• SnuggleSnail@ani.social
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    1 year ago

    The only times I see pistols is when I see policemen.

    The only times I see machine guns is in the hands of policemen at the airport, or when extremist groups are demonstrating and need protection by the police.

    Why would I even need a gun, when hardly any criminal owns one?

    The concept of gun ownership is flawed in itself.

    • Alteon@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      There’s nothing inherently wrong with gun ownership. However, there is a shit ton wrong on how we handle distribution and tracking of them. We have more prerequisites for operating a vehicle than we do a firearm, and in a country where we have a SIGNIFICANT number of mass shootings, we are doing SIGNIFICANTLY little to fix the issue.

      Gun ownership is totally fine. I bought a handgun and a shotgun on the same day (after someone tried to break in and attack my wife - they didn’t realize that I had just come home from a trip) and was blown away that I could just walk right out the door with them within a few minutes. A rifle for hunting is also not an issue.

      • SnuggleSnail@ani.social
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        1 year ago

        I cannot relate to that. I am 37 years old and I think I have never witnessed violent crime, except in television or on playgrounds (children are assholes to each other!)

        • Alteon@lemmy.world
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, it was terrifying. Like the guy knew she was there, we had just put the dog outside, so they were obviously watching the house. They tried to kick in the front door, and I ran to the front door have naked and half asleep. The terror slammed full force into me when I realized someone was at our door (could see through glass), and I had no weapon to deal with them. They ran as soon as they saw me. I had just gotten home late the night before, so they obviously knew that I wasn’t home, and the knew that my wife was.

          It still wigs me out to this day.

          • SnuggleSnail@ani.social
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            1 year ago

            How long does the police need to arrive at your home? For me in case of an active break in it would probably be around 120 to 180 seconds. So this usually only happens when nobody is home, it’s too dangerous otherwise.

            Someone stole my e-bike from the back yard. And I have heard of break ins in cellars. But that kind of crime that you describe is very very rare.

            Does that mean that gun ownership is a side effect of a security system that has flaws in itself?

            • Alteon@lemmy.world
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              1 year ago

              People are not always logical. Even if the cops could get there within 2 minutes, that’s still 2 minutes that you have to deal with someone that is intent on doing harm to you. I wouldn’t want to risk that.

              The police also have no legal obligation to protect you. Meaning if there is a situation that they consider “dangerous” they might not even enter the house to protect you. Like…I’m not hedging all of my bets on a cop to protect me. Because there’s still a chance that I lose.

              I understand your point that there’s not really any point to having weapons when we have a “protector”, but we’ve already seen that those “protectors” have no obligation to actually protect you if they feel endangered. Guns are tools. A rifle is a tool to provide food for yourself. A handgun/shotgun is a tool that you use to protect yourself. We just shouldn’t hand those tools out to literally everyone that wants one.

              • SnuggleSnail@ani.social
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                1 year ago

                Here, they are less afraid because almost no household is armed. It is a dangerous situation to enter a home, but they always come in pairs and might do so with guns drawn.

                But we are talking about very extreme cases. German police shot 14 people in 2017, 11 in 2018, and 15 in 2019. So about the same amount of people that die from lightning strikes. The vast majority of policemen do not discharge their gun in their whole line of duty.

                If you compare likelihood of violent crime the bigger danger comes from people inside your house, rather than burglary. Therefore, weapons in houses would make life more dangerous here, since you are less likely to escape your step mother armed with a gun, than your step mother armed with a kitchen knife.

              • SnuggleSnail@ani.social
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                1 year ago

                PS: I don’t know your step mother. Maybe she is a world class samurai swordswoman. I apologise if my analogy insulted her.

              • 【J】【u】【s】【t】【Z】@lemmy.world
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                1 year ago

                Yeah but my dude, before any of this happens, you’re way morelikely to just lose your shit yourself and murder yourself or one of your family or more.

                Live by the sword die by the sword I guess.

      • SupraMario@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        No we do not, you can purchase a car at any age, transport it across any state lines, drive it without insurance or a license at any age on private property, and you don’t have to register it once to do any of this.