Several niche, left-leaning gun advocacy groups said that since the killing of Alex Pretti by federal agents in Minneapolis, they can hardly keep up with the surging demand for firearms training.

With Donald Trump sending armed federal agents into communities around the country, even more once gun-shy liberals and leftists are considering getting armed.

And while Americans tend to think of gun owners as leaning more Republican and male, already more women, gay people and people of color have taken up arms in recent years, particularly after 2020.

  • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
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    1 day ago

    So is driving a car. Is driving a car stupid and pointless then?

    I got a gun because I want a gun. Just like I have a car because I want a car. I barely use my car, but it’s sure awesome to have one when I need it and a lot better to have it and not need it than to not have one at all.

    I’m not campaigning against ICE. I am not under any delusions of grandeur here that my .22 pistol is going to stop what is going on. It’s for target shooting and being halfway decent when i go shoot guns with my family on the holidays.

    • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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      1 day ago

      Is driving a car stupid and pointless then?

      If you can’t tell the difference between driving a car and firing a gun, you should be allowed to own neither.

      • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        they are both tools for a job.

        you seem to think the only point of owning a gun is to commit violence against other people. you’re wrong.

        • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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          1 day ago

          you seem to think the only point of owning a gun is to commit violence

          You talk about a gun like you plan to open your beer with it.

          • TubularTittyFrog@lemmy.world
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            1 day ago

            what is so mystical and magical about guns to you? that you think they are a special thing?

            I can also murder people with kitchen knives, btw. plenty of domestic and non-domestic violence involves knives.

            i have a non-chalant attitude towards guns because I’m familiar with them. i also have a dog. some people who don’t have dogs freak out around my dog because they are afraid of dogs.

            • UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world
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              23 hours ago

              what is so mystical and magical about guns to you?

              Small tubes full of explosive shrapnel aren’t magic. They’re just hazardous when improperly owned and operated.

              Multi-ton gas powered rolling steel boxes are also hazardous when improperly owned and operated. That’s why we have all these standards for licensure, ownership, and use.

              I can also murder people with kitchen knives, btw.

              Sure. People are fragile. You can crush someone’s windpipe with your bare hands.

              I don’t think your ability to do this manually should encourage anyone to stock up on machines that do it rapidly at long range.

              If you suggested everyone should show up at an ICE detention center wearing hockey masks and waving meat clevers, I would tell you this is a bad idea. If you suggested everyone should sleep with a kitchen knife under their pillows, because it would keep them safe from a SWAT raid, I would strongly disagree.

              You’re pitching individualist solutions to a broad social problem. There is nothing you can purchase retail that will remove ICE from your neighborhood. And there are hazards that come with gun ownership that you seem deeply invested in ignoring.

              some people who don’t have dogs freak out around my dog because they are afraid of dogs.

              If your response your sense of insecurity is to go out and buy a Bully XL on impulse, you are making a mistake.