Gun Control 2022 (IV) - Gun Rights, Control, & Government

[Diopolis]

That certainly appears to be an inoperable antique. I mean, if it got pointed at me, it'd actually make me feel safer that the criminal in question can't come up with something more intimidating.

I’d feel otherwise. I think I’d rather deal with a smart criminal than an incompetent one.

You can trust a smart person to do whatever is best for him/herself, and if someone is pointing a gun at me but not shooting, I’m pretty sure murder isn’t what that person has in mind. Probably some sort of robbery. The criminal walks away with my wallet.

An incompetent criminal? Who knows what an incompetent person will do? Someone who can’t tell what a decent handgun looks like probably doesn’t know too much about how to handle one, either. I could lose my life over a simple robbery. I own very little property that can’t be replaced, but my life is pretty darn irreplaceable.

Citizen firearms training is probably a good idea even if much of that training ends up in criminal minds.

I'm the sort of personality unlikely to be calm and cooperative- not saying I'd be effective resistance here, but that I wouldn't be likely to cooperate well- and thus the "give up my wallet" theory is probably not going to work for me. I'd rather have a chance to fight.
Plus, that doesn't necessarily mean the criminal is stupid. Karen the soccer mom doesn't know it's inoperable. Chances are the rest of the population doesn't either. A smart criminal brings a gun with the hope that he doesn't have to use it, and the odds are rando on the street won't know what that is and will cooperate.

[The Two Jerseys]

(Image)

That certainly appears to be an inoperable antique. I mean, if it got pointed at me, it'd actually make me feel safer that the criminal in question can't come up with something more intimidating.

*Mugger pulls ancient top-break revolver with missing hammer*

Mugger: "Gimme your money!"

Us: "AHH-HA-HA-HA-HA! Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me! Here, here's a hundred bucks, go buy yourself something that can fire smokeless rounds!"

[Diopolis]

That certainly appears to be an inoperable antique. I mean, if it got pointed at me, it'd actually make me feel safer that the criminal in question can't come up with something more intimidating.

*Mugger pulls ancient top-break revolver with missing hammer*

Mugger: "Gimme your money!"

Us: "AHH-HA-HA-HA-HA! Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me! Here, here's a hundred bucks, go buy yourself something that can fire smokeless rounds!"

Probably what he did with the buyback money.

[Plzen]

I'm the sort of personality unlikely to be calm and cooperative- not saying I'd be effective resistance here, but that I wouldn't be likely to cooperate well- and thus the "give up my wallet" theory is probably not going to work for me. I'd rather have a chance to fight.

Probably has a lot to do with lifestyle as well as disposition.

I, like many other young people, own wealth mainly in the form of abstract numbers printed on my bank account. While it is possible to steal such wealth, it’s not the kind of crime that’s done at gunpoint. An armed robber steals physical wealth, and honestly I think you’d have to be lucky to get $3,000 or so even if you sell every physical object I own and pocket all the cash in my domicile. That is a fraction of my wealth and just doesn’t seem to me like a worthwhile sum to risk my life over.

Now if you happen to be a typical American adult and you own things like your own car, television, and the like that cost several months’ wages, that calculation probably changes quite drastically. I’d be much more willing to fight, I think, if it was my or my family’s personal safety that’s was being taken and not just my physical property.

[Diopolis]

I'm the sort of personality unlikely to be calm and cooperative- not saying I'd be effective resistance here, but that I wouldn't be likely to cooperate well- and thus the "give up my wallet" theory is probably not going to work for me. I'd rather have a chance to fight.

Probably has a lot to do with lifestyle as well as disposition.

I, like many other young people, own wealth mainly in the form of abstract numbers printed on my bank account. While it is possible to steal such wealth, it’s not the kind of crime that’s done at gunpoint. An armed robber steals physical wealth, and honestly I think you’d have to be lucky to get $3,000 or so even if you sell every physical object I own and pocket all the cash in my domicile. That is a fraction of my wealth and just doesn’t seem to me like a worthwhile sum to risk my life over.

Now if you happen to be a typical American adult and you own things like your own car, television, and the like that cost several months’ wages, that calculation probably changes quite drastically. I’d be much more willing to fight, I think, if it was my or my family’s personal safety that’s was being taken and not just my physical property.

I'm a typical American adult, but if a mugger digs up my house and walks off with it, he'd deserve to keep it.
It's just my disposition. I know that the cooperate path would probably get me killed.

[Pax Nerdvana]

That certainly appears to be an inoperable antique. I mean, if it got pointed at me, it'd actually make me feel safer that the criminal in question can't come up with something more intimidating.

*Mugger pulls ancient top-break revolver with missing hammer*

Mugger: "Gimme your money!"

Us: "AHH-HA-HA-HA-HA! Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me! Here, here's a hundred bucks, go buy yourself something that can fire smokeless rounds!"

That would probably be my reaction as well. Or maybe say,"You sure you want to try and shoot me with a broken revolver?"

[Tarsonis]

*Mugger pulls ancient top-break revolver with missing hammer*

Mugger: "Gimme your money!"

Us: "AHH-HA-HA-HA-HA! Oh my god, you gotta be kidding me! Here, here's a hundred bucks, go buy yourself something that can fire smokeless rounds!"

That would probably be my reaction as well. Or maybe say,"You sure you want to try and shoot me with a broken revolver?"

I dunno, Payten killed that horsetheif in one shot with a bullshit revolver. Don't underestimate the guy

[The Two Jerseys]

That would probably be my reaction as well. Or maybe say,"You sure you want to try and shoot me with a broken revolver?"

I dunno, Payten killed that horsetheif in one shot with a bullshit revolver. Don't underestimate the guy

Did his revolver at least have a functioning hammer?

[The Lone Alliance]

You know I wonder what gun control people will do if they realize that somehow getting their way about guns will end up killing the government half of conservation purposes considering so many gun and ammunition sales taxes goes towards the environment?

[Nazeroth]

You know I wonder what gun control people will do if they realize that somehow getting their way about guns will end up killing the government half of conservation purposes considering so many gun and ammunition sales taxes goes towards the environment?

There foolishness lies in the fact that the laws they want so bad will eventually come back to bite them in the ass.

[The Two Jerseys]

So Maryland Republicans want to make it a felony to steal a gun.

Reporter: "Do you think that stealing a gun should be a felony?"

Democrat Committee Chairman: "In the terms of selling a gun, we already have some very stiff penalties, obviously they're not being enforced, so I think we need to look toward the enforcement..."

Translation: "I don't want to reduce the Democrat voting base by making more black people convicted felons."

[Albrenia]

So Maryland Republicans want to make it a felony to steal a gun.

Reporter: "Do you think that stealing a gun should be a felony?"

Democrat Committee Chairman: "In the terms of selling a gun, we already have some very stiff penalties, obviously they're not being enforced, so I think we need to look toward the enforcement..."

Translation: "I don't want to reduce the Democrat voting base by making more black people convicted felons."

Forgive my ignorance, but what does the stealing of guns have to do with black people?

[Diopolis]

To steal or straw purchase a weapon for the commission of a crime should be punished the same as committing the crime.

[Hurtful Thoughts]

But would leaving the Chinese peasantry armed have led to yet another period of provincial infighting, warlordism and prolonged instability? Could Libya, Somalia or Afghanistan have been China's fate instead, with meddling Western powers making things even worse? It's hard to say. Could this be a question of striking a delicate balance between tyranny and anarchy? The idea of a brutal, totalitarian regime that isn't averse to slaughtering and enslaving millions of its own citizens in order to remain in power is at least an equally terrifying thought. I'm originally from Hong Kong, where unarmed protesters and non-protesters alike are currently being subjected to an unprecedented level of police violence and brutality. I also belong to a racially discriminated minority in Malaysia that has, throughout the nation's history, been subjected to threats, intimidation, violence and even pogroms by a racist indigenous majority with the complicity of the Malaysian government. It would be nice if my ethnic group had easy access to guns like the Jews in Israel did when they successfully fought and won a war of independence against their genocidal Arab neighbors, whereas the Jews of Nazi Germany had no such luck.

History would point to the early days of the Soviet Union.

Although in that case firearms ownership was limited to members of a single very prominent political party, and there was a brief wave of gunning-down political dissidents to purge the country of counter-revolutionaries and other undesireable regressive and reactionary elements of society.

Aftwerwards there was only one party left standing so everyone was de-facto registered as a member of the people's party and could thus partake in their 2nd amendment right.

Consider such an occurance an "anti-boogaloo".

Sucks to be a non-socialist if that happens.

[Diopolis]

But would leaving the Chinese peasantry armed have led to yet another period of provincial infighting, warlordism and prolonged instability? Could Libya, Somalia or Afghanistan have been China's fate instead, with meddling Western powers making things even worse? It's hard to say. Could this be a question of striking a delicate balance between tyranny and anarchy? The idea of a brutal, totalitarian regime that isn't averse to slaughtering and enslaving millions of its own citizens in order to remain in power is at least an equally terrifying thought. I'm originally from Hong Kong, where unarmed protesters and non-protesters alike are currently being subjected to an unprecedented level of police violence and brutality. I also belong to a racially discriminated minority in Malaysia that has, throughout the nation's history, been subjected to threats, intimidation, violence and even pogroms by a racist indigenous majority with the complicity of the Malaysian government. It would be nice if my ethnic group had easy access to guns like the Jews in Israel did when they successfully fought and won a war of independence against their genocidal Arab neighbors, whereas the Jews of Nazi Germany had no such luck.

History would point to the early days of the Soviet Union.

Although in that case firearms ownership was limited to members of a single very prominent political party, and there was a brief wave of gunning-down political dissidents to purge the country of counter-revolutionaries and other undesireable regressive and reactionary elements of society.

Aftwerwards there was only one party left standing so everyone was de-facto registered as a member of the people's party and could thus partake in their 2nd amendment right.

Consider such an occurance an "anti-boogaloo".

Sucks to be a non-socialist if that happens.

Meh. If we're being honest here I'd get targeted for the purge anyways.

[The Two Jerseys]

So Maryland Republicans want to make it a felony to steal a gun.

Reporter: "Do you think that stealing a gun should be a felony?"

Democrat Committee Chairman: "In the terms of selling a gun, we already have some very stiff penalties, obviously they're not being enforced, so I think we need to look toward the enforcement..."

Translation: "I don't want to reduce the Democrat voting base by making more black people convicted felons."

Forgive my ignorance, but what does the stealing of guns have to do with black people?

Baltimore.

[Plzen]

Meh. If we're being honest here I'd get targeted for the purge anyways.

"Well, right off the bat I can see that whoever compiled this tally has a different definition of defenseless than I do. I myself wouldn't declare the largest military machine on the planet 'unable to defend itself', but by adding 20 million from the Soviet Union, this list does. After all, Stalin's most infamous terror fell heavily on the Soviet Army, culling tens of thousand of officers, and executing three out of five marshals, 15 out of 16 army commanders, 60 out of 67 corps commanders and 136 out of 199 division commanders. In one bloody year, the majority of the officer corps was led away quietly and shot. It may be one of life's great mysteries as to why the Red Army allowed itself to be gutted that way, but obviously, lack of firepower can't be the reason."
- Matthew White, 2003, on the subject of government democide of people made defenceless by gun control.

I mean, I suppose that technically a gun is one way of protecting yourself from government oppression, but I hold that if you're in a situation where the thing that protects you from the government is a gun, your society has already gone horribly wrong somewhere. A culture of pluralism and tolerance counts for much more than the ability of the potential victims to defend themselves.

[Telconi]

Meh. If we're being honest here I'd get targeted for the purge anyways.

"Well, right off the bat I can see that whoever compiled this tally has a different definition of defenseless than I do. I myself wouldn't declare the largest military machine on the planet 'unable to defend itself', but by adding 20 million from the Soviet Union, this list does. After all, Stalin's most infamous terror fell heavily on the Soviet Army, culling tens of thousand of officers, and executing three out of five marshals, 15 out of 16 army commanders, 60 out of 67 corps commanders and 136 out of 199 division commanders. In one bloody year, the majority of the officer corps was led away quietly and shot. It may be one of life's great mysteries as to why the Red Army allowed itself to be gutted that way, but obviously, lack of firepower can't be the reason."
- Matthew White, 2003, on the subject of government democide of people made defenceless by gun control.

I mean, I suppose that technically a gun is one way of protecting yourself from government oppression, but I hold that if you're in a situation where the thing that protects you from the government is a gun, your society has already gone horribly wrong somewhere. A culture of pluralism and tolerance counts for much more than the ability of the potential victims to defend themselves.

The thing that protects you from the government is always a gun.

[The Lone Alliance]

I mean, I suppose that technically a gun is one way of protecting yourself from government oppression, but I hold that if you're in a situation where the thing that protects you from the government is a gun, your society has already gone horribly wrong somewhere. A culture of pluralism and tolerance counts for much more than the ability of the potential victims to defend themselves.

That's the problem the US is no long a nation where pluralism and tolerance is allowed because there's a growing number of people with the ideologically mindset that have decided that they and they alone know how the world should work... and anytime something goes wrong with their ideology well.... it's never their fault... it's the others who are wrong.

Like I said before it's just the Religious Right Moral Majority all over again.

What's even sadder is there are multiple factions of these people and they even fight amongst themselves...

[Hurtful Thoughts]

"Well, right off the bat I can see that whoever compiled this tally has a different definition of defenseless than I do. I myself wouldn't declare the largest military machine on the planet 'unable to defend itself', but by adding 20 million from the Soviet Union, this list does. After all, Stalin's most infamous terror fell heavily on the Soviet Army, culling tens of thousand of officers, and executing three out of five marshals, 15 out of 16 army commanders, 60 out of 67 corps commanders and 136 out of 199 division commanders. In one bloody year, the majority of the officer corps was led away quietly and shot. It may be one of life's great mysteries as to why the Red Army allowed itself to be gutted that way, but obviously, lack of firepower can't be the reason."
- Matthew White, 2003, on the subject of government democide of people made defenceless by gun control.

I mean, I suppose that technically a gun is one way of protecting yourself from government oppression, but I hold that if you're in a situation where the thing that protects you from the government is a gun, your society has already gone horribly wrong somewhere. A culture of pluralism and tolerance counts for much more than the ability of the potential victims to defend themselves.

The thing that protects you from the government is always a gun.

Bogaloo noises in teh distance

"I need an adult!"

BATF shows up

"A competent adult!"

*Cheeki Breeki in sniper intensifies*

Make it impossible to get removed from office, get recall-elected out a month later anyways

Here, have some memes

[Pax Nerdvana]

That would probably be my reaction as well. Or maybe say,"You sure you want to try and shoot me with a broken revolver?"

I dunno, Payten killed that horsetheif in one shot with a bullshit revolver. Don't underestimate the guy

Pray tell, who is this fellow?

[The Empire of Pretantia]

"Well, right off the bat I can see that whoever compiled this tally has a different definition of defenseless than I do. I myself wouldn't declare the largest military machine on the planet 'unable to defend itself', but by adding 20 million from the Soviet Union, this list does. After all, Stalin's most infamous terror fell heavily on the Soviet Army, culling tens of thousand of officers, and executing three out of five marshals, 15 out of 16 army commanders, 60 out of 67 corps commanders and 136 out of 199 division commanders. In one bloody year, the majority of the officer corps was led away quietly and shot. It may be one of life's great mysteries as to why the Red Army allowed itself to be gutted that way, but obviously, lack of firepower can't be the reason."
- Matthew White, 2003, on the subject of government democide of people made defenceless by gun control.

I mean, I suppose that technically a gun is one way of protecting yourself from government oppression, but I hold that if you're in a situation where the thing that protects you from the government is a gun, your society has already gone horribly wrong somewhere. A culture of pluralism and tolerance counts for much more than the ability of the potential victims to defend themselves.

The thing that protects you from the government is always a gun.

Incorrect. Sometimes it's knives and blunt instruments.

[Loben The 2nd]

The thing that protects you from the government is always a gun.

Incorrect. Sometimes it's knives and blunt instruments.

Or explosives.

[Dogmeat]

(Image)

Good. I hate raiders with pipe guns.

[Dogmeat]

"Well, right off the bat I can see that whoever compiled this tally has a different definition of defenseless than I do. I myself wouldn't declare the largest military machine on the planet 'unable to defend itself', but by adding 20 million from the Soviet Union, this list does. After all, Stalin's most infamous terror fell heavily on the Soviet Army, culling tens of thousand of officers, and executing three out of five marshals, 15 out of 16 army commanders, 60 out of 67 corps commanders and 136 out of 199 division commanders. In one bloody year, the majority of the officer corps was led away quietly and shot. It may be one of life's great mysteries as to why the Red Army allowed itself to be gutted that way, but obviously, lack of firepower can't be the reason."
- Matthew White, 2003, on the subject of government democide of people made defenceless by gun control.

I mean, I suppose that technically a gun is one way of protecting yourself from government oppression, but I hold that if you're in a situation where the thing that protects you from the government is a gun, your society has already gone horribly wrong somewhere. A culture of pluralism and tolerance counts for much more than the ability of the potential victims to defend themselves.

The thing that protects you from the government is always a gun.

I mean, in the last 300 years in the US, it's been guns what? Like a couple of times?

And then just like a whole bunch of litigation and protests.