• masterspace@lemmy.ca
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          9 months ago

          And some of you may be upvoting any plausible argument for gun ownership, even in the face of overwhelming objective evidence that it makes societies vastly unsafe.

          Here’s the thing about guns and victimhood, access to guns causes far more victims then access to guns prevents, and it always inherently will. In that environment, a predator intent on committing a crime will always have one, and a victim only ever might have one.

          If you rely on mutually assured destruction arguments, then you have armed and killing each other over road rage because humans are dumb emotional children who think they’re more mature then they are.

          • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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            9 months ago

            Maybe so, but we live in a world where guns exist. Choosing to disarm oneself doesn’t change that, and certain things can change the math.

            There was a violent incident at a nearby house, and it took police 40 minutes to arrive because I live in the middle of nowhere, so right off the “call the police” option essentially doesn’t exist for me. I also have no kids in the house. If children come over, the gun that isn’t in the safe goes to the safe and the ammunition goes to the car. I am not suicidal. For me, gun ownership makes sense where it doesn’t for others.

            If I lived in a country where guns didn’t outnumber people it may not make sense. Though with the current government I also wouldn’t give mine up if they were outlawed.

            • MrFinnbean@lemmy.world
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              9 months ago

              Less guns there are in rotation and more screening there is when getting one effects straight how likely it is for the bad guy having a gun.

              Nobody is suicidal until they are and nobody leaves the guns out for children until they do. Also guns at house escalate domestic violence cases.

              • chiliedogg@lemmy.world
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                9 months ago

                So my personal solution is what? Can I un-invent firearms? Can I ensure not only that they’re outlawed, but that hundreds of millions of them are magically rounded up? Should I trust US law enforcement to protect me and respect my rights?

        • teft@piefed.social
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          9 months ago

          Also some of us have been to war or grew up in the deep woods where having a gun can save your life.

          I guess technically that’s being a victim too. Just that the perpetrator is more likely to be a bear than a person.

  • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
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    9 months ago

    I’ve faced many attempts to severely harm me but I usually escaped. I failed to escape twice: got kneecapped with a bat once (leaving me with a permanent injury), and stabbed once miraculously missing anything vital.

    My crime: having to work late, growing up in a poor neighbourhood.

    I’d feel a lot safer if I could be armed. I don’t want to die.

  • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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    9 months ago

    Okay, but what if my self-esteem is predicated on the knowledge that I could kill anyone at a moment’s notice.

    Surely that suppressed libidinal desire to inflict unimaginable pain and suffering on everyone around me is worth something.

    • fartographer@lemmy.world
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      9 months ago

      You’ve got a good point there… Have you ever considered using your car as a weapon against bicyclists who have indirectly offended you?

      It’s incredible that we feel the need to make up monsters for our movies and ghost stories when we’ve got prime examples living amongst us.

      • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        A bicyclist’s very existence is offensive. But I consider the .50 mounted on the back of the pickup a more sporting way to handle things. Alternatively, mini-gun mounted from a helicopter, and if anyone asks I’ll just say I was hunting wild hogs.

      • thermal_shock@lemmy.world
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        9 months ago

        Realistic movies scare the shit out of me. Prisoners, Blue Ruin, The Tall Man. True psychos are way scarier than any fucking ghost or demon.