• Mamertine@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    13
    ·
    1 year ago

    I don’t think you comprehend the vastness and remoteness of the American West.

    There are places where the law enforcement response time is over an hour simply because it takes that long for the one deputy working the county to drive from one side of the country to the other. There’s no point in having more deputies working a county where there are only 2 people living per square mile. Nor is there the finances to hire additional police protection.

    Most of the USA that is not the case, but it is a reality for some places in the lower 48 states. Alaska is that to another level.

    Police funding is a function of city or county, and sometimes state population. Metro area have the funding. Rural places just can’t afford to employ enough police to reduce response time to under 30 minutes.

    • BorgDrone@lemmy.one
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      8
      ·
      1 year ago

      There’s no point in having more deputies working a county where there are only 2 people living per square mile.

      How much crime is there in areas with 2 people per 5.17998 square kilometers that you need an AR-15 for self defense? Does the US have bands of roving marauders? Are we talking a Mad Max like scenario?

      If you happen to live in such a place, how many gun fights do you get into in an average week?

      • Mamertine@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        8
        ·
        1 year ago

        I don’t recall mentioning AR-15s in my response.

        Does the US have bands of roving marauders?

        Not that I’m aware of.

        Are we talking a Mad Max like scenario?

        Nope, anyways that is set in Australia.

    • Kalash@feddit.ch
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      ·
      1 year ago

      Yes, I alluded to that in the previous comment. But is that really a good argument for everyone to have a firearm? You can make exceptions for specific places. Like, all firearms have to be registered and licenced but in rural areas you can get the required training for free.

      • Mamertine@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        5
        ·
        1 year ago

        The ultimate issue is the American constitution says Americans get to own guns. In order to change that requires 2/3rds of the states to want to change that.

        As in California with their 39.5 million citizens has the same power to change it as Alaska with their 600,000 citizens.

        The supreme Court of the USA has said the constitutional rights are fairly broad for gun ownership. In theory that’s mostly settled case law so that won’t change short of a miracle.

        We can debate if it’s prudent or not, but it’s unlikely to change here.

        Fwiw, I’m in favor of some reasonable reforms. There’s just no point in pursuing them since it’s in the constitution here.