POLL: Should the US trade Viktor Bout for Brittney Griner?

Correct, they are generally the people that get mad at everything Joe Biden does and are VERY concerned about Americas standing when it comes to perceptions of 'toughness,' its part of their lifestyle. I would say most people's reaction is probably "that's nice for her" and go about thinking about normal things again. I suspect normal people arent calculating how many prisoners Viktor Bout is worth in a deal and analyzing it like a basketball trade.

 

If the US cared about illegal arms sales on a global scale, we would have a lot more regulations stopping guns from this country from joining that trade. We are, afterall, the primary source of guns for the drug wars in Mexico, Central America, and the Carribean, primarily through grey market "private sales." But that would be a minor inconvenience for gun owners here, so yeah, not happening. I'll take your concern over international gun running seriously once you take the lack of US regulations on guns to prevent gun running from the US seriously.

 

Pretty amusing that being able to buy guns here supposedly ensures our freedom and safety and we deny 2nd Amendment enthusiasts like Bout the opportunity to provide safety and freedom to those around the world.

 

The vocal minority! There's a handful of them here.

 

Do you agree with Biden's decision?

 

Maybe she'll stick it to whitey and take a knee when she gets off the plane.

 

Let me know when and where I can legally purchase anti-aircraft missiles and rocket propelled grenades in the U.S.

It’s possible to think we need to take folks illegally dealing in missiles and high-explosives seriously, while opposing the idea that we should make it as difficult as possible to purchase or sell a run of the mill firearm.

If for no other reason, I don’t know a lot of folks in the black market with the capacity to design and manufacture seeker-heads for missiles. Conversely, you can go on YouTube and find a video of a Pakistani guy with pretty basic metal working tools literally turning a shovel into a functional AK-47.

 

I’m hopeful that the last 10 months have given her some perspective on what injustice can actually look like, and I’m further hopeful that she will show nothing but gratitude to her country for making this unequal trade on her behalf.

 

I'm ambivalent about it. Which is why I never voted on the poll in the first place. Gun running is bad, but locking up one individual isn't slowing it at all. And, again, we aren't going to really do anything to slow it. Griner was caught in a global conflict between the countries that wasn't really a result of anything she did. Clearly, his offenses are more serious than her's but I doubt any of this really matters in the long run or on a global scale.

 

Dont worry, the Supreme Court is working on that. If you want them now, I suggest being a US client state

 

You can purchase an RPG in plenty of places in the US. Now we do track those, but you can purchase them in many places.

Can You Own an RPG in the US? (Is It Legal?)

And the prevention of any form of inconvenience to gun owners looking to sell guns in the US has led to a heck of a lot more deaths from our internationally trafficked firearms than anti-aircraft guns dealt illegally ever have.

So apparently international gun running falls in importance somewhere between getting back a person you don't care about and being inconvenienced.

 

Maybe she should given all the people that were happy to keep her in prison

 

Find me one for sale (with a live rocket, not the launcher - that’s just a metal tube that is fairly easy to buy).

You can theoretically own just about anything you want under the NFA if you’re willing to pay enough tax stamps (and in many cases - including this one - comply with explosives storage regulations). But good luck actually finding one for sale.

So in practice, that basically only means that if I could figure out how to make an RPG myself, and if I were willing to fight with ATF about it for long enough, I might be able to register it on an NFA Form 1.

 

What a surprise, right out of the liberal playbook. You have no argument, assassinate someone's character. You've only been here since 2012, I've been on this forum for longer standing firm in my stance in favor of LGBTQ rights. So you can take this last sentence and stick it right back where it came from. You can do better than that, Im sure of it. Not.

 

Um, the people complaining about this "don't watch the NBA".

 

Well I hope she acts the way you want her to. Based on this thread’s poll she should only be thankful to 17% of people.

 

And oh by the way, this deal was reportedly brokered by the Saudis (and UAE), only a couple of days after we told the crown prince we weren’t pursuing the Kashoghhi lawsuit.
So add that to the price here likely, unless you believe the timing was a coincidence.

 

It was certainly stupid of her to try to smuggle contraband into Russia, but they could've taken her at any time under any pretext and gotten the same conviction in their kangaroo courts. She just made it a little easier for them.

Viktor Bout doesn't deserve to be released, but he's been in prison for 15 years. There's no way his void hasn't been filled by others in the illegal arms trade. If there's big money to made, someone will find a way to make it. Especially in a cutthroat, merciless business like that and arms buyers are notorious for shopping around. If Vik's not there to take the call, they'll just call the next guy on the list.

Ask Jamal Khashoggi how fragile an arms deal is and how quickly it could fall apart if the arms dealer makes the slightest misstep.

 

So you can buy the launcher and your argument is that it is just too difficult to make a propelled explosive. Far more difficult than turning a shovel into a functioning assault rifle, the example you gave as to why it is useless to regulate guns from getting into illegal markets?

As I said, none of this is serious. It is to cover the fact that we don't really care about international weapons running to any real degree. We care in theory, but the second that it inconveniences a US purchaser in the slightest, suddenly we can't do that.

 

I wonder how people would feel if they had Taylor Swift instead? Are some lives more valuable than others?