Archie, to Meathead: "I could end the skyjackings tomorrow."

[IDemo]

Michael 'Meathead' Stivic: You could?

Archie Bunker: All you gotta do is arm all your passengers. He ain't got no more moral superiority there, and he ain't gonna dare to pull out no rod. And then your airlines, they wouldn't have to search the passengers on the ground no more, they just pass out the pistols at the beginning of the trip, and they just pick them up at the end! Case closed.

Michael 'Meathead' Stivic: That's incredible, Arch.

That was dialog from "All in the Family" in 1972, a comedy that attempted to make a social statement, always wrapped in the absurdity of the dimwitted but outspoken head of the family - Archie Bunker. It was taken as satire back then, but repeating that identical line of Archie's to many people nowadays would result in vigorous head nodding in agreement around the room.

WTF happened??

[Duer 157099]

1. Life imitates art?

So we should be more careful about the "art" we make?

[man4allcats]

3. Carroll O'Connor was great in the role of Archie Bunker,

and were he alive today I'm quite sure he would say, and I would agree, that the art we make should reflect life if for no other reason than to give us a mirror to view the insanity we laughingly refer to as civilization.

[NYC_SKP]

2. It's a great idea!

If you're wanting to thin the flock.

[4th law of robotics]

4. Arm all? No.

Arm a few who know what they're doing? Maybe.

That's what Israel does.

And they seem to do ok.

/how did not arming anyone work out?

[JHB]

5. They all assume everyone has movie-badass aim

I took the Long Island Rail Road when Colin Ferguson went on his rampage and killed people (including the husband and son of Carolyn McCarthy, which sent her from housewife to Congresswoman to unseat her anti-gun-control representative). People said the same thing back then.

I happen to know that I jerk a pistol to the right when shooting under stress. I know this from simulated stress at a pistol range and saw myself do the same in those paintball games. Even if you miss your target by a little bit, you've still missed it and the projectile ends up somewhere.

So if I had been on that fateful train and armed, maybe I could have stopped him. Or maybe I would have emptied the clip jerking every hasty shot to the right, missing him and hitting a whole bunch of innocent people.

There's a reason movie-badasses can hit anything. The script says they do. No script in real life.

[arcane1]

6. And maybe someone else would mistake you for an accomplice and shoot you too

This is such a f*cking mess

[Lint Head]

7. Back then there were people that believed Archie Bunker just like they believe Cobert today.