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Comment by ty6853 | Hacker News Reader

A gun is effective for suicide, yeah. We don't have suicide clinics in the states like Europe has, at least that I'm aware of. So people buy guns then off themselves. You have the causation backwards.

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Yes, I agree, there's definitely that. I know I would not be alive now if I had easy access to a gun.

But the parent is talking about the USA having more self-defence freedoms, and gun ownership is definitely part of that. It's not about suicide, it's that weird "you gotta protect your family" that non-Americans find a bit worrying - what are you so scared of? I've lived in a few countries and nowhere I've lived has this level of fear. I've never felt that I would be safer if I owned a gun. I have no idea who I'd use it against (except myself, obviously).

I live next to the us-mexico border, in a place with basically no police services. There are (true) signs everywhere warning of cartels roaming, often with automatic weapons diverted from the Mexican military. Maybe they won't ever bother me, but better to have and not need, than the other way around.

I mean, if the cartel with their automatic weapons come at you, do you really think your stash is going to protect you?

Also, lack of police services is probably commensurate with the low levels of taxation that so many Americans desperately want and vote for.

I'll be super real. The numbers from 2021 say the average American household owns 5 guns. This isn't because the average American really has a gun, but because of the people with 100 guns skewing the numbers. Those people are real, exist, and will give the cartel, and the local police, and a swat team a run for their money, if invaded. The real average American doesn't have an armory that can protect them from the cartel, but if you're the cartel, you now have to spend additional time and money doing research on if hitting some random house in San Antonio, Tx is going to result in a shootout that's going to get a bunch of your cartel members killed.

Can you point to any actual real-world cases where something like this has happened? It sounds like a movie concept; we're letting real-world policy be determined by a fantasy people have about a lone gun enthusiast killing a bunch of drug cartel members?

Nope! I agree it's something out of a movie, but real world people do actually have such arsenals. I'm not embedded enough in gun culture to have any personal stories/know of any news reports, but not everything makes the news. I'm not making a comment on policy, just that such individuals exist.

Warsaw ghetto uprising bought some people a few extra days (and a couple women their lives spared), which is better than nothing.

I really hope your example remains a straw man argument, and not something that Americans are going to have to face up to in the next few years.

Well they are outnumbered. So if one of their guys get killed one of 10 times they fuck with the locals, that is enough to persuade them not to do it. Of course they could eliminate me, but can they do it without one of theirs getting hurt? Probably, but not probably enough to make it worth their time.

Americans have a recent history of slavery. They believe since they would be aggressive if emerging from the same situation, that African Americans would be equally aggressive. Which is why most American own guns…

Yeah, I've heard this theory before, and it kinda makes sense. Except that there are other countries (most of the Anglosphere, including the UK) that also had slavery, (and/or have confronting relationships with their indigenous population), and don't feel that same fear.

Is there something unique about the USA's history with slavery that would cause this?

Its about owning a farm in the middle of nowhere not slavery. It really is not that hard to understand that people have different worries back when the second amendment was written when the nearest town for protection is weeks away and not hours.

Yeah, interesting. But we don't see the same reaction with Aussie farmers. I mean, most of them do own guns, but that's more about the wildlife...

It does not matter what threat its about protecting or even if its that likely to happen. Its human nature to have things to protection youself and things you care about. Like insurance you never need it until you do but then its too late.

“God created man. Sam Colt made them equal.”

And yet, that's not true in any other country. So I doubt it's human nature.

Other countries have locks and self defense weapons even firearms. marshal arts have existed in all cultures world wide.

Denying self defense isn't a core part of human history and desire for political reasons is very unscientific.

Think of the other side of the coin. Through history the first thing slaves are denied are weapons. And there is many countries that allow weapons at home, US, Mexico, Latin America....

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