Are you considering purchasing a gun?

I am definitely buying a gun

Not sure which is less appealing between using a gun, driving a car or riding a horse. I like the idea of riding a horse but they're scary.

I'm pretty sure.

I've had a gun pointed at me once (betting shop robbery) and it was fired into the ceiling, it scared the shit out of me and fuck no would I ever own one.

http://www.nbcnews.com/business/consumer/trump-s-victory-has-fearful-minorities-buying-guns-n686881?cid=sm_tw

Profound paranoia is not necessarily an irrational response when a) police officers seem to be able to kill people who look like you with impunity, and b) your fellow citizens vote into power a platform based on and fueled by white supremacy.

― ¶ (DJP)

and, i mean, even for those of us who don't have to live with the constant fear of being murdered by the state, whether or not it's rational, paranoia is not just something that happens to other people. i know there are plenty of folks on this board who are perfectly sane and rational, and, uh... that's ok.

My plan for 2017 was to basically liquidate much of my possessions, buy a van and then road trip around the US taking pictures while attempting to write a book. I've taken many extended multi-week/month road trips before and have only been hassled a few times for being a foreigner (in some rural parts of the country, having California plates on your car will do that), but for the first time ever I'm considering taking a gun with me.

I'm pissed off at myself for even thinking this way, but in Trumpmerica it can appear to be a logical decision. I've shot guns from .22s up to those machine guns you can rent in Las Vegas but have never owned one. Honestly, I've had enough severe depressive episodes in my past that I'm glad I've never owned one.

Would you pack ammunition for it?
Would you keep it loaded?
Would you point it at another person?
Would you shoot them?
Would you shoot them first?

If any of the above answers is no, I'd suggest saving your money.

why not. i think this is an accurate depiction of what trump's america will look like

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YgK0uRR5jGY

x-post

I'm planning on saving my money.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TboABkjrZIE

Yeah ET I realized right after posting "why am I telling HIM this?"
anyway I figure that catechism is applicable for most folks in most situations

http://img.poemofquotes.com/pulp-fiction-1.png

last Thanksgiving my cousin told me I was welcome to stay at his dad's house if shit ever hits the fan with ISIS. my ex-uncle (who I haven't seen since he divorced my aunt a decade ago) lives alone in rural VT and apparently has a stash of over 100 guns in his basement. I'm not sure if the invitation extends to Trumpocalypse scenarios, and the idea of waiting out a political crisis in the company of paranoid far-right gun nut relatives doesn't make me feel particularly safe. fwiw I'm not considering buying a gun for my own use.

this concept of ex- uncles and aunts interests me

I also have an ex-aunt. Lived in Pasadena, loved having guests, gave us crash space when we saw the Rose Bowl in 1998. Nice lady.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Are you considering selling your NYC apartment, buying a cabin on 100 acres in Upper Michigan, burying several underground gas tanks, food bucket caverns, filling them, getting your share of guns and ammo, and waiting for Michael Flynn and Trump to play China brinksmanship?

no, but i'm considering buying a gun again

actually that's not true. i was thinking of taking shooting lessons, not buying a gun.

fucking hell

because a gun is a dangerous thing to have around the house if you don't know how to use it!

i am also considering buying a donald trump stress ball

hey it might be a good way to relieve some stress

and it's my constitutional right as a nationalized citizen (*for the time being)

haha whoops i meant naturalized

buying guns is good everyone who can should do so

All buying a gun would accomplish is dramatically increase my risk of dying of a gunshot wound in my own home

So far in my life I've blithely assumed people don't have guns at home but I may start asking.

You should totally take "shooting lessons" i.e. gun safety training. it can be profoundly edifying. and then, don't fucking buy a gun.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=duW5WhxKjQY

Don't have a gun, don't need a gun, don't want a gun.

If you're at a Christmas party and a man and wife show up with assault rifles, your handgun isn't going to do much good. If you're a first-grade teacher and some deranged maniac comes into your classroom with an AR-15, the gun in your purse isn't going to do much good. If you regain consciousness on your couch after two men have invaded your home and tied up your daughters and wife, your gun isn't going to do much good.

I can't think of any recent event -- I'm sure someone out there could provide a link -- where someone had a gun at the right exact moment to protect themselves and their family. I could probably counter with plenty of links of toddlers, ex-husbands and despondent teenagers harming their families with guns.

If you need a rifle to go hunt Bambi in the woods, knock yourself out. But there's really no reason for most people to own anything nastier than a 30-06.

is there anyone on ilx who lives in "the third world"?

― harold melvin and the bluetones (jim in vancouver), Tuesday, November 22, 2016 2:17 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

*deleted a bad "Poster X lives in [US state name redacted]" joke*

― ¶ (DJP), Tuesday, November 22, 2016 2:19 PM Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

It's ok, man. I can take it.

I can't think of any recent event -- I'm sure someone out there could provide a link -- where someone had a gun at the right exact moment to protect themselves and their family. I could probably counter with plenty of links of toddlers, ex-husbands and despondent teenagers harming their families with guns.

yeah, that's the fuckin' thing, the whole "protect yourself" mantra is predicated on the idea that you have ample time to prepare for and anticipate the attack. the odds don't favor you if you're the defendant because you're reacting to a threat you have minimal time to assess and facing duress that the attacker does not have to deal with.

Like unless you're gonna do one of those 80s action film flips to dive out of the way of bullets, somehow get into your drawer to get your gun, and fire like John McClain, unless you're lucky in a home invasion, if they wanna shoot...you're swiss cheese.

with that said, knowing how many looney tunes people in FL have these things, the thought has crossed my mind. but I don't know how to shoot them, so would need to invest in training, and my anxiety and fear is a bit out of wack at the moment so I wouldn't trust myself not to be jumpy with the thing. so....fuck a gun, really.

just gonna find a really big assed stick.

I highly recommend the Stanley FatMax fubar series

what if it's not a home invasion robbery i'm thinking of preparing for?

i seem to recall lots of tea party folk feeling the same way!

exactly!

i used to have faith in my government's ability to protect me from them

now i'm not as confident

like i kinda 'get' the motivation for libs to arm themselves, but all it'd do at this point is put money in the hands of gun manufacturers > NRA > GOP

that's an excellent point that i had never considered

buy second hand?

only one solution

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SXq1yFrqsI

now we're talkin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-z2ucmARq-k

3D printer manufacturers are not (yet) synonymous with the gun industry. just sayin

The more I think about it the more I'm convinced that, if society erodes to the degree that I feel that I NEED a gun, I'd probably just invest in a cyanide capsule instead.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/03/what-is-a-black-professor-in-america-allowed-to-say-tommy-j-curry?CMP=share_btn_tw

“The evidence of the last 50 years has convincingly demonstrated the failure of multicultural coalitions, civil rights legislation and integration,” he wrote in a 2007 paper. “The current task of radical Black thought now rests in the development of alternatives in light of this disappointment.” Those alternatives might include violence: “Historically, the use of violence has been a serious option in the liberation of African people from the cultural tyranny of whiteness,” he wrote, “and should again be investigated as a plausible and in some sense necessary political option.”

It was a provocative thesis, and Curry knew it. He did not consider himself a violent person. Even when he was a teenage socialist, his revolutionary vision had been passive: white capitalism would collapse under its own weight, and black unionists would help build a more egalitarian society in its ruins. Anyway, philosophy was supposed to be about asking hard questions without fear or prejudice, and Curry was not interested in steering clear of topics just because they made his white colleagues uneasy.

Stikkers urged him to pre-emptively defend himself against charges that he wanted to incite violence. In the paper, Curry explained that he wanted to raise violent resistance in the context of US racism “not as a call to arms, but as an open-ended political question”. Still, the young philosopher knew he was treading on dangerous ground. “To some,” he wrote, “for a black scholar to even ask if violence should be used to combat racism is a career faux pas.”

trigger warning for R*d Dr*her content

fuck these people tbh