this post was submitted on 30 Nov 2023
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Boolshit like this is why I gotta remember to stock up on ammo well before the 2024 election.
LOTS of liberal sorts been buying guns. Women, POC and LGBT folks have been the largest gun buying demographic for a few years. They'll be stocking up in case of a Trump win. I'm an old white guy, but I'll be joining them.
And of course the conservative sorts will pull their usual freakout in case a Democrat wins. Even when it's the same Democrat from the last 4-years. You would think they'd have learned after 8-years of Obama. LOL nope. Panicky little bitches.
Look in the mirror because that's the person most likely to get shot with your guns. Who do you love most in the world? Because they're number 2. This fantasy that gun ownership protects people, especially from the government needs to fucking die.
The natives had Guns; the Black Panthers had guns; Briana Taylor had an armed protector too.
I'm certain of it, and that's why I didn't have a gun until I was 39. Too mentally unstable. Suicidal ideation is no longer on the table, and hasn't been for some time.
And yes, my guns could certainly fight the government. I'd likely die, but how many armed citizens fighting back would the government continue to prosecute? And it's not like they would call in airstrikes on my hood. And how many soldiers would even participate, knowing they would be under fire from every 2nd window?
I watched a video last year of jihadis randomly shooting up a residential block of apartments after last year's Iranian protests. Think that could happen in America? Men running and gunning while the civilians all cower in helplessness? Why or why not?
Or would they even start? Look OP, I'm 52 and never imagined America falling into the fascist hellscape we're facing now. The front runner for the GOP candidacy just called me "vermin", an "internal enemy" that must be exterminated. And he has a solid chance of winning.
So if you think things are bad now, just how bad would they be if the government knew, for a fact, that the citizenry was helpless? I'm not taking bets, not anymore, not with what I've seen this past decade.
You can choose to be peaceful, but if you are unarmed and practiced, you are merely harmless.
You're absolutely right, guns don't protect people at all...oh wait, they do. You mean the left has been lying to me this entire time?
Of those people that were protected, how many were protected from other people with guns? It's just an arms race basically. Sure everyone needs guns for protection, because everyone has guns. Funny how all the countries with low gun ownership don't have rampant murders.
Funny how the countries with high gun ownership don't have rampant murder. Israel and Switzerland anyone?
America doesn't have a gun problem, we have a culture problem.
Also s good point. I feel like that adds to mine actually. Considering the severe lack of education, mental health support, etc. in the US, the solution isn't to add more guns then. Gun ownership increases safety when everyone is responsible (like Switzerland) but decreases it when everyone is not (like the US).
Maybe Switzerland and Israel aren't the best examples. Switzerland has mandatory military service and by extension firearm familiarity training. Israel is...well Israel.
Don't be coy, who are you going to shoot? People are being killed so you can buy guns and ammo on a whim, especially those "women, POC and LGBT folks".
Or is this just more astro-turfing from the gun lobby, targeting a new demographic after saturating their core "idiots, racists and domestic terrorists" market?
The fearful, anxious and nervous have always been a core demographic for the gun lobby.
This is the a big reason for gun control.
Yeah, the idiots, racists and domestic terrorists make the headlines with mass killings, but it’s the nervous, anxious and fearful that present the most danger for most of us. At any time, there could be an unsecured loaded weapon around for the taking or pulled out because someone got startled, or is in an unexpected situation, or approached by someone with the wrong skin color, or even in what should have been a minor altercation
There was a time when high school aged kids, especially more rural area's, would have a rifle in the vehicle they went to school in, and would go hunting after. The rate of school shootings was extremely low and rare. So - I ask: What changed?
We've had machine guns accessible to people since the 1920's, we've had the know how to make guns with supplies from a hardware store since like the Irish Revolution. So it's not an accessibility issue.
Wealth Disparity, More parents with multiple jobs, commodification of housing, gentrification of neighbourhoods. That all started happening in and around the 1960's really. Beyond this - leaded gasoline, given lead poisoning and exposure to such has been linked to lower empathy. And then there is my favorite: This cultural shift to seemingly rejecting personal responsibility - and why? how? The answer is how we are educated. What we are taught. And as a society - we voted for these changes, either purposefully or through complacency.
I'm not saying you should be allowed to go out and buy a minigun and all the ammo. What I am saying is that guns aren't the problem - it's the cultural back drop that is being ignored. The changes between then and now that have been demonstrably negative. And yet - the negative parts aren't being discussed or dealt with because ultimately those in power, lacking empathy for the average person, profit from this entire situation.
It's time we as a society tell the capitalists to shut up until basic needs are covered (food, shelter) - and tell the socialists to shut up because the USSR is a failed state. And tell the Corrupt unions to rethink their priorities. And Finally - it's time for a new labour movement.
You know what got labour laws passed and happening in the US? Guns. So bad was the violence against labour movements that the labour movements started showing up armed and being willing to shoot first and ask questions later to the point that the government HAD to act, HAD to listen because the economy was being threatened. The reason strikes work is ultimately because it threatens companies economic viability, and it's why we need anti-scab legislation.
It turns out that mixed-market economics is the way to go. And somehow, even back in the day - under a different format, even Adam Smith had some understanding of this. After all: The church was responsible for the charity work, and it was a MANDATE BY GOD to give like 10% of your earnings to the church. Of course - the Catholic Church is well known for hording wealth and trying to keep knowledge as the exclusive domain of the church but, well... things went sideways, the church stopped, greedy people took over and no one stepped in to fix the situation leading to toxic environments during the industrial revolution that were exploitative. And this is why we need legislation to protect against this.
UBI is an inevitability sooner or later - and it can act as a general replacement for the payouts of welfare, old age, and so much more. Sure, we need social assistance programs, but imagine how many people out their would be happy to take UBI, Work part time, and commit 10-20 hours a week just helping other people: I know many of them. But under the current environment - it doesn't happen, and so our elderly get neglected, those down on their luck get ignored, and it's a struggle.
We as a Society need to do better.
And doing better fixes the vast majority of crime - including gun crime.
TL;DR: Guns aren't really the issue. The issue is the societal back drop that has changed arguably for the worse do to creating higher degrees of wealth disparity, and a greater degree of poverty which is directly linked with increased crime.
The FBI being on the case means that they mastermind a plot, fund it, arm it, and get a few suckers to agree to it, then put those people in jail forever. Just because the right hates them now too doesn't mean they stopped being motherfuckers. I stand with MTG: defund the FBI!
There are 393.3 million guns owned by private citizens in the United States. 46% of all households own at least one gun. Do you really think the gun manufacturers need to troll an overall meaningless social network, posting misinformation on some random-ass meme to push their agenda? I'm hoping your comment was satire and I just have a broken satire meter.
Not really how modern astro-turfing works (its far too easy to catch). Instead, talking points are seeded and signal boosted in key communities, then left to spread organically from there.
You're welcome to believe that an industry that makes tools to kill people, that donates $16 million each year to Republicians and spends even more on legal challenges, would never stoop to the kind of sleazy tricks used by oil and tobacco industries, or companies like Microsoft and Apple, or governments like Israel's and China's.
Personally, that sounds pretty naive to me.
So why did "guns are awesome for women and the gays" suddenly become the favourite take of pro-gun groups? It definitely didn't follow a high profile event where a minority defended themselves with a gun, because there hasn't been any.
The only minority group that benefits from permissive gun laws is white supremacists.