• heavy@sh.itjust.works
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    8 months ago

    Putting aside for a second how the US should be dealing with the very real threat of gun violence in this country, I’m always surprised by the misunderstanding of the gravity that carrying a pistol in public has.

    Its not just about keeping the safety on and making sure it doesn’t go off in your pants. When you bring a gun with you, you’re introducing a firearm to a situation where in many case there isnt one. That puts you and everyone else around you at significant risk of being shot now, where again, those odds used to be zero. Not only that, you’re basically steering the bus now on who gets shot if violence should break out, and not everyone is trained to handle an actual confrontation with the appropriate skills.

    That’s what’s so mind boggling. At the end of the day, carrying a weapon just makes you and everyone around you more likely to be shot, and people feel the need to do that as a state senator in Washington? It sounds pointless. I’ll also add that the process of getting a concealed permit is mostly saying you won’t commit a crime, and getting fingerprinted, that’s generally it.

    • Apollo@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      People who carry weapons around are generally afraid of something, expand that out to an entire nation and you have the USA.

      • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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        8 months ago

        Anyone who needs weapons in order to feel safe in their own country/own home live in a shithole.

      • RagingRobot@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Yeah they always say they need protection. I have never needed to protect myself with a gun and I have lived in some pretty rough areas over the years. What kind of stuff are they doing to other people that makes them think everyone is out to get them?

        • Ageroth@reddthat.com
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          8 months ago

          I was talking guns with an old guy at my last job, he said that everywhere in his house you are never more than 5 feet from a gun, he’s got so many loaded and stashed around his house, just I’m case. I thought that was one of the most insane things I’ve ever heard. Dude really thought someone was going to clockwork orange them every night and he had to be ready for a gunfight at any second. Yeah it’s life in the country and it might be an hour to a hospital and you gotta fend for yourself, but to assume that you’re going to come under violent assault at any moment and have to be ready to shoot it out with anyone has to be extremely draining. It definitely explained his attitude towards others though, always thought the worst of things he didn’t understand.

  • Rapidcreek@reddthat.com
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    8 months ago

    Who travels to a foreign country without knowing what is in their possession? Answer: Stupid people who should not own a gun.

  • xpinchx@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Coming from someone who carries daily, I get that sometimes you forget it’s there and carry into a post office or doctors office. What I don’t get is how you forget when going to the airport. Internationally.

      • xpinchx@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Lol I agree, but its hard to explain to people who aren’t around guns that you can forget there’s a loaded deadly weapon on your belt. It’s very uncomfy and seemingly dangerous at first but after a few months or years it’s like a wallet but you typically use it 0 times a day. You don’t really realize it’s there, more than once I started walking to something that doesn’t allow guns and had to go back to my car to lock it up.

        It happens.

        But airports, especially intl terminals is pretty unexcusable.

        • tacosplease@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Seems similar to looking for your glasses while wearing them or looking for your phone while talking on it. Sometimes the ol brain just shits the bed.

      • rockstarmode@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        The firearm is just a tool, it becomes part of your daily routine. You pick it up and holster it like you put your wallet in your pocket and your watch on your wrist.

        I check to make sure it’s loaded, but other than that there’s nothing special or exciting about tucking the holster in my belt. No “OMG A GUN” feeling, no excitement, my heart rate doesn’t jump. It’s just normal to be armed and you sort of forget about the heavy lump of metal and plastic secured to your belt.

        That being said, I’ve never forgotten about it enough to pack into a prohibited place like a police station or a bar, and CERTAINLY NOT A FUCKING AIRPORT.

        Also, we shouldn’t be giving TSA a pass here, assuming the congress critter actually went through security like us normal folks.

        • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          What other tools do you carry around with a sole purpose of killing something?

        • EurekaStockade@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          Why do you carry tools around with you all day? Do you also carry a hammer, reciprocating saw, spirit level or tape measure?

          • asteriskeverything@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Glances around at all the people I know who carry pocket knives and multi tools.

            Then again I wouldn’t call a gun a tool when it’s purpose is to maim and kill. Like sure technically it is correct but most people carry tools for utility reasons not that.

            • EurekaStockade@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Right? I’m actually sympathetic towards the “gun is a tool” argument. I grew up on a farm and have been hunting, I can relate.

              And those people who carry pocket knives and multi tools (and as a technician, I’m one of them) are presumably often encountering situations where those tools are useful. What are the situations where a gun is useful? What is the kind of job that tool is designed for?

              I’m convinced that it’s at least a little bit about the “OMG A GUN feeling”. I don’t see people walking around the street with a ball peen hammer holstered to their belt.

              • whoisearth@lemmy.ca
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                8 months ago

                I grew up surrounded by farms ain’t no one carrying around a pistol at their hip to shoot gophers. We got a rifle and/or a shotty either held in the hand or in the tractor or truck.

                That said I’m not in the US.

              • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
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                8 months ago

                I grew up on a farm too and I can say that I didn’t know of any farmer who carried a gun with them. I spent a lot of time at different farms. Guns all stayed back at the house.

          • rockstarmode@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            I gave other examples of “tools” like a watch or a wallet. Tools are just a means of getting things done, and aren’t in of themselves good or evil. Some tools are more dangerous than others, just like some jobs are more dangerous than others.

            Trained and responsible adults do dangerous jobs, often with dangerous tools, in public, all the time. Similarly millions of law abiding Americans legally carry pistols every day, and you’d be surprised how little crime they commit with their tools compared to the overall public.

            But that’s probably not what this crowd wants to hear, and that’s ok. I’m just chiming in to lend a perspective that might not be the status quo in places like this.

            • crimroy@sopuli.xyz
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              8 months ago

              This excuse always makes me laugh, “it’s just a tool, like a hammer”. Well, a hammer could hit someone in the head, but it’s designed to hit nails. A gun does… What? Shoots people or animals. You’re an idiot.

              • rockstarmode@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Sure, but it doesn’t do that without someone pulling the trigger.

                What you’ve done is assume either the tool has agency of its own, or that humans can only use this tool for negative purposes.

                What I said was that those things are patently untrue, and provided examples of how >6 million pistols are legally carried by civilians in the US every day, and how those civilians are far less likely than regular public to commit gun crimes.

                This is kind of a tautology because the legal carry folks are both:

                • legally allowed to acquire a firearm (ruling out prohibited persons like people with prior criminal histories) and in many cases they’ve
                • gone through even more extensive background checks and rigorous training

                But I also acknowledge that some folks don’t think those facts are significant, I’m just sorry this resorted to name calling.

                • PersnickityPenguin@lemm.ee
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                  8 months ago

                  You’re arguing in bad faith. A concealed weapon has exactly one purpose: defense by the use of deadly force, or brandishing.

    • Treczoks@lemm.ee
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      8 months ago

      If you forget about carrying your gun, than you are not handling it with the required responsibility.

      • xpinchx@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Does the average person carry a wallet with their cash, credit cards, and ID? It’s pretty important but 99% of the time you don’t think about it. Or keys to their house?

        If a gun is on you almost all the time, you don’t really notice it until it’s NOT there, then it’s time for concern.

        It’s an important item to keep track of but like a wallet it’s “not there” until you either need it or it’s not there when checking for it.

        • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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          8 months ago

          The question remains: why would you need a gun at all time?

          A wallet isn’t going to accidentally fire a hole in your foot. A phone isn’t going to murder someone by force.

          Is it really the only way you can feel safe in your own country? Because that only happens in shitholes.

          • thorbot@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            It’s because people who carry are cowardly cunts regardless of what country they’re in. Though its mostly the US types we hear about doing this shit…

        • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
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          8 months ago

          Gun owners love making analogies to benign things that aren’t guns. If you get so used to your gun that you forget it’s even there, you’re not being a responsible gun owner. Period.

          • xpinchx@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            Lol should I chant to myself when walking my dog? “I have a gun, I have a gun, I have a gun”

            In most cases it IS a benign object. Other than the occasional shooting range it doesn’t leave the holster, I’ve never had to draw it, I’ve never shot it outside of the range. I put it on without thinking about it, it stays on my waist where nobody can see it, I don’t feel it there unless I think about it.

            Agree to disagree I guess, if you wear something every day and forget it’s there that makes you human not an irresponsible person. Unless you forget about it and enter say… and airport terminal, then you’re a dumbass.

    • Honytawk@lemmy.zip
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      8 months ago

      Americans who believe their laws are applicable to the rest of the world are the worst.

      • frezik@midwest.social
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        8 months ago

        Sounds like you’re from one of those countries that doesn’t have enough freedom deployed to it. Prepare for freedom to be deployed in 3 . . . 2 . . .

  • mctoasterson@reddthat.com
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    8 months ago

    Rather than just pile on with “idiot LOL” comments I will offer this:

    Segregate your airline travel bag from your “other stuff” bag. You need a dedicated backpack or case that you only use for air travel and never anything else.

    If you multipurpose your rangebag or whatever, of course you could have potential issues even if you remove the weapons before travel (dogs could alert on the powder residue, etc.)

    Likewise if you are a druggie or something you don’t want to accidentally end up in Singapore or Russia with your weedbag you forgot was in your backpack.

    Even something as inoccuous as having a backpack you used for camping could backfire on you if you leave your folding knife or lighter in there.

  • thorbot@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    Most responsible gun owner

    Also part of the US state government.

    fucking great

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Excited to hear how American security retaliates against a Chinese official for carrying a thing Americans consider dangerous.

      So, probably a book.

  • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
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    8 months ago

    Gun violence is very rare in Hong Kong, unlike in the United States where firearms are now the No. 1 killer of children and teens.

    O-okay, weird thing to randomly bring up (also not actually true if I remember right)

    • BassTurd@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Legally, you have to register that that car and renew annually. To drive that car in the road, you’d have to have a license that you acquired paying a competency test and possibly perform a driving test. You’d also have to have insurance while driving it in public.

    • doggle@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      8 months ago

      Not a weird thing to bring up at all. HK regulators are not likely to view this as the semi-serious faux pas that Americans, particularly his constituents, may believe it to be. Americans have a bizarre acceptance of firearms (compared to the rest of the developed world) and our consistent refusal to regulate them despite numerous atrocities is a big factor of how this incident could even have happened in the first place.

      • trafficnab@lemmy.ca
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        8 months ago

        This article has nothing to do with gun violence or children though, the random facts just come a bit out of left field