• electrodynamica@mander.xyz
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    2 years ago

    50% of Americans can’t handle a $400 emergency expense. Each one of those larger guns probably costs more than $500. There’s probably $50,000 worth there total. This family in no way represents the average American.

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 years ago

      Even so, there are twice as many weapons in the US as there are inhabitants, not counting the undeclared, thanks to the second amendment. Along with the disastrous social policies, it is not surprising that every few times some idiot forgot his medication and shoots at everything that moves, it is not by far the first time.

      • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        It’s not just thanks to the second amendment. It’s thanks to a more recent cultural of paranoia among the far right especially, driven by organizations like the NRA that have become little more than an extension of the gun industry.

        • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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          2 years ago

          Weapons together with ignorance and lack of culture have always been bad combinations

          • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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            2 years ago

            One journalist was putting it this way. In researching a piece, they looked at some web sites that sold guns. The way they described one piece hinted at a post-apocalyptic battlefield. This was a semi-automatic sniper rifle. In a civilian setting, only paranoia can be behind these decisions.

    • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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      2 years ago

      Or else a good chunk of the US extends itself with bullshit purchases, whether it is an arsenal or some other purchase that some marketing campaign convinced them to buy.

    • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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      2 years ago

      The only good gun is the one that explodes in the hands of the maker. A weapon is never good, if it can be acquired by any idiot without great requirements.

      • SudoDnfDashY@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        The only good gun is a safe, easy to draw gun that can be kept in your home or car and be used against would be attackers, gay bashers, rapists, and anyone else posing immediate harm to your life.

        • pingveno@lemmy.ml
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          2 years ago

          Theoretically, yes. Practically, that’s just not how introducing a large number of firearms into a society goes. It makes everyone jumpier. Police are quicker to shoot because that person could be reaching for a firearm. Criminals have easier access to heavier weapons. Suicides are more likely to be done with a gun and succeed. The adage “a well armed society is a polite society” simply has not been demonstrated to be true.

        • Zerush@lemmy.mlOP
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          2 years ago

          Have a gun at home, car or bag does not protect you from anything, it only has the risk that you will be unable to remove it quickly enough to defend yourself or, worse, that an attacker takes it from you, entering the circulation of illegal weapons, as there are so many.

          In the EU there is 10% of the crimes that there are in the US, despite the strict regulation of weapons that exist. In order to be able to carry a weapon in the EU, it is first necessary to have good reasons for it, mainly for people who are at special risk, for example a business in a troubled neighborhood, security personnel, hunters who may have a hunting rifle, etc…

          A psychological test is required, and a police certificate. Assault and semi-automatic rifles are reserved exclusively for military and police forces. A society where everyone can carry a gun is a retrograde and profoundly sick society in risk, that’s for sure.

          Always keep in mind, once a weapon has been fired in a populated city, no one can control where this bullet ends up, if the shot missed.

      • Sr Estegosaurio@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        How much mass shootings in schools had been on Europe compared to the United Estates? Where I live not even the normal police has acces to automatic weapons.

        • Ignacio [he/him]@sopuli.xyz
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          2 years ago

          The last school “shooting” in Spain happened some years ago. I think it was 5 or 6 years ago. And it wasn’t even a shooting, because he had a handcrafted crossbow. And the last shooting on the streets happened, I think, 10 years ago, in Marbella or Benidorm.

          As clarification, in Spain you can own a gun. But first, if the gun is for hunting, like a rifle or a shotgun, you need a licence for hunting. Second, if it’s a gun for your own safety, you need to pass a test and an interview with a psychologist or psychiatrist. Three, once you passed those steps (both of them), you go to the police with that report (I think it’s not binding, but I’m not sure), and they’ll bring you a weapon, with the appropriate permit. But you only can have it inside your house. If you want to take it outside, you need a serious justification to give to the police for that, like your life is threatened or you’re a public person, for example. I think those are the correct steps.

          • Sr Estegosaurio@lemmy.ml
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            2 years ago

            And also the kind of guns that you can own is very very limited. Even a police officer needs a pretty good reason to pull his gun, they can lost their job for pulling up a pistol without any need.

      • ster@lemmy.ml
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        2 years ago

        The point is to get rid of gun culture. Guns should not be a normality, whether they are banned or not. Restricting access could certainly play a role in changing the culture