Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds • Hacker News Board

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

#381

Post by padastra » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

rossdavidh wrote: post #289

01100011 wrote: post #243

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> a way to feel masculine, or to feel potent This smacks of the modern left's derision for self defense tools. It's a nicer way of saying someone has a gun to compensate for their genital insecurities. Guns are largely a tool to the people purchasing them. They are also mechanical objects which give pleasure to people who appreciate craftsmanship. I generally agree with your post, but I think it would be better witho…

I see your point, but I don't know another way to put it. It's like "why do men have swords on their wall more often than women"? Neither men nor women use swords in self-defense much anymore (at least not in the First World). But I would venture to say that there is at least a 10x factor of men vs. women having swords on their walls. By the way, I'm not politically left-wing, and I do have a few swords on my wall (a…

There’s a difference between “appeals to their masculine tendencies”, which suggests they’re baseline masculine and owning a gun matches it; versus “makes them feel masculine”, which suggests they are baseline not masculine and are buying it to compensate.

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

#382

Post by clipradiowallet » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

brodouevencode wrote: post #261

KorematsuFredt wrote: post #239

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…

> face a 5/1000 chance of dying of gunshot wound Isn't that a very high estimation?

It's very optimistic to say the least...maybe the OP was assuming the shooter is just a really poor marksman, or using a BB gun?

That said...I'd take being shot by a bullet any day compared to being shot by a modern bow/crossbow. Definitely a better chance of surviving the bullet.

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

#383

Post by brodouevencode » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:23 PM UTC

tablespoon wrote: post #338

brodouevencode wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The whole argument that small arms are of no comparison to tanks and nuclear weapons are made by people who have no experience with firearms, fire fight and perimeter and assault tactics, or any type of military strategy. To even get to this point you would have to assume that the US would devolve into a civil war, in which you can also safely assume that many in the US military would be defectors (leaving a lot of e…

> To even get to this point you would have to assume that the US would devolve into a civil war, in which you can also safely assume that many in the US military would be defectors (leaving a lot of empty tanks and airplanes, if not turned to the "other" side). This is totally speculation on my part, but it could be important to have a armed civilian resistance to create a "permission structure" for military defectio…

Keep in mind that a lot of the military are your neighbors: reserves, national guard, and the like.

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

#384

Post by mmmpop » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

zepto wrote: post #357

zeteo wrote: post #325

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Yup, and common advice by well known firearms experts is not to confront intruders, but to retreat to a known location, ideally upstairs and call the police. Only if the intruders seem like they are going to come up the stairs do you announce that you have a gun and that the police are on their way. The purpose of the gun is not to kill the intruders. It is to deter them from approaching you and your family, and make…

This is correct and any good conceal-carry instructor will make this clear. If your home state does not recognize some form of the "castle doctrine", you can only use deadly force if you believe you're in actual danger. If someone breaks in and you gun them down without being presented with a threat, you're most likely going to jail. Even if you live in one of these states, you'd better hope you get a sympathetic jury and rightfully so.

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

#385

Post by rpmisms » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:24 PM UTC

Zababa wrote: post #365

xdennis wrote: post #242

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never touched a gun, but as far as a know hunting weapons are not optimal for self defense. When you hunt a deer you try to hit from far away and if you miss, well, you'll find another. When someone is trying to harm you (even with a knife), you want to shoot multiple times and as fast as possible. If you shoot once and miss, by the time you manually reload, the attacker can get to you. If you do hit, but with a…

Sure, but if I had to choose between a hunting rifle and a knife I would still take the hunting rifle.

But if the choice comes down to a hunting rifle, a knife, and a Glock 19, I'm going to choose the option that will put the threat down quickly and humanely.

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

#386

Post by Throwawayaerlei » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

chmod600 wrote: post #113

sofixa wrote: post #96

Earlier 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…

A rational person compares risks on an absolute scale first. Out of all the things that could happen on a given day, is getting murdered a real concern? For people in the U.S., it's not really worth worrying about unless you have some other risk factors for murder, like criminal activity. If you are selling lion repellant that makes a lion attack 80% less likely, that's not something I'd be interested in. That being…

Another person who doesn't have fire extinguishers in his home, car or place of work, doesn't buy any insurance unless it's mandated, etc.

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

#387

Post by Fogest » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:25 PM UTC

greenie_beans wrote: post #160

i live in the american south, where everybody owns guns. i own a gun for hunting. but for self defense, i have pepper spray and bear spray instead of guns because i don't want to kill somebody regardless of their intentions. i'd be curious to see the stats of self-defense/firearms, because it seems like self-defense gun owners are LARPing over imagined intruder situations. they're definitely not about to take up arms…

It sounds like lower estimates indicate about 55 000 - 80 000 uses of self defense with a gun per year: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Defensive_gun_use

But it sounds like it really varies source to source. The problem is that a lot of the time it is just an estimate. Not all self-defense uses of a gun are reported as often someone doing a criminal action is not going to self-report it. And the person with the gun may not want to report it either for fear of getting in trouble. Additionally it doesn't seem like there is really a national database that can properly catalogue and account for self-defense actions with a gun. So it seems a lot of it is based on estimates from what data they do have.

Either way that low-end estimate still seems to be quite a large number. It does make you think how many violent crimes may have been avoided because of brandishing a firearm in self-defense. It's unfortunate that it is hard to get accurate data on this.

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

#388

Post by mmmpop » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

8note wrote: post #335

KorematsuFredt wrote: post #239

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…

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

In America you can do anything you want because you're presumed innocent until proven guilty... in theory at least. Times are a changin'.

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

#389

Post by NoImmatureAdHom » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

kube-system wrote: post #215

bingohbangoh wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

they were armed? do you have a source for that? The gun charges were dropped.

A couple examples here, before, during, and after the attack: https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/stun-guns-stinger-whips... If you pop their names into a search engine you can see the DOJ indictments with more info.

Lol, stun guns. The only weapons that you should take seriously in a situation like that are firearms.

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

#390

Post by splintercell » Thu, Sep 16, 2021, 9:26 PM UTC

Maarten88 wrote: post #340

KorematsuFredt wrote: post #239

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…

> In my experience USA lot less corrupt than most other countries. Lobbying overall is a net good thing for a democratic society. You rightly mention lobbying and corruption together. But somehow you miss that they are on the same continuum. From my EU perspective lobbying in the US is corruption, as the lobbying comes with money and paid-for political promotion. The situation around guns itself is a clear example: a…

Please note that automatic weapons are already banned from civilian possession. Regarding psychiatric patients and criminals, this has an exact opposite effect that you want. People are far more scared of seeking psychiatric help when they know that they’re going to lose their rights. This is an open secret in gun community to never mention to a doctor that you have guns, and this is an indirect message to not seek psychiatric help unless you wanna lose your guns. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perverse_incentive#The_origina...