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Gemma Seymour
Member since Jun 15, 2016
Recent Comments
Re: “Seven Reasons Why Vermont's Next Governor Matters”
Sue Minter's irrational extremism on "gun control" is why I will not vote for her. The fact that the other Democratic contenders seem willing to go along for the ride is deeply troubling. Universal background checks cannot possibly be enforced without a universal firearms ownership registry, an idea which is repugnant to American values. Unless the government has a record of ownership, the government cannot possibly determine IF, let alone WHEN, a transfer has taken place. This is a huge waste of attention and potentially civic funding which will criminalise behavior which has been a guarantee of the Vermont constitution since before the United States Constitution even existed.
Minter keeps trying to tie the firearms issue to domestic violence in order to stir sympathy, but she offers no credible evidence that universal background checks will mitigate domestic violence. Vermont otherwise dimply does not have a violent crime or firearms crime problem that can be effectively addressed with a universal background check requirement. If you don't like guns, Sue, move away from Vermont. Go live in Masschusetts, where you can "feel safe", and stop trying to take away Vermonters' right to BE safe.
Posted by
Gemma Seymour
on 08/06/2016 at 1:28 PM
Re: “Environmentalist Bill McKibben Dumps Dunne for Minter”
More specifically, the only way we are going to get to 90% "renewable" (NO form of power production is truly "renewable") power generation is if we also have a 90% reduction in power consumption.
The average newly constructed residence in the United States comes with 200A electrical service. We need to live our lives on one tenth of that, or the amount of power we can get from a single standard 20A electrical outlet.
Posted by
Gemma Seymour
on 08/01/2016 at 8:59 PM
Re: “Environmentalist Bill McKibben Dumps Dunne for Minter”
Well, that's interesting. However, I still can't vote for Sue Minter because of her extremist stance on firearms. Universal background checks will not reduce domestic violence, are unenforceable, and are a solution looking for a problem, an irrelevant distraction, and a waste of civic priorities and funding.
"Gun control" is sexist, racist, classist, ableist, homophobic, and transphobic. It is not a liberal value, it is anti-Liberty, and I stand against it.
Posted by
Gemma Seymour
on 08/01/2016 at 8:52 PM
Re: “The Gun: How I Bought an AR-15 in a Five Guys Parking Lot”
' it is time for us to really rethink something that I have believed for decades: whether or not it makes sense for people today to walk into a store and purchase a military-style weapon, which has one purpose and one purpose alone, and that is to kill people. '
You know, Bernie, I love you to death, you have my vote, but you are just dead wrong on this issue.
Amendment II was written precisely to guarantee that the people of this nation would have access to the types of personal arms in common use for military purposes. Yes, firearms are made for killing people. That is why we use them. That is why they are useful.
At no point in history has humanity ever turned away from the use of coercion and violence to carry out the will to dominate others, and at no point in history since our first simian ancestors discovered that sticks and stones do, in fact, break bones have words ever sufficed to turn their blows.
To expect that we can eradicate arms from our society is naïve and dangerous, for the history of armaments is not a history of the strong conquering the weak, but just the reverse. It is weaponry which enables the weakest among us to defend themselves against the aggression of the physically and politically powerful.
Posted by
Gemma Seymour
on 06/17/2016 at 9:58 PM
Re: “The Gun: How I Bought an AR-15 in a Five Guys Parking Lot”
' So here's my question to the gun buyer. You had a functional AR-15 type weapon and three magazines. Why didn't you use it to shoot the first 90 people you saw on that crowed street? Case closed. '
1. It needs a new extractor arm.
2. The author probably didn't have any ammunition.
3. The author probably wouldn't know how to load a magazine, anyway.
4. The author probably is too scared of the recoil of a piddly little .223 to actually fire it.
Because, otherwise, everyone knows the mere possession of a instrument of lethal force suddenly causes rational people to become monsters, so he definitely would have just started mowing down little children, disabled people, and LGBT people like me.
Posted by
Gemma Seymour
on 06/17/2016 at 9:44 PM
Re: “The Gun: How I Bought an AR-15 in a Five Guys Parking Lot”
' If one kid on a playground was hitting the others with a stick... would you take the stick away, or give every kid a stick? '
Children aren't allowed to own firearms. Your analogy might make you feel self-satisfied, but in the world of adulthood, it doesn't pertain.
Posted by
Gemma Seymour
on 06/17/2016 at 9:38 PM
Re: “Planned Winooski Gay Bar Named 'Mister Sister' Creates Rift”
Why am I so unsurprised that cis gay men are defending this? We all know that affluent white cis gay men are the most entitled, most appropriative members of our community and that not only do they make a frequent habit of disdaining trans people and trans women in particular, nothing gets their backs up faster than being called to the carpet for it. Typically, as we can see with this bar owner and in these comments, they will dig in and double down.
You would do well to remember that the entire modern gay rights movement was started by trans women of color. From Dewey's to Compton's to Stonewall, you can erase our history, but we all know the truth. We see you. We remember.