• grillgamesh@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 day ago

    obligatory firearm safety reminder:

    • rule one is “keep your finger off the trigger until ready to fire”
    • rule two is “never point the weapon at anything you are not willing to destroy”
    • rule three is “always treat any weapon as though it is loaded”
    • rule four is “know your target and what lays beyond it”

    only by holding each other accountable can we make sure that everyone stays safe and has fun.

    • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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      6 hours ago

      Thanks. I’ve never owned, fired, or even held a gun.

      I have no intention to. I knew most of these, but I’m glad to see it officially written out like this.

      If I’m ever in the position where I need to handle a gun, I can do so more safely then I would have before.

      Good work. Keep that shit up.

      • OshaqHennessey@midwest.social
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        5 hours ago

        Have you ever tried it?

        There’s nothing quite so uniquely irritating as someone intensely critical of something they know very little about.

        • julietOscarEcho@sh.itjust.works
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          32 minutes ago

          Not wanting to to call the private ownership of deadly weapons fun is hardly “intense”. Of anything it undersells the point.

          Speaking as someone who enjoyed regular target rifle practice and competitions for the best part of a decade since you insist that matters.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        6 hours ago

        I’m not American, and this kind of absolute is completely unacceptable.

        You’re basically fun-shaming.

        There’s plenty of stuff that’s universally disliked, like… Idk, murder… But that’s not the whole reason guns exist. Sport shooting, hunting, event target practice, can be lots of fun to people, and they all involve guns, and no person is harmed, if done correctly.

        Stop being so hateful.

        I don’t even like guns. I’ve never held, nor fired one. And I wouldn’t ever, even slightly, say that there is no “fun” to be had with firearms.

        You’re a dick.

        • julietOscarEcho@sh.itjust.works
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          22 minutes ago

          You missed the point. Saying that calling it “fun” is problematic doesn’t imply that you can’t have fun, of course you can (I have, a tonne). I assume the above comment called it problematic because they weighed the “fun” of gun owners against 40k dead Americans a year and decided maybe we shouldn’t be focusing on the entertainment.

          You can absolutely have more gun control and not really inhibit firearm sports or hunting BTW. The USA ought to have a monopoly on Olympic shooting medals if that weren’t the case 😅

      • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours ago

        Firearms are fun. Knives are fun. Martial arts are fun. At least to a decently large number of people. That doesn’t mean that their roles in society don’t suck.

        One might say that the danger (to people, to society…) outweighs the benefits of allowing target shooting as a sport. Maybe, I’d still disagree, but that’s an opinion we can argue about. We don’t allow people to build their own nuclear reactors for fun, for example. But saying something isn’t “fun” is ignoring that a lot of people perceive the world differently.

        • ExLisper@lemmy.curiana.net
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          6 hours ago

          A lot of stupid things are “fun” to a huge number of people. Loud cars, street fights, guns… Normal people grow out of it. Just because some adult children still think it’s “fun” doesn’t mean we have to tolerate and allow it.

      • cucumberbob@programming.dev
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        8 hours ago

        Disagree. I’m not from the US, so maybe guns being seen as fun is more of a cultural issue in not aware of, but plenty of weapons are seen as fun here in the UK. And while we do have gun crime, I think firearms are seen differently here vs the US.

        People will go axe throwing for fun. With Scouts, we shot air rifles on camp a number of times (supervised by people who knew what they were doing). Knife throwing is also a thing. Clay Pigeon shooting is also not uncommon here.

        I genuinely believe using a weapon on a (non-living) target is fun for a lot of normal, well adjusted people.

      • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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        6 hours ago

        I get your point, but hunting, as a sport, is about as old of a sport as you can get, and for that sport there will always be people who prefer firearms.

        At a basic level, firearms really can’t be barred from most countries as a blanket rule for everyone that is never allowed to be broken.

        Therefore, firearms exist and people have them. That might not be you, or your neighbor, nor anyone you know, but they exist and people have them.

        If you are ever in the rare position of being in the presence of one, and/or the situation where you need to handle one for any reason, would this information not be better to know ahead of time, rather than unknown until that moment?

        It’s like first aid, IMO. I’ve known first aid for well over two decades, including CPR and everything. I’ve never needed anything more than how to correctly apply a bandaid. I’m still grateful to know what I know in case I’m ever in a situation that I may need it. That situation might never come, it may never happen. I’d rather know, and never have the need to know, than have the need to know, and not know.

        Safety, first aid, anything that keeps people alive, should be universal knowledge. Doesn’t matter if it’s guns, cars, CPR, bandaids, or forklift safety… It’s better to know it, and never need it, than need it, and not know it. Period.

        • hOrni@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          Running is a sport. Swimming is a sport. Football is a sport. Hunting is a game at best. For mentally unwell people.

      • LH0ezVT@sh.itjust.works
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        6 hours ago

        Oh come on. I get what you are trying to point out, but that is like saying you don’t need to know forklift safety rules, as you will never operate a forklift.

    • FlihpFlorp@piefed.zip
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      23 hours ago

      My grandpa who takes me shooting was going over the firearm safety rules and with rule two I was like “that seems extreme” and his response it’s supposed to be, a gun killing or injuring or damaging isn’t as vivid as the word destroy

      And yeah for me the other rules kinda seemed a given, bullets move fast and possibly through our hanging rubber targets, the gun probably can’t fire if you don’t give it a squeeze, and as for loaded better safe than sorry.

      These rules seemed almost obvious to me, and yet there’s all these guys at the range behaving like absolute idiots

      • fartographer@lemmy.world
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        18 hours ago

        My friend’s dad stopped us just in time before we tried skeet shooting with a handgun and a rifle. We were on their property, which spanned miles. His dad said, “I don’t know what the maximum range is on those, but is that really how you want to find out?”

    • jali67@lemmy.zip
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      20 hours ago

      Yeah you expect the American public to abide by the rules and make smart choices?

      • OshaqHennessey@midwest.social
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        5 hours ago

        I’m a member of the American public. I abide by the rules, make smart choices, and don’t tolerate those who don’t. All my friends are the same way.

        Less than 1% of American gun owners commit 100% of gun violence in the US.

        • jali67@lemmy.zip
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          2 hours ago

          Over half of Americans read at a 6th grade level. The culture promotes violence and individualism. You think this populace deserves easily accessible guns? People can turn at any moment due to mental health issues or resort to criminal activity.

        • MystikIncarnate@lemmy.ca
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          6 hours ago

          The biggest problem with the American Constitution is the right to bear arms, IMO. I’m not American so take this with a grain of salt, but think of the dumbest person you’ve met, would you trust them with a gun? Probably not.

          It shouldn’t be a right to own a gun. I’m not saying the barrier should be all that high, but you should be required to prove that you’re more intelligent than an oak tree to own one.

          • OshaqHennessey@midwest.social
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            5 hours ago

            No, the biggest problem (IMO) is that we enshrine the right to bear arms, but mandate no education about firearms in public school. If we’re going to embrace guns the same way we do cars, we should teach “shooter’s ed” the same way we teach “driver’s ed.”

            The second biggest problem is, even though most Americans agree that the root causes of violence need to be addressed (poverty, homelessness, unemployment, mental health, etc.) the sad reality of our political system is that these interests aren’t represented because capitalists have hijacked our government for their own benefit.

            • ArcaneSlime@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              4 hours ago

              Tbh some schools used to, kinda. All the ones around me used to have a rifle team until the early-mid 00s (some got rid of it earlier). I’m not sure they’re allowed to anymore now that schools are federally mandated gun free zones (which seems to be the only thing that mandate stopped by the looks of it.)

        • jali67@lemmy.zip
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          13 hours ago

          I don’t and it shows in our gun deaths compared to every other developed country.

          • OshaqHennessey@midwest.social
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            5 hours ago

            Once you subtract suicides, self-defense, justifiable homicides, officer involved shootings, and accidents, what you’re left with is a statistic that indicates 100% of gun violence is caused by less than 1% of gun owners.

            Overall, the vast, VAST majority of gun owners in the US are safe and do make good choices.

            • julietOscarEcho@sh.itjust.works
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              12 minutes ago

              Yeah fuck suicidal people and anyone killed by cops they had it coming. Jesus christ.

              As for “justifiable homicide”, you mean like… when the other guy had a gun… You want to discount those deaths why?

              If we take your number at face value. This is kind of a trolley problem thing right. Should 99 people get to have a nice day out at the range once a month, which they could easily replace with any other leisure activity, if it means one person has to die violently. If you honestly like those odds then fair play mad max.

            • jali67@lemmy.zip
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              2 hours ago

              Worlds largest prison population with highest murder rate of any developed country wants guns to be available like candy… lol

      • tangonov@lemmy.ca
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        19 hours ago

        I would argue that they do follow those rules. They’re just willing to destroy other kids at school with hopefully more kids behind them. Same goes for muslims in mosques, etc

      • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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        19 hours ago

        About 80 percent of the time yes. Even the dumbest slack jawed hick knows not to fuck around with guns, doesn’t make them not twitchy but that’s a different issue. It’s white trash and rich yuppy types who are generally the threat.

        • jali67@lemmy.zip
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          19 hours ago

          Yeah the ones that want to be like the rest of the world and not have the entire populace be gun obsessed morons. They are the issue 😆

          • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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            19 hours ago

            I was referring to folks who generally speaking were progressive yuppies back in the day but melted their brains on fox news then Facebook before going out to buy a gun without any training whatsoever. The type who when a protest happens are in their front yard swinging around their gun like their lives are on the line. Mind you that grouping is generally overlapped with white trash.

            If you don’t want a gun do your own thing. I frankly would kill to get mandatory gun licensing requirements.

              • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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                18 hours ago

                Yeah kinda forgot that most folks aren’t half feral hicks where the term yuppy very specifically refers to shitstains who moved to the city back in the 80s and 90s only to move back in the 2010s and 2020s to gentrify everything. How I wish to bleed the condescending ones in particular.