Since Trump’s election, gun groups catering to progressives and people of color report a surge in interest as they look to defend themselves in a country that, to them, feels increasingly unstable.
Also leftists. Also rightists.
So, basically, people from every political background are buying guns.
The warmongers win again.
While the pacifists did jack shit to stop this.
To shoot ICE in their stupid fat faces.
Liberals, LGBTQ, whoever else was mentioned in this headline should have been training with guns for years at this point. The writing has been on the wall for a while.
I was anti-gun until I was 37. That’s when I realized it doesn’t matter about my political viewpoint regarding guns, the right has been using it as leverage for my entire life.
I’m 42 now. I got my first rifle when I was 38. I got my first shotgun when I was 39. I got my first pistol when I was 40. I go bi-weekly to the range.
The writer of the article should try harder to not confuse “interest” with preparation. This shit is an unwelcome use of my free time, but I’m probably a better shot than 90% of MAGA at this point.
As someone who used to create judgemental use of force firearm training simulators for law enforcement, I can tell you right now you’re likely a better shot than 90% of our police force too.
Yikes, that makes me feel uneasy. Do they not train on a regular basis?
By policy, it’s different per police organization. But overwhelmingly the biggest orgs only force training once a year. And the metrics they use to pass for accuracy and use are lower than most concealed carry courses.
…they do if you can believe it.
I thought they did too, that’s why I’m not so sure that I’m the better shot. I was thinking that I’m maybe on par with someone else that trains regularly.
Just following up from my previous answer: MOST officers only need to pass training on use of firearms once a year. It does vary per department, and some officers use their access to training and ranges to hone their skills. But MOST of them only follow the guidelines, and most guidelines only require recertifying firearm use once a year.
Too few, too little, too late.
I hope not, but I think a lot of them are still living with the fear of yesteryear that has not updated with the times and the threat of their neighbors having it in for them, and not being as worried about the legal repercussions.
I fervently hate Trump, his cronies, and his supporters. However, buying guns is a laughable response to a serious threat.
Maybe you buy a 9mm. Maybe you buy an AR15. The US government has stealth fucking bombers. Tanks. Fighter jets. Satellites. ICBMs. Your pea-shooter is fucking useless against a government that has decided its own people are the enemy. Trump is in the midst of authorizing the military to fire on civilians. Do you think he is going to specify that they use commercially-available firearms just to keep things fair?
You know what is not useless? General strikes. Civil disobedience. Protests. Boycotts. Journalism. Do you want to hurt Trump? Sell your stocks before the bubble bursts. Don’t shop. Cancel your phone and read a newspaper. Call in sick. Organize. Collaborate. Help each other. Bring the economy to a screeching halt and the billionaires who put Trump in the white house will put his ashes in a shoebox in about 10 days.
I really thought about this last year, took the class and everything. In the end I decided not to get one. My reasoning is this: Having a gun and not a lot of experience in what to do with it is like playing a board game for life-and-death stakes that you have never played before.
Maybe I will regret at some point in the future, but I had trouble coming up with scenarios where I wound up thinking “Thank God I pulled my gun out, now all my problems are resolved.”
That’s because pulling a gun out for most things just escalates the situation.
Which is why if ICE is knocking at the door, the situation is already escalated and it’s better to die and try to take a fascist with you than go to a second location.
Which is why if ICE is knocking at the door, the situation is already escalated and it’s better to die and try to take a fascist with you than go to a second location.
I mean, after a certain point, yes. Solzhenitsyn talked about it, also I think some of the founding fathers had things to say about it. In our current situation, absolutely the fuck not. For one thing, it’ll get you killed obviously, for another thing, it’ll give them the pretext they’re looking for to start with all kinds of shit to all kinds of people that they can’t get away with right now. They are praying for something like this to happen. That’s why they play up anything which looks vaguely like it into something it isn’t.
Every day that goes by where ICE is the illegal mother fuckers and the people of the country are the innocents, is another day they lose a little more backing of the courts, the military, the city police, all kinds of stuff like that which is their pathway to power. I know it sounds like I’m just backing down from fighting back… all I am trying to say is that starting gunfights with the secret police is about like starting a fistfight with your abusive spouse: You’re not wrong. But also, you’re not going to win through that method.
Here is some extensive information about what does work after quite a lot of research: https://www.files.ethz.ch/isn/126900/8008_FDTD.pdf
Every day that goes by where ICE is the illegal mother fuckers and the people of the country are the innocents, is another day they lose a little more backing of the courts, the military, the city police, all kinds of stuff like that which is their pathway to power.
Fascist don’t care what is or isn’t illegal. You sound just like the average German citizen in the 1930’s. Tell more about all the power they are losing while continuing to do the bad things.
Rather have ICE kill me in the comfort of my own home instead of going to a death camp I can’t find on the map.
Never go to a second location…
It’s not like its going to help anyway. If you defend yourself from the crazies, ICE, whatever, you are just going to get shot anyway by someone else. They want that excuse. Being armed only really matters if a civil war breaks out. Its a crazy dynamic, which is why guns should be banned in the first place.
Yeah I’m pretty confident the people killed in the holocaust would disagree.
What kind of bat shit crazy analogy is that? …but I’m pretty confident the people killed in the holocaust would rather guns never existed.
Guns aren’t really what killed people in the holocaust. They would rather the fascist and ideology never existed.
Also, you know we dropped in guns to freedom fighters behind Nazi lines. It’s not a crazy analogy, you’re just stupid.
Then your analogy makes even less sense lmao I see you are that type of person, so I wont discuss anymore. Good luck out there.
Every american should be familiar with how guns work because we have to live in a country with more guns than people. Imagine if you’ve never drove, been inside, or even seen a real car your entire life then one day you have to cross a NYC street. Its hard to be safe without the right knowledge.
This is literally pathetic. Talk about being gun oppressed and loving it.
I’m not sure how you’re getting that out of what they posted. Reads more “know thine enemy” than power fantasy to me.
If know thine enemy is code for living in an oppressive gun nut culture where we lose around fifty thousand Americans to gun violence every year, then sure.
Number one killer of children in the US and the best we can muster is, “You have got to be familiar with guns because we are surrounded by them.” This is the definition of pathetic resignation.
Sorry I forgot that I can just wiggle my nose and make it go away. It’s the reality of the situation, like it or not.
Dealing with our problems isn’t easy. I guess we can just go back ignoring it. Cheers!
You can acknowledge present reality while also trying to change it. They’re not mutually exclusive.
No one can actually acknowledge what is happening though. Our entire society in the US is in denial.
Every american should be familiar with how guns work
anddd that’s why i don’t goto the USA
You can be performatively afraid of something you will likely never have an issue with for no other reason than a thing existing, that’s fine and your prerogative.
But most people here already know you are far less likely to even have issues with entry into the US or with the people who live here than even media is making it out. Millions of people from all continents pass in and out of the US daily. You’re in far more danger being a grade-school or high-school student in the US than a foreign traveler or visitor.
To the kiddoes who get down this far, there are 500 million citizens in the US and murder is still rare enough that it makes the news. Not always, but often. While other countries have less violent crime, broadly our whole world is at an all-time low in violence despite what your local for-profit media company wants you to think. Yes, the US has woefully outdated gun laws, but our primary problem here is fear. The same fear that makes you think the US is a violent wasteland of shootouts on every corner, that’s the same fear that makes people here cling to guns. You’re not hurting me by whinging that you will “never set foot in the US” I literally do not care, so ask yourself who you’re performing for, and if you’re just needlessly adding to the narratives of fear, and why it makes you feel good to do so. Who do you want to feel bad and why?
Yeah nah bud. You’re arresting people trying to leave your country, tourists are getting roughed up, and violence from the government is increasing.
I think your tourism deserves to decrease and you deserve to sleep in the bed you’ve made.
I agree 100% with everything you wrote here, and none of it has anything to do with the exchange I had with the other user.
Except for this:
you
I am not my government.
You was speaking in countr terms as was the your before it.
Even still, its like, there is no “we only support the non fascists” from a foreign perspective when it comes to tourism unfortunately.
I mean there is a little bit when it comes to trade, like trading with blue states, but like, its all very intertwined to where youll be funding the fascist regime.
Unless you plan to carry concealed or get a concealed carry license skip the pistol for your first gun.
If you want something for home defense that sits by the bed get a 20-gauge pump shotgun. I’ve never met anyone man woman or child that couldn’t shoot one and #3 or #4 buckshot is hard to miss with within 20 or 30 yards. You can go to almost any sporting goods store and pick one up for about $250. I like the Maverick 88.
If you want something to hunt with or just have in case of “troubles” get yourself a decent bolt-action rifle with a 3x9 scope in a popular caliber such as 308 or 270. Rifles are easier to shoot and you can use them for hunting. Once you shoot the rifle a few times and are comfortable with it you can put it away for those “troubles.”
If the US gets ripe enough you need to stack bodies you are going to want a rifle more than a pistol and if you have a shotgun or a rifle you can pick up a pistol, there will be plenty on those bodies you are stacking.
That’s my extremely qualified opinion, but with that said opinions are like assholes, everyone has one.
Good luck out there, be safe.
i dunno, i just call the cops but mabye thats just me.
Fun way to tell everyone that you’re white, or not living in America.
actually im southern Italian/Lebanese so my skin is tanned and have been in trouble with the police before. Stop making everything about race.
If you have the money just get an AR 15. There is a reason it’s so popular.
There could be a world ending apocalypse and you’ll still find parts and ammo. And it’s an incredibly well rounded platform that’s pretty easy to use.
you think a 12 gauge is going to be harder to find parts and ammo for?
Ignoring that a shotgun isnt nearly as useful and will rounded, yes, shotguns in general are not as ubiquitous or popular.
In 2021, 21,037,810 total firearms were available for the U.S. market, which includes firearms that were domestically produced plus those imported—minus exported firearms. Of those, 12,799,067 were handguns, 4,832,198 were rifles and 3,406,545 were shotguns.
You’re ignoring usecase, and the fact that even according to your facts, they’re super popular.
