• @CaptainProton
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    -111 months ago

    What I never get is how people who don’t want to be around guns are generally perfectly fine being around people on a payroll to carry guns (not just cops, i mean bodyguards, armored trucks, etc). It takes shockingly little to get that qualification. It’s everything you listed where I live, without any technicalities or weird hoops, much easier than a carry permit, you don’t even need to have a formal personal protection or cash transport business. I know a bunch of people who got guard cards for the hell of it. The fact is the people who jump through all the hoops to get a permit are never the issue.

    • @[email protected]
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      311 months ago

      For one, I’m not sure what that has to do with this conversation. Generally speaking, the sort of person who carries a gun for work isn’t the same sort of person who thinks they need a gun to buy milk.

      Second, bold of you to assume that people who don’t want to be around guns are entirely okay with them in the situations you mentioned. Most of them would rather not be around armed police, they would just prefer a police officer to a rando, because again, the cop didn’t get up and think “I better make sure I’m ready to kill people in case it comes up at the grocery store”.

      • @CaptainProton
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        110 months ago

        Saw another post and thought of your response here… I think the difference is those of us who know what it takes absolutely feel more comfortable around people who have something to lose, because they do not conflate their position with expertise granting blanket immunity from consequences for their mistakes.

        (cop startled by falling acorn, empties gun into occupied building) https://old.reddit.com/r/Idiotswithguns/comments/1aq4jjr/a_bit_excessive/kqaj4kh/

        • @[email protected]
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          110 months ago

          You seem to keep coming back to some belief that I hold cops in some esteem. I don’t.

          For all the warts of the profession, they’re still a known quantity. You know why the cop has the gun. You know they completed their minimum of one semester of training and bare minimum psychological evaluation. You know they have a high school diploma.

          Anyone else, you know that they could … Afford a gun. If it’s concealed, you know that they took an eight hour course in safety. You know rather little about their stability or anything else. You don’t know why they brought the gun.

          In both cases, you also know that they likely exceed those minimums by a fair margin.
          As mentioned, cpl holders tend to be enthusiastic and proficient, law abiding citizens. Where I live cops tends to have four year degrees on top of a full year of dedicated police training and supplementary medical training and continuing education requirements.

          Again, don’t particularly want to have either around me, but one has less question marks.

          Also, linking to idiots with guns isn’t a great way to testify to the responsibility of gun owners.

      • @[email protected]
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        111 months ago

        “I better make sure I’m ready to kill people in case it comes up at the grocery store”.

        Funnily enough that is exactly what the cop said. If he gets a call to a grocery store about some violent dickhead, he may be right, too.

        Not to mention the cops have a reputation of shooting unarmed black people, are actually statistically worse shots than CCW holders, and statistically commit less crimes than CCW holders.

        • @[email protected]
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          111 months ago

          So the difference there is that someone called the cops to the grocery store, as opposed to a rando taking their gun to buy milk.

          Do you really not see the difference between a job where people pay you to carry a gun, and some random person deciding that they want to carry a gun just in case?
          One has the job of “person we decided responds to violent situations, while they’re are work doing what we asked them to do”, and the other is "I have no idea who this person is, they’re wearing a dirty T-shirt, holding a cartoon of milk and wearing a pistol at the checkout line of this 7-11”.
          With a cop, you have a known quantity and you know why they have the gun. With rando, you just know they have a gun, with no clue why.

          Finally, you’re totally correct. That’s why a lot of people don’t exactly like being around armed police either.
          Is it so hard to imagine that some people are made to feel less safe being around people with guns, and would like to avoid it where possible?

          • @[email protected]
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            -211 months ago

            Well typically murderers don’t order victims by phone, no, unless we’re counting delivery drivers maybe, but that just means civilians “need to have it when they need it” more than the people who get advanced notice.

            Do you really think victims of violent crime don’t need or deserve to protect themselves, simply because their job isn’t responding to others being victimized? Why do you think cops, which have less training hours than cosmetologists, are superheros somehow better than other civilians?

            Btw I’ll give you a tip, usually the guy with a gun you have to worry about isn’t “some dirty prole open carrying,” it’s someone concealing it illegally and you’ll never know until it becomes a problem. Most legal carriers also carry concealed, so that dirty prole behind you in line “without a gun?” You can never be sure, he may in fact have one just under a thin layer of cotton/polyester blend.

            Is it so hard to imagine that some people are made to feel less safe being around people with guns, and would like to avoid it where possible?

            Tbh, yes. If you live in America and don’t just “work, home, sleep” (if you go anywhere in public, a mall, the movies, church, anywhere) you likely pass a person with a gun at least one time a day and never even know. Being scared of everyone with a gun is honestly more irrational than just being scared of everyone because they could have a gun. I for one choose not to live my life in fear, if I see a person open carrying I just say “ayy cool is that the p365? How do you like that thing? I had to replace my p320 and got a p10c instead but I’ve been thinking about picking one of those up” and now I have a new, albeit “dirty shirted,” friend.

            • @[email protected]
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              211 months ago

              You seem to be taking this really personally.

              You’ve started interjecting a lot of defensive talk about being a “prole”, and thinking that people who don’t feel safer in the presence of guns must live their lives in constant fear, or want to take guns away from people.
              Re read what I said. I never said people shouldn’t be able to own guns, or carry them. I said people should be able to say “you need my permission to bring a gun into my home or business”.

              I’ll be honest with you, I feel like I probably live my life in less fear than the person who needs to carry a gun everywhere to feel safe.

              • @[email protected]
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                -111 months ago

                I just think it’s cute you imply people with dirty shirts are dangerous or not to be trusted and I’m making fun of that, if you didn’t catch it.

                I agree with people’s right to choose on their own property, however I also find it laughable you’re scared of dirty people with guns but not people in blue shirts with guns nor dirty people with “maybe guns” you’re unaware of. These positions are not conflicting in any way, and you’re silly.

                • @[email protected]
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                  111 months ago

                  Wow, you’re offended that I made up a person in a dirty T-shirt as an example?

                  For the record, I don’t actually think a dirty T-shirt is a value judgement. It’s sort of a “been doing house work” type thing.

                  If you’re that fixated on one detail of an example and are just going to ignore everything else that was said, you’re remarkably thin skinned.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    -111 months ago

                    Offended? No u, I simply think your “example” of “scary man” reflects more about you than the hypothetical “him.”

                    Uh-huh, then why do those dirty men scare you, hmm?

                • @ripcord
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                  11 months ago

                  So you have no real argument, so just focusing on as hominim attacks and on blowing up one single thing they said once. Got it.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    -111 months ago

                    If by that you mean “you’re just making fun of a dumb thing I said.”

                    Yeah, basically.

                    Also I think it’s silly to be scared of people for a dumb reason but not be scared of others who could possibly have that same reason hidden under their shirt, but yes, you’re entitled to be naive if you so choose.

      • @GooseFinger
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        -311 months ago

        Small thing I want to point out.

        I don’t feel like I need a fire extinguisher in my kitchen to make some pancakes. Is it a good idea? Sure. The chances are really small that I’ll need it, but I’ll be very happy to have it in case the worst case scenario comes up.

        I don’t carry a gun to the grocery store because I’m afraid I’ll need it, I carry because I acknowledge that violent crime happens randomly to normal people like me and I’d rather be prepared for it than not. Modern guns retained in concealed holsters are actually very safe. They don’t just “go off” on their own, and the only reason someone would draw theirs is if their life or a loved one’s was in immediate danger.

        I don’t get up in the morning thinking “I better make sure I’m ready to kill people in case it comes up at the grocery store.” That’s way too reductive and gung ho.

        • @[email protected]
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          311 months ago

          Do you take your fire extinguisher with you to the store also?
          When you drive there, do you make sure to buckle your five point harness and put on your full visor helmet?
          Do you carry you basic EMS kit with you at all times? What about a couple doses of narcan? EpiPen?

          My point is, the gun is a big piece of equipment for a very niche contingency. There are significantly more likely threats that you can take care of with less burden to your daily life than even the modest inconvenience of carrying a weapon.

          Don’t pretend that you need to carry a gun to the grocery store.
          You want to carry a gun, for whatever reason.

          No one thinks the gun is just gonna magic itself out of the holster and shoot someone.
          The point is the gun doesn’t make anyone else feel more safe. No one thinks to themselves “oh good, a stranger with a gun has arrived. That’s just what this Baskin Robbins needed”.

          • @GooseFinger
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            -111 months ago

            Do you take your fire extinguisher with you to the store also?
            When you drive there, do you make sure to buckle your five point harness and put on your full visor helmet?
            Do you carry you basic EMS kit with you at all times? What about a couple doses of narcan? EpiPen?

            I was highlighting the convenience/safety tradeoff in taking basic precautions against low probability but high risk events. You were incorrectly stating that people feel like they need to carry a gun just to grocery shop, and I explained how that was false. Not sure how that went over your head, but it clearly did.

            My point is, the gun is a big piece of equipment for a very niche contingency. There are significantly more likely threats that you can take care of with less burden to your daily life than even the modest inconvenience of carrying a weapon.

            Ok, name a few? How else would someone mitigate risk of human threats against their life? I’m not sure I understand what you’re getting at, but you don’t have to forgo carrying a weapon for self defense in order to eat healthy and exercise to mitigate risk of heart failure. Carrying a gun everyday also isn’t a burden, and I enjoy range time and training. People should be allowed means to self defense if they want it. If they abuse it, they get their rights taken away. It’s really quite simple.

            Don’t pretend that you need to carry a gun to the grocery store.
            You want to carry a gun, for whatever reason.

            If the goal is having means for self defense against people, concealed carry is the only effective way to achieve it. Pepper spray, taser, knife, or anything else is objectively ineffective. I don’t need a gun to grocery shop, but I do need a gun if I want adequate self defense.

            No one thinks the gun is just gonna magic itself out of the holster and shoot someone.
            The point is the gun doesn’t make anyone else feel more safe. No one thinks to themselves “oh good, a stranger with a gun has arrived. That’s just what this Baskin Robbins needed”.

            The goal isn’t to make other people feel safe, the goal is to help myself and my loved ones. Other people will never know that I have a gun on me, so whether I actually have one or don’t doesn’t change anything from their point of view.

            • @[email protected]
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              011 months ago

              So in the beginning, you explain how I was wrong to think that it’s people feeling they need a gun just to go grocery shopping, then you end by explaining how you need a gun to feel safe when you go grocery shopping.
              I’m not sure you’ve really thought your position through all the way.

              I’m not sure what you’re looking for when you ask me to name a few larger risks and mitigations to you and your families personal safety. I literally opened with a list of precautions you could, but almost certainly aren’t, taking. Wearing a helmet while in a motor vehicle, or refitting your car with a five point harness will do a lot to prevent injury or death in a vehicle accident, which is stupendously more likely than dealing with a dangerous armed person.
              If you’re not taking those options, but you are carrying a gun, I find it hard to believe that it’s just a simple risk mitigation analysis, because your probabilities are grossly out of line.

              Also, who said anything about denying people weapons or even the ability to carry them?
              I said some people don’t like being around guns, and you should be able to say “you can’t bring a weapon into my house or business without my permission”.
              If that sounds like denying people their right to self defense to you… I’m not sure you’re worth talking to.