5 ms·
(I) Context: I lived in Germany for somewhere around a year and a half, and have lived in Japan for the better part of a decade. Gun ownership is effectively
by donw 6y ago
(I)
Context: I lived in Germany for somewhere around a year and a half, and have lived in Japan for the better part of a decade.
Gun ownership is effectively banned in Japan, and the Japanese have an amazingly competent, well-trained, and effective police force. Seriously -- they do policing right in so many ways. Germany, too.
I share this so you really understand where I am coming from when I say that I think every citizen that so desires should be armed. Moreover, I find the attitude of "nobody needs a gun" to be hopelessly privileged and naïve.
To give you some sense of why:
(II)
A friend of mine had an issue with an ex-boyfriend, here in Japan. He kept banging on her front door in the middle of the night, threatening her, the whole bit. He was an amateur athlete, and although I can handle myself in a fight, he would probably beat me into a pulp. She wouldn't stand a chance.
The cops put out a restraining order, and kept bringing him into the police station every time he violated it, but legally, they could do nothing until he actually hurt her. Moreover, he was Japanese, and she was not, which meant that the police were... less incentivized to help her.
This kind of thing happens everywhere. That's life as a minority for you.
She had no other option than to flee the country. No joke.
(III)
One day, I woke up to a massive banging sound. It was a bad neighborhood, and it sounded like people trying to kick their way through the outer mesh security door. My apartment was on the ground floor, in the back of my building
I called the police, but nobody would be able to show up for about half an hour. That's reality in a lot of the US. So I grabbed my Remington, walked to the door, and chambered a round -- the sound of a pump-action is very distinctive.
All of the sudden, the kicking stopped, and I saw through the side window what looked like about five people sprinting away from my porch. I was pretty shaken, honestly, and the cops never showed up.
The apartment owner had to replace the security mesh. Maybe another five minutes and they would have gotten through.
Don't know what they wanted, but I do know that they'd get whatever it was, because no way I could take on three people, let alone five.
I upgraded to a semi-auto after that.
(IV)
A gun is like a fire extinguisher. You don't buy one hoping you have to use it.
But if you need it, you need it, and nothing else will do.
- biolurker1 6y agoWhat I meant to say is that in Europe most Asia etc you don't need a gun. Example II happens, shitty life. No reason to own a gun. Statistically for the society it's not relevant. Example III also doesn't usually happen in Europe too and the same concept above applies. In the rare cases you need to protect yourself it sucks but it's so infrequently that it doesn't matter. USA is a very different game and that is my point.
- curation 6y agoGuns are another way of racializing - if one takes the current definition of racism: Deciding what dies. Reading gun ownership as a relationship of power makes for more meaningful discussion.
- ta17711771 6y agoStatistics are GREAT until you win the "I'm being fucking attacked" lottery....... See someone else's comment above about privilege and naïveté.
- biolurker1 6y agoWith the same thinking you should walk with a head shield because I heard people getting comets on their heads. It's great until you are in the comet lottery.
- ta17711771 6y agoYou clearly haven't reviewed (or perhaps understood) the wide difference in the statistics involved with both.
- donw 6y agoIf there was an 0.4% chance of me being killed by being hit in the head by a comet, and if wearing a bike helmet would give me a 75% chance of surviving, then yes, I would want the choice to walk around in my stupid bike helmet. That's about the level of risk and investment we are talking about here. [1] https://www.statista.com/topics/1750/violent-crime-in-the-us/ https://www.statista.com/topics/1750/violent-crime-in-the-us...
- bigbugbag 6y agoIt seems you forgot the point that the probability of comet falling is increased by people wearing bike helmet. You might want to listen the "science vs" episode dedicated to guns for some actual science behind it and the role of guns in violent crime: https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/z3hlvr https://gimletmedia.com/shows/science-vs/z3hlvr
- iron0013 6y agoI’m going to get downvoted for this, but I want you to know that at least one person here knows just as well as you do that you made up that shotgun-cocking story. Textbook gun nut wish-fulfillment fantasy
- frank2 6y agoI think he is being truthful. He is not posting anonymously: his profile contains a link to a professional blog.
- donw 6y agoIndeed. My fantasies don't usually involve me being a curious mixture of absolutely terrified, sleep-deprived, and (in retrospect) woefully underprepared.
- jagannathtech 6y agoPeople who never had an encounter with a criminal have absolutely no idea how terrifying it is.
- Gibbon1 6y agoI had an encounter with a pair of New Orleans cops that was pretty terrifying.
- donw 6y agoI would say that most people have had little or no experience with violence, outside of perhaps the occasional dominance contest (mostly the realm of males under the age of 30 or so). There is a gross difference between a dominance contest and predatorial violence, and until you have experienced the latter, you really have yet to sample the full emotional gamut of human fear. As an aside: I tend to avoid the word "criminal" in cases like this -- it's a loaded word with a lot of connotations -- and stick with "people that have never experienced predatory violence" or "people that have never encountered a predator".
- Retardo_88 6y agoI am not sure how you define "amazingly competent, well-trained, and effective", but in at least one respect the Japanese police is highly negligent: https://www.businessinsider.com/afp-getting-away-with-murder-is-japans-low-autopsy-rate-hiding-killers-2016-2 https://www.businessinsider.com/afp-getting-away-with-murder... Additionally, this statement does not depict what many (most?) people would consider an effective or competent police force: "she was not [Japanese], which meant that the police were... less incentivized to help her". I am currently a foreigner living in a Scandinavian country, and I simply cannot imagine facing the same kind of discrimination from the police force (nor from other authorities) here. I think many (most?) people would agree that an effective/competent police force is not one which ends up driving foreigners out of the country by virtue of being unwilling to afford foreigners equality before the law.
- bigbugbag 6y agoWhat are you suggesting in (II) ? that if she had a gun the would have left her alone? sorry but this is not how harrassing works. That if she had shot him she would have fixed the issue ? sorry but she would be in a very different world of issue if she shot him. Really I fail to see how a gun would be a solution or even help in this situation. In (III) it seems that you really got lucky. Had those people been armed you'd probably be dead or severely injured, as you pointed out you stand no chance against 5 people firing at you. If you spooked them that's because they had no intent to harm you and you probably could have spooked them without the sound of a gun. BTW the gun was only a musical instrument and you could have played a recording of pumping a gun to the same result. (IV) Really a bad analogy here. Using a fire extinguisher the way it is intended can only help prevent a situation becoming catastrophic, using a weapon for what is has been designed and the way it is intended can only end in an aggravated situation. Then the justifying something using a tautology is simply failing to justify it. What I gather from this is that you have a firm belief in guns and that there is no alternative, akin to religious belief.