I don't see this ending well. Better than the alternative, of not being able to defend yourself. But I'm sure that sooner or later (and probably sooner) we'll get "I thought they were going to shoot me" "Well, I thought they were going to shoot me".
True, though a lot of bigots and wannabe tough guys go about flexing on how well armed they are at either the individual or group level, while simultaneously insisting that the possibility of retaliation is the best deterrent. This sort of in-your-face gun advocacy/enthusiasm has become much more pronounced over the last 20 years, unfortunately.
I’m not sure minorities who are concerned about being pogrommed would one hundred percent agree with your concern as to ambiguity, but I suppose to the extent it exists it would be a problem.
Just the opposite. Bad people on both sides. Or at least, jumpy, armed people on both sides.
As I said, it's better than being the jumpy, unarmed one facing the jumpy, armed one. Most of the jumpy, armed ones currently have nothing to be jumpy about -- which makes them extra jumpy because they're jumpy about everything. And when faced with an actual threat... it's going to be bad.
Guns among the general populace are far more likely to end up being used for crime, suicde and in accidents than anything legit. But - I think guns in the hands of responsible people who have 'credible threat' may actually be net positive.
Very few people face real material threats though.
Gun ownership has been tied to race and civil right in the US for a long time. After the Civil War, there were laws passed to prevent black people from owning guns. Gay people and black people have had similar experiences in dealing with hatred and discrimination.
In the US, there are a lot of people who own guns, and there are a lot of people who feel that they need to overthrow the government. Maybe not right now, but sometime soon. That was a big undercurrent to the whole Jan 6 insurrection. The fact is that something like half the population is Republican, and half of that believed that Trump had the election stolen from him. So, as a rough estimate, something like 25% of the US population thinks the government is illegitimate. I don't know how many of that population would support a violent overthrow, but it's much greater than zero.
So, given all that, what's a regular person to do? I can totally understand why a peaceful, non-insurrectionist would want to own guns. They buy guns to protect themselves from the people who think that they need to overthrow the government.
Could you please stop posting sensational political/culturewar stories? It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.
Also, could you please not change titles like this? HN's title rule says "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize."
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[ 3.0 ms ] story [ 42.3 ms ] threadI’m not sure minorities who are concerned about being pogrommed would one hundred percent agree with your concern as to ambiguity, but I suppose to the extent it exists it would be a problem.
As I said, it's better than being the jumpy, unarmed one facing the jumpy, armed one. Most of the jumpy, armed ones currently have nothing to be jumpy about -- which makes them extra jumpy because they're jumpy about everything. And when faced with an actual threat... it's going to be bad.
Very few people face real material threats though.
In the US, there are a lot of people who own guns, and there are a lot of people who feel that they need to overthrow the government. Maybe not right now, but sometime soon. That was a big undercurrent to the whole Jan 6 insurrection. The fact is that something like half the population is Republican, and half of that believed that Trump had the election stolen from him. So, as a rough estimate, something like 25% of the US population thinks the government is illegitimate. I don't know how many of that population would support a violent overthrow, but it's much greater than zero.
So, given all that, what's a regular person to do? I can totally understand why a peaceful, non-insurrectionist would want to own guns. They buy guns to protect themselves from the people who think that they need to overthrow the government.
1. https://youtu.be/Oens-jBVp3U
Sorry I didn't have anything insightful to add.
Also, could you please not change titles like this? HN's title rule says "Please use the original title, unless it is misleading or linkbait; don't editorialize."
https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html