Arm the oppressed
But if you do get one make sure to maintain it and your skills with it so that you use, clean, and store it safely and are effective if you do use it.
It’s amazing how whatever is going on in politics, the gun industry always seems to win.
My cautionary tale is that I knew a guy from my childhood whose wife was raped in a break in. He bought a gun to keep around the house for protection, and the wife killed herself with it.
If possible always try to preempt the attack and buy the gun before something happens, not after
As a progressive gun owner, mental health is part of being a responsible gun owner.
If your wife is suicidal, don’t have a gun she can access.
The thing about suicidal people is they don’t always let you know. For those who have survived a traumatic event, the urge can be overwhelming and come from seemingly no where.
Also, is that something you would say to someone face after their wife committed suicide? “Well it’s your fault because you should have known,”? That sounds incredibly insensitive and out of touch.
Not disputing any of your first paragraph.
As for your second: No, it isn’t. Luckily I didn’t.
Neither the unpredictability of suicide nor your implication that I would say what I said to someone completely different diminishes the necessity of the second amendment to protect people like those mentioned in the OP.
Especially sad because every extra gun that is added is just more opportunity for innocents in the line of fire to get gunned down.
There’s no “bad-guy-seeking-bullets.” This ain’t Roger Rabbit.
Cops are not your friends
I’m generally in favor of gun ownership, and in favor of mandatory training. I wish the government would provide/pay for training, but I wish a lot of things.
Before buying a gun, please consider:
How will you safely store it? Are children Ever over at your house? Can you access it from storage in an emergency?
Where, and when can you practice using your gun in a safe location? Typically, this means going to a range. It’s best if you know an existing gun owner/range member to help you the first time. If you buy a gun, you should safely operate it on at least two days, to build familiarity.
What kind of gun suits your needs? Rifles are better for hunting, and other situations where time is readily available. Handguns are easier to conceal, store, and use. Shotguns are better at hitting things with poor aim, but they hit a lot of other things, too. Most guns are designed to fire one shape of cartridge (generally specified as a diameter and a length), but can support multiple types of bullet (full metal jacket, hollow point, and green tip are fairly common for rifles and pistols. Bird shot, buck shot, and slugs are common for shotguns).
Not all cheap guns are bad, and not all expensive guns are good. Generally, more popular cartridges and guns are preferable, because it makes obtaining ammunition, maintaining the weapon, and knowing of any design issues easier.
Accessories (especially a flashlight, or sights suited to the expected use) can improve the usefulness of a gun significantly. You will also generally want eye and ear protections for range use, and at least cotton swabs, a lubricant, and a bore rope to clean and maintain your gun.
Do you know your rights? Do you know the laws applicable in your area? In some states, there are laws about which guns you can buy, how you can transport them, how you can carry them, how you can store them, and how you can use them. You should know the requirements for lawful self defense (Andrew Branca’s five elements is my favorite explanation). In all 50 states, there are laws about who can buy guns, and some restrictions about where you can buy guns. There are restrictions on how you can modify guns that apply in all 50 states.
If you can afford training, look up the instructor you will have. The individual instructor makes a lot more difference than the facility or institution, IMO.
If you, or a loved one that will have access to your firearm are, or could be suicidal, be aware, and act accordingly, that easy access to a firearm is a risk factor for suicide.
If your gun fails to fire, or sounds weak when you pull the trigger, keep the barrel pointed in a safe direction. This can be a delayed ignition, or a squib. Both are extremely dangerous. After two minutes (longer if you don’t have a clock, and are just counting it out), you can open the chamber, remove the cartridge, and ensure that the barrel is free of obstructions. Depending on the kind of gun, this may be by running a bore rope through, or by looking from the chamber end of the barrel through towards the muzzle. If the barrel is obstructed, take it to a professional without firing it again… If this happens more than one time, throw out your ammo, find a new ammo supplier, and make sure that your ammo is exposed to minimal moisture in storage.
Finally, the axioms of gun safety:
Treat every gun as if it is loaded. Even when you have checked, continue to practice safe handling.
Never point a gun at something you are unwilling to destroy.
Know your target, and what is behind your target.
Keep your finger off the trigger until you are ready to fire.
I’ll say it before and I’ll say it again:
Having a weapon and not being in a large group in public just means the cops are more likely to shoot first and ask questions later. Especially in Trump’s America.
If you’re alone don’t give them a reason to believe you’re armed, because it will be used as a pretext to murder you.
The only time it works is if you’re in a large enough group and in a public space where the cops will draw unwanted attention to what they’re trying to do.
An LGBT person might decide that’s an acceptable risk if it allows them the chance to deter or prevent violence against them from the increased number of empowered bigots walking around in Trump’s America
Of course, I’m merely pointing out that it’s not a cure-all and people like Philando Castile learned the hard way that doing things legally doesn’t mean a cop won’t shoot you just because they’re scared. (Especially when you’re a minority)
It’s a protective measure that relies on: you never having more than one assailant, you being quicker on the draw than your assailant, and you being a really good shot under pressure. (That final one is what results in innocents deaths, and not enough people want to admit that they might not actually be that good of a shot.)
It’s why I personally prefer a couple high-powered flashlights. The best way to survive an altercation is to escape it.
I mean, who wants to be taken alive by Nazis?
A lot of people around here who don’t know what project 2025 says to do to queer people. Also a lot of people being strangely anti gun about this. So what, you think the solution is to sit back and do nothing? Do you think individual trans people are capable of sby themselves overturning gun legislation and having all the transphobes guns taken away?
Fascists have guns. The police sure as fuck isn’t going to start taking their guns away. The laws are not changing. If the state won’t protect you, if the state is trying to harm you, your only choice is to arm yourself.
I do think America needs better mental healthcare and maybe some licensing requirements on firearms.
I also think those licenses should let me buy any firearm if I pass the qualifications.
But I digress, an armed minority is harder to oppress. If every time the feds try to arrest someone, it turns into fucking wako, they will be more hesitant to harass people.
an armed minority is harder to oppress
With the level of police militarisation, I wouldn’t be so sure. If police murders a bunch of queer people, it’s still a pr disaster and so it’s something they want to avoid. But a bunch of queer people with guns in one place is called a compound or even possibly headquarters and they’re allowed to deploy tanks and flamebombs against it.
In the escalatory war wins the side that is legally allowed to own tanks and deploy flamethrowing robots. Every time.
PRACTICE WITH YOUR GUN! Don’t just buy it and expect to be able to do anything with it in a crunch.
I always add, learn how to treat a bullet wound and have kit to do so.
This is important for when something unthinkable or even an accident happens. Carrying a flat-packed tourniquet with your weapon can save your life if it misfires through your leg, or a ricochet hits you. In my case it helped when I had to defend myself against a group of people acting hostile. I drew, they didn’t back off, one charged and took a shot through the arm and collapsed holding his arm. His friends ran away, likely thought he was dead. I stopped the bleeding until the ambulance got there. The cops met him at the hospital (GSWs get reported). I didn’t have any legal fallout or problems from the police. They said it was clearly self-defense and I put myself at risk helping the guy.
Boring anecdote, I know, but it matters. I am not gonna advocate for altruisticly saving a Nazi/MAGA that you defend yourself from, but it can benefit you in a system rigged against you. Or it can save YOUR life if you both get a shot off and your aim is true, while the other person hits you in a limb.
Also, it just doesn’t hurt having more people with critical casualty care skills and kit walking around.
Cool, let’s arm both sides… The solution is always moar guns!
When you’re preparing to fight a fascist regime, more guns is the solution.
Been working out so well with around 50k Americans dying every year needlessly. We are also clocking in at around one thousand child deaths every year. Japan had zero child deaths from guns this year, and the last, and the last, ad nauseam.
I know you gun nutters love your defense fantasies, but arming the gays isn’t going to solve any problems and will result in more dead people
We already have more guns than people. How many moar guns until we are finally safe!?
But we’re not talking specifically about protecting children here, I’d agree with you that less guns are better to those ends. For fighting fascism though? It took a lot of gun deaths to unseat Hitler and Mussolini
Sure in a hypothetical alternate reality where the only way to defeat evil is to shoot it. Unfortunately we live in the real world and it just means more dead people.
Maybe I’m feeling cornered, vulnerable, angry, as is often the case with these things. But how do you suggest we protect ourselves and our allies from an evil that strengthens itself off of your sickness, your hunger, your homelessness, and has absolutely no qualms about meeting you with violence and coming up with an excuse later?
I would not suggest purchasing a gun if you are feeling cornered, vulnerable, and angry. Fear is the mind killer.
I would suggest reaching out to others, talking, getting political, and organizing.
I also wouldn’t advise a gun. Explosives are way more effective.
Guns is how we solved the Nazi problem the first time. If you’ve got a better solution, we’re all ears.
Military action is how the Nazi military was defeated. Nazism was never defeated though. You must understand the US was very pro-Nazi before WWII. Wealthy private individuals from the US helped to find the Nazi party.
Later on, after the Nazi rose to power these same US individuals lobbied the governments of Europe and the US not to take the Jews in. The Nazi party originally wanted to expel all the Jews. This lead to the final solution and the murder of millions.
So it is more complex than guns kill Nazi. We were not the good guys in all this. I also think this has little to do with gun proliferation in the US and the lack of regulation causing untold suffering.
I’m not queer (though I consider myself an ally) I will be buying a gun because my last name and skin tone goes against Fürer Orange ideal master race.
