Live data from Hacker News

Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

wsj.com

741–750 of 1001 posts

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#741

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ignore averages. They are often deceptive, and here as well. Most places in the US have zero gangs, and many places have zero murders. The question is: why are murders so out of control in certain areas? And the answer is: local policing and local politics. DAs don't prosecute, and so police won't risk their life to bring people in. They show up 30 minutes later as the clean up crew. So it's actually fairly normal fo…

Thanks for the informative answer. Cant the "roots" be also in segregation problems before? If I remember correctly what I learned early, it was called something like "red lining" created "bad neighborhoods" in cities. >My guess is that Ukrainians just don't have time for that kind of nonsense. If someone is violent, they are put away quickly. It is mostly true for Ukraine. But the real curse, as I said, is not organ…

"Cant the "roots" be also in"

Maybe, but it's not relevant. Let's all fix the root problems, but let's not create a dependency on it. If we want to solve a problem, we have to solve the problem in the reality we have (flawed as it is), not the reality we want.

"The biggest problem in Ukraine is domestic violence."

Sad to hear. Going back to the main topic, it seems like you might be suggesting that women owning guns might be a solution to that problem?

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#742

I suspect that those women are realizing they can't reasonably rely on men for any kind of protection, as any kind of physical protection is basically illegal, taboo, and effectively bred out of the middle class now anyway, so it makes sense more women would take responsibility themselves. Gun purchases also correlate to perceptions of changes in social order as well, where there's a "get 'em before they're gone!" cy…

Is it illegal, taboo, and bred out though? We live in a culture of glorified violence seen widely in film, print, pop culture. We've got an enormous catalog of shooter videogames going back decades that our youngster clamor to purchase and play. We've got a set of laws that allow you to take steps to defend yourself in your own home, with varying degrees of strictness and leniency. Anecdotally, I know many people in…

"Is it illegal, taboo, and bred out though?"

One thing that comes to mind are the zero tolerance policies at schools. It's to the point where you aren't allowed to fight back in self defense. You just have to take the beating.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#743
post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In america, are you allowed to shoot a police officer who is violating your rights?

Yes! > In December, a jury in Corpus Christi, Tex., acquitted a 48-year-old man who spent 664 days in jail after being charged with attempted capital murder for wounding three SWAT officers during a no-knock raid that targeted his nephew. The jury concluded that the man, Ray Rosas, did not know whom he was firing at through a blinded window. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/18/us/forced-ent...

Spending nearly two years in jail is not what I would describe as "allowed".

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#744

The personal safety issue is being covered a lot here, but I think some people are missing something else; guns are a lot of fun. In an era where bars and movie theaters were closed due to pandemic, you could safety go to an outside range and ring steel instead. This is particularly relevant if you consider the ongoing shortage in 22lr, a cartridge which is woefully underpowered for self defense, but ideal for killin…

I largely agree with your comment.

I am curious about the 22lr being "woefully underpowered for self defense" bit though.

I mean, it will put holes into peoples bodies. And I thought the idea was self defense and keeping peoples heads down/awayFromYou.

I know it won't put big holes in doors/tables etc.

I guess I haven't really considered what the real requirements are for self defense in a country where so many people have gun.

So why is 22lr not enough?

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#745
post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note this is just murder, but murder is merely a small fraction of gun deaths. The multiplier for all firearm-related deaths between the US and EU average for example is around 12X, more than an order of magnitude [1]. The elephant in the room however is that the main argument simply doesn't hold up. Owning a gun doesn't just make the owner slightly more likely to get shot, but also everyone around them [2] Or, as th…

> I wish Americans could get a feeling of how different a society without a perpetual feeling of danger and paranoia feels like. Do you think having fire drills and extinguishers is "a perpetual feeling of danger and paranoia"? > Where children just go to school without security checks, amok drills and bulletproof safe rooms. Maybe try to do something against bullying? It might seem a bit harsh but having been on the…

[deleted]

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#746

Earlier quoted context omitted.

PS: I am strong supporter of Gun rights and proud gun owner. I fully agree with anti-gun crowd that having vast majority of guns in hands of citizens (legally or illegally) leads to more deaths. USA's comparison with Angola is actually more serious than the numbers tell you because you need to realize that USA has far better medical response and doctors trained to handle gunshot wounds. So to truly compare Angola and…

Let me start off by saying I love playing with guns, and really frankly anything gun related. I don't know why it is but I've just been fascinated with them since I was a kid. Ok that said, I don't understand how guns protect us from the government. I think the biggest threats area slow and mundane. Ie erosion of rights or increasing power of some portion of the government over decades. There's no one cataclysmic eve…

Access to small arms has proven anything but meaningless for the Taliban.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#747

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Specifically, cultural homogeneity makes a nation much easier to run. Boring food, though.

Japan has pretty good food for being homogenous.

Love Japanese food. Not sure I'd want to eat it for every meal for the rest of my life. I bet a large part of why I love it is that it's one choice among many.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#748
post #335

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In america, are you allowed to shoot a police officer who is violating your rights?

Yes! > In December, a jury in Corpus Christi, Tex., acquitted a 48-year-old man who spent 664 days in jail after being charged with attempted capital murder for wounding three SWAT officers during a no-knock raid that targeted his nephew. The jury concluded that the man, Ray Rosas, did not know whom he was firing at through a blinded window. https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/03/18/us/forced-ent...

So, he served a two-year sentence. Now do Breonna Taylor.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#749
post #613

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Note this is just murder, but murder is merely a small fraction of gun deaths. The multiplier for all firearm-related deaths between the US and EU average for example is around 12X, more than an order of magnitude [1]. The elephant in the room however is that the main argument simply doesn't hold up. Owning a gun doesn't just make the owner slightly more likely to get shot, but also everyone around them [2] Or, as th…

> I wish Americans could get a feeling of how different a society without a perpetual feeling of danger and paranoia feels like. Do you think having fire drills and extinguishers is "a perpetual feeling of danger and paranoia"? > Where children just go to school without security checks, amok drills and bulletproof safe rooms. Maybe try to do something against bullying? It might seem a bit harsh but having been on the…

Along your line of thought, I think with the threat of earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, car crashes, plane crashes, hackers, identity theft, terrorism, etc, anyone who wishes to live with a perpetual feeling of danger and paranoia can freely do so, there's no need to pick firearms in particular.

Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

#750
post #731

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is it illegal, taboo, and bred out though? We live in a culture of glorified violence seen widely in film, print, pop culture. We've got an enormous catalog of shooter videogames going back decades that our youngster clamor to purchase and play. We've got a set of laws that allow you to take steps to defend yourself in your own home, with varying degrees of strictness and leniency. Anecdotally, I know many people in…

I dunno, I definitely feel like it's been drilled into me that in any kind of physical altercation, my duty is to escape and retreat, and that if I hurt my attacker in any way, that might be used against me in court. And even if I successfully press charges against my attacker, and they go to jail, if I hurt them in the course of their attack on me , I can probably expect to get sued.

I agree that many of the lawsuits are absurd. I also don't like the "duty" wording. Sure, you want to avoid, deescalate, flee, then fight. But codifying it as a duty seems to ignore just how messy and instantaneous those situations can be.
Post reply on HN