Alex@rtnVFRmedia Suffolk UKHere in Europe where guns are controlled and harder (but not impossible) to obtain, social media arguments escalating to physical violence are also an increasing problem - if angry young men can't get guns they just use knives, improvised weapons (including causing deliberate road collisions) or their own fists and feet - although gun control does at least mean its harder for a mass casualty incident to occur..
Kevin Karhan 
@vfrmedia @Crispius @chris @ProPublica
Exactly!
#Guns ain't the problem - #ViolenceCulture is and what other people do to others.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3VQULyT390
What weapon they use and how legal it is irrelevant for the outcome:
Whether a victim of facist violence is getting shot, run over or choked to death doesn't change the fact that said person was a victim of a hatecrime.
How the American Media Fuels A Cycle of Violence
Chris Alemany🇺🇦🇨🇦🇪🇸@kkarhan @vfrmedia @Crispius @ProPublica absolute bullshit. respectfully. Canada has a fraction of the guns and an associated fraction of gun violence.
@chris @kkarhan @Crispius @ProPublica
Very few countries have a total ban on civilian firearms ownership - I work in a semi rural area of UK and know a few legal gun owners. The difference between USA and everywhere else, is actively encouraging an individualist vigilante culture *and* allowing ownership of military grade weapons - nowhere else in the World seems to do this. Interestingly the citizens of Serbia voluntarily handed in (some of) their guns following a (rare) mass shooting..
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
the term "military-grade" is absolute horseshit.
After all, every System 98 gun is "military grade" since they were not only adopted as issue rifles and remain in services in many places, but it completely disregards that #ViolenceCulture in the #USA is not based off a few fash militias but is encouraged by the state that literally bans new #MachineGuns.
The only thing bans caused is a rise in black market supply, cuz guns ain't biodegradeable!
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
I could take the case serious if the average cop wasn't armed with a "military grade" pistol and "assault rifles" [which they are since the average civilian does not have legal access to them!]
#DisarmCops since they are the #1 source of deaths AND are proven to be cowards even when in Riotcop & SWAT gear...
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
You can't fix a problem is you only choose to go after Symptoms.
And since we live in a Post-#Luty & Post-#FGC9 - era, enforcement of any #GunBan is basically impossible and people do follow the law out of principle [like myself] or naive conviction that it's good [like some others], not because it's hard or expensive to violate it and the chance of getting caught is near-zero.
Kevin Karhan :verified: (@[email protected])
@[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] Exactly! #Guns ain't the problem - #ViolenceCulture is and what other people do to others. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K3VQULyT390 What weapon they use and how legal it is irrelevant for the outcome: Whether a victim of facist violence is getting shot, run over or choked to death doesn't change the fact that said person was a victim of a hatecrime.
@kkarhan @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
This is also a mostly unique situation (in so-called "democratic" countries) to the USA - although UK armed Police (only 5% of the entire officer numbers!) do deploy some weapons also used by the British Army, they are limited to bursts of 3 rounds even in automatic mode and its rare for cops to use firearms.
Its also difficult to hoard ammo here, limiting criminal use of firearms.
I accept the USA certainly can't change overnight (or maybe at all?)
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica #Protip:
The problem is not attaining weapons - Cops and Armies loose machine guns so often out of their arsenals that if they were gun stores, they'd have their licenses permanently revoked.
It's just that gun useage and public violence is not only frowned upon, but will increase the heat much more as there is sociopolitical pressure to "stop it" as it hurts the burgeouise feels for "security"...
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
... for example, noone's gonna call cops if they see someone buying weed, but cops get called on kids playing airsoft all the time.
It's a kind of European Double-Think criminalizing victimless crimes [may it be drugs, weapons, sexwork or whatever] and not going after actual crimes with victims like racketeering, blackmailing, burglary and [domestic] violence...
@kkarhan @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
I was a raver in the 90s/00s - moderate drugs use is victimless /provided/ its not combined with toxic masculinity leading to violence, and folk stay out of their cars long enough until they are sober - alas; many can't so we end up stuck with prohibition.
Authorities struggle to deal with serious crimes, but I'm still yet to see how left/anarchist groups would deal with them (outside of vigilante actions which risk being just another form of cops/army)
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica Don't you think that #Crimimnalization and thus luck of #Cotrollability of #Quality and #Accessibility for Help is the root issue here?
Because the people who have problems can't get help without self-incrimination...
Not that I'd excuse any substance abuse whatsoever, but compared to the amounts of domestic violence caused by drunk men, that danger is far lower than advertised by statistics...
@kkarhan @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
its /part/ of the issue, but even in England which isn't the most tolerant country in Northern Europe penalties for small drugs possession are minor, unless you are driving a blind eye is turned to a lot of drug use and non judgmental treatment facilities who don't grass up service users to cops do exist.
The problem we have is those who take a mixture of alcohol, cocaine and other stuff (even MDMA) and then commit violence, its worse than in 90s/00s..
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
The problem is that drug possession, trade and consumption IS crimimnalized!
@kkarhan @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
Criminalisation does add to the problems, but even relatively harmless partydrugs have harsh comedowns, and particularly on these comedowns its easy to commit impulsive behaviour which can include aggression and violence.
I helped organise many of the raves in a part of SE England during 90s and 00s, I've seen at first hand what people (even those who were once friends) can do to one another when things go bad...
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica Yeah, but don't you have to agree that #criminalization IS THE ROOT OF THE PROBLEM because with legal substances we do have measures in place to deal with it!
@kkarhan @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
I don't think the prohibition is the answer - instead decriminalising drugs, but keeping a law that if someone commits a genuine crime (domestic or other violence, serious DUI with dangerous driving, fraud etc) they get nicked for that *and* the penalty for the drugs - so those who can self-regulate their use do not get into trouble.
@vfrmedia @chris @Crispius @ProPublica How about decriminalzion of all victimless crimes?
Obviously DV, DUI & any kind of violence should have legal consequences...
@kkarhan @chris @Crispius @ProPublica
if they can be proven to be victimless, then they aren't crimes! But tolerated drugs markets need some kind of backstop to encourage responsible use - in EU we already fucked up a chance with the new psychoactive substances ("legal" highs) in the 2010s which were as easy to get as an Amazon parcel, folk binged on them and passed the burden on to their countries health services..