At some point it just becomes “try to only point your security blanket at yourself, I guess” levels of helplessness.

But to anyone considering buying a gun:

Owing a firearm makes you (as of 2020) 8-35x more likely to kill yourself with it med.stanford.edu/…/handgun-ownership-associated-w…. And considering this is a purchase during a… let’s just say “immensely stressful” period… yeah.

But also… what purpose does it serve? A single ice nazi comes knocking on your door, you spot them through the peephole, and have time to grab your gun, load it, and fire through the door? Then… you flee Everything in the hopes that the cops don’t decide to label you a “cop killer” on top of that?

This is why gun nuts make their entire lives built around “systems” to always carry a gun and be able to quick draw. Because the reality is… whoever shoots somewhat accurately first probably “wins”. Which leads to “Well… maybe that phone in their pocket they weren’t even reaching for is a gun. I am legally justified”

But that also basically works for only the first few people to try it. Everyone else gets a squad of ice nazis either kicking down the door and flashbanging them (and themselves) or just unloading on the house from the curb.

I realize the world is scary. I am scared shitless more often than not. But think through what buying a gun can even accomplish versus all the risks.

And maybe consider reaching out to your local community organizers to figure out what CAN be accomplished.

I don’t imagine one person protecting themselves from ICE with a gun, but I’d kinda like to see some local armed militias prevent ICE from terrorizing people.

Like I said: Even an organized and well trained militia are pretty much useless against a modern military. Police departments around the country have armored vehicles for these situations and any militia that gets too “uppity” is begging for a drone strike… or even just a mortar.

But yes. Individuals can’t do anything. We only have strength when we work together and look out for each other. An individual buying a gun to “protect themselves” isn’t gonna do shit and is mostly just going to escalate things rapidly. Whereas a community protecting themselves, with firearms or otherwise, can at least buy time.

But that requires coordination and a LOT of focus on “optics”. Again, The Black Panthers are historically one of the best examples of this. Yes, they have guns and do armed patrols. But mostly it is about community service and outreach so that killing one Black Panther means you are accepting the murder of that entire community. That isn’t going to stop things once things accelerate to a full blown civil war (just look at Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan for what the US military will gladly do to a village…) but it DOES buy time.

But Americans have this mindset that just buying a gun turns you into John McClane and you are going to single handedly solve all the worlds problems in three respawns or less.

Even an organized and well trained militia are pretty much useless against a modern military.

Just going to ignore all the times modern militaries have lost to insurgent groups?