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From military weapon to cultural symbol: how the AR-15 has defined the US gun debate
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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politics
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Dang I was 100% with you until the last paragraph, taking hard-stances just makes people dig-in their heels.
I want access to guns so my trans/PoC/whatever friends can never have their rights taken away. So if a round of J6'ers is ever successful, they can resist.
That being said of course there should be some reasonable laws, you probably shouldn't be able to pick up a sport-type rifle same-day by just answering a few questions on a questionnaire; we make people get licenses and prove they can drive, I'm not sure guns should be any different.
Driving a car isn't a right enshrined in the constitution. Owning a firearm, however, is.
Except arming your trans/PoC friends is likely to get them killed even more than when they don't. The presence of guns escalates violence, far more often than it de-escalates.
Furthermore, arming everyone increases the chances that innocent bystanders will get hit. Or do you think everyone ever hit by a bullet was its target? The myth about the "good guy with a gun" is exactly that: a myth. The good guys don't hit their targets with that much accuracy. I'm sorry if this ruined anyone's "Die Hard" fantasies, but those fantasies are literally killing people every day.
So if we take away guns, only criminals will have guns, right. Sure, I'll concede that. Those with guns will be criminals. They'll also be far less likely to shoot you while they commit a crime because they'll have no reason to think you're going to shoot them first. I would rather be robbed than shot. I can get more money. I can't get more life.
Last, I find it curious that you took my conditional statement as an absolute. I pointed out that in light of the unwillingness of 2A freaks to consider any compromise, my only option is to demand all guns be taken away. What other choice do I have? If compromise were possible then I would accept that. I'm not going to make perfect the enemy of good. But thanks to the gun lobby and the Federalist Society, we can't have any restrictions on gun ownership and zero discussion on the impact guns are having on the health of our society. To balance that extreme, it is necessary for people who care about human lives to go to the other extreme.
When gun advocates are finally willing to acknowledge the problems they're creating, I'm willing to talk. Until then, I see no reason why I should give any more ground than they are.