Originally Posted by
Transaction
Gun culture in America is a curse. I live in an area that recently had a terrible mass shooting. The gun was legal. The area it happened in has gun stores, gun ranges, military gear readily available a two minute walk from supermarkets, religious places, and community centers. I'm never farther than 5 minutes away from another gun shop or shooting range, it's so fucking ridiculous. There's also a high culture of racism and queerphobia here, and it makes me incredibly uneasy going out in public knowing all these white supremacists have guns.
If our fascist government and police weren't so heavily militarized and armed, I would say a 100% removal of guns (ESPECIALLY FROM COPS) would be a hell of a lot safer. But because we don't live in a bubble and I am not naive, I would never call for removal of guns from those most at-risk to being attacked by pigs and feds: brown, Black & Indigenous people, disabled people, immigrants, activists, and queer people; many of whom are already dying at the hands of the US. (Not that a gun would save us in any of these situations because we'd certainly end up dead, or at best jailed for life for defense against a supremacist) In a less fascist environment, I know for a fact that these mass killings would stop if guns were removed from society. Instantly. And domestic violence deaths would decrease. Domestic terrorism violence would DRASTICALLY be reduced. Military and pigs are especially more prone to gun-related violence. The "bad guys and criminals" y'all mention with guns with countries who have them banned aren't the ones committing mass murder in the US.
People can say "guns don't kill people, people do," all they want but nothing is as easy for mass killing as a gun is and you sure can't do the same damage in the same time to the same amount of people with a knife or any blunt weapon that you can with a gun. In a perfect world with no police and military, nobody would even need one for self-defence.
So while I hate guns, would never own one, and feel unsafe in any home with them, I can't morally call for the banishment of them knowing it'd hurt America's most at-risk communities, because even a gun ban would likely not include cops and military, who MOST NEED them banned. I honestly only "support" gun ownership coming from those I mentioned earlier (BIPOC mostly) in the political climate today. Anyone else can go kick rocks because they have no reason for having a gun.
The facts are... most gun violence in the United States, by far, is from the police force. And nearly all mass murders are carried out by white domestic terrorists. Strip those in power from their guns and then see how the country changes overnight.