such a funny time for this discourse again ☕

  • Lasherz@lemmy.worldM
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    28 minutes ago

    Ironically, leftists are more in line with the constitution with our reasoning around gun ownership. In my book, anyone who isn’t happy with the lax state of gun laws is equally an ally and we shouldn’t draw lines in the sand for no reason. You can both own a gun and want it to be harder for people who shouldn’t get them to get them, it’s almost as silly as the “you criticize society and yet you participate in society” argument.

  • mhague@lemmy.world
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    47 minutes ago

    People might as well be talking about the right to bear Pokemon cards for all the difference guns seem to make.

    Americans had one of the largest protests in history and police drove down suburban streets firing paintballs at people standing in their doorways.

    People stop and upload content to Tiktok when citizens are abducted by masked men while a child cries for her mom.

    We zombie walked into fascism and have camps being built and military being deployed to cities and do nothing after elections are rigged or a demagogue incites a coup.

    Crazy how you can just drop weapons into the mix like fucking Zardoz and observe the same trends play out just with a lot more random violence. It’s like putting Tapatio on everything. “Ah yes, multiculturalism is a fine topic. But what if everyone had guns?”

  • RememberTheApollo_@lemmy.world
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    4 hours ago

    Quickest way for trump to take away everyone’s guns is for people he doesn’t like to arm up. Libs, minorities, etc. incidentally - trump is the only president who has suggested guns be taken away. Not even the snowflake republicans’ deepest fears and hatred of the Democratic presidents was ever validated by one of them saying guns should be taken away like trump.

    “I like taking the guns early, like in this crazy man’s case that just took place in Florida … to go to court would have taken a long time,” Trump said at a meeting with lawmakers on school safety and gun violence.

    “Take the guns first, go through due process second,” Trump said.

      • supersquirrel@sopuli.xyz
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        2 hours ago

        I think this episode plot of Bojack is one of the most bitingly effective takedowns of US culture I have seen, these words live rentfree in my head as a future epitaph to put on the gravestone of the US.

        Turns out they hated women more than they loved guns.

    • RaoulDook@lemmy.world
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      3 hours ago

      Nobody is taking the guns from Americans, because nobody has the balls or the numbers of enforcers to do it.

      For reference, the number of Americans who came out to the No Kings Day protests was larger than the sum total of all enlisted US Military and police officers. Next look at the number of Americans who own guns, it’s much larger than all of the above.

      • stickly@lemmy.world
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        3 hours ago

        They just gradually redefine American and the gun problem disappears, ez

        “They’re not taking my guns away, just those America hating immigrants gangs communists democrats domestic terrorists”

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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        3 hours ago

        Nobody is just straight up kidnapping Americans off the street and deporting them to a concentration camp without due process. We would simply shoot them.

    • 🍉 Albert 🍉@lemmy.world
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      2 hours ago

      I hate guns, but without a doubt, the best way to have common sense guns policies is for the minorities the right hates to be armed.

      best case scenario I’m wrong and guns are good for the cause, we win. worse case scenario and we get less rednecks with machine guns. unless the outcome is straight up fascism that only bans minorities they hate to have guns, in which case they really do need guns so they can at least try a revolt before ending in a concentration camp anyways.

  • yesman@lemmy.world
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    3 hours ago

    Left wing people who imagine that they’ll fight the government with their guns are just as delusional as the right wing people who fantasize about the same thing.

    A revolution, coup, or insurrection will require some portion of the Armed forces to defect. That’s where the equipment will come from. And there is a lot more between an average American and a soldier than a rifle and tac vest.

    Social change won’t come from the land of make believe.

  • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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    12 hours ago

    America is well past the point where any of this is going to end without gunfire. So yeah. Leftists, it’s time to admit that MAGA doesn’t give a shit about your “protests” or your “letters to your representative”. Protests only work if the person you’re protesting gives a shit what you think.

    It’s time to get your guns. Mussolini didn’t end up hanging upside down in an Italian town square because of protests.

    • Guidy@lemmy.world
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      1 hour ago

      WRONG.

      It’s past time to get your guns. We (I vote Democrat and live in a blue state) have banned most guns.

      Great fucking job.

      Oh and btw most (as in >50%) gun deaths in the USA are from suicide where how the gun functions or how many bullets it holds at one time are irrelevant. Pity that no political party in America gives a shit about all those miserable souls who want to die. Easier to ban guns and disarm ourselves in the face of fascists who’ve taken over our nation.

      Like I said… great fucking job. Quick, someone bitch about Palestine, that’ll surely help.

    • Doc_Crankenstein@slrpnk.net
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      8 hours ago

      To rephrase this line

      Protests only work if the person you’re protesting gives a shit what you think.

      Protests only work when you directly affect their vested interests. They don’t care about you or what you think. Period. Yet, they do care about something.

      Organize. Find out what those vested interests are. Hold them hostage. Create the credible threat that if they do not start representing our interests, as is their assumed role of the position they have been appointed to, then we will royally fuck it up and hit them where it hurts.

      Then, it doesn’t matter if they care what we think, we have established our authority and made it known that it will be enforced with immediate consequences. If they want their authority as a government official then they will respect our authority as their constituency or else.

      Most of all, be prepared for them to retaliate and defend their interests. To deter us and threaten us to stand down. These are the times in history where we can’t back down. We cannot give in to them just to save our own skin when it comes at the cost of, if allowed to continue, the skins of millions of others under the boot of their oppression.

      We fight and stand our ground knowing that we may possibly die, but also possibly survive and save millions of lives, or we do nothing, let millions fall to their atrocities, until they finally turn their sights on us and we die with regret that we didn’t even attempt to stop them.

      They can’t do this without us so, if they want to go this route, we need to be ready to sink the whole goddamn ship so they don’t get their cake and eat it too. Mutually assured destruction is not just a nuclear deterrent. The best part is, us workers can rebuild. We built this all to begin with. The owning class assholes, if they get rid of us, will live out their final moments in a burned out husk surrounded by resources with no ability to use them. They will be Kings of nothing, to die of thirst surrounded by water with nothing but their imaginary wealth to keep them company.

      • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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        2 hours ago

        Well…yeah. But mine fits on a bumper sticker…

        I kid…I kid. I have to make a wise ass comment or cry. I choose the former.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      Mussolini didn’t end up hanging upside down in an Italian town square because of protests.

      While you’re right that the people who killed Mussolini were armed dissidents, it’s worth remembering that he was allowed to be taken after being deposed after a vote of no confidence from the fascist government of Italy after they got their shit kicked in a few times militarily, and it was the King who removed and presumably arrested him before the citizens did their thing.

      And also, the Allies were plowing a path of destruction towards Italy.

      Moral of the story: no great story is as simple as we need it to be. There is still politics, there are still decisions by the ruling class that allow the next steps to happen and that ruling class can have their will bent. We still need to be involved in the political system, armed mobs cause as much harm as good even in the best of circumstances, so we want to avoid that if possible, but we need to also have that force behind us or the politics won’t work.

    • Ginny [they/she]@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      3 hours ago

      I don’t think being anti-gun makes one not an actual leftist.

      Sure, Marx wrote that stuff in Resplendent606’s comment, but:

      • I think it’s worth bearing in mind that when Marx wrote that, guns were still using powder and percussion caps.
      • Not everything Marx said was gospel.

      Anyone not in favour of recreational nukes is in agreement that there should be a limit on the amount of lethal force a person should be allowed to own, and I think reasonable people can disagree on whether or not guns are within that limit.

      • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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        3 hours ago

        How exactly should we enforce the rule of no recreational nukes? It typically comes down to shooting the guy trying to get a nuke - so by who, then? I don’t think it’s reasonable to conclude the existence of nukes dooms us to a state forever.

    • Resplendent606@piefed.social
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      18 hours ago

      Yes, Karl Marx wrote:

      “Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary.”

      “To be able forcefully and threateningly to oppose this party [bourgeois], the workers must be armed and organized.”

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      18 hours ago

      Like, I’m all for gun laws. But unfortunately a lot of crazy shit is legal, and a lot of people are crazy.

      Prepare for the world you live in, not what you think it should be like.

      • Lightfire228@pawb.social
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        16 hours ago

        Prepare for the world you live in, not what you think it should be like.

        That is an amazing way of wording a sentiment I’ve had for a long time

  • shalafi@lemmy.world
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    17 hours ago

    If you go far enough left, you get your guns back.

    Sick of the constant, “Where my 2A people at?!” around here. I am right fucking here, but I’m not in much of a position to mount a personal assault on Washington DC. All I can reasonably do is defend my immigrant wife and our home if it comes to that.

    FFS, some of these people even question self-defense. “They’ll just kill you, moron!” Yeah, well that was on the table anyway.

    And if any gun-grabbers think the cops and ICE and politicians are fascist enough as-is, imagine how they would be acting if they could kick down doors with full impunity and zero fear. Yeah, the local cops could get a squad of 20 and take this house apart. But somebody’s getting hurt. I guarantee it.

    Here’s an interesting thought, let’s see how this plays out. Florida is red enough ATM, governor and state Congress. Why haven’t they passed open-carry legislation? Why isn’t it even under discussion? Think they’ll make it happen?

    I’ll give you three guesses, but you’re only going to need one. Fuck no they will not legislate open carry because men like me will be at every protest with an AR-15 on my shoulder and a Colt .45 in my belt.

    • hydrospanner@lemmy.world
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      13 hours ago

      And if any gun-grabbers think the cops and ICE and politicians are fascist enough as-is, imagine how they would be acting if they could kick down doors with full impunity and zero fear. Yeah, the local cops could get a squad of 20 and take this house apart. But somebody’s getting hurt. I guarantee it.

      And there’s the real case for private ownership.

      If you have the choice of being disappeared and killed…or being disappeared and killed while taking a few of them with you, definitely choose the latter.

      It won’t help you, but if you do it, your neighbor does it, and the next 10, 20…50 people do it, eventually two things are going to happen: if it’s local forces, they’re gonna start needing help, and if it’s not local, it forces those powers into a more difficult decision of having to either get more overt with their fascism or backing off. It’s not ideal but that’s pretty much the options you have.

      If they want to do all the shitty fascist things, don’t let them do it easily and for free. The higher ups might not care, but that local cop in the red hat might start to think twice when “his” government keeps asking him to haul away people, and each time, another of his friends goes down. If not from a place of shifting world view, then maybe from self preservation.

    • balderdash@lemmy.zip
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      17 hours ago

      It’s honestly crazy that we have the “right” to bear arms and the “right” to protest, but half the country cannot protest while bearing arms. Meanwhile, police are shooting people’s eyes out and trampling them with horses.

    • Montagge@lemmy.zip
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      14 hours ago

      I’m sick of the 2A people doing fuck all beyond barricading their own doors

      • ameancow@lemmy.world
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        12 hours ago

        The fact that we have millions of people willing to barricade themselves while ready to defend their homes with weapons, is what will keep this tyrannical administration from knocking down random doors and dragging people out for looking at porn or leftist youtubers.

        Nobody, NOBODY in the US wants to be the one breaking down the door of another US citizen, because everyone knows how many people are ready to open fire.

        It’s not ideal, but it’s what we have.

        If you think it would be better to “rise up” and form an armed revolution… you’re insane and dumb. They have fucking missiles and tanks.

          • ameancow@lemmy.world
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            12 hours ago

            Lol

            Well thought out rebuttal, I didn’t have time to read it all but I will try to address each point later.

            • Montagge@lemmy.zip
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              12 hours ago

              You typed up all them words in a country where citizens are getting disappeared right now

              • ameancow@lemmy.world
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                3 hours ago

                And the best thing you can do to prevent that is to keep a fucking gat pointed at your door when they come, and that way we turn a potential takeover of our nation into a house-to-house meat grinder, effectively preventing that kind of action.

                You are not going to win an offensive game, no matter how many people you recruit to throw their lives away in the face of machine guns and ordinance. It’s delusional roleplay thinking from watching too many movies or youtubers who make careers on LARPing.

              • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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                4 hours ago

                so your argument seems to be, ‘there are 2a people not sacrificing their lives to murder my enemies, curious…’

                seems to me that in order for the next step to happen there needs to be an armed movement, which you are actively are at this moment suppressing. there needs to be more guns in progressive hands, and a collective movement else it’s just sparkling mad gunman, and thoughts and prayers.

                and i guarantee you would be the first to claim the shooter would be a republican plant

  • user_name@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    “Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers must be frustrated, by force if necessary.”

  • But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
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    14 hours ago

    As a Canadian I’ve always found that even left Americans defend gun rights, it’s weird. But I guess if you’re born and raised in that culture it’s just normal to have such easy access to guns

    • Saprophyte@lemmy.world
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      6 hours ago

      Leftists have guns. Liberals don’t. Leftists realize that force has to be countered by force. Liberals don’t want to contribute to the problem of too many guns and don’t want to buy from the gun manufacturers. Leftists have arsenals.

    • Sl00k@programming.dev
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      9 hours ago

      I think it’s Pandora’s box, once opened it can’t be closed.

      I understand there have been instances where it’s been closed in other countries, but I just can’t see that vision working in the US society.

      • Honytawk@feddit.nl
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        8 hours ago

        The divine rights of kings was also thought to be impossible to disappear, yet here we are.

    • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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      12 hours ago

      Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers should be frustrated, by force if necessary

      • But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        See? To the rest of us that’s weird. And we’re more free than you guys. But again that’s the tea you were steeped in so it’s not weird to you

          • Honytawk@feddit.nl
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            8 hours ago

            So? It applies to American culture. Otherwise you wouldn’t have mentioned it.

            It does however not apply to any civilized countries.

            • BlackRoseAmongThorns@slrpnk.net
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              7 hours ago

              Don’t be dense, you mentioned american culture first, i was obviously replying to that.

              And the quote applies to anywhere the working class is in actual conflict or protest, the fact that the situation is worse in the united states specifically is because the democrats (and largely liberals) keep to useless bullheaded “civility politics”.

    • sad_detective_man@leminal.spaceOP
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      13 hours ago

      if I lived almost anywhere else I wouldn’t. NZ voted away their rights recently and I respect that. Japan probably should have thought it through a little more. but America is insano-country. legal corruption, the wealthy using indirect forms of violence, direct violence from the police. it’s the kind of conditions that require communities to build ways of defending themselves. also the people in power want us unarmed for different reasons than you want to be unarmed.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      If it were swords, we wouldn’t want to the only people without swords in a place bristling with swords.

      Weapons are force-multipliers and we have too many people willing to use force, including our own fucking government, which was the idea to begin with; don’t have a government that can do whatever because they have all the force.

      In fact, you can even demand a kingdom without swords while carrying a sword. They do not cancel each other out.

    • scathliath@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      13 hours ago

      I think a lot of us confuse the tool capacity (hunting, self-defense) with actual “safety” and the powers that be in the government let the gun rights argument continue so that people keep wasting money on arms and ammunition, and the businesses lobbying those in charge get to keep selling generally unregulated or underegulated.

      • But_my_mom_says_im_cool@lemmy.world
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        10 hours ago

        It’s a weird mindfuck all around cause I’m Canadian and don’t need a gun, but if I moved to the US I’d get one, to protect me from crazy Americans with guns. Keeping the cycle going.

  • plyth@feddit.org
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    12 hours ago

    Lefties can have all the guns they want. The debate can be held unrestricted. AI driven drones will disperse any militia decisively.

    • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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      4 hours ago

      drones are not effective against an insurgency.

      as a matter of fact name when america has won a war against an insurgency? considering that america has due to distance from their theaters of war, has an untouchable war machine, and unlimited money, logistical supremicy, training, weapons, intelligence. ect. i have to go back to 1770 to get two solid examples

      • plyth@feddit.org
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        4 hours ago

        drones are not effective against an insurgency.

        Why? They can kill anybody who moves outside their zone that is needed for work and living. Whoever has arms and moves in the open can be killed. What can an insurgency do?

        • WraithGear@lemmy.world
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          3 hours ago

          do you live in america? your comment seems very odd considering how america actually is,

          in conjunction, the way insurgencies work with asymmetrical warfare. targeted strikes are not effective.

          • plyth@feddit.org
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            3 hours ago

            No, please correct me.

            Drones are perfect for asymmetrical warfare. They wait somewhere until a surveillance drone detects somebody who leaves their allowed area. Then they fly there and kill them.

            It’s only important to protect urban centers. Insurgents can camp in the woods as long as they want. An insurgency won’t disrupt normal operations once enough drones are available.

    • Wilco@lemmy.zip
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      9 hours ago

      It won’t be done with militia. These guys are likely to just get Luigi’ed.

    • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
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      11 hours ago

      Probably not AI driven since that still sucks ass, but yes, remotely operated drones are the future/present of urban warfare.

  • sexybenfranklin@ttrpg.network
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    14 hours ago

    I don’t believe in the horse shoe theory except when it comes to gun owners larping about rising up against the government.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      12 hours ago

      Rising up against the government is a LARPy roleplay fantasy by people who don’t have community or culture.

      However, making your insane, fascist government think twice before knocking down random doors in random neighborhoods lest they face a hail of gunfire, that is almost a necessity right now.

      This country has too much wealth and resources that a lot of people would love to control, Trump is just the first to succeed at getting into the vault, but there have been many, many others who would have taken the US by force from within given the means.

      Yes, better social policies and better international relations would have done a better job mitigating that, but we didn’t get that, so here we are. Huddled behind our weapons and hoping they scare the monsters enough that they leave us alone.

      • sexybenfranklin@ttrpg.network
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        7 hours ago

        I guess? Mutually assured destruction is a form of brinkmanship that I’m not sure if I’m comfortable attempting. I won’t judge you for how you choose to defend yourself against this administration but I will say that guns rarely deescalate a situation. I truly hope that ICE or the FBI or whoever actually do back down from more violent actions if they fear for their lives, but I feel like it’s more likely that they will simply engage in greater shows of force. Maybe that will wake more people up to what they’re doing.

        • ameancow@lemmy.world
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          I will say that guns rarely deescalate a situation.

          In life, you’re right. And I am speaking as a former self-defense teacher. I really believe the average person should not be carrying guns. Home defense, sure, but they’re NOT an answer to 99% of potential daily problems with others and just make everyone crazier.

          That said, political defense is a different ball-game. You need force behind your politics when your enemy is also putting force behind their politics. This applies to everything from international relations between allies and enemies to domestic movements. This is why Trump has so much political capital, not only does he have a raving cult behind him, they’re literally armed lunatics. It may seem unstable and it is, but it IS power. It’s why he managed to carve such a deep swath through the GOP, that kind of assured power is intoxicating to people.

          I guarantee you if the left were more willing to take up responsible gun ownership broadly, we would have both more cards in the political game, AND we would have greater influence over the gun laws our country desperately needs. (Gun lobbies listen to gun buyers, not the people trying to put them out of business.)