To all those living outside the US that feel compelled to comment on our gun policies in the US read this:
http://www.wftv.com/mostpopular/18201932/detail.html

Click on this link (or cut and paste) to read about the brutal beating and rape of a 70 year old woman in Orlando this week...

This is a perfect example of a home invasion...When I read/hear about these thing on a regular bases it really pisses me off that some of my own country men try to keep us from being able to defend ourselves with handguns...when someone from thousands of miles a way...who doesn't have a clue of what they are talking about starts preaching their message of ignorance about gun control it just...well...I think I will stop right there...

It may not be as much an argument about "the right to bear arms" as it is an argument about the government taking away any "right" that was previously granted.

The gov't took away our "right" to consume alcohol (I think today is the anniversary of the lifting of prohibition, btw) a long time ago, and that didn't go over so well...

I personally like the freedoms I may exercise in USA. It is dissapointing when I see these freedoms taken away abrubptly or slowly... Especially when I don't see a particular benefit resulting from the loss of whatever right is taken away.

In a vague comparison, consider my right to privacy vs. government surveillance. I see their need to know what's going on to protect me, but don't really like the idea of them listening in on me (not that I have anything intelligent to say, anyway - that's going to be one bored dude that has to listen in on my stuff).

How do you like all those cameras in public places (I'm thinking of Britan specifically)? You've probably gotten used to them, but that subject is a huge controversy in US.

Even something like red-light cameras to catch law-breakers faces stiff resistance from the population. Not sure why they do...

So, if red-light cameras reduce fatalities, why isn't it a law to have them at every intersection? Surely this will save lives, no?

Even something like red-light cameras to catch law-breakers faces stiff resistance from the population. Not sure why they do...

So, if red-light cameras reduce fatalities, why isn't it a law to have them at every intersection? Surely this will save lives, no?

Red light cameras are about making money for the city. The "fine" you pay does not even go on your record. It is all about cash. Ironically, in the great city of Houston, where I live and where they just installed some of those camera's, they have had an INCREASE in traffic accidents at those intersections since the installation of the cameras. My guess is that people who should have gone are now breaking hard to to try to stop only to be hit from behind. Althoug the same data did indicate a reduction in traffic related fatalities at the same intersections. All that data came from the City of Houston. And the reason for my initial comment, the City of Houston made 265k the first week the cameras were turned on.

Red light cameras are about making money for the city.

How about the new procedure of checking your cellphone records at the time of a crash to see if you were "distracted"? (I wonder how they know you were talking on it and not a passenger?)

Are you "concerned" by the ability of the FASTPASS toll-transponders tracking your whereabouts? In Maine, they time your passage through one toll booth and compare it to the time through another toll booth to determine your speed. Then they mail you a ticket.

Wrong again. First of all, Maine uses EZ PASS, not FAST PASS. Secondly, NO STATE issues speeding tickets based on entry / exit time on a toll road.

Here's the reference: Snopes

A traffic officer needs to be involved in catching speeders to verify who is driving the vehicle. Otherwise, an owner of a vehicle who happens to have several other family members who drive the vehicle could get a speeding ticket for what another driver did, or even worse you could get ticketed for what your friend does while driving your vehicle.

Besides, they could have been doing this years ago - way before EZ PASS. When you get on the Turnpike, the toll card has the time printed on it, and it's probably encoded in the magstripe on the back. They could station cops at every exit point to write you a ticket when you get off and the toll card is read. But they don't. Because they can't.

Tinfoil hat alert.

They weren't mailed, there was a cop there.

Our NH transponder (I'm not sure which one it is) is what got the ticket.
My wife has a ticket she got for driving in Maine and she got it in the mail.

Oh, and Colin? There's a polyester stripe in currency, not magnetic. There's magnetic ink on the bills (just like there is on checks), but you can't read it from a distance, anymore than you could read cassette tape from a distance.