I’ve known people who were basically ready to do DIY bottom surgery, and yet still feel like they were/are an “imposter/not really trans” at times. I think one of the best pieces of advice I’ve seen is, “It doesn’t matter that you weren’t sad with your old self, just that you’re happier with your new self”

Tale as old as time.

“I’m cool with being a guy, I only think about being a girl sometimes I guess. It would be interesting though…”

“Heh, I look nice with this Snapchat filter… I kinda wonder how I’d look in some girl’s clothes?”

“Wow… I think really like how I look. But like, I’m okay with looking like a guy in public. I just crossdress for fun. Though… What if I didn’t have to ‘go back’”?

I’ve not even hit 3 months of HRT and I’m utterly astonished at how much more I give a shit about myself overall.

Pretty sure that’s what Musk thinks his is.

Seconding the rental guns as well. At most ranges, it’s an extra $10-20 on your range fee, and they’ll let you try as many guns as you want for that price. Only downside is they’ll require use of pricier range ammo, but you’ll get a good idea for feel after a magazine or two.

Honestly, it’s one of the things I love about Michigan. Our gun laws are quite reasonable, and Michigan (at least the SE portion) is quite trans friendly. Also, if worse comes to worse, fleeing to Canada is a relatively “easy” option…

I’ve gone to a many ranges, sometimes with other trans girls, and no one has cared whatsoever. Hell, even though I don’t pass at all right now, I’ve even had employees at more than a couple shops default to “they” when referring to me. Which, given my overall experience with most ranhes/stores, was pretty wild.

We have our shitty right-wing chuds (literal Nazis and Klansmen just north of me), but they’re far outnumbered by the rest of the population which is wonderfully diverse and genuinely very nice people. I definitely feel very blessed having moved here a few years ago before coming out.

I’m going to make an incredibly simple list with very little nuance, because the reality is that so long as you don’t buy a total POS, the gun you buy matters far less than your training. So I’m keeping it very straightforward.

As someone who loves unique guns and much as it pains me to say it, it’s hard to go wrong with your basic Glock. They come in all shapes and sizes and calibers, and are the default choice for a lot of reasons.

Get something in 9mm. Ignore anyone who says otherwise. Dozens of studies have shown that with quality defensive ammo, it’s going to do it’s job.

I’d recommend a Glock 19. Lots of rounds, fairly easy to carry, nor particularly heavy, and a very popular carry gun all around. If you find that too big, you can step down to a 43, but you’re trading shooting comfort and capacity for daily carry comfort. Not necessarily a bad thing if it means you’re more willing to carry it. New, you’re looking $400-500 depending on seller and generation, but law enforcement trade-ins aren’t a bad idea if you’re on a budget. They’re usually well taken care of and have very low round counts.

For accessories, have at least 4-5 spare, high quality magazines. There are some very cheap ones out there, and a shitty magazine can turn the best gun into an unreliable one very easily. Even if you don’t plan on concealed carrying initially, plan to get a good AIWB (appendix in waistband) holster. Probably about $100-150 max.

Night sights aren’t a bad idea, but not necessary.

Only other thing some people will add is a light, but again, not a necessity.

A small safe that can be bolted down is a good idea. Don’t have to get too fancy with it, just something that prevents an opportunistic grab or some nosy visitor from fucking with it. Maybe $200

Ammo. Buy lots and practice lots. It’ll sound like a lot, but 500 rounds/year is kind of what I aim for. It’s only 5 range trips with 2 boxes of ammo each trip. Find a local club/range (most are shockingly LGBT friendly, at least in blue-ish areas. Regularly practice with whatever defensive ammo you pick, but you won’t want to practice solely with that unless you have a LOT of money lol. My personal pick are Federal HSTs. Very well rated, reasonably priced, lots of testing showing they perform well, and not a meme like a lot of “defensive” ammo seems to be. Keep at least 100 rounds of it on hand, but more is always better if possible.

As for the ethical consumption, unfortunately, given we’re talking literal arms dealers here, you’re kind of limited… Buying used helps, but only so much. Glock is Austrian and Federal is a subsidiary of a Czech company, so even though the manufacturing is in the US, you’re not directly supporting dictatorships like with buying something made by Canik (Turkish) or something.

Femboys are you into the world to get the money to get the money from the bank account to the bank account and you can earn money from your bank account.

Reminds me of mandrakes from Harry Potter. They scream like they’re alive but they’re just there to be harvested.

Funnily enough, this is exactly how billionaires view us.

Ooh, ooh, look at the price of a single Tomahawk missile or anything else we regularly blow up, even in training exercises!

You can either aid democracy in South Africa, or have 1 Tomahawk. I wonder which does the most good…

The one thing I will add is that the soul searching isn’t always visible, which was what made it so hard for my family/friends to understand when I came out. To them, it seemed like a very sudden and “snap” decision, when the reality was that I had spent years at that point reflecting and doing soul searching, but was so terrified about what it meant and how they might see me, I never told anyone about it.

I definitely think that this dad did a solid job overall, and even as an adult transitioning in their late 20s, I would have loved this response vs how my parents handled it…

Not even that. Gun owners re-elected Mr. “Take the guns away 1st, due process 2nd”, they don’t even give a fuck. They’re all a bunch of hypocrites and will screech “SHALL NOT BE INFRINGED” over and over, but completely ignore the fact that Trump’s policies were absolutely abysmal for gun owners.

I’ve seen a lot of talk about cracking eggs in trans communities. This is clearly their fault!

Bold to think they can read, and aren’t just ad-libbing whatever wet fart of a thought enters their head.

Oh, and also enemy combatants. Which is probably what Trump will claim immigrants are in his bizzaro world justification…

This is effectively already what Texas has tried to claim…

Or that is so good, they don’t need anything more than word of mouth. And I mean real word of mouth, not the fake influencer shilling that relies on parasocial relationships “word of mouth”

Well, it certainly explains a lot about SpaceX’s success…

They’ll be protected in his basement.

Just want to preface this whole argument with a “This issue is pretty complex, and there are valid reasons to be concerned on both sides.”

I always see the “physical differences” argument, and my response is where do you draw the line? There are outliers of both cis men and women, so if we’re going purely off natural physical ability, is it okay to bump the lowest performance cis men into the women’s league, or the highest performance women into the men’s leagues?

It’s funny you mention rugby, because I have a cis female friend who plays. She’s 5’11 and ~180lbs, and an absolute tank on the field. I’m trans, and we’re basically the exact same size/weight. Her 1RM on basically anything other than bench has always been higher than mine, even as a guy. If the concern is purely about physical differences, then at what point do you start singling out non-trans people for being outliers, even if it’s 100% natural?

While I absolutely understand the issues with allowing those who’ve gone through testosterone puberty into sports with those who haven’t (painting with as broad a brush as possible), I think the main reason I struggle to agree with bans of trans athletes in any capacity is simply because it’s 100% going to be abused by shitty people, and is an overly simplistic solution.

My overly simplistic solution? Stop grouping people by gender, and just break it up into tiered leagues/divisions/weight classes like football/soccer, baseball, or wrestling? Will there be a natural segmentation based off sex? For a lot of sports, almost definitely. But I think it’s the most equitable solution, and also helps break down the idea that women can’t possibly compete against men in any way, or that men are inherently better than women. You now also get the added benefit that people who might normally be cut from a team for low performance now have the opportunity to play in a lower division, and have a reason for the players in the low/mid divisions who might obliterate the competition to have a reason to keep improving for a shot at a higher division.

Now, feel free to tear apart my idea, because I’m sure there are many aspects of it I didn’t clearly think through, but it’s just a thought.

If you go far enough right, solar and wind are extremely popular. Very much leads to some weirdness when I was researching solar for my house, and kept stumbling into prepper communities and the like.

It’s very much a “reclaimed word” in the same way the n-word is. Totally cool if one of my queer friends says it, not cool if some rando on the street shouts it at me.