If you don’t, no need to reply telling me you don’t. I live in the woods with some critters. I live pretty far from neighbors/police so having a gun gives me peace of mind. I also hunt and consider myself a gun hobbiest. I enjoy shooting targets, cleaning/organizing, reloading and earning food with guns.
I’ve been called the f word a few times since the election so I’m not going to become some homophobe’s victim
Fuck yeah. I like to get pics of those assholes and photoshop a target on them for target practice. Can’t really bring them to the range but they make for fun targets for the basement BB gun gallery
Because you may as well be shooting at photos of the range owner.
Muslim terrorist targets are ok by their rules, though.
Yeah most ranges are going to be owned by complete pieces of shit. Luckily I have a state owned range near me so I use that and it’s outdoors so I almost always go to that range and they just provide targets they want everyone to use anyway so it’s a nice equalizer
State ranges are the best. I use them several times a year. Just don’t go on weekends. Haha.
I’m so happy to have one nearby. I love how hardcore safety is taken and there’s just no bullshit. Haha yeah weekends are wildly busy
This. I’m not into violence, but the Republicans are getting scary and they have a lot of weapons. It’d be easier to reconcile my issues with violence if I had to shoot someone than it’d be to reconcile the issues I’d have if I wasn’t able to fight them trying to hurt me or my family.
Plus target shooting is fun.
I’m a punk so I’ve never been totally adverse to violence but usually a knife was good but now I really feel uncomfortable with the vibe I was getting and I felt it was time to get strapped. Fuckers always want a victim but shit their pants when they realize they found a fight. Someone kept eyeing me a little while back and I just stared back at them while clicking my gun belt and they went white in the face and got back in their truck real fast cos they’re all chicken-shit bullies.
I can’t get enough target practice though, I even set up a little shooting gallery in my basement for bb and airsoft guns just to keep sharp when my ears are dying after the 50th trip in a row to the range where someone next to me had an AR going off the entire time. Nazis and klan bitches make for fun targets though in the basement gallery. I ended up with a .22 rifle as well to bring to the range and that is just so much fun to shoot with. That thing is nearly silent with some CCI quiets, you just hear the bolt hit the rim and the bullet impact
“I can’t believe those DEI types will resort to political violence.”
*I wonder how many racists even know what DEI stands for
Delicious edible icecream
Good for you. Laws are nice, but sometimes firepower is the best option for securing your rights - especially if you live in a country where DEI is sneered at.
I can’t upvote you enough!
Makes sense to me.
Based
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A gun is useful tool for acquiring meat in a sustainable way. Shout out to venison!
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I am a trans woman. There are a lot of armed right wingers that would love to see me dead. They can try, but I’m not going to give them an easy time of it.
Hell yeah, we arm the dolls here
Good shit
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I like shooting as a sport. Not into hunting but hitting targets is fun.
That was my interest as well. I never liked the idea of hunting or using guns for self defense. I grew up target shooting, and it was great because it was a sport that a weak asthmatic kid with a flimsy ribcage could take part in. I don’t really do it anymore because I got tired of being around other shooters and I don’t really want to support the industry, but I miss it sometimes.
I’m lucky that we have a lot of BLM land about 20-30 min away that is open to target shooting. It’s also a great for stress relief. The last thing I’d want is to be in a situation where I’d have to take someone else’s life, but if people in my vicinity are armed, you’re damn right I’m going to be armed.
Want.
Lifelong anti-gun libtard here.
I think guns are primarily for people who fear. I think fear is the primary motivator for firearm ownership. I would like to live in a society where fear doesn’t push people to own firearms. That is not our reality. That is not the society we live in.
There are masked, unqualified paramilitary federal goons entering our communities and harassing and assaulting AMERICAN CITIZENS. I passed my history classes. I enjoy reading up on history in my own personal time. I know where things like this often lead, and I’ve come to accept that it’s time to arm myself. A significant portion of our populace also supports what is happening and would be perfectly fine with people like myself, who want everyone to have healthcare, a good education, and to be fed, being “removed” from this plane of existence. These people are everywhere. I understand that they are not actively going out and killing people like me, but they are voting to persecute and harm people like me and the people I care about.
That’s enough for me to arm myself out of fear.
I don’t believe this to be a good society. I don’t believe this to be an intelligent society. I don’t believe this to be a safe society going forward.
I haven’t purchased a firearm yet, but I’ve been out shooting with friends a number of times and I’ve been asking questions to get ready for the process of acquiring at least one.
Liberal-libertarian here- I think the married gay couple should have AR15s to defend their marijuana crop and adopted children from attack, confident in the knowledge that single payer healthcare will be there if they get hurt.
I also follow history, at least a little. And I think even a light perusal of the last 100ish years should be enough to show anyone that ‘it can’t happen here’ / ‘it won’t happen here’ are foolish attitudes, as the current situations are demonstrating.
I’m curious if you regret your past support of anti-gun policies, knowing that they are directly making it harder for you to acquire a gun for self-defense today?
And FWIW if you have any gun questions or want to know anything about specific guns, safety, culture, etc please feel free to reply or DM me.
I’m curious if you regret your past support of anti-gun policies
Not really.
I’d prefer to live in a society that doesn’t perpetuate enough fear to cause people to desire firearms for self defense. Those societies do exist. And 10+ years ago things weren’t as they are now in America. The situation has degraded. We could have gone down another path that could have led to less fear and gun ownership, but that’s not the future we chose for ourselves.
So I’ve had to shift my expectations. That’s why I don’t really regret advocating against guns in the past. I still don’t like them. I still think more guns will cause more problems. But our society is becoming more ignorant and our decisions are going to lead to more people being more destitute and more desperate, which will increase crime, as political violence also increases, so the bottom line is you have to protect yourself.
I’d prefer to live in a society where no guns are ever needed.
The problem is, you can’t predict the future.I’d prefer to live in a society that doesn’t perpetuate enough fear to cause people to desire firearms for self defense. Those societies do exist. And 10+ years ago things weren’t as they are now in America. The situation has degraded. We could have gone down another path that could have led to less fear and gun ownership, but that’s not the future we chose for ourselves.
But that’s my point. 10+ years ago, you wouldn’t have predicted this. 10+ years ago, you’d have fought to restrict or remove gun rights. And now here we are, if you and those like you had succeeded, you wouldn’t be able to buy a gun.
That’s why I think gun rights (including yours) are so important, and why I hope you (someday) regret your previous anti-gun advocacy. Because however great our society is at any point in time, it can always get bad again. And the question is when that happens, do we want to have proverbially shot ourselves in the foot by removing our own means of self-defense? I say no.
Thus, if I may be a bit silly, an image for when you go into the gun store and have the right to buy that gun:
:D
I would argue that the ideal is a society where guns are readily available, but rarely needed. Might you agree with that?
Im American. All the people who think the laws were never meant to apply to them already have more guns than I have friends. And when they die, their likely rotten kids will get them. I can either accept that I live in a country where only terrible people have guns(this includes the cops). Or I could do something about it and take my sefety into my own hands. Really simple choice at the end of the day.
Yeah thats a reasonable rationale.
For me firearm ownership is about responsibility and independence. If you’re going to eat meat, you should participate in the process and understand what it means. If you don’t trust the state with a monopoly on violence, you should be a part of distributing that power as widely as possible. Guns are one of the most powerful tools in the modern world, and I value them for the same reasons I value my drill or computer: they expand my capabilities.
Florida
Fair
need? no need. want/have? I tinkered and shot target with my (now passed) stepfather and we bonded over the science and nerdy parts of it. do i carry? nope.
End of the world prep
I don’t need or want guns the way the world is now.
But if society and civilization collapses, you’ll need a gun because you’ll need to protect yourself and your family from everyone else. I won’t want it to attack other people, I’ll just need it to survive every other murderous idiot that will want to kill me for a can of beans.
I like how you assume you aren’t a murderous idiot or at least not one in the eyes of someone else just like you
If the world falls apart, my first plan of action is to just go into the wilderness and stay the hell out of everyone’s way. I’m not joining any community or group anywhere. The gun will be there to keep anyone else that comes near to stay away.
When society breaks down, our greatest hope for survival will be each other … unfortunately, our greatest danger will also be ourselves.
You’re not going to survive on your own. At best you’ll burn through your personal supplies REAL fast and have no way to really grow more in time. More likely you won’t even survive the first cold night.
Similarly, people also underestimate just how easy it is to sneak up on people. Unless you plan to have a 24/7 watch AND understand how to keep on lookout at night (it is deceptively hard because of how quickly your pupils will re-constrict with even a bit of light), you just need one halfway competent person with a rifle to end your life and take all your shit.
Same with the idea that “my gun is going to deter people”. How are they going to know who does and doesn’t have a gun? The Bad People who salivate over this are going to assume EVERYONE is armed because guessing wrong means getting shot. Just play any Battle Royale/Extraction Shooter to see that in action. And unless you set up a giant perimeter to let everyone know where you are and that you are armed, it is going to be any other chance encounter as people likely follow the same thought process you did when you staked out your cabin in the woods. And if you DO have a giant perimeter… then they KNOW you are armed and probably have good stuff.
Like almost all things gun nut: it is all about fantasizing about some REALLY horrible shit if you break it down.
Like the other responder said … I’m Indigenous Canadian and my parents were born and raised in the wilderness. I grew up learning how to hunt, trap and fish to live off the land. It doesn’t mean I’ll be comfortable or happy about it … it just means I’ll be more capable of surviving. My extreme ‘end of the world’ plan (which I do hope never happens) … is to just pack up my truck, fill up with gas, food, equipment, tools and firearms and head north into the wilderness until the road ends and then just start from there. Then abandon the truck and the road and head further into the wilderness. I know how to live on my own out there to build and manage my own shelter using traditional methods and I doubt many or any people will end up anywhere near me in far northern Ontario.
it just means I’ll be more capable of surviving.
“more capable” does not mean “capable”
is to just pack up my truck, (…) Then abandon the truck
Can you see the flaw with that plan?
I doubt many or any people will end up anywhere near me in far northern Ontario.
Like I mentioned in the other branch: That is basically the only way that people in Global North communities CAN “live off the wilderness”. There are so few people trying that the heavily depopulated forests and lack of farmable land matter less. And even then, most of those people tend to rely on going into town “every so often” for supplies.
But also? if we are actually in an apocalypse, you can bet that more than just you will think about those forests. And some of them will be as trained, if not moreso, than you and won’t have abandoned all their supplies in a truck on the side of the road.
The guy you’re replying to is a Native American. He grew up living off the land and knows how to survive,
no, thrive,without the supports of agriculture. The only issue is actually finding any viable wilderness since pretty much all of it was destroyed long ago to feed people like you.The guy you’re replying to is a Native American. He grew up living off the land and knows how to survive, no, thrive, without the supports of agriculture.
Whoa boy, not gonna touch the mysticism and Other bullshit with a ten foot pole.
But unless you already have a good chunk of farmland ready, you aren’t going to survive the first winter. That is WHY communities (even the magical Native American ones) are so dependent on having ships and wagons FULL of supplies to survive that first winter because going from normal land to farmland is the better part of a year on its own.
That ALSO ignores that most farms are not actually self sufficient due to a mix of needing to cycle crops to keep the land fertile as well as needing alternative sources of food and energy (often livestock). The Magical Native Americans largely depended on animals like Buffalo and Deer to make up the latter and… yeah. And modern day “live off the land” folk tend to rely pretty heavily on odd jobs (or money from their parents) because actually surviving off foraging and wild animals just isn’t feasible outside of VERY few regions. And even those mostly only work because it is one weirdo that the park rangers tend to look the other way for.
If OP has a community of like minded people? It is very doable. If OP is a lone gun nut hiding out in The Wilderness? Whatever level of fairly racist mystic fantasy you can think of won’t help.
You are right on many of your points but the land we are talking about is the swamp lands of northern Ontario where my family were born and raised off of. My parents were born there in the wilderness and they learned to live on their own without much else. I was taught how to live there myself and I can be comfortable doing that again because I know how.
You are right about food scarcity. The land I’m talking about will only be sustainable to a small group of people that know how to live and follow the seasonal cycle of this part of the world. Extreme cold in the winter and clouds of biting insects in the summer. Food will be cyclical so one has to know how to prepare for every period of the year and how, when, where animals, fish and birds will be available and how to prepare and store them for times of shortages. My parents do have stories of being out there and having to live through famine when animals just disappeared from one reason or another.
All this doesn’t guarantee my survival in this scenario … it just means my chances would be higher than most other people.
but the land we are talking about is the swamp lands of northern Ontario where my family were born and raised off of.
Ah, well then. If it is your land then I am SURE that nobody else would think of trespassing on it After The Fall.
Food will be cyclical so one has to know how to prepare for every period of the year
Which requires a lot more supplies to survive The First Winter. Like I said.
And it ALSO assumes nobody is going to come and fuck up your ecosystem during the summer/fall. Doesn’t matter if THEY die that first winter, they already made sure you will too.
All this doesn’t guarantee my survival in this scenario … it just means my chances would be higher than most other people.
Higher doesn’t mean successful.
And I would very much say, without any more info, that you are vastly overestimating your own chances on your own (especially since it sounds like your parents had a community or at least each other and you only learned how as part of a community with them) AND underestimating all the (I don’t know the Canadian equivalent. Probably Canadian Tire since that is the everything store?) REI-chic folk who have been learning this as a hobby and will probably also make it pretty far into that first winter before, hopefully, making their way back to “society” in an attempt to scavenge there with the rest of people.
Everyone has a plan when a plan’s not needed.
I don’t like thinking about this stuff but as the world gets more and more crazy, the more I plan. Over the years, I consciously kept good maintenance of my truck, keep it full of fuel at all times and make sure it’s ready when I need it. I also bought a shot gun and hope to get a rifle in the future. I’ve also kept track of my tools and equipment and I have a mental list of everything I would need to pack up to live in the wilderness on my own and abandon everything else if the need arises.
I am married but my wife is ill and we are both older. So my thought is that she’ll be gone soon (or will be gone if the world does end) and I’ll be on my own.
Sorry about your wife. I lost mine April 18th 2024 in a house fire I walked away from. I couldn’t save her or her dad or our cats. My worries and plans failed me. Completely. I get where you’re coming from and hope you find some peace one day.
That’s a horrible story … my condolences to you and your family.
There is always peace in the end. I’m not fatalistic or nihilistic, I plan on just lasting as long as possible just to spite eternity. Personally, I’ve always enjoyed this poem by Dylan Thomas and as I grow older, the more I understand and appreciate it.
Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night
By Dylan ThomasDo not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless, me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46569/do-not-go-gentle-into-that-good-night
But you will have more guns than cans of beans. More likely they will come after you for the guns.
True … but my thinking is that they will go after those people without guns first before turning their attention to me … I might not last long but at least I’ll last a while with a gun as opposed to not having one.
Everyone I hook up with always asks if I have protection so I figure I might as well get some. 🤷♂️
Don’t forget that you’re supposed to use that protection during sex
Sex Pistols.
For when you’re gonna bang.
Keep them lubed!
Guns make the police in my area more polite. That was thing I witnessed following the Ukraine revolution as well. Marshal law is more costly on an armed unwilling population.
I also hunt as part of our wild life management where I live.
Its also something that as a maker I love to tinker and build stuff for. Just one of those because you can kind of things
I have no need for a gun. I live in a civilized country.
You missed the part where I said if NO you don’t need to reply. Glad you got to pretend you’re better than me though.
Switzerland has entered the chat
You are aware that, while there a lot of guns in Switzerland, most of them are under lock and key and without ammo? That they are not for “fun shooting”, but issued by the military to reservists for military use only?
I read your comment here and decided to verify what I know about this by going out and reading actual sources.
Based on many multiple sources, I do not agree with the heart of your argument here and I would recommend you read up on gun regulation, culture, and sport as it pertains to Switzerland.
While it may be technically correct that most firearms there are as you say (I could not find a source stating that), it does not mean there is not a highly permissive gun culture in Switzerland with a lot of private ownership.
People in Switzerland can relatively easily obtain and use firearms for the purpose of sport, including for those who are not from Switzerland and do not have permanent residence, and firearm sport is extremely popular there.
Children can also be lent firearms there for sport shooting.
Note that they have the largest rifle shooting competition in the world.
Note that while minors can’t acquire firearms, they can be lent firearms by their shooting club or legal representative and the firearm is registered in their name for the duration of lending, and then they can both transport and use it alone.
That does not sound like a country where guns are not used for “fun shooting” to me.
If you can produce citations for your claim, that would be great. Here are mine.
https://world.time.com/2012/12/20/the-swiss-difference-a-gun-culture-that-works/
https://www.npr.org/2013/03/19/174758723/facing-switzerland-gun-culture
Switzerland has a strong gun culture compared to other countries in the world. Recreational shooting is widespread in Switzerland. Practice with guns is a popular form of recreation, and is encouraged by the government, particularly for the members of the militia.
Additionally, the Schweizerischer Schützenverein, a Swiss shooting association, organizes the Eidgenössische Schützenfeste, every five years and the Eidgenössisches Feldschiessen is held annually. Every person with Swiss citizenship, aged 10 years or older, can take part at any federal ranges and will be able to shoot for free with the ordinance rifle. Before the turn of the century, about 200,000 people used to attend the annual Eidgenössisches Feldschiessen, which is the largest rifle shooting competition in the world. In 2012 they counted 130,000 participants.
https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/1998/2535_2535_2535/en#art_11_a
While minors can’t acquire firearms, they can be lent firearms by their shooting club or their legal representative. The firearm is then registered to their name for the duration of the lending and they can then transport and use it alone.
https://www.fedlex.admin.ch/eli/cc/2008/767/de
Firearms regulation in Switzerland allows the acquisition of semi-automatic, and – with a may-issue permit – fully automatic firearms, by Swiss citizens and foreigners with or without permanent residence.
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2018/02/swiss-guns/553448/
The laws pertaining to the acquisition of firearms in Switzerland are amongst the most liberal in the world, as well as being the most permissive in Europe.
https://www.fedpol.admin.ch/fedpol/en/home/sicherheit/waffen/waffenerwerb.html
Swiss gun laws are primarily about the acquisition of arms, and not ownership. As such a license is not required to own a gun by itself, but a shall-issue permit is required to purchase most types of firearms. Bolt-action rifles, break-actions and hunting rifles do not require an acquisition permit, and can be acquired with just a record extract.
Julie Hartley-Moore, “The Song of Gryon: Political Ritual, Local Identity, and the Consolidation of Nationalism in Multiethnic Switzerland”, Journal of American Folklore 120.476 (2007) 204–229, citing Kohn Hans Kohn, Nationalism and Liberty: The Swiss Example. London: George Allen and Unwin, 1956, p. 78.
https://www.rts.ch/info/suisse/1052760-chacun-peut-deposer-son-arme-a-larsenal-des-2010.html
Swiss gun culture has emerged from a long tradition of shooting, which served as a formative element of national identity in the post-Napoleonic Restoration of the Confederacy, and the long-standing practice of a militia organization of the Swiss Army in which soldiers’ service rifles are usually stored privately at their homes (it became the choice of the soldier in 2010). What started as a gun culture centered around defense of the country through military duty also became a target shooting and collecting one. In addition to this, many cantons (notably the alpine cantons of Grisons and Valais) have strong traditions of hunting, accounting for a large but unknown number of privately held hunting rifles, as only weapons acquired since 2008 are registered.
Helllllll yeah
Wow. You gun nuts have way too much time at hand.
Not really, it probably took me under 30 minutes to look this up.
A personal insult to me also isn’t an argument contrary to my claims about Switzerland, nor is it a defense of yours, so I will assume you admit you were incorrect in your claim about the country.
Furthermore, it’s not even very good ad-hominem in that I never even claimed that firearms are a good thing. I only ever contested that Switzerland is cultured despite it’s highly permissive gun laws, and cited sources showing that they do engage in a lot of firearm sport, and have personal access to firearms in refutation of your anecdote.
Since I never said anything about positive or negative effects of firearms themselves in this conversation, this means you have made an assumption about my personal point of view of firearms and are now using your own assumption as a counter argument to a topic we have not even discussed between ourselves at this juncture.
This is called a straw man fallacy.
To avoid that, it is best to stay on topic, in this case, whether or not firearms are accessible to the public for sport in Switzerland.
Please either point out where I made the statement that guns are good etc. to show why I am a “gun nut”, or cite a source in reference to your claim about firearm accessibility in Switzerland if you want to support anything you have said thus far.
Otherwise, feel free to just not reply to me.
Which one is that, if I may ask?
Germany. Can youvimagine: A country where the anniversary of the school shooting is still a news item every year after alk that time.
I wish that was the case here (Michigan, USA). We have had two in recent memory.
What are your thoughts on firearms ownership in the US, given what has happened to our government lately? Do you see merit in the idea of civilian ownership of small arms in our current circumstances?
If people in the US still believe a rogue government can be reined in by a handful of armed idiots, well, I’ve got a bridge for sale.
The less people have guns, the better. Less accidents, less murder and suicides, less school shootings, and less guns being bought and stolen by criminals.
And one big part of the problem is that people who should not have access to anything more dangerous than a stick can still get their hands on guns in the US.
No question that banning guns reduces all of those things. In Germany it also made it easier to round up Jews, homosexuals and other undesirables in the middle of the last century. I don’t think that human nature has changed since then. Is civilian gun ownership the only thing preventing similar behavior in the US? Or is it irrelevant as I infer that you believe? I don’t think that there is a definitive answer.
There is merit in many of the different points of view on the subject. Unfortunately, most arguments around gun ownership and bans are fear-based. That makes rational discussion very difficult. It also makes it easy to demonize people who don’t agree with you.
If the Jews and other minorities had guns in Germany 90 years ago is similarly irrelevant as having guns in the US nowadays.
Or do you actually believe a few wannabe freedumb fighters would actually stop a rogue US government?
Thats how it works in some European countries right? Most people aren’t even trusted to carry a utility pocket knife.
“Handful of armed idiots” Do you consider 108 MILLION Americans to be a handful???
I noticed that you aren’t arguing with the “idiots” part. We have a lot more than a handful of those…
I didn’t argue with the idiots part because its subjective and impossible to realistically quantify.
Need
With the political environment in the US I am increasingly feeling unsafe and feel like a gun is almost a must have now
I didn’t ever want one until Trump threatened Canada and now I’m getting licenced. Just in case. That and winter survival training refresher. Hadn’t done any of that since Scouts long ago.
I’d still die but maybe I last 20 minutes longer.
I think they are interesting from a mechanical perspective.
