• chetradley@lemmy.world
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    7 months ago

    Having a gun for self defense fucks with your head. When my wife and I lived in a relatively rural area, I used to keep a shotgun under our bed for protection, but I eventually got rid of it. Never shot it a single time, but you’d better believe every time I cleaned it or moved it or just remembered I had it, I was imagining the horrible situation I might be forced to use it in. That shit low key fucked me up. Strange sound in the middle of the night? Better grab the gun.

    I can’t even begin to imagine carrying one on me, especially in public. I like to think I have a pretty level head, but some people are just waiting for you to look at them the wrong way so they finally have that moment. So frightened or psychotic or some combination of the two that their first instinct is to just start shooting. Hell, my wife’s cousin-in-law got in a fucking shootout when he cut someone off in traffic.

    Used to be very pro responsible gun ownership, but lately I’m thinking that level of responsibility is far too rare in people.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      7 months ago

      It’s the Jacky Chan effect.

      When I was a kid this guy released a movie like every week. And every time we’d go to a Jacky Chan movie, I’d walk out of that theater thinking I was the king of fuck mountain, that somebody aught to just TRY and fuck with me.

      I was not the only one. I don’t know who it was, but I saw a comedian on comedy Central echo that exact same feeling, which seemed to resonate with the audience, so I know it’s not unique. You feel powerful just being in the presence of such a thing.

      There’s a whole book series about the presence of powerful things being a corrupting presence. They’re pretty good. Turned in to movies and everything.

    • jaschen@lemm.ee
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      7 months ago

      I am the same person as you except I actually carried around my gun. Being an stupid 21 year old with a gun sounds so stupid back then. I’m glad nobody died because of me.

    • Wahots@pawb.social
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      7 months ago

      I want some sort of driving test for guns. If you fail it, no guns for you. Have to retake it every 5-10 years and it’s pretty easy to pass if you aren’t a moron.

      I’ve seen literally the dumbest shit on ranges. People flagging one another. Accidental discharges a few feet from one’s foot, flagrantly breaking the range rules while the range instructor literally just finished explaining the rules to everyone there.

      Christ, one time (in a rural state) someone didn’t want to give up their CC to run a combat-style range. It was for safety, in case they ate shit on the course. They said they needed their CC in case there was a “terrorist attack”. I looked around the bumfuck, empty desert we were in and wondered where the terrorists would even come from, lmao.

      • chetradley@lemmy.world
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        7 months ago

        Hard agree on the gun safety test. Buying a gun, especially in the US, is way too easy and the number of people walking around strapped with absolutely no knowledge of gun safety, let alone armed self defense training, is terrifying.

        My wife’s family leans very hard into the guns, god and Trump right wing. My father in law set up a shooting range on his property, and it’s a tradition for the cousins to get together and show off their arsenal. I keep a pistol there because it’s a hellava range gun and the 22LR rounds are dirt cheap, but you can imagine the shit I catch in a family where 9mm is considered a “pussy round”.

        The amount of stupid shit I’ve seen on this range would boggle your mind, and I feel a deep responsibility to make sure nobody dies while I’m there. I’ve seen people walk in front of the range with earmuffs on while someone was getting ready to shoot. I had to stop my father in law from breaking his thumb trying to shoot a Glock with his thumb resting right on the slide. I watched my uncle-in-law (a Republican state senator, mind you) hand a loaded AR-15 to his ten year old son, then just walk away.

        • captainlezbian@lemmy.world
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          7 months ago

          You know I think that’s actually the intelligence and responsibility I expect from republican state senators. I bet he screams about how responsible gun owners shouldn’t be prevented from ownership just because of irresponsible gun owners

    • bane_killgrind@lemmy.ml
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      7 months ago

      I have an airsoft gun and it’s only after I shot my wife in the ass that I considered the considerable weight of responsibility that such a weapon imposes on a man.