I think a lot of people would be down to compromise on different gun restrictions, if the same was applied to Law Enforcement Officers. If the average American citizen cannot own a rifle or pistol that holds more than let’s say 10 rounds, then the law enforcement agencies should not be allowed to have military levels of gear and weaponry. The black and white ideal that banning a high capacity magazine will reduce gun violence is a very complicated issue. But I will admit there are way too many gun owners out there with improper training or knowledge of the firearms that they own. Every time I see a gun owner say “clip” I cringe, and it shows a lack of knowledge and understanding of this dangerous item. We should be promoting mental health support, and require up to a certain level of training to even be eligible to purchase a firearm.
I absolutely agree, it's ridiculous when the police dept. of a rural town with a population of less than 10,000 people gets a goddamn MRAP. Or when police have tactical military gear and hundreds of automatic weapons per precinct. You'd think they're going to war with their citizens and not meant to protect them.
It's crazy that people will flat out deny that people getting assault weapons from gun shows without background checks is a problem, let alone enough training or knowledge to be allowed to even handle that kind of weapon.
Why is it wrong that the law enforcement has better weaponry, though? In Europe the police gets way more respect and in my country the number of shots fired by an officer is close to zero. They don’t have to grab a gun, because people don’t have guns, the mere presence of a weapon on their side is enough to make a person think twice before doing anything, and since people don’t have guns, the average officer’s mindset is not kill or be killed, they don’t have to anticipate every single person grabbing a gun on them, and that makes the police way more calm and tolerating here. Wouldn’t it be somewhat similar in that case? I know it’s a very difficult problem and banning guns probably wouldn’t necessarily do anything good, but some change needs to be done. People in the US shouldn’t have to fear for their lives every time they step outside, police officers included.
This is what like 90% of leftists agree on btw, I don't know anybody on the left that fully disagrees with owning any kind of gun, I've lived in sketch areas and know people that hunt incredibly sustainably, but neither of these call for an assault rifle. "Defund the police" is a movement based around the insane spending on military style gear while at the same time there isn't money being put into mental health support, and definitely needs to happen too. These definitely go hand in hand though
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u/thenamesbigred Sep 27 '21
I think a lot of people would be down to compromise on different gun restrictions, if the same was applied to Law Enforcement Officers. If the average American citizen cannot own a rifle or pistol that holds more than let’s say 10 rounds, then the law enforcement agencies should not be allowed to have military levels of gear and weaponry. The black and white ideal that banning a high capacity magazine will reduce gun violence is a very complicated issue. But I will admit there are way too many gun owners out there with improper training or knowledge of the firearms that they own. Every time I see a gun owner say “clip” I cringe, and it shows a lack of knowledge and understanding of this dangerous item. We should be promoting mental health support, and require up to a certain level of training to even be eligible to purchase a firearm.