What a fucking dystopia it is, when people can just bring guns to stores. Why would you need a murder weapon, do you have that many enemies? Statistically you’re more likely to use it on yourself, or a kid finds it and hurts itself or someone else. Unless it’s in a safe, in which case it’s useless for home protection when all your enemies are coming over to kill you. Seriously dude, what did you do to have that many people wanting to kill you. Do you want to know what I have for home protection? Machine gun? RPG? Wrong, I have locks. They still haven’t killed me. I am being held hostage by my 3 cats though. Also, I’m nice to people, I don’t have enemies.
So is your argument everyone should have guns? Because the people wanting to murder you for no reason will have access to them too. I doubt they will invade your home to kill you if they can only get a kitchen knife in stores as a weapon.
How often are people being hunted and killed for just being who they are? Are there actual groups who specifically home invade to kill LGBTQIA+? I knew the US was fucked up, but I haven’t heard of actual death squads.
My argument is that as long as the people who want me dead have guns, I should probably have a gun as well. This goes double for my trans brothers and sisters. In a perfect world, nobody would have guns. In a perfect world, cancer wouldn’t exist. But Americans have guns, and cancer exists, so we should quit smoking and remain armed for now.
Statistically there’s a higher chance to use a gun on yourself during dark days, you know, which we all have sometimes, or have someone hurt during an accident with it (like a kid finds it or you shoot your partner/kid/friend coming home late while thinking it’s a burger) than you actually needing to protect yourself.
But why is it there are so many murder hungry people in the US? You make it sound like the Purge. What does law enforcement do with these murderous groups? Honestly, I haven’t heard of any group actively braking in to kill people just because. Do you have sources of this happening?
What a fucking dystopia if you can just buy a gun in a store. The majority of people are idiots, why give everyone access to devices specifically made to kill people? Is society really safer if everyone has a gun? When it comes to disputes there’s a whole spectrum between shouting “hey asshole” and killing someone, but every other form of escalation is skipped when guns are involved. It’s just stupid. Especially when you make everyone stupid with junk food. Then you have stupid people doing stupid things with lethal weapons. Like school shootings for example, which is considered ‘normal’ these days and ‘collateral damage’ to protect the second amendment. “I don’t mind my kids are at risk of getting shot and killed at school, so I can have guns, so I can protect my family against other people with guns.” If you take guns out of the equation, a lot of issues will be solved. But since Americans now learn how to hide from shooters instead of math, I wonder if they even know what an equation is. The US is not far from the world portrayed in the movie Idiocracy.
I’m nice to everyone and a good chunk of the population would like to see me dead. Assuming people would only want to assault someone because of their own actions is pretty naive.
Right. So let’s give them access to guns, that’s a super smart idea. “There’s a group of murderous people in my country. What to do? I know, let’s give everyone lethal weapons which you can buy at the super market, that will make everyone safer.”
In my country, cops and the military have guns. And a tiny group who use them for hunting and sports. There are roughly 35 to 40 people killed by guns per year, in a country of 18 million inhabitants. That’s 0.2 to 0.25 per 100.000. This is much more than 10 years ago. One of our provinces is considered a narco state, we have Moroccan mafia, the Mexican cartels are here too. So it’s not like we don’t have crime and we have no issues.
As a comparison, in the US in 2023 the amount of deaths by guns was 13.7 per 100.000, which has been less than the years before, according to Pew Research Center.
It’s super simple math. Add guns to society, the amount of gun violence and deaths will rise. Remove guns from society, the amount of gun violence and deaths will decrease. Look at Australia for example, one of many countries where they banned guns, after the worst mass shooting ever. Never had a mass shooting ever again, since 1996. They went from an average of 3.6 gun deaths per 100.000 per year before 1996 to 0.8 in 2018.
But in the US their logic is “maybe we need to add more guns? Maybe the problem is too much doors in schools. You know what? I think we need to pray harder.”
But you know, statistics are just for nerds, what’s a nerd going to do against an AR-15 right?
Okay give me the thousands of dollars it’ll take to uproot and start a life in another country cuz I don’t have it. Also I’m pretty sure most countries aren’t too fond of accepting disabled people.
My country welcomes expats, there’s even an unfair tax cut to lure expats here. You pay less taxes, can find a house more easily than nationals and you can fix this with countless institutes willing to help you find work and a house for free or for a minor fee. And my country isn’t the only one. Especially now with Trump his shit show, and his war against intellectuals, the EU is scouting people from the US. You don’t need thousands to make the move. You will earn more and companies are more than happy to take you, with actual benifits and rights (no maximum sick days for example, like wtf is that really, you can’t stop being sick if you’ve reached the maximum allowed days). Plus, with all the systems in play to make it more easy for expats to come here, it’s not that hard or expensive. English is unofficially (while there are discussions to make it official) our second language so there are loads of job opportunities here, even if you don’t speak our native language. Also if you’re disabled. This isn’t America, people here are treated like actual people. And if you can’t work full time, you can get benifits.
A friend of mine had his house broken into while he and another friend were there, they were held up at gunpoint and pistol whipped and had their safe (among other things) robbed. We had to glue his head back together because we didn’t have money for stitches (of course they’d just been robbed so that didn’t help, but also good ol’ no insurance played a part in that). They moved, cops never caught the guys. Wasn’t “their enemy,” was just a home invasion. He had locks too, and they didn’t help.
A little later in that same neighborhood, another friend of mine was selling some weed to a guy (I know I know he was a master criminal because weed was illegal so he deserved to die or whatever) and the guy stabbed him and stole the weed. He did have to go to the hospital but he luckily did live. Big ol’ scar on his gut now forever though and I don’t think it was worth it for the story. Wasn’t my friend’s enemy (actually we thought dude was cool, not a friend but an aquaintance), until he stabbed him of course.
I moved from that neighborhood to another across town, and luckily we only had people stealing from unlocked cars there, but we did hear gunshots in the distance every night and I found a crushed .40sw round right next to my mailbox that someone must have dropped doing hoodrat shit. Thankfully nothing happened beyond that, but had it, it never hurts to be prepared. None of them were my enemy either, and they never decided to make me one.
Moved from there after a while to a “safer” (the heroin dealers live in the next apartments over, not my direct complex, so it’s “safer” kinda sorta bur we get some bleed off) neighborhood I’m in now. Went to the store at one point in 2019, and in the parking lot a guy pulled a knife on me and my then-gf. Luckily after all the previous experiences and a few other close calls, I had bought a gun and got a permit to carry it. I moved my concealment and put the hand on the grip, and he turned and walked away. Instead of being stabbed or whatever he wanted to do, I bought bread. I call that a win, and thankfully without even having to fire a shot. No clue who that guy was, definitely wasn’t “my enemy” until y’know the whole knife thing put us at odds immediately upon meeting.
I’m also nice to people, I also “don’t have any enemies,” so are my friends, but it seems not everyone needs to think of you as an “enemy” before they attack you, some I thought were friendly acquaintances, some my friends or I had never even met before, in fact not one time has it been “well I was mean to that guy so now he pulled a knife,” not one has been “our enemies.” The world only works like that on procedural dramas, in the real world ime it is usually someone you know and are ostensibly friendly with, or someone you’ve never met.
Hell, bonus story, once I was taking out the trash to the dumpster and walked past a guy on the way, so I politely said “hey hows it going,” y’know as ya do, and he responded “Fuck you american you come to africa we kill you” yadda yadda blah blah. I laughed and said “ok you have a nice day too” and kept going, luckily he walked off down the street shouting about killing me instead of actually trying to, but yeah maybe that helps illustrate that being polite and not having “enemies” isn’t necessarily the magical protective ward you think it is. No clue what was wrong with that dude (had to be something, that isn’t a normal reaction to “hey how’s it going,”) I’m just glad he didn’t get more violent than threatening my life (like, threatening is fine, just don’t start acting on it), but whatever is wrong with him it wasn’t my fault lol.
So yeah it’s not all about “enemies,” nor “locks” even if you were an agoraphobe.
I have lived in some pretty shit neighborhoods lol, it seems to happen more frequently the worse the area is that you’re in. Some areas would be even worse, many would be better.
Would be nice if they didn’t have access to guns right? Perfect example why guns should be banned. Because what would you do, invading a home to ving people when you don’t have anything to hold them at gunpoint with?
I know I know he was a master criminal because weed
Selling a bit of weed is being a master criminal? Mate, what rock are you living under?
and the guy stabbed him and stole the weed
Wtf, did he sell it in a back alley to a stranger or something? My drug dealer is a good friend of mine, he always takes care of his clients, which are all his friends. Like seriously, getting stabbed for a bit of weed? How much of the story are you not telling me? Who would stab for a bit of weed? I mean, if he had 5 kilos of cocain I’d understand if someone tried to tip him off, but a bit of weed? Makes no sense. But again, access to weapons makes use of them more likely. Whether it’s guns or knives, or anything else.
but we did hear gunshots in the distance every night and I found a crushed .40sw round right next to my mailbox
Again, would have been great if no one had guns. Ban that shit!
I’m also nice to people, I also “don’t have any enemies,” so are my friends, but it seems not everyone needs to think of you as an “enemy” before they attack you
Bro, maybe move to another neighborhood which isn’t a fucking war zone. I know, it’s easily talking when loving I na first world country and giving advice to someone living in a 3rd world country, but I know people in the US and there are places where the violence is much lower than other places like Detroit for example.
So yeah it’s not all about “enemies,” nor “locks” even if you were an agoraphobe.
I agree, it’s mostly about people having easy access to lethal weapons which makes the lives of everyone else much less safe.
Over here I can go onto the streets, everywhere at any time, day or night, without having to fear for my life. I’m not saying there isn’t crime and women can do the same as we have less nice neighborhoods as well, but at least we don’t have to fear for our lives when going outside. When someone gets killed it’s national news as it’s so rare, everyone is in shock. There are 0.2 to 0.25 deaths by guns per 100.000 inhabitants per year, which is a steap increase compared to 10 years ago, with the coming of the Moroccan èn Mexican mafia these days. In the US it’s 13.7 in 2023 which is lower than the years before. But sure, keep discarding statistics and blame anything but guns. You give examples of people with easy access to weapons committing crimes, as an argument for having guns while it’s exactly why you shouldn’t have any. We’re not allowed to have tasers, pepperspray, numchucks, knuckelirons, rubber sticks or any other weapons. Crime is so low because of that, criminals don’t want to pay 7000 euros for a crappy pistol on a black marked they don’t even have connections to, just to rob someone of their wallet which doesn’t even contain cash money anymore. Also, we build our houses from stone and concrete, with proper locks the time to break in is longer than it takes for the cops to arrive. No one is worried about anyone entering their house to hurt them. People just worry about their iPad getting stolen, or their bike. Which happens without weapons, BECAUSE NO ONE HAS THEM.
Would be nice if they didn’t have access to guns right?
Sure, but they did, and my money is on “not legally,” but either way they did. There’s 600,000,000+ already out there with no registry and 3d printed glocks are a thing now. They can get them and will continue to be able to, pandora’s box has been opened.
Also if you look back far enough in history: blind bet, I bet you 1,000 internet points home invasions existed before firearms. Likely before gunpowder even, actually. I mean Viking raids alone…
Selling a bit of weed is being a master criminal? Mate, what rock are you living under?
Ah you’re from a country that has never heard of sarcasm, my apologies.
Wtf, did he sell it in a back alley to a stranger or something?
Parking lot of a closed-for-the-night Veterinarian’s office on a main road to a regular customer we considered a friendly acquaintance up until that point, why? We know his government name and have met his brother (of course, we didn’t snitch and afaik he is now in prison, or maybe was, for robbing a gas station). He still stabbed my friend and sent him to the hospital. Idk what to tell you, I agree he should probably not have stabbed my friend over 2oz but he did, so, sorry?
Again, would have been great if no one had guns. Ban that shit!
Again, probably illegally possessed and won’t be gone anytime soon even if they were illegal to possess. And even if they were legal, they are already there.
Bro, maybe move to another neighborhood which isn’t a fucking war zone.
Rich and privileged European disconnected from the reality of America? Why am I not surprised?
there are places where the violence is much lower than other places like Detroit for example.
I’m going to assume based on the above observation you don’t understand the subtle racism here. It’s there though, for future reference.
They can get them and will continue to be able to, pandora’s box has been opened.
Yhrt3e a difference to being able to buy a gun for a few hundred bucks in a supermarket and only being able to buy a questionable quality gun for several thousand euros on the black market, something which isn’t accessible to anyone (I don’t know anyone who sells guns for example). Sure, 3D printed guns are a thing too, but mostly because parts can be bought freely in the US which can me CNCed into workable parts. Those parts aren’t legal here either.
Also if you look back far enough in history:
Those were different times. So you’re afraid of vikings invading if guns were to be banned?
Ah you’re from a country that has never heard of sarcasm, my apologies.
The Dutch are super sarcastic. I’m autistic, I have a hard time picking it up, sorry.
Again, probably illegally possessed and won’t be gone anytime soon even if they were illegal to possess. And even if they were legal, they are already there.
Australia is a good example. They banned guns all at once, people got angry. Now they live without gun violence. Don’t say it’s not possible.
Rich and privileged
I’m not. Well, I am privileged to have been born here, that’s true. But I’ve seen a lot around the world. Nice places and horrific places (like Mogadishu for example) filled with terror. Because I’ve been to these places, not from reading about it on the internet. I haven’t been to the US though, but I have friends from there (from all around). I may be rich compared to people in Africa but also I have to live from paycheck to paycheck, don’t own a house, no car, no savings etc.
I’m going to assume based on the above observation you don’t understand the subtle racism here. It’s there though, for future reference.
I don’t understand. Saying Detroit has a high crime rate is racist? Or saying not all places in the US have a high crime rate is racist? Could you explain it, I honestly don’t get it. Sorry.
There’s 600,000,000 out there already that are not going anywhere, the price isn’t going down any time soon even if we make them illegal. Not to mention pipe shotguns, the LutySMG, the FGC9, countless reloaders with tonnes of components, and trillions of rounds of stashed ammo across the whole US civilians’ collections, good luck. Even if people would comply with an Aus style buyback, that would be astronomically expensive at the scale required to even get the percentage of guns they got (which was like 20%, and they are now back up to their 1996 amount of guns at 3.2mil.)
Those were different times. So you’re afraid of vikings invading if guns were to be banned?
You’re the one that thinks nobody ever invaded someone’s home before guns existed lol, that’s on you.
You’re privileged enough to tell poor people in bad neighborhoods to “just move somewhere better bro” because that’s exactly what you did. Do you think the people in bad neighborhoods stay for the ice cream trucks? No it’s because they can’t afford to move to a nicer area, hell sometimes the nicer area moves to them and pushes them out because now they can’t afford that neighborhood anymore, it’s called gentrification.
Detroit is a city often tied to black people and poverty and was usually used as every racist uncle’s example of racist bullshit, though now that is becoming Chicago it’s still basically a “Ah this is a 60-65yo republican I’m talking to” dogwhistle. Like I said I assume by “privileged European” you didn’t know that.
Guns are too. What do you think it costs in health care, police, intelligence services, dealing with bodies, loss of work force (as they are dead) etc? Why not stop deporting people, as that actually is astronomically expensive. You can just make excuses why to keep guns, saying it’s impossible, but is has been proven it’s possible and statistics show it works.
You’re the one that thinks nobody ever invaded someone’s home before guns existed lol, that’s on you.
Again, those were different times. I live in a country where it’s national news if something like a violent home invasion happens. Same with all the other countries around us.
You’re privileged enough to tell poor people in bad neighborhoods to “just move somewhere better bro”
If you live in a war zone, yeah, fleeing is the better option. I have friends who fled from war, who traveled from Iraq and Syria with nothing. If the alternative is a high probability of losing your life, I’d know what I’d chose.
Detroit is a city often tied to black people and poverty and was usually used as every racist uncle’s example
I chose Detroit as an example as it has high crime rates. You made it racist by assuming I meant black people. Wrong assumption.
Like I said I assume by “privileged European” you didn’t know that.
Indeed, I didn’t know you would find a way to change so. Thing I said into something racist. I may be a “privileged European” but I’ve been in wars myself, I’ve been homeless once, I’m unable to work anymore due to really bad PTSD due to my wartime experience, I’ve seen hundreds of people drown while fleeing from war, I’ve seen people being tortured, I’ve seen dead babies on the side of the road, etc. But what do I know about gun violence, being poor and surviving, right?
The issue I mostly have with Americans is their claim of having a monopoly on the truth, knowing everything better while not knowing anything from the rest of the world. You’re not much different so far.
Get rid of guns and violence will drastically decrease. Or you can just add more guns and enjoy killing each other The Purge style, as you all are so full of hate towards each other.
Yeah good luck with all that lol, it’s not happening anytime soon regardless and there’s no point wasting energy about it in this thread anymore. Unless you happen to have enough votes to overturn a constitutional amendment in your pocket we’ll have to agree to disagree for now.
In the US they voted for a dictator who taxes the poor and makes the rich oligarchs. Who gets rid of regulations for company profits, like food safety regulations and use of toxic chemicals in consumer products. It’s clear the US doesn’t want to change for the better. It’s just sad there are so many people who didnt vote for this, who were misinformed when voting, who weren’t allowed to vote. And many are the victim of this insane dystopian shit show. Not just domestic, also the estimated 600.000 people who died because USAID was scrapped. We lost our strongest ally while Russia is fighting a war with our next door neighbor while eyeballing our back garden. With the dumbest trade wars people are unable to pay for groceries and basic needs. People are being murdered near Venezuela. People are being taken by Gestapo-like forces, put in concentration camps while being under fed, dying, disappearing, being greatly mistreated.
This is what the US did and is doing. This is what people voted for, while the people who didn’t vote for this are just doing basically nothing, waiting for an even worse situation to come.
You wanted guns to rise up against the government in case you disagree, no cost too great to protect this right. Even the lives of children aren’t worth more. Well, go on then, this is your time to show why you have a second amendment. Rise up against fascism, before it’s too late.
What a fucking dystopia it is, when people can just bring guns to stores. Why would you need a murder weapon, do you have that many enemies? Statistically you’re more likely to use it on yourself, or a kid finds it and hurts itself or someone else. Unless it’s in a safe, in which case it’s useless for home protection when all your enemies are coming over to kill you. Seriously dude, what did you do to have that many people wanting to kill you. Do you want to know what I have for home protection? Machine gun? RPG? Wrong, I have locks. They still haven’t killed me. I am being held hostage by my 3 cats though. Also, I’m nice to people, I don’t have enemies.
Know that this site has a higher than average LGBTQIA+ population. For a lot of the Americans you’re directly referring to, the answer is yes.
Literally nothing, and yet they do
Lol. Lmao, even
So is your argument everyone should have guns? Because the people wanting to murder you for no reason will have access to them too. I doubt they will invade your home to kill you if they can only get a kitchen knife in stores as a weapon.
How often are people being hunted and killed for just being who they are? Are there actual groups who specifically home invade to kill LGBTQIA+? I knew the US was fucked up, but I haven’t heard of actual death squads.
It’s common enough that it’s a viable legal defense for murder.
My argument is that as long as the people who want me dead have guns, I should probably have a gun as well. This goes double for my trans brothers and sisters. In a perfect world, nobody would have guns. In a perfect world, cancer wouldn’t exist. But Americans have guns, and cancer exists, so we should quit smoking and remain armed for now.
Statistically there’s a higher chance to use a gun on yourself during dark days, you know, which we all have sometimes, or have someone hurt during an accident with it (like a kid finds it or you shoot your partner/kid/friend coming home late while thinking it’s a burger) than you actually needing to protect yourself.
But why is it there are so many murder hungry people in the US? You make it sound like the Purge. What does law enforcement do with these murderous groups? Honestly, I haven’t heard of any group actively braking in to kill people just because. Do you have sources of this happening?
…this is clearly in a gun store.
What a fucking dystopia if you can just buy a gun in a store. The majority of people are idiots, why give everyone access to devices specifically made to kill people? Is society really safer if everyone has a gun? When it comes to disputes there’s a whole spectrum between shouting “hey asshole” and killing someone, but every other form of escalation is skipped when guns are involved. It’s just stupid. Especially when you make everyone stupid with junk food. Then you have stupid people doing stupid things with lethal weapons. Like school shootings for example, which is considered ‘normal’ these days and ‘collateral damage’ to protect the second amendment. “I don’t mind my kids are at risk of getting shot and killed at school, so I can have guns, so I can protect my family against other people with guns.” If you take guns out of the equation, a lot of issues will be solved. But since Americans now learn how to hide from shooters instead of math, I wonder if they even know what an equation is. The US is not far from the world portrayed in the movie Idiocracy.
I’m nice to everyone and a good chunk of the population would like to see me dead. Assuming people would only want to assault someone because of their own actions is pretty naive.
Right. So let’s give them access to guns, that’s a super smart idea. “There’s a group of murderous people in my country. What to do? I know, let’s give everyone lethal weapons which you can buy at the super market, that will make everyone safer.”
In my country, cops and the military have guns. And a tiny group who use them for hunting and sports. There are roughly 35 to 40 people killed by guns per year, in a country of 18 million inhabitants. That’s 0.2 to 0.25 per 100.000. This is much more than 10 years ago. One of our provinces is considered a narco state, we have Moroccan mafia, the Mexican cartels are here too. So it’s not like we don’t have crime and we have no issues.
As a comparison, in the US in 2023 the amount of deaths by guns was 13.7 per 100.000, which has been less than the years before, according to Pew Research Center.
It’s super simple math. Add guns to society, the amount of gun violence and deaths will rise. Remove guns from society, the amount of gun violence and deaths will decrease. Look at Australia for example, one of many countries where they banned guns, after the worst mass shooting ever. Never had a mass shooting ever again, since 1996. They went from an average of 3.6 gun deaths per 100.000 per year before 1996 to 0.8 in 2018.
But in the US their logic is “maybe we need to add more guns? Maybe the problem is too much doors in schools. You know what? I think we need to pray harder.”
But you know, statistics are just for nerds, what’s a nerd going to do against an AR-15 right?
You are more likely to drown if you have a pool. This isn’t any different.
Exactly. Or the chance of accidentally injuring others when driving a huge ass truck you don’t need.
Improving your safety shouldn’t be at the cost of the safety of others.
It’s the law of the land. I don’t agree with the current interpretation, but I do still have to live here in the meantime.
Do you? There are maaaaaany places much better than that fucked up country.
Okay give me the thousands of dollars it’ll take to uproot and start a life in another country cuz I don’t have it. Also I’m pretty sure most countries aren’t too fond of accepting disabled people.
Objection: speculation.
My country welcomes expats, there’s even an unfair tax cut to lure expats here. You pay less taxes, can find a house more easily than nationals and you can fix this with countless institutes willing to help you find work and a house for free or for a minor fee. And my country isn’t the only one. Especially now with Trump his shit show, and his war against intellectuals, the EU is scouting people from the US. You don’t need thousands to make the move. You will earn more and companies are more than happy to take you, with actual benifits and rights (no maximum sick days for example, like wtf is that really, you can’t stop being sick if you’ve reached the maximum allowed days). Plus, with all the systems in play to make it more easy for expats to come here, it’s not that hard or expensive. English is unofficially (while there are discussions to make it official) our second language so there are loads of job opportunities here, even if you don’t speak our native language. Also if you’re disabled. This isn’t America, people here are treated like actual people. And if you can’t work full time, you can get benifits.
Mind telling me what country that is?
The Netherlands.
Well let’s see.
A friend of mine had his house broken into while he and another friend were there, they were held up at gunpoint and pistol whipped and had their safe (among other things) robbed. We had to glue his head back together because we didn’t have money for stitches (of course they’d just been robbed so that didn’t help, but also good ol’ no insurance played a part in that). They moved, cops never caught the guys. Wasn’t “their enemy,” was just a home invasion. He had locks too, and they didn’t help.
A little later in that same neighborhood, another friend of mine was selling some weed to a guy (I know I know he was a master criminal because weed was illegal so he deserved to die or whatever) and the guy stabbed him and stole the weed. He did have to go to the hospital but he luckily did live. Big ol’ scar on his gut now forever though and I don’t think it was worth it for the story. Wasn’t my friend’s enemy (actually we thought dude was cool, not a friend but an aquaintance), until he stabbed him of course.
I moved from that neighborhood to another across town, and luckily we only had people stealing from unlocked cars there, but we did hear gunshots in the distance every night and I found a crushed .40sw round right next to my mailbox that someone must have dropped doing hoodrat shit. Thankfully nothing happened beyond that, but had it, it never hurts to be prepared. None of them were my enemy either, and they never decided to make me one.
Moved from there after a while to a “safer” (the heroin dealers live in the next apartments over, not my direct complex, so it’s “safer” kinda sorta bur we get some bleed off) neighborhood I’m in now. Went to the store at one point in 2019, and in the parking lot a guy pulled a knife on me and my then-gf. Luckily after all the previous experiences and a few other close calls, I had bought a gun and got a permit to carry it. I moved my concealment and put the hand on the grip, and he turned and walked away. Instead of being stabbed or whatever he wanted to do, I bought bread. I call that a win, and thankfully without even having to fire a shot. No clue who that guy was, definitely wasn’t “my enemy” until y’know the whole knife thing put us at odds immediately upon meeting.
I’m also nice to people, I also “don’t have any enemies,” so are my friends, but it seems not everyone needs to think of you as an “enemy” before they attack you, some I thought were friendly acquaintances, some my friends or I had never even met before, in fact not one time has it been “well I was mean to that guy so now he pulled a knife,” not one has been “our enemies.” The world only works like that on procedural dramas, in the real world ime it is usually someone you know and are ostensibly friendly with, or someone you’ve never met.
Hell, bonus story, once I was taking out the trash to the dumpster and walked past a guy on the way, so I politely said “hey hows it going,” y’know as ya do, and he responded “Fuck you american you come to africa we kill you” yadda yadda blah blah. I laughed and said “ok you have a nice day too” and kept going, luckily he walked off down the street shouting about killing me instead of actually trying to, but yeah maybe that helps illustrate that being polite and not having “enemies” isn’t necessarily the magical protective ward you think it is. No clue what was wrong with that dude (had to be something, that isn’t a normal reaction to “hey how’s it going,”) I’m just glad he didn’t get more violent than threatening my life (like, threatening is fine, just don’t start acting on it), but whatever is wrong with him it wasn’t my fault lol.
So yeah it’s not all about “enemies,” nor “locks” even if you were an agoraphobe.
Read your stories. Phew, shit. Would you say this is representative of what most USians (at least city dwellers) typically experience in their lives ?
I have lived in some pretty shit neighborhoods lol, it seems to happen more frequently the worse the area is that you’re in. Some areas would be even worse, many would be better.
Would be nice if they didn’t have access to guns right? Perfect example why guns should be banned. Because what would you do, invading a home to ving people when you don’t have anything to hold them at gunpoint with?
Selling a bit of weed is being a master criminal? Mate, what rock are you living under?
Wtf, did he sell it in a back alley to a stranger or something? My drug dealer is a good friend of mine, he always takes care of his clients, which are all his friends. Like seriously, getting stabbed for a bit of weed? How much of the story are you not telling me? Who would stab for a bit of weed? I mean, if he had 5 kilos of cocain I’d understand if someone tried to tip him off, but a bit of weed? Makes no sense. But again, access to weapons makes use of them more likely. Whether it’s guns or knives, or anything else.
Again, would have been great if no one had guns. Ban that shit!
Bro, maybe move to another neighborhood which isn’t a fucking war zone. I know, it’s easily talking when loving I na first world country and giving advice to someone living in a 3rd world country, but I know people in the US and there are places where the violence is much lower than other places like Detroit for example.
I agree, it’s mostly about people having easy access to lethal weapons which makes the lives of everyone else much less safe.
Over here I can go onto the streets, everywhere at any time, day or night, without having to fear for my life. I’m not saying there isn’t crime and women can do the same as we have less nice neighborhoods as well, but at least we don’t have to fear for our lives when going outside. When someone gets killed it’s national news as it’s so rare, everyone is in shock. There are 0.2 to 0.25 deaths by guns per 100.000 inhabitants per year, which is a steap increase compared to 10 years ago, with the coming of the Moroccan èn Mexican mafia these days. In the US it’s 13.7 in 2023 which is lower than the years before. But sure, keep discarding statistics and blame anything but guns. You give examples of people with easy access to weapons committing crimes, as an argument for having guns while it’s exactly why you shouldn’t have any. We’re not allowed to have tasers, pepperspray, numchucks, knuckelirons, rubber sticks or any other weapons. Crime is so low because of that, criminals don’t want to pay 7000 euros for a crappy pistol on a black marked they don’t even have connections to, just to rob someone of their wallet which doesn’t even contain cash money anymore. Also, we build our houses from stone and concrete, with proper locks the time to break in is longer than it takes for the cops to arrive. No one is worried about anyone entering their house to hurt them. People just worry about their iPad getting stolen, or their bike. Which happens without weapons, BECAUSE NO ONE HAS THEM.
Sure, but they did, and my money is on “not legally,” but either way they did. There’s 600,000,000+ already out there with no registry and 3d printed glocks are a thing now. They can get them and will continue to be able to, pandora’s box has been opened.
Also if you look back far enough in history: blind bet, I bet you 1,000 internet points home invasions existed before firearms. Likely before gunpowder even, actually. I mean Viking raids alone…
Ah you’re from a country that has never heard of sarcasm, my apologies.
Parking lot of a closed-for-the-night Veterinarian’s office on a main road to a regular customer we considered a friendly acquaintance up until that point, why? We know his government name and have met his brother (of course, we didn’t snitch and afaik he is now in prison, or maybe was, for robbing a gas station). He still stabbed my friend and sent him to the hospital. Idk what to tell you, I agree he should probably not have stabbed my friend over 2oz but he did, so, sorry?
Again, probably illegally possessed and won’t be gone anytime soon even if they were illegal to possess. And even if they were legal, they are already there.
Rich and privileged European disconnected from the reality of America? Why am I not surprised?
I’m going to assume based on the above observation you don’t understand the subtle racism here. It’s there though, for future reference.
Yhrt3e a difference to being able to buy a gun for a few hundred bucks in a supermarket and only being able to buy a questionable quality gun for several thousand euros on the black market, something which isn’t accessible to anyone (I don’t know anyone who sells guns for example). Sure, 3D printed guns are a thing too, but mostly because parts can be bought freely in the US which can me CNCed into workable parts. Those parts aren’t legal here either.
Those were different times. So you’re afraid of vikings invading if guns were to be banned?
The Dutch are super sarcastic. I’m autistic, I have a hard time picking it up, sorry.
Australia is a good example. They banned guns all at once, people got angry. Now they live without gun violence. Don’t say it’s not possible.
I’m not. Well, I am privileged to have been born here, that’s true. But I’ve seen a lot around the world. Nice places and horrific places (like Mogadishu for example) filled with terror. Because I’ve been to these places, not from reading about it on the internet. I haven’t been to the US though, but I have friends from there (from all around). I may be rich compared to people in Africa but also I have to live from paycheck to paycheck, don’t own a house, no car, no savings etc.
I don’t understand. Saying Detroit has a high crime rate is racist? Or saying not all places in the US have a high crime rate is racist? Could you explain it, I honestly don’t get it. Sorry.
There’s 600,000,000 out there already that are not going anywhere, the price isn’t going down any time soon even if we make them illegal. Not to mention pipe shotguns, the LutySMG, the FGC9, countless reloaders with tonnes of components, and trillions of rounds of stashed ammo across the whole US civilians’ collections, good luck. Even if people would comply with an Aus style buyback, that would be astronomically expensive at the scale required to even get the percentage of guns they got (which was like 20%, and they are now back up to their 1996 amount of guns at 3.2mil.)
You’re the one that thinks nobody ever invaded someone’s home before guns existed lol, that’s on you.
You’re privileged enough to tell poor people in bad neighborhoods to “just move somewhere better bro” because that’s exactly what you did. Do you think the people in bad neighborhoods stay for the ice cream trucks? No it’s because they can’t afford to move to a nicer area, hell sometimes the nicer area moves to them and pushes them out because now they can’t afford that neighborhood anymore, it’s called gentrification.
Detroit is a city often tied to black people and poverty and was usually used as every racist uncle’s example of racist bullshit, though now that is becoming Chicago it’s still basically a “Ah this is a 60-65yo republican I’m talking to” dogwhistle. Like I said I assume by “privileged European” you didn’t know that.
Guns are too. What do you think it costs in health care, police, intelligence services, dealing with bodies, loss of work force (as they are dead) etc? Why not stop deporting people, as that actually is astronomically expensive. You can just make excuses why to keep guns, saying it’s impossible, but is has been proven it’s possible and statistics show it works.
Again, those were different times. I live in a country where it’s national news if something like a violent home invasion happens. Same with all the other countries around us.
If you live in a war zone, yeah, fleeing is the better option. I have friends who fled from war, who traveled from Iraq and Syria with nothing. If the alternative is a high probability of losing your life, I’d know what I’d chose.
I chose Detroit as an example as it has high crime rates. You made it racist by assuming I meant black people. Wrong assumption.
Indeed, I didn’t know you would find a way to change so. Thing I said into something racist. I may be a “privileged European” but I’ve been in wars myself, I’ve been homeless once, I’m unable to work anymore due to really bad PTSD due to my wartime experience, I’ve seen hundreds of people drown while fleeing from war, I’ve seen people being tortured, I’ve seen dead babies on the side of the road, etc. But what do I know about gun violence, being poor and surviving, right?
The issue I mostly have with Americans is their claim of having a monopoly on the truth, knowing everything better while not knowing anything from the rest of the world. You’re not much different so far.
Get rid of guns and violence will drastically decrease. Or you can just add more guns and enjoy killing each other The Purge style, as you all are so full of hate towards each other.
Yeah good luck with all that lol, it’s not happening anytime soon regardless and there’s no point wasting energy about it in this thread anymore. Unless you happen to have enough votes to overturn a constitutional amendment in your pocket we’ll have to agree to disagree for now.
In the US they voted for a dictator who taxes the poor and makes the rich oligarchs. Who gets rid of regulations for company profits, like food safety regulations and use of toxic chemicals in consumer products. It’s clear the US doesn’t want to change for the better. It’s just sad there are so many people who didnt vote for this, who were misinformed when voting, who weren’t allowed to vote. And many are the victim of this insane dystopian shit show. Not just domestic, also the estimated 600.000 people who died because USAID was scrapped. We lost our strongest ally while Russia is fighting a war with our next door neighbor while eyeballing our back garden. With the dumbest trade wars people are unable to pay for groceries and basic needs. People are being murdered near Venezuela. People are being taken by Gestapo-like forces, put in concentration camps while being under fed, dying, disappearing, being greatly mistreated.
This is what the US did and is doing. This is what people voted for, while the people who didn’t vote for this are just doing basically nothing, waiting for an even worse situation to come.
You wanted guns to rise up against the government in case you disagree, no cost too great to protect this right. Even the lives of children aren’t worth more. Well, go on then, this is your time to show why you have a second amendment. Rise up against fascism, before it’s too late.
Im not advocating gun ownership but locks just slow honest people down.
Pepper spray is all a normal person would need to defend themselves
And if nobody owned a gun, you would not be outmatched when defending yourself with pepper spray
Even pepper spray is illegal in my country.