3 ms·

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_They_Came https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_They_Came stays relevant

hammock 8mo ago
Someone I know told me they think about this when they see the people who voted for gun bans talk now about how they need guns to defend against unlawful ICE folks
- mvdtnz 8mo ago
  But not a single person has actually done so. Until it can be shown that armed citizens are making a genuine difference against government agents it's still just bluster.
  - quailfarmer 8mo ago
    Disagree. The most valuable feature of a fraction of people having guns is that the risk of someone having a gun discourages the most extreme harassment, even if no gun is ever fired.
    - misnome 8mo ago
      If only there was an extremely high profile example of how this isn’t at all true in the past several days!
    - GrinningFool 8mo ago
      Yes, just like government operators were recently discouraged from escalating with that one protestor who had a legal gun that he wasn't using.
      - hammock 8mo ago
        Statistically, private CCL holders are more law-abiding than even police
    - mvdtnz 8mo ago
      Two protesters were murdered by government agents (one of them armed!). How much more extreme do you want to get?
    - anigbrowl 8mo ago
      You've just seen the people at the very top of the administration saying that just having a gun in any sort of proximity to federal agents = terrorist. If you show up tomorrow with a rifle on the other side of a Minnesota street from a bunch of ICE agents, do you think they're going to prioritize de-escalation and professionalism or just light you up? Serious question.
  - saubeidl 8mo ago
    The Black Panther Party proved this works decades ago: https://www.wbur.org/npr/442801731/director-chronicles-the-black-panthers-rise-new-tactics-were-needed https://www.wbur.org/npr/442801731/director-chronicles-the-b...
  - stevenwoo 8mo ago
    Not the same thing or even country, but the guy killing Abe with the handmade gun changed the handling of Moonie infiltration of Japanese government and society. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/02/how-shinzo-abes-assassination-brought-the-moonies-back-into-the-limelight https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/02/how-shinzo-abe...
- causalscience 8mo ago
  That's because those people are all brainwashed. They were told: buy guns because freedom, and they repeat "we buy guns because freedom". Then they were told: never mind freedom, lets shoot this unarmed person, and they repeat "never mind freedom, shoot the person". "we need our guns to protect our freedom against the government" idea could have some merit, but the reason right wingers say it is different. They say it because that meme has infected them, and uses them to replicate. A meme in the original sense > A meme is a term referring to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another.

Someone I know told me they think about this when they see the people who voted for gun bans talk now about how they need guns to defend against unlawful ICE folks

mvdtnz 8mo ago
But not a single person has actually done so. Until it can be shown that armed citizens are making a genuine difference against government agents it's still just bluster.
- quailfarmer 8mo ago
  Disagree. The most valuable feature of a fraction of people having guns is that the risk of someone having a gun discourages the most extreme harassment, even if no gun is ever fired.
  - misnome 8mo ago
    If only there was an extremely high profile example of how this isn’t at all true in the past several days!
  - GrinningFool 8mo ago
    Yes, just like government operators were recently discouraged from escalating with that one protestor who had a legal gun that he wasn't using.
    - hammock 8mo ago
      Statistically, private CCL holders are more law-abiding than even police
  - mvdtnz 8mo ago
    Two protesters were murdered by government agents (one of them armed!). How much more extreme do you want to get?
  - anigbrowl 8mo ago
    You've just seen the people at the very top of the administration saying that just having a gun in any sort of proximity to federal agents = terrorist. If you show up tomorrow with a rifle on the other side of a Minnesota street from a bunch of ICE agents, do you think they're going to prioritize de-escalation and professionalism or just light you up? Serious question.
- saubeidl 8mo ago
  The Black Panther Party proved this works decades ago: https://www.wbur.org/npr/442801731/director-chronicles-the-black-panthers-rise-new-tactics-were-needed https://www.wbur.org/npr/442801731/director-chronicles-the-b...
- stevenwoo 8mo ago
  Not the same thing or even country, but the guy killing Abe with the handmade gun changed the handling of Moonie infiltration of Japanese government and society. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/02/how-shinzo-abes-assassination-brought-the-moonies-back-into-the-limelight https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/02/02/how-shinzo-abe...
causalscience 8mo ago
That's because those people are all brainwashed. They were told: buy guns because freedom, and they repeat "we buy guns because freedom". Then they were told: never mind freedom, lets shoot this unarmed person, and they repeat "never mind freedom, shoot the person". "we need our guns to protect our freedom against the government" idea could have some merit, but the reason right wingers say it is different. They say it because that meme has infected them, and uses them to replicate. A meme in the original sense > A meme is a term referring to a unit of cultural information transferable from one mind to another.