241–250 of 346 posts
I have to add this little thought to the thread. I was in the U.K. recently. I was forced to quarantine in a hotel there for two weeks. And naturally while I was in the U.K. I was thinking about the usual political and cultural topics, including gun control and the stabbing problem. I was watching a huge amount of British television due to being stuck inside this room, and I ended up watching a lot of the British equ…
Am sure this will be downvoted but just commenting that I find discussion in these threads fascinating, terrifying, fundamentally foreign. Having lived in large cities all my life I cannot conceive of owning a gun, or of other nearby city dwellers owning guns, or even being allowed to in a non law enforcement capacity. There are apartments in NYC with working fireplaces- seems almost equally insane to me, though gun…
As a very pro-2A gun owner, I'm upvoting you and hope at least people stop downvoting you. Downvoting this comment, which in no way attacks other people or their points of view, goes against the spirit of HN. Save that crap for reddit. Back to your comment, though, I grew up in the San Francisco suburbs. I have pretty much lived in either metropolitan suburbs or urban center of medium sized cities. I never even shot…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For those of us who grew up around guns, your abject horror at an object is as puzzling as someone being terrified of knives or slingshots. Would be nice if cops were all good and could teleport to your location in time of need. Drive an hour outside your city of choice and that ain't gonna happen. Just sharing my own experience, cheers.
Why do most developed nations don't let citizens own guns then?
The concept of liberty is relatively new, most of the world has lived under monarchs, dictators, etc until relatively recently in the grand scheme of things. The ideas and mechanisms of freedom are still being learned.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I live in Los Angeles and I used to feel that way until this pandemic hit - I'm not saying you'll change your mind living in NYC, just sharing my change in perspective. I bugged out mid-March to a family farm to wait out the pandemic and since then its been a nonstop string of events reinforcing why - at least outside of cities - guns are absolutely necessary. Now, mind you, one member of the household works at a res…
The guns rural people tend to need are rifles. The guns that you see used in cities are almost entirely handguns. The concentration on scary black rifles is misguided unless you only focus on mass shootings, which make up a tiny fraction of firearm homicides.
A sibling comment mentioned the value of an AR15 for shooting at coyotes near a chicken coup without collateral damage which I hadn't even considered so I think this also depends on the geography and community. I'm in a mountainous part of the county with mostly 2-10 acre properties that often butt up against each other with buildings clustered on the largest available pieces of continuous flat land. Shooting a high powered rifle in this environment would be extremely dangerous because we've got half a dozen neighbors' houses well within the range of a rifle, all at weird angles above and below the horizon on one side of the property. Someone who hasn't had proper training in fire arm use - as in training under pressure, not just gun range safety - could easily fire off a shot that kills a neighbor. Everyone here who shoots rifles does it into an unpopulated distant mountain side or into a big hill on their property.
> The concentration on scary black rifles is misguided unless you only focus on mass shootings, which make up a tiny fraction of firearm homicides.
I disagree. The key to understanding the different sides gun control issue is exactly what I've been talking about - understanding different perspectives. The suburban white mom who worries about her child accidentally shooting themselves at a friend's house, the young adult who is worried about getting shot at the mall, and the urban black mom who is mostly worried about her child catching a stray bullet from a street or gang dispute are only ostensibly fighting for the same thing. Those are really three separate issues with their own really complex interactions with constitutional law, mental health, social justice, and community. The three groups are forced under one banner largely because of our two party system, but their views should be analyzed independently.
That the media focuses on the group with the most disposable income and the most visceral imagery shouldn't surprise anyone
Earlier quoted context omitted.
For those of us who grew up around guns, your abject horror at an object is as puzzling as someone being terrified of knives or slingshots. Would be nice if cops were all good and could teleport to your location in time of need. Drive an hour outside your city of choice and that ain't gonna happen. Just sharing my own experience, cheers.
Even within cities, people have been having that realization over the past two months with how the cops have been unable to keep up with the rioting. Permit applications are up 500% in Illinois, and sales are skyrocketing all over. https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/breaking/ct-chicago-illi...
Am sure this will be downvoted but just commenting that I find discussion in these threads fascinating, terrifying, fundamentally foreign. Having lived in large cities all my life I cannot conceive of owning a gun, or of other nearby city dwellers owning guns, or even being allowed to in a non law enforcement capacity. There are apartments in NYC with working fireplaces- seems almost equally insane to me, though gun…
As a very pro-2A gun owner, I'm upvoting you and hope at least people stop downvoting you. Downvoting this comment, which in no way attacks other people or their points of view, goes against the spirit of HN. Save that crap for reddit. Back to your comment, though, I grew up in the San Francisco suburbs. I have pretty much lived in either metropolitan suburbs or urban center of medium sized cities. I never even shot…
Am sure this will be downvoted but just commenting that I find discussion in these threads fascinating, terrifying, fundamentally foreign. Having lived in large cities all my life I cannot conceive of owning a gun, or of other nearby city dwellers owning guns, or even being allowed to in a non law enforcement capacity. There are apartments in NYC with working fireplaces- seems almost equally insane to me, though gun…
The problem is that these people are missing a lot of information about the world outside and they have opinions and vote missing relevant and sometimes essential information. They are most of the time nice and well intentioned people supporting or voting for what can be very bad things.
For example my country has the largest bear population in EU, but we are not allowed to hunt them even if they come in villages and attack people. Why? Because urban "nature-lovers" are against shooting bears: bears don't come in their large cities, they don't ever meet a bear bare-handed (this is the quotes for), so for them bears are not a problem. For the people with damages ffrom bears, they are not enough to make their voice heard and over-vote the urban people.
I have to add this little thought to the thread. I was in the U.K. recently. I was forced to quarantine in a hotel there for two weeks. And naturally while I was in the U.K. I was thinking about the usual political and cultural topics, including gun control and the stabbing problem. I was watching a huge amount of British television due to being stuck inside this room, and I ended up watching a lot of the British equ…
This is possibly the lowest quality comment I have ever seen on HN.
Oh I see that you are actually from the U.K. I’m sorry for calling you feeble.
Am sure this will be downvoted but just commenting that I find discussion in these threads fascinating, terrifying, fundamentally foreign. Having lived in large cities all my life I cannot conceive of owning a gun, or of other nearby city dwellers owning guns, or even being allowed to in a non law enforcement capacity. There are apartments in NYC with working fireplaces- seems almost equally insane to me, though gun…
It's definitely framed by where you live. I had a buddy in rural West Texas who had a loaded AR-15 mounted on the wall of his living room. I thought it was some insane gun nut thing, until I asked him about it. He explained that the nearest sheriff was 45 minutes away and he'd also had problems with coyotes attacking his chickens. For him, it would be crazy not have a high-powered weapon at the ready since there was…
Why do American people put up with the authorities breaking the law instead of simply having the law changed? The constitution is not a bible, it can be updated. (Or, perhaps, it is indeed a "bible", in a sense?)
And, incidentally, the constitution says nothing about hunting, sporting, or even self-defense as the "legal" justification for gun ownership.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
As a very pro-2A gun owner, I'm upvoting you and hope at least people stop downvoting you. Downvoting this comment, which in no way attacks other people or their points of view, goes against the spirit of HN. Save that crap for reddit. Back to your comment, though, I grew up in the San Francisco suburbs. I have pretty much lived in either metropolitan suburbs or urban center of medium sized cities. I never even shot…
Isn't calling a gun "a hunk of metal" the same as, say, calling a book "a stack of paper"? Why would a hunk of metal be such a popular prop in so many movies? Obviously, philosophy of owning and using a gun goes far, far beyond seeing it merely as a piece of metal, and calling it that on purpose , as I am sure you do, is plain disingenuous.