Victor Davis Hanson speaks with cohost Sami Winc about Biden’s future, the sale of US oil reserves, CEOs resigning, the Dallas Cowboys, gun control, and Arizona’s new education bill.
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12 thoughts on “From Oil Reserves to Gun Control and Education”
Charles Carroll
Most people consider Switzerland to be a reasonably sophisticated country. Children are admitted into marksmanship training from the age of five – but not to shoot with an assault rifle. This young, they train with pistols, air rifles, crossbows or bows.
It gets serious from the age of ten – with small-caliber weapons – and from 12, in general, with assault rifles. Thus, every year on the second weekend in September, about 4,000 boys and girls aged 12 to 16 descend on Zurich to take part in the Knabenschiessen (boys’ shooting) marksmanship contest and to try out the weapon that will be theirs in the army.
Regarding drinking before the age of 21, My Marine platoon in Vietnam had a number of 18-20 year olds. If they could operate in the jungle in 115 degree heat (with heat index up to 140 degrees), then they should be allowed to drink beer at the least. Maybe those under 21 should be able to buy alcohol after showing a military ID card.
It sounds as if Swiss children are well trained in firearms safety. From the stories I’ve read, it wasn’t that long ago that American children were taught firearms safety in a similar manner. I believe many schools used to have rifle clubs and it wasn’t uncommon for grade school kids to bring their rifles to school. Of course, today that would be almost unthinkable. I wonder what has changed in our society?
With respect to alcohol, I can tell you that when young men get drunk bad things often follow. I grew up in Britain in the 1980s. My mates and I would go to our locals on the weekend and drink 7 or 8 pints of beer a night. After the pubs would close we would then go to a club or some house party and drink more. There were often fights and spontaneous violence which in my opinion were directly related to inebriation. For a good example of this sort of casual violence watch the pub glassing scene in the film Trianspotting.
We had Rifle Club in High School 1975-1977 with the rifle range in the crawlspace under the school.
We also had
1) Corporal Punishment in earlier school years (I personally received once or twice), and we had
2) Expulsion for trouble-makers, and we had
3) a separate Vocational School for the kids who weren’t interested in “academics” but just wanted to learn how to make a living.
Those 3 things could be returned to public schools but won’t because Americans now tolerate anti-social behavior.
Thank you for your kind thought. Not being critical but 7-8 pints of beer a night is excessive for any age in my personal opinion. Bad thing also happen when 21, 22, 23, 24 year olds get drunk. I don’t believe that the maturity level increases that much in males at 21. More likely, we reach maturity at 24 to 27 years, if ever :>)).
I got COVID Jan 2020 at age 61. My girlfriend is Chinese-American and paralegal in Chinese immigration office in Alhambra, so I suspected what I had and why my normal flu-like symptoms never went away. After 7 months of fatigue, frustrated, I decided to try to sweat it out on my stationary bicycle. Result was bone-deep fatigue never known before. How can bones feel tired? They did. So I guess I’ve had “Long COVID” for 2-1/2 years now. Upside is I haven’t felt sick since Jan 2020. Just no physical endurance anymore. It’s not all bad.
I was in a restaurant recently and when it was entered in the register, the bill came to $18.02. I handed the young counter person (probably high school student since it was summer) $20.02. I could see from the look on her face that she had gone catatonic. Her brain had gone to the blue screen of death. I was about to say something when an Asian coworker of the same age came over snd said “just give him $2”. My young server rebooted and handed my $2. I concluded that I had met a future scientist or engineer and a future barista, courtesy of American publication education.
20 something teachers can’t write/ spell/ read/ talk. They have no sense of propriety and distance to maintain from students. They dress provacatively, they curse in the class. They tell students all their business in attempt to win their friendship and hope kids behave in class. It is disgusting and inappropriate to watch. Education is suffering; to say the least. We will not be able to compete with the well-educated from other lands. So glad I am closer to the end of my career.
PLEASE….MAGAZINE, NOT CLIP. If a spring moves the ammo into firing position, THAT is a magazine. A clip simply holds ammo. PLEASE get the nomenclature correct. Your .22 bolt action rifle had a magazine. Your friend’s semiauto rifle had a tubular magazine.
Also, the term “assault rifle” is grossly misused by the media, politicians, and others to push there agenda. The term originated during WWII when the German Army introduced the Sturmgewehrr (storm gun) 44, also. known by its early designations as the MP 43 and MP 44 (Maschinenpistole 43 and 44).
There were/are a few things that are required to fit that category. The main one was a selector switch/lever to choose between semi auto and full auto fire. .An AR-15 has no such switch and is therefore a semiauto rifle.
It is a compromise weapon, sitting squarely between a traditional battle rifle and submachine gun..
I’Mm a loyay reader and hate to see you making these errors.
There may be a motive in the madness.
Since the Democrats are losing the middle class, perhaps they are setting themselves up to deliberately destroy the middle class.
Chicken end egg, but when you’re setting the henhouse on fire, does it really matter?
As for how long Biden will serve, I believe they’re waiting as long as possible, bot not longer than the end of January, when Kamala would be able to run twice. But she’ll have a tough time without a VP, which the Senate will never confirm. And THAT leaves the door open to Nancy and another quickie no-fault impeachment, which would per her on the throne.
Most people consider Switzerland to be a reasonably sophisticated country. Children are admitted into marksmanship training from the age of five – but not to shoot with an assault rifle. This young, they train with pistols, air rifles, crossbows or bows.
It gets serious from the age of ten – with small-caliber weapons – and from 12, in general, with assault rifles. Thus, every year on the second weekend in September, about 4,000 boys and girls aged 12 to 16 descend on Zurich to take part in the Knabenschiessen (boys’ shooting) marksmanship contest and to try out the weapon that will be theirs in the army.
Regarding drinking before the age of 21, My Marine platoon in Vietnam had a number of 18-20 year olds. If they could operate in the jungle in 115 degree heat (with heat index up to 140 degrees), then they should be allowed to drink beer at the least. Maybe those under 21 should be able to buy alcohol after showing a military ID card.
It sounds as if Swiss children are well trained in firearms safety. From the stories I’ve read, it wasn’t that long ago that American children were taught firearms safety in a similar manner. I believe many schools used to have rifle clubs and it wasn’t uncommon for grade school kids to bring their rifles to school. Of course, today that would be almost unthinkable. I wonder what has changed in our society?
With respect to alcohol, I can tell you that when young men get drunk bad things often follow. I grew up in Britain in the 1980s. My mates and I would go to our locals on the weekend and drink 7 or 8 pints of beer a night. After the pubs would close we would then go to a club or some house party and drink more. There were often fights and spontaneous violence which in my opinion were directly related to inebriation. For a good example of this sort of casual violence watch the pub glassing scene in the film Trianspotting.
BTW, thank you for your service.
We had Rifle Club in High School 1975-1977 with the rifle range in the crawlspace under the school.
We also had
1) Corporal Punishment in earlier school years (I personally received once or twice), and we had
2) Expulsion for trouble-makers, and we had
3) a separate Vocational School for the kids who weren’t interested in “academics” but just wanted to learn how to make a living.
Those 3 things could be returned to public schools but won’t because Americans now tolerate anti-social behavior.
Thank you for your kind thought. Not being critical but 7-8 pints of beer a night is excessive for any age in my personal opinion. Bad thing also happen when 21, 22, 23, 24 year olds get drunk. I don’t believe that the maturity level increases that much in males at 21. More likely, we reach maturity at 24 to 27 years, if ever :>)).
I got COVID Jan 2020 at age 61. My girlfriend is Chinese-American and paralegal in Chinese immigration office in Alhambra, so I suspected what I had and why my normal flu-like symptoms never went away. After 7 months of fatigue, frustrated, I decided to try to sweat it out on my stationary bicycle. Result was bone-deep fatigue never known before. How can bones feel tired? They did. So I guess I’ve had “Long COVID” for 2-1/2 years now. Upside is I haven’t felt sick since Jan 2020. Just no physical endurance anymore. It’s not all bad.
You might want to check out the FLCCC website. The doctors there have a protocol for long haul covid.
That honor roll of classicists warmed my heart and made me wish I’d been born earlier.
If I may respectfully offer a correction, I think Professor Hanson means, “commensurate” when he says, “commiserate.”
I was in a restaurant recently and when it was entered in the register, the bill came to $18.02. I handed the young counter person (probably high school student since it was summer) $20.02. I could see from the look on her face that she had gone catatonic. Her brain had gone to the blue screen of death. I was about to say something when an Asian coworker of the same age came over snd said “just give him $2”. My young server rebooted and handed my $2. I concluded that I had met a future scientist or engineer and a future barista, courtesy of American publication education.
20 something teachers can’t write/ spell/ read/ talk. They have no sense of propriety and distance to maintain from students. They dress provacatively, they curse in the class. They tell students all their business in attempt to win their friendship and hope kids behave in class. It is disgusting and inappropriate to watch. Education is suffering; to say the least. We will not be able to compete with the well-educated from other lands. So glad I am closer to the end of my career.
PLEASE….MAGAZINE, NOT CLIP. If a spring moves the ammo into firing position, THAT is a magazine. A clip simply holds ammo. PLEASE get the nomenclature correct. Your .22 bolt action rifle had a magazine. Your friend’s semiauto rifle had a tubular magazine.
Also, the term “assault rifle” is grossly misused by the media, politicians, and others to push there agenda. The term originated during WWII when the German Army introduced the Sturmgewehrr (storm gun) 44, also. known by its early designations as the MP 43 and MP 44 (Maschinenpistole 43 and 44).
There were/are a few things that are required to fit that category. The main one was a selector switch/lever to choose between semi auto and full auto fire. .An AR-15 has no such switch and is therefore a semiauto rifle.
It is a compromise weapon, sitting squarely between a traditional battle rifle and submachine gun..
I’Mm a loyay reader and hate to see you making these errors.
There may be a motive in the madness.
Since the Democrats are losing the middle class, perhaps they are setting themselves up to deliberately destroy the middle class.
Chicken end egg, but when you’re setting the henhouse on fire, does it really matter?
As for how long Biden will serve, I believe they’re waiting as long as possible, bot not longer than the end of January, when Kamala would be able to run twice. But she’ll have a tough time without a VP, which the Senate will never confirm. And THAT leaves the door open to Nancy and another quickie no-fault impeachment, which would per her on the throne.