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1. Most people don’t even understand how a gun mechanically functions. It lives in the realm of magic for most people, despite being mechanically very simple. T

1. Most people don’t even understand how a gun mechanically functions. It lives in the realm of magic for most people, despite being mechanically very simple. This base ignorance of the function of a firearm is one of the biggest reasons why firearm-related accidents happen. You might not want a gun, and fine—that’s your stance—but you should know how it works and how to use it. 2. We don’t nuke each other all the time either. But “God made man and Colt made ‘em equal”—the gun is an equalizer. I think people in America think we’re some united hegemony, believing all the same thing. No. We don’t. We all have different views and are pursuing happiness differently. Sometimes this pursuit leads to injury of someone else’s pursuit of happiness. Guns, along with education, give people the means of preventing and give meaningful deterrence to those who would disrupt their rightful pursuit of happiness. Also, guns in the US are used nearly a million times a year to prevent violence (CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.html https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.htm...) Finally, regarding unintentional killings: that’s why I said education on guns in necessary. Regarding unlawfulness: you must have your head in the sand to think a criminal isn’t already committed to breaking the law. Guns for everyone.

Throwawayaerlei 5y ago
1. Most people don’t even understand how a gun mechanically functions. It lives in the realm of magic for most people, despite being mechanically very simple. This base ignorance of the function of a firearm is one of the biggest reasons why firearm-related accidents happen. You might not want a gun, and fine—that’s your stance—but you should know how it works and how to use it. Unless you need to clean it and for that you can get help if you're ignorant, you don't need this detailed knowledge. You need to only know how to load and safety clear it, ideally know how to clear a jam, and that if you move any safeties to "Fire" it will fire if you pull the trigger. As much as people like us are horrified by how little education so many people get about their guns, centuries of ergonomic improvements would seem to allow a tremendous number of them to use them safely and effectively in high stress self-defense situations.
- laverya 5y ago
  > > Most people don’t even understand how a gun mechanically functions. It lives in the realm of magic for most people, despite being mechanically very simple. This base ignorance of the function of a firearm is one of the biggest reasons why firearm-related accidents happen. You might not want a gun, and fine—that’s your stance—but you should know how it works and how to use it. > Unless you need to clean it and for that you can get help if you're ignorant, you don't need this detailed knowledge. You need to only know how to load and safety clear it, ideally know how to clear a jam, and that if you move any safeties to "Fire" it will fire if you pull the trigger. That is FAR more information than most people have. Even the basic rules of gun safety - never point a gun at something you aren't willing to shoot, treat every firearm as if it's loaded, and keep your booger hook off the bang switch (and outside of the trigger guard entirely) until you're ready to fire - are more than most people know. "How to clear the gun or check the safety" might as well be rocket science.
  - Throwawayaerlei 5y ago
    I know a lot of people like to look down on their fellow Americans to the extent they even consider them to be so, but the hardest statistics we have on your concern is fatal gun accidents per year, and they've gone down from 800 to 500, actually 486 for 2019 from the CDC's most recent statistics, as the population has increased by 50%, the number of gun owners has massively increased and the number of guns owned by them has as much as doubled. The "massive increase" is hard to get numbers for due to our culture war, but no one sane doubts it, and there's obvious reasons for it and the last fact which is on more solid ground, the nationwide sweep of "shall issue" or better concealed carry regimes and then add the "troubles" of the 21st Century starting with 9/11. And how many states went "Constitution Carry," we don't need no stinking licences this year? We're up to 21 total per Wikipedia.
    - sbierwagen 5y ago
      Another question is how many fatal gun accidents were intentional suicides that the medical examiner, for whatever reason, didn't want to enter as such.
jonp888 5y ago
Guns are evil and disgusting machines that exist only for murder. Guns for no-one.
aidenn0 5y ago
> 1. Most people don’t even understand how a gun mechanically functions. It lives in the realm of magic for most people, despite being mechanically very simple. I don't know; roller-delayed blowback took me a long time to wrap my head around.
- dirtyoldmick 5y ago
  Take the MG-42 but make it in a half-assed kind of way.
- rpmisms 5y ago
  Now take a look at the H&K G11 schematics. It's mind-boggling.
  - aidenn0 5y ago
    If you're talking the feeding mechanism, the FN P90 has something similar (though the ammunition is stored longitudinally rather than vertically). [edit] Oh wait, I see now it's the burst-fire mode, where it doesn't buffer until after the 3rd round has been fired. I remember seeing that a while back; it is crazy.
Zak 5y ago
> Also, guns in the US are used nearly a million times a year to prevent violence (CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.htm https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.htm...) I don't see that number on that site. Instead, I see: > The report Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violenceexternal icon indicates a range of 60,000 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses each year. That's equivalent to saying we have almost no idea how often guns are used defensively.

Throwawayaerlei 5y ago

laverya 5y ago
> > Most people don’t even understand how a gun mechanically functions. It lives in the realm of magic for most people, despite being mechanically very simple. This base ignorance of the function of a firearm is one of the biggest reasons why firearm-related accidents happen. You might not want a gun, and fine—that’s your stance—but you should know how it works and how to use it. > Unless you need to clean it and for that you can get help if you're ignorant, you don't need this detailed knowledge. You need to only know how to load and safety clear it, ideally know how to clear a jam, and that if you move any safeties to "Fire" it will fire if you pull the trigger. That is FAR more information than most people have. Even the basic rules of gun safety - never point a gun at something you aren't willing to shoot, treat every firearm as if it's loaded, and keep your booger hook off the bang switch (and outside of the trigger guard entirely) until you're ready to fire - are more than most people know. "How to clear the gun or check the safety" might as well be rocket science.
- Throwawayaerlei 5y ago
  I know a lot of people like to look down on their fellow Americans to the extent they even consider them to be so, but the hardest statistics we have on your concern is fatal gun accidents per year, and they've gone down from 800 to 500, actually 486 for 2019 from the CDC's most recent statistics, as the population has increased by 50%, the number of gun owners has massively increased and the number of guns owned by them has as much as doubled. The "massive increase" is hard to get numbers for due to our culture war, but no one sane doubts it, and there's obvious reasons for it and the last fact which is on more solid ground, the nationwide sweep of "shall issue" or better concealed carry regimes and then add the "troubles" of the 21st Century starting with 9/11. And how many states went "Constitution Carry," we don't need no stinking licences this year? We're up to 21 total per Wikipedia.
  - sbierwagen 5y ago
    Another question is how many fatal gun accidents were intentional suicides that the medical examiner, for whatever reason, didn't want to enter as such.

jonp888 5y ago

Guns are evil and disgusting machines that exist only for murder. Guns for no-one.

aidenn0 5y ago

> 1. Most people don’t even understand how a gun mechanically functions. It lives in the realm of magic for most people, despite being mechanically very simple. I don't know; roller-delayed blowback took me a long time to wrap my head around.

dirtyoldmick 5y ago
Take the MG-42 but make it in a half-assed kind of way.
rpmisms 5y ago
Now take a look at the H&K G11 schematics. It's mind-boggling.
- aidenn0 5y ago
  If you're talking the feeding mechanism, the FN P90 has something similar (though the ammunition is stored longitudinally rather than vertically). [edit] Oh wait, I see now it's the burst-fire mode, where it doesn't buffer until after the 3rd round has been fired. I remember seeing that a while back; it is crazy.

Zak 5y ago

> Also, guns in the US are used nearly a million times a year to prevent violence (CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.htm https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/firearms/fastfact.htm...) I don't see that number on that site. Instead, I see: > The report Priorities for Research to Reduce the Threat of Firearm-Related Violenceexternal icon indicates a range of 60,000 to 2.5 million defensive gun uses each year. That's equivalent to saying we have almost no idea how often guns are used defensively.