Althouse: "Across the country, wild boars are moving in as Japan’s rapidly aging population either moves out or dies out."

March 9, 2018

"Across the country, wild boars are moving in as Japan’s rapidly aging population either moves out or dies out."

"The boars come for the untended rice paddies and stay for the abandoned shelters.... Farmers are dying and there is no one to take over their land. Take Sugawa and Chiba: They both have sons but they’re salarymen in the city with no interest in a hard life tending fields and fending off animals heavier than themselves.... With reports of boars rampaging through the ghost-towns around the Fukushima plant, some people worry if the animals might now be becoming radioactive.... To cull the wild boars, farmers need to obtain not just a gun license — an exhaustive process that involves medical certificates and gun storage inspections by the local police — but also a special license to lay traps. This involves intensive study for a written test...."

From "Japanese towns struggle to deal with an influx of new arrivals: wild boars" (WaPo).

If only they had a tradition of gun rights and immigration...

101 comments:

Beloved Commenter AReasonableMan said...: So the Japanese get it right on two counts?; 3/9/18, 10:20 AM
Paddy O said...: Only samurais could carry the two swords.; 3/9/18, 10:21 AM
Ignorance is Bliss said...: With reports of boars rampaging through the ghost-towns around the Fukushima plant, some people worry if the animals might now be becoming radioactive....

Glow-in-the-dark bacon. Someone's gonna make a fortune.; 3/9/18, 10:23 AM
Jill McMahon said...: https://www.theatlantic.com/photo/2017/03/the-wild-boars-of-fukushima/519066/; 3/9/18, 10:27 AM
walter said...: Attack of the nuclear boars!; 3/9/18, 10:27 AM
Jaq said...: Immigration is great, but there should be legal controls. But I guess if I say that, it makes me a white nationalist.; 3/9/18, 10:27 AM
Levi Starks said...: At 59 I to might be considered “aging”
But as bored as I am with my current job, it seems like it might be a worthwhile challenge.
As long as I have decent internet service.
I rather enjoyed my port calls to Japan back in the late 70s; 3/9/18, 10:28 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Their immigration rules are, well, pretty draconian.

Koreans living there for generations still aren't considered Japanese.

They need to figure out how to at least maintain population, or bring in people and tolerate the cultural changes that will come with that.; 3/9/18, 10:30 AM
Bay Area Guy said...: Call Winston Churchill - he fought the "boars" in South Africa.; 3/9/18, 10:30 AM
Fernandinande said...: A blurb in the paper said that average age of local farmers is 59.; 3/9/18, 10:30 AM
JohnAnnArbor said...: Japan has a huge number--tens of thousands--of mostly young men who are shut-ins in their parents's houses because of failure to get a job; some never leave their rooms. They have a specific name for them that escapes me. Shame-based, plus electronic entertainment (video games etc.) allows it.

Those guys need to be brought out of their shells. Identify them, send them out to the farms as a way to toughen them up. Some would like it as a new purpose and would doubtless take over. Others might not like the work but they'd be better off for having done something useful and would be in a better position to move on with their lives.; 3/9/18, 10:35 AM
tcrosse said...: They're dying of boardom.; 3/9/18, 10:36 AM
Nonapod said...: There's no society on the planet more xenophobic than the Japanese, so yeah, it's highly unlikely their immigration policies will be relaxed any time soon. They're also probably the most pridefully disarmed society on the planet, and I'd be shocked if that'd change anytime soon too.; 3/9/18, 10:38 AM
mockturtle said...: How ya gonna keep 'em down on the paddy
After they've seen Tokyo?; 3/9/18, 10:40 AM
Bob Boyd said...: There you go Althouse. Problem of where to go if you leave Madison solved.
You can blog from anywhere and I've always suspected that inside of Meade was a farmer and pig fighter trying to get out.; 3/9/18, 10:40 AM
walter said...: They are developing farmbots.; 3/9/18, 10:40 AM
roesch/voltaire said...: Yes they have no mass school shootings, and now a careful culling of. boars-- how thoughtful. But Japan, like the US, has a shortage of health care workers and has encouraged nurses from Philippines and other SE Asia countries to immigrate to Japan-- often to take care of the aging population.; 3/9/18, 10:41 AM
Etienne said...: I took an aviation welding course. In order to get certified I had all sorts of classes to attend, and practical tests where my welds were put in a machine and tested. After what seemed a terrible expense, and a completely overblown course.

Shortly after getting my certificate, we had a plane crash and the pilot splattered all over the runway.

The control stick was missing, but they found it further down the runway. Yep, the weld broke. As a matter of fact, the weld was in the wrong place. The pilot was doomed.

So, I think rigorous training, followed by certification testing, should be required for all endeavors in which loss of life can be expected.

I don't think you should be able to buy or shoot a gun in America, without having a DD-214. I think if you are caught with a gun, and no DD-214, then you should be gassed, and your body cremated to generate electricity.; 3/9/18, 10:43 AM
Jess said...: I have a feeling the bureaucratic "solution" for the problems will only make things worse.

Bureaucrats don't understand logic, politicians love them, and most people would have the same answer, if they were asked if wild boars, or bureaucrats are the worst pest.; 3/9/18, 10:45 AM
David Begley said...: Wild hogs are a huge problem in Texas and other parts of flyover country. I also read a WSJ piece about boars running wild in the streets of Munich and Berlin. The German government hires men with guns to kill them.

In San Antonio a wild boar got into my sister's subdivision and tore up someone's yard. These pigs destroy crops.

Hillary was fully aware of this problem and never addressed it!! That's why she lost!; 3/9/18, 10:48 AM
Rusty said...: Blogger Etienne said...
I took an aviation welding course. In order to get certified I had all sorts of classes to attend, and practical tests where my welds were put in a machine and tested. After what seemed a terrible expense, and a completely overblown course.

Shortly after getting my certificate, we had a plane crash and the pilot splattered all over the runway.

The control stick was missing, but they found it further down the runway. Yep, the weld broke. As a matter of fact, the weld was in the wrong place. The pilot was doomed.

Aluminum, right? Tig or gas?

So, I think rigorous training, followed by certification testing, should be required for all endeavors in which loss of life can be expected.

I don't think you should be able to buy or shoot a gun in America, without having a DD-214. I think if you are caught with a gun, and no DD-214, then you should be
gassed, and your body cremated to generate electricity.

I think you should get a license to post anything on the internet.; 3/9/18, 10:50 AM
Anonymous said...: JohnAnnArbor: Japan has a huge number--tens of thousands--of mostly young men who are shut-ins in their parents's houses because of failure to get a job; some never leave their rooms. They have a specific name for them that escapes me.

Hikikomori.

Nonapod: There's no society on the planet more xenophobic than the Japanese, so yeah, it's highly unlikely their immigration policies will be relaxed any time soon. They're also probably the most pridefully disarmed society on the planet, and I'd be shocked if that'd change anytime soon too.

I'd bet that they're more amenable to a change in the latter than the former.; 3/9/18, 10:50 AM
Gahrie said...: If only they had a tradition of gun rights and immigration...

They wouldn't be Japanese.; 3/9/18, 10:52 AM
Pettifogger said...: Being from Texas, I'm in favor of both hog traps and gun rights. But as an owner of Texas land, I'm painfully aware that even those two things together are insufficient to control the hog population. If I knew what was enough, I'd market it.; 3/9/18, 10:53 AM
Anonymous said...: David Begley: Wild hogs are a huge problem in Texas and other parts of flyover country.

Our local grocery store sells delicious wild Texan boar meat. I guess if we develop a wild boar problem locally we'll no longer have to import it from Texas.; 3/9/18, 10:53 AM
Paddy O said...: In California, they got rid of thousands of feral pigs on Santa Cruz island about a decade ago using an organized system of eradication that took care of the problem quickly. They used a New Zealand company for the work.

Now, the Santa Cruz Island fox is making a huge recovery in numbers and bald eagles are nesting on the island, thus keeping away golden eagles. It's a pretty amazing story that involved, first, shooting a lot of pigs.

I camped on that island back in 2003 or so. One day after a long hike we scratched out a really large chess board on the ground and played chess using pig bones and assorted camp items. There were a lot of pig bones around, not from the culling, just from decades of having a lot of pigs around.; 3/9/18, 10:55 AM
roesch/voltaire said...: The times are changing in Japan as well:
In recent years, while the national government has claimed to promote labor force participation of elderly and female workers over increased immigration, the resident foreign workforce has in fact steadily risen, growing 40 percent since 2013 alone. Politicians remain reluctant, however, to draw attention to this growth or label it the outcome of explicit policy decisions. From M<iogrfation Policy Institute.; 3/9/18, 10:56 AM
Pettifogger said...: Etienne said: "I don't think you should be able to buy or shoot a gun in America, without having a DD-214."

Interesting. What other constitutional rights can be conditioned on military service or on other things? Might the right to an abortion be conditioned on service in the Peace Corps?; 3/9/18, 10:56 AM
glenn said...: One forkful of papardelle al chinghiale and the problem will resolve itself.; 3/9/18, 11:05 AM
Bushman of the Kohlrabi said...: I'm surprised. I had to read through 18 WP comments before encountering one that mentions Trump.; 3/9/18, 11:07 AM
Andrea Daley Utronebel said...: Wild Boars are nature, and nature is good. If the population is shrinking, let nature reclaim the land. A nation like Japan can use a bit more of nature.

Better to have nature reclaim the land than have foreigners come and take over. If nature takes over, Japan still remain Japan. But if foreigners increase in number and take over the land while Japanese numbers decrease, then Japanese will eventually become a minority in their own country and lose it forever.

So, if the population is shrinking, let nature reclaim parts of the land. Let birds, frogs, reptiles, wild boars, deer, and etc live on the land. But do not let foreigners take over the land.; 3/9/18, 11:07 AM
Bob Boyd said...: Etienne said: "I don't think you should be able to buy or shoot a gun in America, without having a DD-214."

What about a 27B-6 ?; 3/9/18, 11:11 AM
buwaya said...: "What other constitutional rights can be conditioned on military service or on other things?"

"Starship Troopers" - Robert Heinlein
9.99 on Amazon Kindle.
A bit overpriced IMHO. Used paperbacks are all over.; 3/9/18, 11:12 AM
Nonapod said...: @Angle-Dyne said...I'd bet that they're more amenable to a change in the latter than the former.

In terms of national defense, I agree. I was more referring to personal defense. The Japanese take great pride in being a gunless society. I always find that personally a bit mystifying that some people seem so proud to be defenseless. I guess it's the old notion of gun rights and gun possession among the citizenry equating to a society being made up of unenlightened, hyper violent primitives.; 3/9/18, 11:13 AM
Carter Wood said...: From The Sun: Solar-powered robot wolves set to help Japanese farmers scare away wild boars
A ROBOT wolf with flashing red eyes and huge white fangs may soon be protecting crops across Japan after scaring away wild boars.

The evil-looking Super Monster Wolf goes into mass production next month and will set farmers back around £3,480 (514,000 yen) if they want to see it guarding their crops.

Looks more like a killer shrew.; 3/9/18, 11:21 AM
buwaya said...: "But as an owner of Texas land, I'm painfully aware that even those two things together are insufficient to control the hog population. If I knew what was enough, I'd market it."

I don't know if someone has thought of this, but -
Make it easy to sell "hog safari" tours.
Like the African safari business, but way lower-toned. Less gin&tonic and Holland&Holland, more Lone Star and Norinco AK-47s.

You can still have white hunters and bearers (pickup trucks and ATV's)
And add plenty of barbecue and chili.

Market to the hordes of gun-crazy foreigners who can't play with all the firepower Americans have access to.

May require legislation, lots of liability coverage and hunting arrangements struck with owners of private land, where IIRC most of the hog trouble is.

Jambo Bwana!; 3/9/18, 11:25 AM
buwaya said...: "The Japanese take great pride in being a gunless society."

The ancient way to hunt boar was with spears.
A fine sort of exercise I think, its just a matter of laws and marketing.; 3/9/18, 11:27 AM
MadisonMan said...: Across the country, delicious wild boars are moving in as Japan’s rapidly aging population either moves out or dies out.

FIFY.; 3/9/18, 11:29 AM
buwaya said...: I may in fact be in the market for a hog-safari tour package, upon retirement.; 3/9/18, 11:35 AM
rcocean said...: Japan has 110-120 million people in a country the size of California.

Its not underpopulated. Like this silly article wants you to believe.

Obviously, if Boars are really a problem, the Japanese just need to get some professional hunters and start shooting them.

Right now, japan has a population imbalance. In 20-30 years that imbalance will go away.; 3/9/18, 11:36 AM
rcocean said...: When younger I was about to go on a Boar hunting trip to Hawaii, but something came up and I never went.

I often wished I had.; 3/9/18, 11:37 AM
rcocean said...: The Japanese take pride in being a gun-less society, because they are a homogeneous society which thinks of itself as a big family.

You don't need guns to shoot other Japanese. Plus, guns were restricted by the Government until 1870. Even the Army didn't have many guns, and the Samurai were still carrying swords.; 3/9/18, 11:42 AM
Mark Jones said...: JohnAnnArbor: the term you're thinking of is "otaku."

Etienne: you can kiss my shiny metal ass. Even by your own stupid metric ("endeavors in which loss of life can be expected") your proposal is asinine. The vast majority of guns, and the vast majority of gun owners, never kill anyone. Fortunately, you're not in charge of deciding who may or may not own a gun, and you never will be.; 3/9/18, 11:51 AM
Nonapod said...: The ancient way to hunt boar was with spears.
A fine sort of exercise I think, its just a matter of laws and marketing.

One idea could be creating robotic power armor for bore-hunting , enhancing the users strength and agility like something out of an manga.; 3/9/18, 12:03 PM
Ralph L said...: Is part of the problem cheap food imports?; 3/9/18, 12:03 PM
cubanbob said...: Now that Etienne has brought up DD-214's, has anyone as yet ever seen John Kerry's? He promised fourteen years ago to disclose it shortly.; 3/9/18, 12:08 PM
mockturtle said...: There is no bushido in shooting someone. Severing a head with a swift flash of a sharp sword, now that's bushido; 3/9/18, 12:23 PM
mockturtle said...: Etienne enjoys rash hyperbole. I never take him too seriously. ;-); 3/9/18, 12:34 PM
Jaq said...: But Japan, like the US, has a shortage of health care workers and has encouraged nurses from Philippines and other SE Asia countries to immigrate to Japan-- often to take care of the aging population.

So you are saying that US style, they just open their borders and take whoever shows up without regard for legal status and give them jobs? Or is it more complicated than that?; 3/9/18, 12:45 PM
Jaq said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/9/18, 12:48 PM
Etienne said...: Mark Jones said...your proposal is asinine.

You are arguing that anyone can have a gun, even if they are insane.

The Japanese are arguing that they want a very high standard of ownership.

I think the Japanese are more civilized. The American system is not good for the insane, or their victims.

Is it asinine to require people learn to drive before getting their license? Which violent weapons are asinine when used without any training?

I think the insane gun nuts are going down, their arguments are asinine.; 3/9/18, 12:57 PM
Etienne said...: mockturtle said...Etienne enjoys rash hyperbole

Hyperbole is my middle name...; 3/9/18, 1:00 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "So the Japanese get it right on two counts?"

You think the right answer on immigration is to exclude newcomers?; 3/9/18, 1:00 PM
Etienne said...: What about a 27B/6 ?

Only in the UK.; 3/9/18, 1:05 PM
Ann Althouse said...: "The definition of ethnic and racial boundaries alongside national ones leads many people to represent Japan as tan’itsu minzoku kokka (単一民族国家, "an ethnically homogeneous nation"), with an explicit purity of blood and culture.... In 2005 Former Japanese Prime Minister Tarō Asō described Japan as being a nation of "one race, one civilization, one language and one culture" and in 2012, this claim was repeated by former Governor of Tokyo Shintaro Ishihara.... The concept of a unified minzoku retains a legal authority. A 1984 amendment to the Japanese Nationality Act made citizenship jus sanguinis, tied to blood rather than place of birth.... Polls in the past have shown that most Japanese people oppose an expansion of immigration. However, a recent 2015 poll by the Asahi Shimbun found that 34% of its readers oppose an expansion of immigration to maintain Japan's economic status in the face of a shrinking and rapidly aging workforce, while 51% of its readers support increased immigration."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_to_Japan; 3/9/18, 1:06 PM
FIDO said...: If only they had a tradition of gun rights and immigration...

How about moving to the 19th century when it comes to women's rights. There is a reason that the women of Japan and Korea don't want to marry and it has everything to do with their status which is 'none'.

The problem is they need more babies. That requires FAMILIES since Japan, still having shame, does not allow generations of young ladies to tramp around with a bevy of illegitimate future jailbait trailing behind them on the government fisc.

Japan has the exact opposite problem of the West. There GIRLS see no benefit to marriage. Here, MEN see the same problem since both sides lack basic rights and human dignity in that institution.

Alas, having seen how a severe case of Feminism has driven some Western women insane, they want no truck with a touch of cowpox to stave off generational genocide because they fear feminist smallpox.

Japan would rather die out than embrace any facet of feminism.

It's hard to ding them on that choice...all things considered.; 3/9/18, 1:18 PM
Etienne said...: Pettifogger said...Interesting. What other constitutional rights can be conditioned on military service

Who would of thought you could ban alcohol with an Amendment?; 3/9/18, 1:20 PM
Gahrie said...: Who would of thought you could ban alcohol with an Amendment?

We've banned much more with much less.

We've banned and regulated the ingestion of countless substances through laws and regulatons.

We've infringed an explicit Constitutional right to own a weapon with mere regulations.

We've eliminated male procreational rights through court decisions.; 3/9/18, 1:28 PM
Gahrie said...: You think the right answer on immigration is to exclude newcomers?

Usually it is.

Try to gain Swiss citizenship. Hell try to gain Mexican or Canadian citizenship.

We are pretty much the only nation that gives it away.; 3/9/18, 1:31 PM
Gahrie said...: Is it asinine to require people learn to drive before getting their license?

There is no Constitutional right to drive.

Which violent weapons are asinine when used without any training?

Personally I am against pencils, kitchen knives and wood chippers. But I still think you have the right to own them.; 3/9/18, 1:33 PM
FIDO said...: Easy Peasy.

Get ten Texans with rifles in and have them only shoot female boars.

Issue solved.

Likewise, if you only limited welfare payments to men or married women, suddenly your illegitimacy rates, crime rates and budget inflation rates would drop like rocks!

But that is just crazy talk.; 3/9/18, 1:41 PM
FIDO said...: If you are happy to take away my right to a gun (and actually, you don't. I would still get one, son)

Then I will happily ALSO limit voting to the military.

One gun-one vote.

School shooters have taught us that him who has the guns makes the rules. Let's just run with that, hmm?; 3/9/18, 1:43 PM
readering said...: From recent news article:

'Ever since 2011, sales of adult diapers in Japan have outpaced those of baby diapers. The trend reflects just how big the cohort of senior citizens is: People over 65 make up a larger demographic than any other in Japan. Of the 127.11 million people, about 26.7% of them are seniors. That proportion is up 3.7 percentage points from six years ago.'

I know two Chinese sisters who emigrated to Japan with their Chinese husbands. They do just fine and their children blend in as Japanese (and one is married to a Japanese woman with a kid-hurray!) But their mother could not stand living there since nothing was made easy for someone who could not speak Japanese--in contrast to all the accommodations to non-English speakers in Southern California, where she lives contentedly with her son.; 3/9/18, 1:43 PM
Anonymous said...: Nonapod: In terms of national defense, I agree. I was more referring to personal defense. The Japanese take great pride in being a gunless society. I always find that personally a bit mystifying that some people seem so proud to be defenseless. I guess it's the old notion of gun rights and gun possession among the citizenry equating to a society being made up of unenlightened, hyper violent primitives.

Thanks for the clarification, Non. Also, wasn't carrying arms historically a highly restricted right (and duty) there?

Japan is also a very safe, low crime country, no? On a local scale, even Americans brag about it if they live in communities where people don't have to lock their doors or worry about getting raped or robbed if they wander around town at night. I wouldn't call that pride in defenseless. More like pride in not being a bunch of barbarians. Or perplexity that people who are not barbarians tolerate the presence of people who are.; 3/9/18, 1:53 PM
Anonymous said...: AA: You think the right answer on immigration is to exclude newcomers?

One can be exclusive without excluding everybody. That's the right answer. Right, that is, if immigrants are really necessary.

rcocean: Japan has 110-120 million people in a country the size of California.

Its not underpopulated. Like this silly article wants you to believe.

[...]

Right now, japan has a population imbalance. In 20-30 years that imbalance will go away.

Yup. Demographic conditions are not static or linear. An overhang in the age pyramid is not fatal. If in the next 50 years Japan did not admit a single immigrant, it will would still exist and will not be a shithole. The concern-trolling of The Economist and other globalist ideologues notwithstanding.; 3/9/18, 2:15 PM
Gojuplyr831@gmail.com said...: Buwaya.
Why wait til retirement? You can hunt wild boar in the UP. There are full guided hunts available. The boar are true wild boar and are fast and dangerous.; 3/9/18, 2:22 PM
FullMoon said...: Bob Boyd said... [hush][hide comment]

Etienne said: "I don't think you should be able to buy or shoot a gun in America, without having a DD-214."

What about a 27B-6 ?

How about WD-40? Pressurized.; 3/9/18, 2:55 PM
Unknown said...: To or three decades ago I worked in Japan on and off, teaching them how to build parts that fairchild in quantities they could not deliver, and in typical Japanese KanBan style they over delivered in quantity and quality with generation old equipment. Putting the U.S. far behind in semiconductors for a decade until our companies got the Peter Drucker religion. I got to turn off our burn in test systems. A reminder of how different Asian countries are from us. They worshiped their elders and could not understand why americans let their parents live away from home during their last years. There was no crime. The density of parking mopeds was such that everyone left their keys in to make them easy to move, even better bars had no cash registers. They made change out of bills stacked on the bar in plain sight touchable by anyone as they came and went. On the other hand they abused their ladies terribly, who thought this was the way life should be plus they smoked like chimneys until recently.; 3/9/18, 3:23 PM
Robert said...: A 27 B whatever is some type of Limey discharge? No effin way. Christopher Steele might be eligible.; 3/9/18, 4:15 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: SOWS WILL NOT REPLACE US!; 3/9/18, 4:21 PM
Char Char Binks, Esq. said...: Etienne. your bad welding that killed a pilot is no excuse to curtail our rights.

Buwaya, be careful; using the word "safari" could garner Althouse's wrath!; 3/9/18, 4:30 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: FIDO said: Get ten Texans with rifles in and have them only shoot female boars.
Issue solved."

There is an LGBTQWHATEVER joke in there somewhere.; 3/9/18, 4:40 PM
mockturtle said...: You think the right answer on immigration is to exclude newcomers?

When you're a country the size of Japan, yes.; 3/9/18, 4:43 PM
Mark Jones said...: Etienne: "You are arguing that anyone can have a gun, even if they are insane."

That's a nice strawman you've built there. There's miles between "nobody but a veteran (holder of a DD214) can own a gun" and "nobody *can't* own a gun."

"The Japanese are arguing that they want a very high standard of ownership."

"I think the Japanese are more civilized. The American system is not good for the insane, or their victims."

Assuming facts not in evidence. Hundreds of millions of Americans own hundreds of millions of guns and the vast majority never hurt anyone with them.

"Is it asinine to require people learn to drive before getting their license? Which violent weapons are asinine when used without any training?"

Getting training in the safe and legal use of firearms is very important. *Requiring* it before you may own a gun is asinine, as such rules have been and will be used to impose defacto gun control at every opportunity by anti-gun poiticians.

"I think the insane gun nuts are going down, their arguments are asinine."

Keep telling yourself that. Despite the hysterical drumbeat for more gun control at every opportunity by the media, Shall-issue CCW is widerspead, gun ownership is wider spread, and violent crime is *down* for decades everywhere but a few benighted places like Detroit and other gun control capitols.; 3/9/18, 5:19 PM
FIDO said...: The Japanese get to determine who and what the Japanese are. No one else.

So do Americans when they win elections on that very issue.

Etienne:

There are probably far more 'bad welding' deaths than there are 'poor gunplay' deaths. In fact, IIRC, a few years ago, there were NO hunting deaths from poor gunfire.

Not that I expect facts like this to make an impression on you.

Deaths of Democrats derive dominantly from deliberately directed destruction from the dastardly degenerate denizens of Democratic Districts. Direct your draconian directives more distinctly. Democrats should not have guns.; 3/9/18, 5:24 PM
LordSomber said...: Didn't Chernobyl also have a problem with interloping radioactive boars?; 3/9/18, 8:18 PM
DB said...: Wasn't a big food secret in the food-comedy Tampopo about wild boars, disclosed as a dramatic dying declaration? If I recall, the secret was to kill the boars after they'd eaten yams, for the reward of sweet yam sausage. Can't this problem be solved by planting yams and sharing the secret with all?!; 3/9/18, 8:56 PM
walter said...: Pettifogger said...Being from Texas, I'm in favor of both hog traps and gun rights. But as an owner of Texas land, I'm painfully aware that even those two things together are insufficient to control the hog population. If I knew what was enough, I'd market it.

buwaya said...I don't know if someone has thought of this, but -
Make it easy to sell "hog safari" tours.
---
Situation has gone hog wild.
Recruit some meat processors and tie it all to FREE BACON!
Done.; 3/9/18, 9:50 PM
Etienne said...: The Feds could easily declare a hog bounty, and the processed meat can be sent to the starving Venezuelans.

Say $1 a pound. With a trillion dollars (same cost as 1000 thermo-nuclear weapons) we could feed the worlds starving with a nice ham.; 3/9/18, 10:09 PM
Etienne said...: There are probably far more 'bad welding' deaths than there are 'poor gunplay' deaths.

Probably more people killed by Fords. That doesn't make repealing the 2nd Amendment a bad thing.

I wouldn't be against shotguns and bolt action weapons after certification and training. Anything else, the owner should have a military ID card.; 3/9/18, 10:14 PM
Pettifogger said...: Fido said: "Get ten Texans with rifles in and have them only shoot female boars."

The formulation "female boars" is equivalent to female bulls or female stallions. Boars are male. Sows are female.

Hunting isn't really a solution long term unless you have trained dogs. And the pool of trained dogs is not large. Part of the problem is what you do with the dogs when you are not hunting, which is most of the time.; 3/9/18, 10:18 PM
Pettifogger said...: Fido said: "Get ten Texans with rifles in and have them only shoot female boars."

The formulation "female boars" is equivalent to female bulls or female stallions. Boars are male. Sows are female.

Hunting isn't really a solution long term unless you have trained dogs. And the pool of trained dogs is not large. Part of the problem is what you do with the dogs when you are not hunting, which is most of the time.; 3/9/18, 10:18 PM
Etienne said...: Hundreds of millions of Americans own hundreds of millions of guns and the vast majority never hurt anyone with them.

I know that is comforting when you see your child stapled and pinned together on the morgue table, except for the chunks of the body that won't take a staple or a pin.

There in the shoe-box is your 2nd grade childs liver.

Statistically speaking, the child was a non-event, and Americans deserve to have weapons of mass destruction. The mass killers deserve life in prison with three meals and a sex hormone therapy.; 3/9/18, 10:24 PM
Freeman Hunt said...: In Princess Mononoke it was because of deforestation.; 3/9/18, 10:58 PM
Mark Jones said...: Me: Hundreds of millions of Americans own hundreds of millions of guns and the vast majority never hurt anyone with them.

Etienne: I know that is comforting when you see your child stapled and pinned together on the morgue table, except for the chunks of the body that won't take a staple or a pin.

There in the shoe-box is your 2nd grade childs liver.

Statistically speaking, the child was a non-event, and Americans deserve to have weapons of mass destruction. The mass killers deserve life in prison with three meals and a sex hormone therapy.

Maybe if politicians and anti-gun zealots spent more time dealing with actual criminals (gangbangers, for instance, who commit most of the murders) and the mentally ill (who like to shoot up Guaranteed Victim Zones like schools), instead of harrassing millions of innocent citizens, they'd do a better job of preventing the murders you're so het up about.

Strange, isn't it, how attacking innocent people and threatening their freedoms when they have nothing to do with the criminal acts of other people results in those same people telling you to go fuck yourself.; 3/10/18, 12:32 AM
Etienne said...: All I'm saying is, that the freedom to own weapons of mass destruction is a sickness that can't be understood by the people who sanction those freedoms.

It's like a farmer who wants the right to spray DDT on his land, and could care less about it washing into the creeks and rivers.

Weapons of mass destruction are the same type of pollution.

Thank God, our forefathers didn't put the right to spray DDT in an Amendment, because as sure as shit the National DDT Association and their Washington lobbying billions of dollars, will make sure the Constitution is protected.; 3/10/18, 7:04 AM
Rusty said...: Etienne said,
I'll ask you what I've asked other gun control adherents on this site.
Have you personally ever tried to buy a gun?
What specific solutions do you advocate given the state of gun ownership in the United States?
I have yet to get a coherent answer. Maybe you'll be different.; 3/10/18, 7:08 AM
Etienne said...: I propose, that our forefathers had no idea that weapons of mass destruction could be purchased with less than a weeks pay by even the insane.

I propose, that if our forefathers did suspect that something like this would come to pass, that they would not have been so loosey-goosey with the Amendment wording.

I think Americans have the freedom to repeal all Amendments, and to create new ones. As far as weapons of mass destruction, I think the country can no longer afford to have terrorists arming themselves legally.; 3/10/18, 7:12 AM
Etienne said...: Rusty said...I have yet to get a coherent answer.

Well, if everything is incoherent to you that is different thinking, then yes, 'yet' will never happen.

I think gun ownership under the guise of a freedom given hundreds of years ago has been pressing the boundaries of "a more perfect Union" ever since the banana clip was invented.

To me the solution is simple.

I own two guns. A varmint pistol (I have copperhead snakes and burrowing turtles), and a 357 magnum revolver for when I go into the forest. I don't hunt for meat, but I have no problem with those that do. I just don't want to be eaten by a Bear or a Mountain Lion.

I do not own any long guns, as I don't hunt, and I don't go to rifle ranges. When I was in the military we had the old M-16 and Beretta pistols. I have no need for those kinds of weapons. I don't get a thrill out of throwing money away on rapid fire.

I think rapid fire guns is like any other drug addiction. There are people who can't get through a day without shooting with their bump-stock, and they buy and trade weapons rather than feed their divorced wives children. All the really big gun nuts will give up sex to own the right rapid fire technology.

So the solution is, to sell guns like we sell cars. You buy the gun, you buy the insurance, you get the title. If you sell or trade guns then you need a dealers license. Insurance rates for rapid fire should be greater than single fire. Insurance rates for varmint guns should be cheaper than magnums.

Your right to own and drive a car is limited by your past performance as a member of society. If you are a bad member, you can't get a drivers license, and you can't get insurance. Same with guns.

People need to know when they are criminals.

Blah, blah, blah, you get the idea...; 3/10/18, 7:35 AM
FIDO said...: Yes you can advocate to repeal any amendment. At least you are honest enough (or obnoxious enough) to actually say what you mean, laced with inaccuracies and hyperbolic ramblings.

But here is the thing: your side lost. The vast majority of Americans want, AT MOST, a tiny bit of reshuffling of the existing laws, not demanding rescinding AN AMENDMENT.

To put it bluntly, you would find more support at rescinding the right to abortion than you would with rescinding gun rights.

Everyone in America (outside of Liberal Bubbles) knows someone who owns a gun. They are harming NO ONE. In fact, the majority of people I know own guns. Have shot guns for most of their lives. Respect guns. They like the macho posturing but it's their own form of virtue signaling, like your blatant lack of masculine traits is yours.

You are not trustworthy. You don't want to just grab guns from bad actors (mostly Democrats). You want to take them from people who own them legally, use them responsibly, and you are doing it with the pretext of moral blackmail.

You are, in fact, a great example of why we need a Second Amendment. Our forefathers advocated men having access to MILITARY guns to oppose the government: not for hunting and self protection.

You really have no idea what you are talking about except wailing about dead kids, who statistically ARE a tiny blip.; 3/10/18, 7:43 AM
Birkel said...: Etienne: "...sickness that can't be understood by the people who sanction those freedoms.

You do not sanction my freedom. It is not yours to give.

We are citizens, not subjects.; 3/10/18, 7:52 AM
Etienne said...: FIDO said...You really have no idea what you are talking about...

I can't respond to that. You are saying the subject is too complex for my little brain, is that it?

The big brain is that "Guns mean freedom" the little brains are "Guns means guns".; 3/10/18, 7:59 AM
Birkel said...: When Jefferson sent privateers to Tripoli to object to Americans captured on the high seas by Barbary Pirates, the ships with cannons were owned by private citizens.

I will yield my firearms if the United States gives to me a shop of the line with 24 cannons per side.

I've always wanted to sack a city. /sarc?; 3/10/18, 8:01 AM
Etienne said...: Birkel said...We are citizens, not subjects.

Oliver North stated that the government had plans available for when the Constitution needs to be suspended, and military rule enacted, during his testimony during the Iran-Contra affair.

I found it telling, that people put so much faith in a mere ink, when the Congress has plans for suspension.

Bump-stocks against a tank like in Waco, or snipers in Ruby Ridge will make your militia look like a pack of Cub Scouts.

You're a citizen today. Maybe...; 3/10/18, 8:07 AM
Etienne said...: Birkel said...You do not sanction my freedom.

You misread. I was saying gun nuts sanction a diseased freedom of owning weapons of mass destruction. A freedom that cannot be sustained giving rapid development of technology.

I mean, who will want to buy a rifle that shoots bullets, when you can buy a rail gun for half the cost, and take out cars and trucks from your porch with a battery that can be recharged.; 3/10/18, 8:14 AM
FIDO said...: Hyperbolic ramblings. Do you know of any company which sells such a product? Has there been an incredible interest in such products?

But more to the point: you can whine about the barn door and the empty stall but that stall is already empty.

Some Brit (I know, a BRIT of all people) went to the hardware store and using the parts, put together an automatic machine gun with not a whole lot of effort.

Are you going to outlaw hardware? Do you think criminals are going to respect laws?

I always find your sort entertaining. On the one hand, you whine and rail against American Military adventurism by saying 'insurgent tactics will always defeat American military might' but when you've changed soapboxes to gun control, suddenly all your thoughts on the efficacy of insurgent tactics conveniently drop out the window and there is 'no way citizens armed with 'weapons of mass destruction' can fight the U.S. military.'

You know...their families. Their brothers and sisters. The place that they actually live.

Sure they are going to be on your side. Keep telling yourself that. After all, Liberals and Democrats have been SO RESPECTFUL to the military for decades.

"Gee guys, we are revoking an amendment and we want you to shoot up all your fellow Americans." Great sales pitch!; 3/10/18, 8:58 AM
Etienne said...: FIDO said... [nothing]

The most interesting thing about you is your amazing ability to condescend for days at a time.; 3/10/18, 9:08 AM
FIDO said...: You make me blush! But I can't take any of the credit! It is the fact you are so darned inspirational.; 3/10/18, 9:33 AM
Thuglawlibrarian said...: "The influx is the result of two factors, experts say: declining human populations and climate change."

Love the Washington "Democracy Dies in the Pig Shit" Post putting in the old global warming chestnut. They devote a sentence indicating that that Northern Japan doesn't get as much snow and therefore more feral pigs. Well, feral pigs live in cold climates like Finland, Siberia, et al.; 3/10/18, 10:22 AM
Bad Lieutenant said...: Etienne said...
FIDO said... [nothing]

The most interesting thing about you is your amazing ability to condescend for days at a time.

3/10/18, 9:08 AM

You've got no kick coming, coupé. You've been profiling as a Class A weirdo on this website for some time now. I leave you alone cuz you obviously want the attention, but if you're coming out now with actual opinions that people are actually supposed to regard as human, well, maybe you should take your clown nose off or something. In 5 minutes you'll be burning bodies again to generate electricity. You should feel good that people are still falling for it and talking to you.; 3/10/18, 5:49 PM
Etienne said...: Still patrolling the halls eh "Bad"? Still making sure the blog is safe. I'm sure your amen corner will be around to lick your hand. All three of them...; 3/11/18, 10:03 AM