo is cheap, they're relatively accurate,
and they shoot long enough distances for them to shoot mountain lions that are trying to harass
their cattle. Yeah. And it's not an over expensive gun model gun frame. Right. No, it's a, it's a,
it's a perfectly efficient thing. I have a neighbor here. He shoots on average two to three wolves a
year because he raises long horn cattle and the wolves, when they start to get hungry, they start
looking at his cattle and he shoots them in the middle of the day and he turns them over to the
DNR and it's perfectly legal. He's not illegally shooting them. And that's just the way it is. You
know, you know, my uncle shot a bear on his porch the other year. Well, you had a bear on your porch
and you're 66 or 65, you're going to shoot the fucker because you don't want it. You don't want
it breaking through your, in your house. It says, you have, if you have pets or dogs or cats or,
or anything, like you don't want it to come after them. His neighbor is his son and he's got
grandchildren around. You don't want that. Yeah. For him specifically, but yeah, these, these people
who say that we don't need firearms to protect ourselves are living in a fantasy. Yeah. They
don't live in the same places that we live in. No. Oh, you know, because I want protection for
people from Minneapolis too, because, and I know this is, well, that cuts me deep. It's semi
controversial, but, uh, like the meth heads will break into people's barns and steal their shit.
Yeah. They're not from Minneapolis. They're just, they're not from Minneapolis, but if we didn't
have firearms out here, you know, goddamn well, those gangs from Minneapolis would come up here
and start ransacking houses. I mean, you know, that if they just had a massive firearm grab,
you know that they would do that. They would do it in Minneapolis. Yeah. But, uh, I do the
firearm grabs have been wildly, uh, wildly, uh, inefficient. Oh, it would, it would never happen.
You know, and, uh, and people actually build, people actually build, uh, like home built firearms
to get the money. And these firearms would never ever work. Uh, but they qualify under the programs,
you know, uh, specifications. So they still aren't entitled to the money. So people, you know,
go and just get the money and turn in completely useless, uh, you know, firearms that aren't really
firearms. So those things really never work. And, uh, you know what, if you have firearms and you
want to get rid of them, just get rid of them. Like you don't need a government program to do it.
Like if you're that opposed to firearms and you have them, just get rid of them.
Like that's, that's on you. It's not on me, you know? Right. And everybody, like I say,
everybody's living situation is different. And I've lived in major city areas, as you know,
and I've lived in a variety of rural areas. And, uh, you know, when I, when I, when I used to hike
in the badlands, I would carry a pistol because there are mountain lions in the area. And I wanted
to at least give myself a chance to survive a mountain lion, you know, not that I would,
I probably, probably a fantasy to think that I would survive a mountain lion attack, but
I just wanted to know. Well, scientifically, scientifically mountain lions attack women
and children and they don't attack men. Sure. That's good to know.
So, you know, but that's, that's a thing too. Like if your wife or your female friend is hiking
somewhere in mountain lion country, uh, they need to be aware that mountain lions have no qualms
about going after a child or a woman. Um, and that's based solely on evolutionary. They go for the
smaller frame and they very rarely attack men. Uh, they, you know, there, there's been instances
where they have, but, uh, you know, I, I remember because we went out to the red woods and that's
mountain lion country and, um, everything they said out there was they will mostly target women
and children. Sure. But yeah, so like I say, I don't understand why the licensing, a serious
licensing program is not the solution. And it's not that hard. If a dumb redneck like me can think of
a plan that would function for everyone, then I don't see how government officials, uh, can't see
it. And I think that they do, but it's in their interest to not, because then they can sell it to
the boaters. We're going to protect your gun rights or whatever, you know? Yeah. And you've got the
second amendment that says, you know, the right to, to own firearms should not be infringed. I
don't know that licensing, I don't know. For the purpose of a well regulated militia, right? Yeah.
But what? The licensing system would qualify under a well regulated. Yes, it would, it would
qualify. And I, and I don't think a licensing system would infringe on anything because, um,
you know, we have to be licensed for all sorts of things that should just be, you know, like,
you know, quote unquote natural God-given rights anyway, like fishing. Um,
like you shouldn't have to have a license to fish. I just, I cannot stress,
you have to have a license to fish specific species of fish.
Yes. And I'm just, I just want to point out that there is, there's nothing dumber than having a
license to catch wet, slippery, slimy, scaly fuckers from the, from the water. Um, it's just
stupid. Right. Um, so, you know, it's not, it's not that, but you know, you need a license to hunt
ducks. You need a license hunt pheasants. You need a license to hunt white tail deer. You need a
license to hunt bear, to hunt turkey. Like any species you want to hunt, you need a license for.
Um, is it, is it irresponsible to force people to have some. You have to have a special license
to trap them versus shoot them with a gun versus shoot them with a bow and arrow. You have to have
a special license to shoot them with a bow. Yeah. And is there, is there some, any, any semblance
of any reasonable person who would say, I don't want somebody with a gun to be well-trained?
Um, right. Well, and that's where, um, the pistol shooting circles I used to run in,
that was their solution because that was, you know, during the school shooter crazes then,
you know, and all those pistol guys are super trained, you know, they're shooting guns as a
hobby. They're very trained. They know how the firearms work for sure. And they definitely have
to follow safety procedures. I think where the militia thing gets confused is I don't think the
founding fathers intended it as a supplement to the standing army. Um, I think the founding fathers
intended it as, um, people protecting themselves from the government. Right. Well, they have more
frontier there. So they more fun. They needed guns to protect themselves from wildlife. And they also
knew had slave uprisings and they wanted people, they want to basically be able to posse up, to
put down black people. You mean enslaved people uprisings. Yes. Yeah. And slave uprisings. No,
enslaved people uprisings. Oh, okay. I'm sorry. We learned about the wording last episode. Yes,
we did. Yeah. Yeah. Our words and all that. Yeah. Well, and like cattle rustlers, regardless of race.
Okay. Like cattle rustlers. Yeah. Well, regardless of your race. And they also had,
uh, you know, they were encroaching on native American lands and there was a lot of reasons
to have an armed populace back in those days. And there still is today. If, if you're telling me
you're still fighting off bears on your porch. Um, absolutely. Yeah. Well, I mean, we definitely are.
Even as far as we've come from pioneer days, we still have a lot of similar things because guess
what? Nature doesn't change. No, and not if you live in it, especially cause, uh, yeah, my uncle,
he owns a 44 coal Python for back in the eighties. Uh, one of the, one of the original ones and then
shot that bear with, he got it when he was working. I don't know what the hell he was doing, but he
felt that he needed a coal Python for some reason. Yeah. Well, I guess instincts were right in his
case. So right. Yeah. I think that's the first thing he's ever shot with it, you know, 40 years
later or whatever, but yeah, whatever. Well, I think, um, interestingly enough, we've had two
radically different, uh, gun solutions, uh, here tonight. And I think both can work hand in hand.
I agree that they could work hand in hand. I think a lot of people are quick to assume that,
uh, you know, a school shooters have some kind of mental component to what they're doing. And I
think that that's accurate. Um, I don't know that it would be necessarily diagnosable by a therapist.
Um, I think people are a lot different online where they don't think people know them than they are
with a therapist, with somebody who might, you know, quote unquote, narc on them.
Uh, so I think there's something to be said for kind of the algorithm, but I also think that there
is something to be said also for licensing and just ensuring responsible practices, because, uh,
not just with firearms, but if you go to the store and you see, you know, children that are
misbehaving in the store, in the grocery store, those aren't the parents you want teaching kids
about responsible firearm use. You know what I mean? Like there are, there are active parents
and there are completely disengaged parents who let, you know, uh, media and tablets and whatnot
raise their kids. And that's not what personal responsibility is about. And that's not what
parenting is about. Um, not to say that if you're an active parent, you're never going to have issues,
but if you can't, if you can't have your kids understand what it is to behave out in public,
you can't expect to teach them proper firearm etiquette.
Right. And gosh, you know, it was obviously been years since I took firearm safety, but
I want to say that was a month long to do that as a 11 year old or 12 year old.
Oh yeah. I was, I think it was like one night a week for a couple of weeks.
For a couple of weeks. Yeah. It was a while. I mean, it was a lot for an 11 year old to sit through.
Yeah. But I mean, you never shot anybody. I never shot anybody. And, uh, but Alec Baldwin did.
He shot someone. So maybe he should have taken a firearm safety class.
I think Alec Baldwin should be in jail. I think that him and that director and the lady,
well, he is, uh, people who are directly responsible for that. Yes. But he's,
but he's the executive producer. So he's the one ultimately responsible.
He's the one that pulled the trigger. Well, that too, that never, never does somebody hand you a
firearm and you don't check the chamber to make sure that it's empty after. Nope. Doesn't happen.
And, you know, unless like in a semi-automatic pistol, you can break that slide back and lock
open. And then you can see that the magazine isn't in it and then close it.
Yeah. But that's still a check. That's a safety check. That's still a check.
And you know what? The people that don't check guns before they shoot them, those aren't the
people that I hang out with. And those aren't the people that I go hunting with. And those aren't
the people that I go even to the range with. Uh, you pull that kind of shit around me and that's it.
We're done. Right. Well, it's like I've gone hunting with groups of guys for years and
there's one group that they've been hunting out of the same lodge for 40 years
and, uh, they never had a shooting. Imagine that. Not never once. Yep. You know, and they're
getting crazy blackout drunk and they'd never had a shooting, never had an accidental discharge, never
never any of that. So, you know, I don't know what to tell people. It's not that difficult to be safe
with firearms. Uh, as long as you're making the effort to do so. Yes. So. Well, I am done with my
cigar. And like I say, oh, go on. I am also done. I'm also done. And it was great. I liked it. It
was delightful. Um, I don't think I liked it more than the moon trance, but I could see how you
could see how you could like it more than the moon trance. If cherry flavor is your thing,
if that's your jam jam, uh, this one is the contender. Uh, the two best ones they make
are moon trance and the cherry bomb. Uh, moon trance wins it out because I like vanilla a
little bit more than I like cherry. I would say moon trance wins out also. I have to think that
it's, I think that it's lightning in a bottle. Yeah. It's one of those things. It's just hard
to beat. It's hard to beat the gun theme. It's like, it's like a wing master, you know,
hardly doing master part, hard to beat a BPS. They're, they're just, uh, more than the sum of
their parts as they say. The moon trance is magical. Um, this one would be magical if I had a,
uh, bigger, bigger liking of, of cherry. I, uh, you know, I like cherry just fine. I've got a couple
of friends that are almost addicted to cherry flavor. Um, so if they were interested in cigars,
I would give them this one. Um, and if you said, Hey, you know, outside of the moon trance,
which of the flavors do you like? I'd say cherry bomb,
moon trance, cherry bomb. Those are the two it's worth giving it a, giving it a smoke anyway.
You know, the honey wasn't bad, uh, but it wasn't in the same realm as cherry bomb
and a moon trance. I think moon trance edges it out, uh, for the wind all around. I think the
tobacco that they use and the rap that they use and the, um, and everything is great. Uh, the cherry
bomb, uh, really, really good. Uh, but the moon trance, I think is the winner. Perfect. I agree.
I agree. All right. Well, now you know all about the CAO flavors. So thank you for listening.
Have a good day.