Heard about this radiocast but can not listen while at work.

[TheF00L]

deleted post by "poster"

[Shadow Heart]

checking it out for ya

[MartinBrody]

I get the free This American Life podcast every week through itunes, they just posted it today so I will be listening tomorrow at work. It is from Chicago Public Radio but is also heard on my local NPR station near Philly.

I find this show very entertaining, it will be especially interesting to hear this one. I'm sure I'll have more to say after listening tomorrow.

[Chap1911A1]

Download it and listen yourself when you get the chance:

http://podcast.thisamericanlife.org/podcast/81.mp3

I heard it Sunday afternoon just by chance and I thought the stories were interesting. I think the interviewer went very easy on the straw purchaser, but then I guess he could have walked if they got too agressive. I especially liked the story about the antigun music writer who bonded with her gunsmith father over shooting his home made cannon. My brother and I both want to be laid to rest the same way.

[MartinBrody]

Very well done as usual, my favorite story was also the one about the daughter who was anti-gun and her gunsmith father. Her sentiments on guns were very sincere and it was kind of a heartwarming story.

It opened with the host reading from an ad in American Handgunner. Some dopey ad for a video or book that promises to impart upon you the knowledge you need to survive. The host, Ira Glass, talked about how the ad drew him in. I think they just knew how stupid it would make gun owners look, as if we are all a bunch of tools buying some idiot's karate video or something. We know this subgroup at most makes up only 90% of gun owners.

Then there was the guy who grew up in a tough neighborhood in NYC talking about the history of violence there during his lifetime. It kind of took you through what happened when it went from fist fights to gun fights. I followed him most of the way but it seemed like he had an agenda. His thought was that the fist fights served a purpose (you have to hear it) and while problematic were not as bad it is might seem to someone on the outside. Then when the guns came it just became the mindless shoot someone over a dirty look stuff you hear about today. He also talked about gun companies marketing to youths and minorities b/c they had saturated the conventional gun market, sounded like total BS, I honestly couldn't say if there is even a grain of truth to this or not. He mentioned a gun that was called "the viper" so that in his mind was appealing to youths. Sounds like the BS that flavored tobacco is targeted at youths, I am 34 and wish I could still buy cloves.

The one told in a disturbingly comedic tone about the kids playing with guns shooting homemade blanks was captivating, but set a dark mood, kind of wrapping up the whole guns are fun but also perverse.

There were 2 stories intermingled, one told by a cop about being shot and one by the woman whose parents were killed in the Luby's cafeteria shooting who had her gun in her car b/c TX at the time did not allow you to carry. These were my least favorite, the cop seemed a little out there, but he was telling his story as he recalled it. They had a little point-counter-point about how he was shot and had a gun and her parents were killed b/c she didn't.

The straw purchase story didn't mean much to me, seemed like a generic how a straw purchase works story, and how guns get on the streets. I guess they were educating people out there about how easy it is for someone to get a gun and how these guns are bought "legally", not stolen, (even though a straw purchase is not legal).

Entertaining as usual, this show is almost always a winner, I certainly don't think it bridged the gap between us and the anti's, but it is public radio, I wouldn't expect it to, but it was an hour well spent. Download it, put it on you ipod and listen on the way home sometime.

[TheF00L]

Post deleted by poster, as I am, doing to almost all my posts.