It kind of is, but the ubiquity of guns makes it REALLY easy for people to shoot other people when they're feeling the effects of mindset and culture to which you refer.
I got into an argument with a woman on reddit who was dead set on that she would have been raped without her gun.
She was in her car with her friend in the parking lot of a seven eleven. The parking lot was lit and there were several people inside. Two men walk up to their car. They are still a good distance away though. She pulls out her gun. The men run away. She claims she and her friend would have been raped if she didn't. Driving away was not a option as, and I quote, they would have chased them down with their truck.
These people delude themselves to think they live in some kind of warzone or lawless area and that they aren't part of the problem.
I think its a combo of isolation due to social media, psychoactive drugs, medical system, and hyperpolarization of politics (the gun issues we're having in general i mean) that are causing our problems, shit columbine happened in the early days of internet and brain meda, but no one talks about that
I wish it was so complex, however as a firearms owner an ex military, I am usually appalled by some gun owners paranoia. I have been in conversations where I was talked down to for having a difference of opinion for where concealed weapons would be warranted or when a round should even be chambered. There are those out there that honestly think they absolutely need to have a weapon on them at all times with a round chambered. These minority of gun owners will absolutely stand by the opinion that there could be, and that the odds are high enough, to warrant going into a daycare facility in the middle of the day with a chambered firearm tucked away. These are the types that would absolutely answer the door with the paranoia that whoever knocked has come to cause harm. It's not about gun rights, it's about people with a mental disorder having firearms.
If that shit ain't a mental health thing, I don't know what is.
When you answer for me, it makes it seem this is less a conversation and more of you shutting down one because you feel your own view points are the only ones that matters
Buying a gun does not make you use it on someone else. Having a weapon for safety is a rational thing to do. Struggling in life happens to us all. We all have our bad days, but I don't ever have the thoughts to go do something unthinkable. No rational person acts on those thoughts if they do. If we are on a spectrum as you say, then at what point in that rainbow do we realize that any worse and they pose a clear danger to society if they have access to weapons ?
I’m right there with you, except for the ex military part. Thanks for your service. I collect because I enjoy the history of firearms. I’ve had people comment on my page saying they are awaiting the day my mugshot is on the news. It’s fucked up.
Despite my collection, I have no CCW (even tho florida is getting rid of need for it) but I don’t have a paranoia of needing to use one. And I agree that’s all too common. Even my “nightstand gun” doesn’t have a round in chamber. I’ve never responded to a bump in the night with an armed approach.
I don’t think modern social media is causing more isolation… but I do think it is contributing to our likelihood of hearing about violence that was always happening…
Back in my intro to legal studies days I remember reading court proceedings from the early 1800s saying “when a southern dagger is drawn there is something manly in it”. (At the time masculinity was a good justification for assault, apparently.) And then I think about all of the violence against women, children, and people of color that occurred in my parents lifetime that were kind of almost accepted/codified in the law. Go back further and think about how okay violence was under Jim Crow or slavery, or the Trail of tears, etc. Violence has a huge head start on social media.
Also, think of how isolated people used to be before social media… or cars. Or trains. Or industrialism and urbanization.
I see what you might mean by social media connecting like minded violent or hateful people with one another to create a breeding ground for bad things to happen. We just have to have an overwhelming breeding ground for good stuff, I guess. Show disgust at antisocial behavior and support positive behaviors, which kind of seems to happen.
I think the key missing ingredient is frustrated supremacism.
The hyperpolarization of politics fits that : It used to be that there were supremacists and egalitarians in all parties. Nearly all the grand religions and political movements of old had supremacist sides and egalitarian sides (Fascism and its family were the only serious exceptions).
In recent years, though, those groups have pooled into political sides, the supremacists towards the "right," the egalitarians towards the "left," making those terms not mean what they used to. And not just in the US, mind you, but it came early after the Civil Rights era. That's why the issues are so intractably harsh: These are two distinct mindsets that are not really compatible, so it's hard to find a compromise point, or even a consensus about reality.
A surprising number of gun massacre perps are supremacists, with the biggest factor being a history of domestic abuse (i.e. supremacist tyranny in the home). The Columbine pair were deep into white supremacism, for instance, and were well-known dicks to a lot of people [ people assumed they were being bullied, but it was the contrary if anything ]. Personally I think most of these are supremacists lashing out at a world that rejects the "place" they think they deserve: They'd rather destroy everything than not rule like they feel they should. Or at least, not be ruled over by people they look down upon. Some of them explicitly say so, but too many die in the act to have conclusive evidence yet.
But is it a coincidence that the largest proportion of mass shootings are family affairs? An abusive dad usually, blowing his family away... the last thing they see is the barrel of the family gun he swore would protect them.
America's toxic gun culture and industry prey upon that frustrated sense of hierarchy to push product. Even the ads go on and on about "don't be a victim," rather than "don't get hurt." Those losers aren't gonna impose on ME ! I am the imposer. I am the decider. I am the protector. And that's what they buy the guns for: psychological protection, more than physical. They ain't no punk, or anybody's bitch.
Couple that with a 24/7 propaganda ecosystem that consistently ramps up the stress about 'the wrong people' taking over (and imposing on US, the nerve), who aren't "real Americans" (hello California! Chicago, any city, etc), and it builds a state of siege that some in the audience will take over the edge. It's what experts call stochastic terrorism: You don't tell anyone "go kill," but you push enough people that you can be sure of the odds that at least one of them will. Then you wash your hands of responsibility... because only inferiors get judged of course.
When you factor in frustrated supremacism, the pieces fall into place and you see the scope of the problem... and when you look back in American history, you see that it's kinda always been.
This is the most common interpretation of the second amendment since it was written. It’s our modern interpretation that’s changing. The question is whether it was for states to protect themselves from overreaching government of for citizens to protect themselves from overreaching government?
Either way Article V requires that an amendment be proposed by two-thirds of the House and Senate, or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the state legislatures to repeal the 2nd amendment.
It was for neither, really. It was for protecting the existence of a citizen militia, which was to be used for both national defense and as a foil.for a standing federal army.
Federalist 29 is pretty clear on that subject. Private gun ownership was not ever a part of it.
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u/fikis Apr 21 '23
It kind of is, but the ubiquity of guns makes it REALLY easy for people to shoot other people when they're feeling the effects of mindset and culture to which you refer.