Why I am Anti-Gun
The topic of gun ownership is re-occurring in the American media. Since we have a broad consensus in Germany that guns should be only owned by people who have to use them - Hunters, Police and Military - it is always baffling to see how many Americans justify or even argue for more private gun ownership. Personally I do like weapons, so I think I can understand where the gun love is coming from and I will try to make this one a little less ranty than my past posts.
As a child I loved action movies and my favorite game up until this day is Jagged Alliance 2, a mercenary management game where looting good weapons is very important. The funny and even somewhat educational description of the weapons is a really neat detail and I am pretty sure I read all of them.
In my short visit to the military I also had a gun in my hand and even though I did not shoot it, feeling it in my hand, disassembling, reassembling it, the thought out design of the H&K P9 made me wet my panties a little.
On the other hand I was threatened with a gun twice in my youth, a very discomforting feeling.
With all this said I do think that in a peaceful society there is no need for private gun ownership, because in a place in which everyone can potentially kill me within seconds, is not a society I want to live in. I will try to counter the most common Pro-Gun arguments in the following.
The 2nd Amendment
Appeal to authority. Unless you believe the founding fathers were flawless perfect beings you should not take anything written by them as God's word.
Guns are just a tool
Maybe the most valid of all the pro-Gun arguments because it is true. Weapons are tools. The responsibility for a crime should be blamed on the culprit and not the tool. However do you want to grant access to every tool to everyone? If you do then you should be in support of North Korea obtaining nuclear power. A nuclear missle is also a tool or is there any difference between rockets and hand guns?
Hand Guns are in my opinion a rather bad tool for violent conflict. With my hands and melee weapons I am much more in control of the damage I do, thus I am much less likely to kill a person unless necessary. Being right next to the potential victim makes you also much more aware of the monstrosity that is the act of killing another human being.
Guns are needed for self defense
Pepperspray, martial arts, knives... there are a lot of alternatives when it comes to protecting yourself. Giving the people more access to weapons for self defense ends in an arms race. While you rarely see guns in the German crime scene, in America they try to get their hands on the illegal automatic guns, while normal hand guns are considered common equipment for a ground level American criminal (I guess).
America is a different country than Germany and according to the principle of "andere Länder, andere Sitten" I don't think I can really convince you guys to get rid of your guns, but I want to give one final emotional comment on how I see you guys use guns:
You should not aim at someone unless you want to shoot him. Having looked through the barrel of a gun before let me tell you that you will instantly have somebody that wants to kill you for threatening his life.
You can shoot someone in a none-lethal spot once, if you are threatened. Learn to aim for body parts like hands, arms and legs. If you are incapable of performing a clean none-lethal shot under pressure, maybe you should not be granted access to a gun.
Red-Blooded, Freedom-Loving, National-Anthem-Standing-With-My-Hand-Over-My-Heart American here.
I will make you a deal (but you must agree to keep your end of the bargain), I will surrender my guns (that's right, plural, guns), when you can guarantee that ALL criminals will surrender theirs and they will obey ALL laws.
When you can do that, I will keep my end of the bargain.
sounds like a fair deal. To me it is one of the few deals that need to be made with a state. I would not trust the American State to keep that bargain but I do trust the German State.
I got robbed once in my lifetime and the leader of the gang got 3 months in prison. I think that was the much better solution than me starting a shooting out of self-defense.
I have NEVER been robbed.
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Here is something no German citizen can ever say:
– Ronald Reagan
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Finally, one of the greatest Americans, Benjamin Franklin, said:
“Never trust a government that doesn't trust its own citizens with guns.”
Does a gun really level the playing field between the state, who has taps on all communication and can send a drone to your house to bomb you while you are asleep. The 12-Gauge under your bed won't help you in this case.
If the American Public would repeatedly form Paramilitaries to stop their evil government, I would see your point, but right now the US-Gov is the most irrational and oppressive it has ever been. And no, I am not referring to Trump rather to your extremely biased (lying) media and all the wars you are currently involved with.
Where are the American People stopping their corrupted Government?
I guess I can partially understand your point of view. After all, how can you possibly appreciate a right you've never had.
If you think it is preferable to live under the (hopefully) gentle hand of an authoritarian government, then to each his own.
We Americans prefer a more self-deterministic way of life.
One thing I am actually curious about is how so many right wingers are pro police but also pro gun. For me this is kind of mutually exclusive. Either you believe in the state monopoly of violence or you don't. If you do not trust your government you should be anti-police and pro revolution - Welcome to Antifa :P.
I don't see how the American government is less authoritarian than the German one. In fact the thing that annoys me the most about our government is that a lot of our policies are dictated by the US. For example our relation to Russia; Merkel speaks Russian, Putin speaks German and you tell me those two would have not been able to resolve the Ukraine Crisis peacefully?
Thanks for sharing! I live in America and it is, indeed, a hot topic here so it's very interesting to hear views on the topic from around the globe!
You say that "With all this said I do think that in a peaceful society there is no need for private gun ownership". Unfortunately, evil lives among us and we are nowhere near a peaceful society :/ For example, I'm a very short and small girl and if I were ever to move to a big city I would consider getting a concealed carry permit because I don't stand much of a chance against, for instance, a group of big giant guys that want to rob or rape me. Guns are the ultimate equalizer!
Of course, this is just one example out of several in support of civilian ownership of guns. I don't think that the people who follow the law should be punished because of the few who do not follow the law.
Part of me does not like guns because as a 200lb male I won't be pushed around easily if there is no gun pointed to my head, so I can definitely see what you mean by equalizer. However even a hand gun can be grabbed away, if the muggers are bold enough.
I would argue that the best solution to that would be a silent alarm that can be easily triggered (ie as a cellphone app) and a fast responding police. Second best solution would none lethal deterrents like pepper spray.
I also think it is a false narrativ to believe that if guns are outlawed the criminals will have the advantage, because they are the ones using guns. This might depend on the society though, what works for us in Germany might not work over in the States.
Like you said, guns are only tool which can't kill by itself. Long comment short...we need to build society where you will not have need to have a gun.
Aye. I do think there will always a certain need for guns, but minimizing the usage of lethal weapons should be a goal for any society.
I agree with goal, but disagree that there will always be need for guns. Maybe that moment I'm talking about is not so near, but when people realize some thing, there will not be need for violence...co
Yeah I wanted to make clear that this is not my position ;). I do believe that if there is no authorized use of violence, the groups that dare to use violence could overthrow the unarmed state.
I think violence will be a part of human nature at least in the next couple of thousand years. The only way to actually stop all aggression within humankind you would need artificially change the DNA or the Brain and I am not really in favor of that.
Well, maybe legalizing Weed will help :D
If a person is committed and predisposed to committing an act of violence on such a mass scale, the only thing that will stop them is someone prepared, trained, and capable of defending life. It’s time to tell the liberals that we are tired of being held to the mercy of the criminals and the mentally ill, while we wait for standard emergency response times.
“The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” ― Edmund Burke
I do not belong to group of people of Germany who from part of the consensus that guns should only be owned by certain groups of people :-). Leroy is 100% pro guns! Free guns for free people! No guns for slaves!
Wouldn't have thought that. While I do believe that people should have more self ownership and responsibility, I don't like the idea of any random retard being able to shoot me in the back from 100 meters away.
He will do it anyway, if here or over there. If you want a gun, you get it. Of course, illegally
As soon as I am aware of that I can report him to the police :P.
Do you really want to have a 80% chance that in every group of loud-mouthed half-strongs one of them carries a gun? Do you think Germany would be a better place if more brawls would end in shootings?
that wouldn't be the case, its just a projection in my eyes. Furthermore you are mixing up two different things:
Why do you wish to enslave individuals? I ask that question because, that is the only reason I can fathom for a position that advocates individuals giving up their sovereignty to the collective. Do you envision a society of state-enslaved automatons? That seems to be the practical end-result of your article.
I am generally not a fan of big or even superstates like the US and Europe, but in general I want the collective to have the control over violence in society, not the individual. The collective ofc needs to be organized in such a manner that the violent force of the collective (police/military) is acting to protect the people from harm, which would work better if government would be more local instead of global.
I see your point, but I am in no way in favor of automated forces. The state should not be able to fight with machine power alone.
I can appreciate that position. In the US our constitution was originally penned to institute a Federation of States with power vested locally first. In fact, the only power given to the Federal government was treaty, International trade, and common defense. It is unfortunate that, through the generations, this has been distorted where now the Federal government assumes nearly all power and maintains it by bribery and extortion of the individual states. I consider the current situation to be against our constitution with corruption at every level. Our second amendment, allowed for the individual ownership of guns, just for this circumstance. With the expectation that if the government ever gets too corrupt, it is incumbent on the people to take back control. I know how barbaric this seems in modern times...but, history has shown a distinct pattern of governments growing too large, becoming corrupt, then subjugating the governed. I pray the US will escape this fate.
If you believed that your government & agencies of your government were corrupt & responsible for carrying out false flag attacks to justify the confiscation of weapons or changing of laws that would leave the guns in the hands of only the petty & real criminals (the government) it would be illogical/stupid to give up your guns wouldn't it? I'm British but if I was an American there is no way I would leave myself unarmed in the face of a heavily armed , tyrannical, rogue government. That was the point of the second amendment wasn't it? The founding fathers stipulated that the US should have a standing army of no more than 25,000 as any threat could be dealt with by a well armed & organised malicia. Obviously the size of the US army in 2017 makes the 2nd amendment
I kind of like that argument because I am in favor of changing the world and I don't think the ones in power will let go without a fight. However I don't think being able to own guns is a decisive factor. The State has weapons that outclass your home owned revolver and if you are actually someone who wants to throw over the establishment you should ask Antifa for open spots ;).
While I like the "emergency revolution" character of the 2nd amendment I do not think it is practical.
You are not anti-gun. You are pro-life!
Learn the basics of propaganda!!!!
It took me 2 hours to post that comment lol
Let's try if I can now post my article before the next 504.
My reply to you is still "loading..." in another tab...
Not sure what you mean. I might not be anti-gun when it comes to the question if military and police should own guns, but I surely don't think guns should be carried by a peaceful society.
I am generally in favor of life, but right now "pro-life" is a rather specific term to describe anti-abortion people. Sure the Muricans like to screw up words and their meaning, not sure if that is what you mean with propaganda.
Yes, I hinted at that, because we just had the Greens Fundi/Realos too.
Pretty scary, I was also threatened once, some gangsters snatched my handbag and I didn't want to give it. One pointed a gun at me, so yeah no point losing my life just for some little thing.
I only like guns in pc games. I think if people are planning to kill each other they should just go on a more creative fight or something lol.
For some reason I upvoted your comment without reading and replying, my bad ...
I got robbed only once, but that wasn't with a gun. I also had them give me a few punches in the face before I handed over my money. I think after all that was not as threatening as looking into the barrel of a gun someone put in my face just for fun. I didn't know the person and we were pretty drunk and high... so yeah shooting is fun in games but not so much in real life 👍
ideal follow up .