Since Trump’s election, gun groups catering to progressives and people of color report a surge in interest as they look to defend themselves in a country that, to them, feels increasingly unstable.
Since Trump’s election, gun groups catering to progressives and people of color report a surge in interest as they look to defend themselves in a country that, to them, feels increasingly unstable.
As an American, I’m curious why you think civilians owning modern rifles made for war is wrong.
And before you respond, I want to make clear that I am intentionally loading the question to try to dissect the topic openly, without bias. Think of me as a free thinker, somebody who is open minded, possibly naive.
I want to know truly what your reasoning is, and if it can stand up to my values and understanding, and vice versa.
Guns are the number one cause of death for American children, after automobiles, and America already has a higher automobile death rate than virtually all it’s comparable peers.
Since 1999, 400,000 American children have died needlessly.
If you remove all guns, there will still be a thing that is number one.
Same with automobiles. “Needlessly” is extremely undefined. Lots of things occur that are needless or claimed to be needless.
Also what’s with that seemingly arbitrary year? Why 1999? Is that the year that the Columbine shooting happened? Guns were around before then. Why did school shootings suddenly become popular then? DID school shootings become more popular then? Can we reverse that change?
The children who are not gunned down will not be killed by something else. It just lowers the overall death rate.
No it’s not. It’s defined in relation to the child death rates of peer countries.
https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/fullarticle/2820614
Finally.
Okay, so, statistically, gun deaths in the US are strongly correlated to a distinct increase in premature death in kids.
And that statistic makes owning assault rifles wrong, because, if you remove the rifles from the populace, those deaths would go away. Yeah?
I’m so for those deaths no longer happening, but I also like having an armed population to fight off, at this point, fascism, if it ever comes to that. Is there another way, where we can have our guns and our children, too?
Is there correlation that having an armed population with assault rifles always causes school shootings? Is there evidence of it not? Switzerland seems good. Really good gun control for a militia system. I’d be really happy with moving to that. Though, I think the issue Americans would take is that it’s a government militia system and we’re supposed to defend against our own government.
But, why? Oh god… Don’t tell me this is further southern bullshit “states rights” stuff. I mean, at this point, yeah, we literally have a fascist occupation and right now is not the time to disarm.
But maybe that’s the reason. The long-standing conflict between North and South in the USA may be THE reason nobody trusts the government and everybody wants to be armed; there’s a low key cold war going on between the north and south that has never been resolved, and a side effect is that when the population is deeply stressed and unhappy, shit like school shootings happen.
The guns are a sign of non-unity.
So, fix the conflict, the guns may go away on their own over time.
But asking people to disarm is like getting the world to de-nuke. And asking people to do it during conflict is… Well, good luck. Because even if the guns don’t provide protection in all instances, it definitely helps people feel more powerful. Though, in my experience it seems to have a calming effect since the people I’ve known don’t want to kill somebody, so they deescalate or leave a situation. I’m going to assume that’s the norm, but it doesn’t change the statistical fact that school shootings are prevalent.
The issue with removing the ARs from the equation is, multifaceted, obviously. It’s a right that you don’t get back, good luck getting everybody to disarm, compensation, it’s really engrained in culture for a lot of people and you have to convince them to basically change huge aspects of their lives, their hobbies, their heritage, their values, and worldview.
Do you see any of this differently?
Yes, I see it differently. Notice how literally every single other country in the entire world doesn’t do what the US does?
No it is not. That number was an outlier during covid. It’s back to car accidents. On top of that, the stats in the child deaths include 15-19 year olds, most of which are from gang shootings, not random 5 year olds being shot.
The way the anti-gun groups do numbers is specifically designed to make people think that toddlers are being killed every 2 seconds. More children drown every year in pools than by gun deaths, yet no one is screaming to outlaw pools. At the end of the day, most don’t care that kids are dying. They care how they die.
Your pool comment is simply untrue. Drownings are way down the list https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10042524/
Yes which shows 1 to 19. A 19 year old is not a child. More kids that are actual kids, drown than from firearm deaths.
https://www.mass.gov/info-details/drowning-data-and-facts#%3A~%3Atext=In+the+United+States%2C+drowning%2Cthe+ages+of+5-14.&text=There+are+over+4%2C000+fatal%2Cnear-drownings+that+are+nonfatal.
They lump all gun deaths 1 to 19 into that bucket, which skews the numbers heavily. It’s literally the same shit right wing groups do to fuck with the numbers and make them look bad. Anti-gun groups do this specifically to make it seem like toddlers are being killed in droves. When in reality it’s gang violence from the top end of that age range. Which is an issue, but it’s not a gun issue, it’s a education, safety nets, jobs issue.
Yeah. So?
I do not understand why gun nuts cannot fathom the difference between something that has utility and can result in death, and something that serves no function other than being a point and click murder machine.
And there it is, the same disingenuous that the right uses for thier bullshit causes.
A pool has no use, you cannot use it for defense or putting food on the table. A firearm is a utility that has purpose. Fascist are literally snatching people up off the streets and you’re still arguing why no one should have firearms.
Swimming is literally the best excersize out there. A pool is useful for staying in good enough shape to actually fight.
You can do other exercises that don’t have the ability to kill children though, that’s the point.
No kids are gonna drown in my pool. It’s tiny and has a locked cover.
Ok cool, no kids will die because of my firearms. What’s your point?
It’s not disingenuous in any way shape or form.
You have basically said that children killed in gang shootings don’t matter. Try not to throw right wing shade around when you’re parroting their racist talking points about which people do and don’t matter.
Lmao, bruh, it’s this niche little exercise called swimming, you might have heard of it. Try and pull your head out of your ass before pointing us to all the examples you have where ICE has been stopped by people with guns.
It absolutely is.
https://www.cnn.com/2025/05/24/health/drowning-water-safety-swimming-children-wellness
Gang violence is not a gun issue. It’s a educational, safety nets, and jobs issue. Aka social issue that doesn’t magically get corrected because you banned guns.
Also GTFO with the racist shit. I’m a minority and it’s a dog whistle for you to say “the facts don’t matter, cause it’s racist”. Shit doesn’t get better when you deflect like that. Tough conversations are required to solve tough issues.
We’re not at the start mill ICE phase yet. We still have judges blocking shit. You don’t start a civil war just because shit is getting bad.
Omg, so the US is the only country that ever experienced a lack of jobs?
Oh no! How I could be so stupid and forget that the US is a unique special snowflake child that doesn’t experience any of the same pressures of literally any other country on earth!
Grow the fuck up amerocentric child.
There is obviously a lot you don’t understand, and until you do, you should probably not try to debate.
Make a relevant argument, or keep your mouth shut. No one needs to hear you talk other than you.