Interesting Links for 10-09-2013

[andrewducker]

• How many languages can you recognise from "Hello World"? (I scored a dismal 400 points)
  (tags: languages programming )
• Hilarious, Ingenious Emoticons From a Wizard of Net Art
  (tags: emoticons )
• Trying to be happier really can work
  (tags: happiness )
• Iowa law allows gun permits for the blind
  (tags: guns blindness usa )
• With a Burst of Color, Turkey

Comments

Iowa law allows gun permits for the blind

[cartesiandaemon]

I can't decide about this. I can imagine legitimate reasons for owning a gun with a variety of visual impairments. Most for sport in a closed environment, but theoretically for self-defence. Even if you're completely blind, I imagine someone extremely well trained to emergency situations and trained to shooti by sound when completely blind are considerably safer than many untrained people shooting with full vision.

So theoretically, the argument that being visually impaired to one extent or another shouldn't be a complete bar is correct.

But many many many people in America have a gun for self-defence when they don't really know what they're doing, and I imagine being visually impaired is likely to make that even worse.

It suggests a greater distinction between "people allowed to own a gun" (ie. someone who is responsible and trained enough to store it safely and never ever ever point it at anyone, carry it in public, etc) and "people allowed to shoot a gun at people in emergencies" (ie. people with extensive training on emergency situations and can be relied on not to shoot someone because they got twitchy, something not even many police can manage). But that's the distinction many people don't want to make.