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Women are nearly half of new gun buyers, study finds

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

#571

Earlier 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.

If they have serious backing why aren't they lobbing ATGMs at each other the way we see nation state aided militias doing in every other conflict this century (Syria is a great example)?

The Taliban is "backed" by external powers to about the same extent the IRA was.

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

#572
On the topic of gun ownership by people some would not expect to be into guns, this New York Times article is quite interesting:

The Black Gun Owner Next Door, by Tiya Miles

I’m an African-American historian and, on most issues, decidedly liberal. Could I rethink my anti-gun stance?

Tiya Miles is a professor of history at Harvard and the author of “The Dawn of Detroit: A Chronicle of Slavery and Freedom in the City of the Straits.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/09/opinion/sunday/gun-owners...

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

#573
post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m not white and I’ve been stopped by police numerous times and have never been afraid of being shot. The chances of being involved in a school shooting are lower than the chance of being hit by lightning. I also have flown many times. Nobody has ever ‘checked me for guns’. Generally they are checking for knives and explosives. You might be too young to remember, but much of today’s airport security was brought in a…

I'm not talking about you being afraid of being shot. I'm talking about them being afraid of being shot by you.

> I'm not talking about you being afraid of being shot.

Aren’t you? Here’s what you said earlier:

> The actual murders are comparatively few, but the ability of guns to appear at any instant keeps the entire country on edge, all the time.

I guess you must have changed your mind. I’m glad you are no longer on edge at the thought of a gun appearing at any instant.

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

#574

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they can shoot the men trying to rape them maybe they won’t have to?

Have you ever tried to pull a gun on someone attacking you? I think most people find it easier to fantasize these 'armed defense' reactions then to actually experience one.

The CDC[0] links to a report[1] mentioning estimates of anywhere from 60,000 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses per year. I’m not necessarily agreeing with the previous comment, just adding some context.

0: https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.htm... 1: http://www.nationalacademies.org/hmd/Reports/2013/Priorities...

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

#575

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With regard to your gun control points, there is a bit of nuance you missed that people (like me, if I wasn’t trying to help you steelman your argument) will criticize. Specifically, there are already heavy restrictions on automatic weapons, which are basically never used in criminal acts. Every automatically gun in the US has to be registered with the federal government for $200 and a lot of paperwork. In effect it…

SKS rifles cost over US$600, a $200 licensing fee isn't infringing any rights compared to the right to a fair and speedy trial. The term 'assault rifle' is used loosely by us, but in terms of law there are definitions: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1296...

One of the many things you're ignoring is that $200 was originally over $4,000 in today's dollars. And had quite the chilling effect, even if at the last minute handguns were removed from the remit of the NFA of 1934, that's why it has the bizarre "Any Other Weapon" category, it was intended to effectively ban for almost all citizens in the middle of the Great Depression all concealable weapons, as well as full auto.

And you don't get to decide if $200 today plus a very intrusive application process infringes on our rights.

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

#576

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Mexico is a big country. There are places in Mexico where you can go random places alone, and places that it would be ill-advised. There are places in the US where you can go random places alone, and places that it would be ill-advised. There are places in the Baltimore metro area where you can go random places alone, and places that it would be ill-advised.

That's true for every sufficiently-large section of the world. But different places have different statistical properties. Look, my grandpa took me shooting when I was young. I remember doing target practice under a bridge when I was like 7, using a freakin' magnum revolver of all things. It was next to a very small river, and someone further downstream was trying to fish. I asked gramps "Do you think he heard us?" a…

>> That's true for every sufficiently-large section of the world

Well I think Mexico is a sufficiently-large section of the world that statements like "anybody who's visited Mexico knows not to go random places alone" should be called out, don't you agree?

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

#577
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…

The rate of shooting in the USA was always strange to me. I'm from Ukraine, one of the poorest countries in Europe, the country that on hybrid "civil war" with Russia help for the militia. There are many ex-militaries from volunteers who go to volunteer battalions. And many of them return with guns. But even with a state like that, you probably won't hear any gunshots in cities in your life. The first time I heard on…

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 for repeat offenses here because someone is never arrested, never charged, out on bail, plead down to a slap on the wrist, or out on parole where supervision is a joke.

Why are local politics so screwed up? That's an interesting question. One aspect is one-party rule: the Democrats are such an overwhelming majority in a lot of these inner cities that all the politics happen before the ballot is ever printed. Within the Democratic party, there's a dangerous contingent that simply doesn't want to imprison criminals for reasons I don't entirely understand.

Why do the people in such cities put up with such a bad system? Because even within those cities, the problem areas are contained, and can be safely ignored (sadly). "Root causes" sounds nicer than "lock 'em up", so most of the people in the city nod along and go about their business, and avoid the bad parts of town.

My guess is that Ukrainians just don't have time for that kind of nonsense. If someone is violent, they are put away quickly. The idea of making a deal with a violent criminal is probably not fashionable there. There are lots of poor people in Ukraine, and mostly the same skin color, so nobody puts up with the "violence is just a symptom of poverty and capitalism and racism and ten other problems that must be solved first". A few civil liberties probably get stomped along the way, which also helps bring crime down to low levels; but I don't think giving up civil liberties is a prerequisite of law and order.

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

#578
post #523
post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> PS: I am strong supporter of Gun rights and proud gun owner. I don't understand the pride bit. It seems like a regrettable situation where your distrust of your fellow citizens is so strong that you are comforted by the ability to kill them with minimal effort. (I'm in Australia, where we have some truly horrendous legislation, but I totally agree with our gun ownership laws here, and echo other people's observatio…

> It seems like a regrettable situation where your distrust of your fellow citizens is so strong that you are comforted by the ability to kill them with minimal effort. It's usually the opposite sentiment for gun owners- I trust my fellow citizens with arms. Guns are seen as an integral part of self-reliance by many. They provide you with a reasonably effective defense. One way to significantly erode individual's/cit…

" They provide you with a reasonably effective defense"

No, they don't at all. Just the opposite actually.

I get the 'Guns to defend against Tyranny' argument, that's kind of reasonable.

But as 'personal defence' they don't work nearly as well as having strong gun regulations which keep guns out of the hands of the morons. It's much safer walking down the street in Canada where you can't legally carry a gun, because there are just so few guns the baddies have a harder time getting them, and use them much less.

I do think we ought to be more concerned about authoritarian creep ... but guns are probably not the best solution to that either, as if it gets to that level it's very, very bad. Legislative, civic reform, voting, literacy etc. would be more helpful there.

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

#579
post #279

A 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…

I'm far more worried about not being able to get a gun once supply chains break down and there are hungry people roaming the streets.

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

#580

Earlier quoted context omitted.

With regard to your gun control points, there is a bit of nuance you missed that people (like me, if I wasn’t trying to help you steelman your argument) will criticize. Specifically, there are already heavy restrictions on automatic weapons, which are basically never used in criminal acts. Every automatically gun in the US has to be registered with the federal government for $200 and a lot of paperwork. In effect it…

SKS rifles cost over US$600, a $200 licensing fee isn't infringing any rights compared to the right to a fair and speedy trial. The term 'assault rifle' is used loosely by us, but in terms of law there are definitions: https://www.congress.gov/bill/116th-congress/house-bill/1296...

> SKS rifles cost over US$600, a $200 licensing fee isn't infringing any rights compared to the right to a fair and speedy trial.

$600 for an automatic rifle? I will literally pay you as much just to connect me to the seller.

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