Earlier quoted context omitted.
Comparing Taliban to individual gun owners is next level absurd.
Our F-150 driving rednecks would never be caught dead in those Toyota Hiluxs the taliban uses
That's true, the F-150 is significantly more capable.
Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
321–330 of 1001 posts
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#322Earlier quoted context omitted.
3x a small number is still a small number. Your chances of getting struck by lightning increase if you live on a hill, but no one is basing home buying decisions on that. The real argument is that guns enable acts that, while rare, and while they affect few people, are so egregious that we as a society will go to great lengths to ensure they never happen (school shootings).
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…
The vast majority of Americans do have a feeling of society without perpetual danger and violence. Gun violence is only a real concern in a handful of cities like Detroit and Baltimore. Now we should do more to improve safety in those cities, and our society has let those places down. But for everyone else those cities might as well be in another country. In my city most years the murder rate is literally zero.
If you read the distorted stories in the news media you'll get a completely unrealistic impression of how most Americans actually live.
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#323There's something admirable about the idea that a government would not take away all the guns. The idea that people should not have to give up all of their ability to fight. The idea that people should not be entirely dependent on police for their defense. And the idea that physically weaker people (often women) can defend themselves against the strong. Does this idea work? Surprisingly well. If you had to guess the…
What's admirable about it? This is just a fiction that you Americans tell yourselves about the next revolution.
Name one, just one way, that ease of gun ownership has protected Americans from their government in a way that citizens of other western democracies have suffered?
There is no scenario in which any citizen with a gun in any country defeats their government. Your gun will keep you safe about as well as your password protected Word document keeps you safe from the NSA snooping.
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#324Earlier quoted context omitted.
I agree with most of your post. One small quibble though: > There's something admirable about the idea that a government would not take away all the guns. The whole point is that the government Can Not take away guns, not that they "would not". Inalienable rights preceed government, they are not granted by it. In fact, the government is supposed to exist to safe guard them. I think that's an important philosophical p…
>The whole point is that the government Can Not take away guns, not that they "would not". Inalienable rights preceed government, they are not granted by it. In fact, the government is supposed to exist to safe guard them. The National Firearms Act would like to have a word it is unconstitutional on it's face despite what the Supreme Court says. 'Shall not be infringed' hasn't been the law of the land since the 1930'…
When the Supreme Court "ended the culture war" about abortion with Roe did it result in the right wing giving up and deciding to get other things done? Or did it get turned into a core issue for recruiting generations of Republicans to overturn it?
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#325A friend of our family recently bought a gun and that made me ask them why. Their response was of course personal safety at which point I asked them some more questions and turns out they keep the gun in a gun safe and bullets in another location so as to not cause any accidents as they have kids. But this practice seemed utterly useless if their home was being actively being robbed/attacked since they wont have the…
You're probably overestimating how fast a home invasion can proceed. Unless the intruders are completely silent and/or have perfect information about the home layout and people's locations in it, it will take them quite a few minutes to round up everyone.
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#326Earlier quoted context omitted.
> But the U.S. murder rate is not all that remarkable, really The US is at 4.96/100,000 for 2012. For reference, Angola is better at 4.85. Bulgaria and Romania, the poorest countries in the EU, are at 1.3. France is at 1.2. If by not remarkable you mean 3 as bad as other developed countries, sure. The numbers are only for intentional homicide, not even counting accidents and suicides which are also made worse by the…
> their theoretical ability to fight their government with small arms adorable and misguided Taliban? Vietcong?
There's a very different record of homegrown dictators vs. foreign occupying powers in this regard.
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#327Earlier quoted context omitted.
That's absurd. The Bill of Rights is literally a list of changes to the constitution. Any one of them can be changed at any time by a majority of states. You're essentially saying that if the majority of the country votes to change one of the rights, then what? You'll no longer recognize the government as real?
Take that argument to an extreme. If the majority of the country votes to suspend democracy, would you stick around? If not, then doesn't that imply that there exists a set of underlying principles that you believe are fundamental to a government? That's exactly what the Bill of Rights is, an enumeration of what were viewed as the fundamental rights for which the point of government is to preserve. The mistake so man…
> If the majority of the country votes to suspend democracy, would you stick around?
I mean, the South tried exactly that sort of approach over slavery, which their secession declarations deemed fundamental.
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#328The entire police force can do nothing for you on the phone. I think it is the reductions in police that are convincing more women to purchase.
What reductions in police? Basically no location has actually defunded their police depts, despite all the talk.
I live in Seattle, and I can assure you that the SPD is basically useless now. Whether or not it was "defunded", there were budget cuts and enough restrictions added that the PD essentially doesn't respond to calls unless someone is being actively and indisputably murdered.
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#329This mirrors what I've seen personally. I shoot quite a bit, and had a lot of friends reach out about advice on buying a first gun. Fears were largely around the general civil unrest and BLM rioting last summer. I've heard several women say they don't feel safe being out alone anymore, and felt the need to protect themselves. I've heard a few mothers voice concerns about protecting children as well. I always coach pe…
I'm not quite following, but are you saying that women are afraid for their children because of Black Lives Matter? Have there been any documented cases of BLM indiscriminately attacking women or children? This seems weird to me. I've taken gun safety courses run by local police, and every time they told us that it's ideal to not have a gun in your house at all because they see more accidental shootings than thwarted…
> Have there been any documented cases of BLM indiscriminately attacking women or children? This seems weird to me.
Well, there was widespread rioting across more or less the entire nation. Also, while not direct violence by BLM agents, many metropolitan police forces have either introduced "reform" in direct support of BLM policy or have otherwise changed tactics to avoid getting bad press and riots in their own town. There is also the issue of officers getting fed up with these changes and leaving for more supportive locales.
In my city, I've had two different hood-rat road rage incidents this year, having only had one other incident 10+ years ago. In both cases drivers made high-speed dangerous maneuvers and then attempted to run me off the road and stick their firearms out the window. One yesterday morning, the other in February. In the former case, I provided a full description of the driver, vehicle, and plate number to 911 and they never even touched the case. I'm still waiting to hear back some 6 months later. I never bothered calling in the second incident.
Actions have consequences, and a less safe city is a result. Criminals, particularly Black criminals, are emboldened by these changes and the zeitgeist that will back them up no matter how much wrongdoing occurs. It's only natural for folks to look after themselves in the face of a faltering police force.
Re: Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds
#330Earlier quoted context omitted.
> their theoretical ability to fight their government with small arms adorable and misguided Taliban? Vietcong?
VC was supported by China. Taliban is supported by Pakistan and Russia. They don't have "small arms", they have the backing of major powers.
Taliban never had the backing of Russia, what is this bs you're spreading?