I don’t think Americans quite appreciate how few guns one encounters when you are practically anywhere else in the world.
The only guns I see in my life are in possession of trained professionals. And even then it’s a lot if I see one per three months.
I’ve never been in a situation in my life where I’ve regretted not having a gun. Rather the opposite, I’ve been struggling with depression at a point in my life where access to a gun might have provided an easy way out.
And generally I like guns. As in I’ve been interested in military history for my entire life. When I’m the us I’ve been to a shooting range and thought that was cool (but also terrifying).
I lived in different countries. Many are friendly with actual neighborly caring folks. Like leave your car unlocked safe. Like if you lost your phone outside, someone will kindly put it somewhere safe. Countries with good safety nets and a government that wants to help people.
Here in America, I’m not afraid of the pickpockets or petty theft. The biggest threats to my family’s life are by police officers or ICE, all because of the color of their skin.
I’ve been to protests where everyone was peaceful and it was violently dissolved by police. Where I’ve been to protests which had hired security guards packing guns protecting protesters, and the cops were on their best behavior.
Where I’ve been to protests which had hired security guards packing guns protecting protesters
hwat
i think you just discombobulated my brain
What is this concept? Who does this? Where?
Basically cops want you to be disarmed, you’re easier to harm.
Plenty of people who will get paid to hurt unarmed people, but not a lot willing to die for that same paycheck.
Not the best example. Right-wing gun nuts are cop-adjacent if not cops themselves. Let’s see how an amed BLM or antifa or anti-ICE rally goes.
Highly dependent on what state you’re in. Myself and others have legally carried at rallies, protests, and BLM. Cops don’t like armed minorities and leftists, but presently they’re still obliged to tolerate them if you do so well informed of your rights and within the confines of the law (like not being able to enter certain buildings, and obviously not using them to threaten someone).
This is why community planning is important. You can’t control who all is going to show up to rep for the cause, and you can’t predict who’s going to show up armed. You can encourage attendance to pre-event planning, figure out who will be there and with what, then coordinate their involvement to lessen the likelihood of escalation without discounting that guns are a psychological show of threat of force and a worst case scenario defense, as well as make sure they’re aware of their rights, the law, and what to do if a cop decides to overstep their authority and harass. You teach deescalation for when the counter-protesters try and spark a confrontation. You plan for if and when supporters you don’t know arrive armed, how to approach, how to figure out if they’re well intentioned, allies but extremists, or an agent provocateur.
There are many types of guns. Heat guns, spray guns, desoldering guns, guys at the gym arms, etc
I think that is isn’t hard to figure out from context which ones are referred to, don’t you think?
Hey hey are you bringing out the big guns now?
The guns of never one
FWIW, I am in the US and I have barely ever encountered a gun really either.
I am pretty sure I have never held a real gun either.
I mean outside the gun range I haven’t either, when visiting.
You’re ofcourse a very diverse bunch and I don’t want to generalize, but it’s a cultural oddity that is quite eyecatcher and without the charm of Finnish saunas or Belgian beer.
Im 30 years old and I dont think I have ever seen someone hold a real gun in my own country.
For Americans, “going to the range” is an average Wednesday activity.
To pretty much anyone else in the world - unless you’re in a profession that works with guns - that statement will get: weird looks, people judging you, and a number of friends distancing themselves as they’d be afraid you could go loco and shoot them…
as a european, i went to the range a lot as a kid, because my dad’s side of the family did game hunting back then and he wanted me to learn. this was exclusively with bolt-action long guns, because that’s everything they allow. the process of getting the rifles out of the safe, packing them in locked bags, going to safe ranges far away in the woods, marking every bullet fired on a form, and collecting all the cartridges bored me to tears.
later my dad got in a legal dispute with the police over firearms registration, because as a sporting goods salesman he had to make sure every part he sold had a laser-engraved serial number and it took months for them to finally get that you can’t laser-engrave a 2mm spring.
thank god for regulations.
I live in the south and I don’t know a single person who goes to a range ever. I think you are exaggerating.
Yeah, we lived outside of town, so we just shot in the backyard.
I think it’s income dependent. Going to a shooting range and just tearing through ammo sounds expensive, and I’ve never done it, but I’ve known generational-farmer types who do it on a regular basis. They usually bring friends with them. I don’t think most people in the south have been to a shooting range, but it doesn’t strike me as terribly uncommon.
I think it’s a lot like having a boat. If you know a guy who has a boat, you’re much more likely to go boating on the regular, and if you know a someone who has a lot of guns, you’re more likely to go shooting with them.
Live in the north where southerners flee to for jobs (still a shitty Red state) and the range is a regular for gun people. When I had friends that shoot, it was an every or every other weekend thing for the cheap shit, once month take out something nice to shoot that costs a little.
I’d say the majority of people in the states don’t give a hoot about baseball, but it’s still ‘America’s pastime.’
>.>
Plus, being in the south, why would they go to a range? A friend within an hour probably has property where you could shoot for free.
Yep, not a ton of ranges in the south. Probably 6 in the 200 mile radius of me. They’re not that profitable, because everyone has usually land or a friend with land.
I don’t think non-Americans appreciate how few guns one encounters in America if one isn’t a gun nut or gun-nut-adjacent. It is not that everybody owns a gun. It’s that the relative few people who own dozens or hundreds of guns skew the average.
You’re numb to every cop you see, because I guarantee they all have guns. Around 1/3rd of Americans personally own a gun, this isn’t a Spiders Georg situation.
I don’t see cops very often.
But I’d feel uneasy not knowing which of them is the nutty one.
A lot of the nutters tend to advertise it at least. Super gung-ho patriot driving an oversized truck with Trump and flag stickers, maybe an actual flag, possibly open carrying, yard with one or multiple trump signs and likely American flags in case you forget which country you’re in, probably some cars on the lawn as decoration… you get the picture
Yeah, I think I get it, but I don’t want to share the planet with them as well.
Yeah… can’t say I’m the biggest fan of living in an area where I have several examples within walking distance of me, it has left me feeling slightly on edge at times. I don’t think it’d be taken too kindly if I started to get outspoken about politics so I just let it be
So much freedom. I have to shed a tear for you 🥹
Living in the blessed realm. What a dream!
Are we or are we not counting the fair few you don’t see because they’re concealed on the people around you?
And yes the stats are absolutely skewed by pun nuts with big collection it’s still true that 40% or more of American households have a gun…
I’ll disagree. I’ve been mugged. There have also been two times I’ve visited friends that have been casually cleaning guns when I arrived. A person I do martial arts with has a conceal carry and has come in with it a few times. Every cop has at least one. There’s a gun store that’s on my commute route. I was hiking and crossed paths with an elderly couple on horseback and they were packing. I’ve known two people that have killed themselves with a gun. I drilled with fake guns in NJROTC in high school and there were opportunities to train and compete in marksmanship with actual guns. I shot BB guns in Cub Scouts (those two are just examples as to how young gun culture becomes part of an American’s life). When I was growing up, Walmart sold guns and ammo. They still do in certain places.
I have to factor into my interactions with people if they have a gun. Like I put up with a lot more shitty behavior on the road because I live in a state with a high incidence of guns being involved with road rage incidents. If I get into an argument with my neighbor, is that conservative asshole going to do something stupid if things escalate (yeah yeah, don’t escalate, just an example). All the POCs I know have been taught how to behave during a traffic stop to reduce their chances of getting shot by a cop.
I’ve never even held or shot a real gun, but guns permeate my life.
Like I put up with a lot more shitty behavior on the road because I live in a state with a high incidence of guns being involved with road rage incidents.
That’s called “de-escalation”.
That’s exactly what we should all be doing.
Rather than responding to a road rage incident with our own rage, we are actively reducing the risks of road rage to ourselves and to everyone around us. We are not pushing the initial rager to increase the egregiousness and danger of their rage.
The possibility of getting shot has broadly convinced the general public to improve their own behavior.
Paradoxically, if we didn’t fear they would pull guns on us, we would be more likely to respond to their rage with our own. We wouldn’t “put up with it”, but would instead confront them, impede them, seek “justice” for their offensive behavior, or otherwise escalate. In doing so, we would invite them to escalate as well. Your argument suggests that the high incidence of guns being involved in road rage is reducing the occurrence of road rage. I agree completely.
The possibility of getting shot has broadly convinced the general public to improve their own behavior.
Pure nonsense. That is just regurgitating NRA propaganda, “an armed society is a polite society”, when we know for objective fact that the opposite is true. Gun incidents happen more frequently in the US on a “spur of the moment” thing exactly because they are so prevalent. Arguments more frequently escalate into murder because of the presence of guns, while they don’t in societies where guns are rarer.
Pure nonsense? Parent commenter specifically indicated that the presence of firearms induced improvement in their own behavior.
No, I did not indicate it’s an improvement. Please get your words out of my mouth.
You most certainly did. You indicate you are more tolerant because other people are armed. You indicate you tolerate (“put up with”) greater offense because of it.
You’re not an asshole road rager, and you’ve indicated you won’t escalate to some other asshole’s road rage, specifically because of guns. If guns are no longer an issue, what will it take for you to continue “putting up with” what you perceive to be shitty behavior on the road?
The roads are a much safer place while you’re “putting up” with it. I really, really, need you to keep putting up with it, even if all the guns are removed. If guns are the only reason you’re “putting up” with it, we can’t get rid of the guns. Give me a better option.
The possibility of getting shot has broadly convinced the general public to improve their own behavior.
No. Guns give assholes carte blanche to be an asshole without consequences.
Your argument makes no sense. We should deescalate but fear for our lives so we behave? Who’s gonna escalate to put the fear into people? Rethink and try again.
No. Guns give assholes carte blanche to be an asshole without consequences.
The idea that actions should have consequences is the real problem that both you and the parent comment describe. Parent comment talks about “putting up with shitty behavior”, implying that they should be able to directly respond to such behavior. Any such response is “escalation”. Your parent comment is describing a desire to commit offensive behavior, but that offensive behavior is held in check out of fear of a gun. You behave better.
Your current “consequences” argument says the same thing: You observe what you perceive to be poor behavior, and wish for “consequences”. If that wish culminates in any sort of direct interaction with the poorly behaved, you have escalated. Your “fear for our lives” holds your own behavior in check. You behave better.
I can’t control the road raging asshole. You can’t control the road raging asshole. There will always be one road raging asshole somewhere. There doesn’t need to be three. You can look inward and recognize the harmful, hostile attitudes in yourself that would lead to road rage, and you can actively suppress them. Alternatively, you can fear the external consequences arising from entertaining those harmful attitudes, and elect against such behaviors.
So long as you are going to rationalize your good behavior as a result of other people being armed, I’m not going to support your efforts to disarm the people creating those good results.
(Edit: Somehow I thought that you were an additional commenter. Edited to reflect that you are also the parent commenter)
Allow me to clarify: I don’t want to ram someone off the road, I just want there to be a way to give feedback without it being escalated from there. Thumbs down, not finger up. Not that people who already drive like that give a shit about other people and any feedback lesser than a major accident. I’m real tired of the car culture here, too.
We do this all the time when on foot. Somebody bumps into someone else, maybe somebody says sorry or watch where you’re going. Or maybe someone decides to pull a gun. That’s more what I’m getting at.
How many dashcam videos do you need to see of drivers crashing into vehicles or obstacles while giving or receiving such “feedback”?
You are turning your attention away from driving, and focusing instead on “feedback”. Simultaneously, you are distracting the shitty driver from driving, and forcing them to focus on your attempt at providing “feedback”. Two drivers are now distracted from the road because you felt some pressing need to communicate your displeasure.
You say “feedback”, I say “escalation”, and “endangerment”. Again, if the possibility of a gun is what keeps you from choosing to escalate in this fashion, I cannot support your efforts to disarm.
Quite the contrary, I would prefer that you chose to arm yourself. Then you would understand that a person providing you with such “feedback” is not worth your time. You would recognize that if you drew your firearm during a road rage incident, you would invite prison time for brandishing, manslaughter, or attempted murder. You would already understand the extreme dangers of escalation, and would actively avoid it. You would hold your ego in check, rather than allowing it free rein over your actions.
The best course of action is to open the distance between you and the shitty driver. Not try to convince them of their shittiness. If you need them to be possibly armed for your ego to allow you to retreat, then it is better for everyone on the road that they be armed.
I have to factor into my interactions with people if they have a gun.
Yes, there’s a huge difference between only rarely seeing a gun in public and acting as if nobody has one.
It really depends on where you live in the USA. Where I live theres definitely people with guns but it’s unusual to see someone actually carrying one outside their home. Now my cousins live like 1-2 hours away (still in the same state) and it’s super common there for people to carry their gun on them at all times for some fucking reason. So my cousins are way more used to seeing guns than my siblings and I are
It sounds like it’s such a part of our culture that you’re missing the point: you cannot opt out of gun culture in America. Anywhere.
All of our street cops are also carrying guns around, which (if I’m not mistaken) is not the case everywhere.
I remember I visited Italy on a Latin class trip back in high school, and got a real culture shock when I saw carabinieri(?) patrolling the airport armed with some kind of assault rifles or SMGs. I don’t remember seeing any “normal” police once I was out walking around in the cities so I have no idea if they would’ve been armed or not, but that was definitely heavier weaponry than I’d seen any American cop carrying, in the airport or otherwise.
Being heavily armed is kind of the point of the Carabinieri, who are a part of the military.
Yeah, in Italy there’s a lot of armed officials in public places and big stations (even train stations!). Usually they’re only there to look intimidating. The ones who will actually bother people (usually immigrants) are regular policemen, who, paradoxically, are less likely to carry firearms
I like that idea. Armed cops who focus only on violent felonies, and are forbidden to involve themselves in lesser offenses.
It’s pretty common, I think only Ireland and Britain (among countries that people are likely to visit) don’t carry guns.
In fact, what’s unusual is that in many places where civilian use of guns is extremely rare, police standing around with submachine guns in airports, train stations, etc. is common.
I think it’s more common in Europe since those are large targets for terrorism. Plus if you have a distinct “armed police” they are more likely to be heavily armed.
Also, I think most police outside of major cities in the USA all have ARs in their patrol cars now. I remember when my cop buddy was complaining about five years ago when they took his car shotgun and gave him an AR instead.
Terrorism is still incredibly rare. Perhaps a train station is a bit more likely as a target, but it’s extremely unlikely that any given train station will be attacked. And, an “armed response” team is pretty similar to a SWAT team. They’re probably better used sitting in some central place from which they can quickly mobilize and get anywhere rather than walking around among the public at an airport or train station.
I was thinking of British TV when I posted that so not too surprising if its mostly a thing there.
Years ago, the UK government announced they were going to arm the general police. The people with the biggest issue with it was the police union!
The UK has a police by consent basis. The heaviest firepower they carry is a tazer. If there is a risk of guns being involved, the normal police pull back and call in the armed response officers. When they do, however, they call the whole cavalry!
End result, criminals don’t feel they MUST have a gun to defend from the police. Conversely, going in armed will bring the whole, focused weight of the armed response down on you. (As in multiple helicopter level searches) Most don’t carry guns, and so the status quo keeps everyone safe.
criminals don’t feel they MUST have a gun to defend from the police
Criminals know that they won’t win a gunfight against the police. Instead they always flee, and if they’re caught often have their guns on them or in their vehicle.
Most criminals in the US who carry guns do so to kill rival criminals. The police or law-abiding civilians being disarmed wouldn’t change that.
I’m not saying the USA should just disarm its police. I was more pointing out how fucked up gun culture has made it. Most UK gangs don’t have guns. The risk reward balance doesn’t justify them. Any gang that does try to escalate with guns becomes the focus of a LOT of police attention.
Yeah, as a life-long Californian I’ve seen only a dozen or so guns in my entire life not in the hands or belts of police officers.
Still, we know they are out there. People in rough areas of town are going to have a very different experience.
Concealed is concealed. If we’re seeing them, they’re doing concealment wrong.
We can look at the rate of licensing to get an idea of scale and prevalence.
In 15 states, more than 1 in 10 adults have permits. Pennsylvania, ~1 in 6. Colorado, ~1 in 5. Indiana, over 22% of adults are licensed concealed carriers.
Nationwide, 7.8% of adults are licensed. Outside CA and NY, 9.3% of adults are currently licensed.
Licensing numbers peaked in 2022, but 29 states (Covering 47% of the population) have recently abandoned licensing requirements. The reduced number of licenses don’t indicate falling carry rates.
To me, the most interesting statistic from that link is almost overlooked: We all know that cops are under-prosecuted and under-convicted for their crimes. ACAB. Despite their cop-privilege, police are still convicted of gun crimes at 12 times the rate of licensed concealed carriers.
They also kill around 1k people a year… including suicides, 1 in 40 of all gun deaths are from the police. Take out the suicides, and it’s down to 1 in 13.5/14… basically the cops kill a lot of people in the usa.
not in the hands or belts of police officers
I’d like to just point out that this alone is a huge difference. Police in Europe generally do not carry firearms. It’s even unusual to see them with weapons at an airport.
I could be subject to police brutality from a random traffic stop technically, but I wouldn’t have any chance of a gun being pulled on me.
Not in Europe generally. It is true for the UK, but not so much anywhere else. But even in European countries with armed police deescalation is still the pereferred method and they only rarely draw their guns or fire them, especially compared to the US where the police have been trained with overly aggressive lethal violence responses.
When I lived in a small town, the MAGA neighbor showed my mixed family how many guns they had to “remind them”. He sure didn’t like it when I told them I conceal carry because of people like him.
Well, “relative few” is technically correct at about 45% of Americans. Now, way less than that carry, and even less with any regularity, and even less open carry, so yeah you probably don’t see them often, but they’re around.
I still suspect you have been desensinsitivised to the permeation of guns in the US so you don’t really notice it, and downplay it in your mind. I can assure you people from outside of the US does notice it though.
There’s fucking ammo at wallmart. You can’t even comprehend how mindboggling that is in most countries
Why would it be mind boggling that a supermarket carry ammo? What is mind boggling is you can order a case online and have it to your doorstep in 2 days.
Because its not a commonly used item. It should only be sold at gur ranges for immediate use.
The 14 million hunters would disagree.
Hunt with bows and crossbows
Yeah I can count on one hand the amount of guns I’ve seen in person even after going to gun nut relatives’ houses.
This is ignoring police guns because yeah that skews results. Like autistic kids skewing tech literacy resultd.
I lived in the US for a decade without ever seeing a gun, other than in a cop’s holster.
This is the same with any enthusiast though. A keen cyclist will typically have multiple bikes, a car enthusiast will have a few cars, etc. Given how easy guns are to store, it’s no surprise that people will have a collection.
The number of engineering/design choices that go into guns is fascinating. A P90 and an AK-47 have so many different design choices that it’s incredible they do basically the same thing.
And the manufacturing. Forgotten Weapons is a brilliant channel not just because of the sheer quality and variety and humour but because Ian will actually explain and show the functioning and ideas behind the crazy mechanisms that have been made over time.
Yeah I love the engineering and history, but wouldn’t want to live with them in close proximity
I have a lot of family members that live and work in a rural area, and firearms are simply tools of trade to them, as well as shooting for sport.
The only people you see with them in a city are police though.
I mean a cook needs a knife to fillet a steak, that is clear,
What rural area business really needs a gun? People have been living rurally without problems without them.
I think it’s an insurance policy for fear, most of the time. But one that doesn’t work because now you contract a fear for fellow humans with guns.
Pest control, genius. Rabbits, hares, magpies, possums, goats and more. One cousin is a commercial goat culler.
They’re not used for self defence.
All those were managed well before the invention of the gun.
Your cousin might need one, but that guy from no county for old men weilded a culler that needed no gun.
But it’s mainly the self defense angle witch angers me. If you need a tool for killing stuff, a gun is your thing.
Butt most people don’t need to kill stuff.
I grew up in rural germany joined a shooting club when i was 9,
where i had to shoot a crossbow at first before being allowed operating a bb gun at 10 and yes the crossbow is far more dangerous,
seen plenty of guns legal and illegal ones during my youth after i left the club and i still consider seeing multiple guns in a year as not normal since guns are stored in a safe and usually only shown to friends once and most sport shooters will leave them at the club.
This is a very western/european mindset. Guns, ak’s in particular are INCREDIBLY visible in MANY parts of the world.
i’m 26 and the only guns i’ve ever seen were a bb gun and an air gun, and the interval between seeing them was like 10 years
That’s a shame.
Gus are cool and fun.
Gus are a national treasure
The only guns I see in my life are in possession of trained professionals. And even then it’s a lot if I see one per three months.
Here in my country (in Europe), you can just go to any important train station or public place and there’ll be a bunch of soldiers doing fuck all with guns in their belts. They’re just meant to stand there and look intimidating lmao. I’ve never even seen them bother immigrants or anything (that’s the police’s job)
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Yeah I haven’t seen many guns ‘in the open’ outside the range when I was visiting.
Yours is a very big and diverse county and it’s hard to generalize. But usually cultural generalizations are somewhat cute and folksy, like French cheese and Chinese chopsticks.
Guns aren’t endearing do they stand out.
Try camping in bear country or hiking anywhere with predators. Or something about 30 wild hogs.
I don’t think there’s much wildlife out there that poses a mortal threat. Bear spray works for most, even though more rural and Northern countries do allow shotguns for use against wildlife.
You don’t really need a handgun in your desk to scare off bears tbh
But in the hypothetical scenario where a bear or 30 boars came at you… You’ll wish you did have a gun! /s
I am pro-gun but people who use wild animals as an excuse for buying handguns are exhausting.
They aren’t an excuse for buying guns. They are an explanation for why certain people in certain situations would legitimately need guns.
And if they have guns for that situation, they have guns for any situation. And if guns are available for people in those situations to acquire, guns are available for anyone to acquire.
I don’t think people who don’t live in the US appreciate the concept of Pandora’s box.
I hear a lot of people talk about how bad guns are. How Americans are crazy to own them. How guns need to be made illegal here.
There are literally more guns than people in the United States of America. They aren’t going away.
If we could Thanos snap half the guns away, it would solve nothing. If we could Thanos snap all of them, then hey! Yes! Let’s talk.
But we can’t do that. Guns are just part of life over here. We actually do appreciate how dangerous they are, because we see violence done with them all the time… But there’s no easy solution here. Criminals all have guns. Even kids in gangs have guns.
If you live in an area that has a lot of crime, you may want a gun, and that is okay so long as you’re trained and responsible.
So what you’re really arguing for is mass gun confiscation. I will subscribe to that newsletter gladly.
Yeah I think the US has way too many people who’d never willingly give their guns to the government. Particularly in Texas after Waco.
I’m wondering if we just have a gun registration program and a ban on inheriting guns, so nobody would have to give up their own guns, just their dead parents’ guns.
I lived half my life in New York and saw a gun once. I lived the other half in Paris and also saw a gun once. I’m now in Paris and there’s a gun range a few blocks away from me.
🤷
I’m a school bus driver and one of my coworkers is constantly talking about how worried he is that somebody is going to shoot up a school bus instead of a school (I’m not exactly worried about this myself, but a full bus would make a pretty easy target). His proposed solution is that drivers be armed – he wants to carry his beloved AR-15 with him on the bus. I foolishly engaged him and questioned where he would even mount the fucking thing (it’s an assault rifle for those who don’t know, the civilian version of the M-16) so he could reach it quickly but the kids couldn’t get their hands on it. I keep encouraging him to suggest this to the district superintendent so he gets his ass fired but I don’t know if that would actually happen. Our schools already have ex-cops for security and we do fucking active shooter drills with elementary school kids.
Unfortunately, he’s the type who watches action movies because he wants to imagine himself as the hero,
But not saving lives.
He wants to kill, but be considered righteous for it
It’s a sickness, not unique to 'Murica, but definitely more pronounced there
Is there AR his only firearm? It’s just such a impractical suggestion to store and secure something that large when you can just conceal carry a handgun.
I wouldn’t figure even that would help. The driver just seems like the obvious first target and wouldn’t be given much of a chance to do anything, as them getting shot would probably be the thing that tells the whole bus they are under attack.
Regardless of the actual amount of guns one sees around and in desks, one thing I think is particularly relevant is how many guns are in American media. I’ve never personally seen a desk gun in the USA, though I do see a fair amount of holstered guns in public, but so many TV shows, movies, and even advertisements have random guns popping up even if it’s not thematically relevant or appropriate.
Americans are desensitized to guns, but the Dr. Watson from the Sherlock Holmes stories was a military veteran who often carried his army revolver. Anybody with a passing familiarity with the character of Dr. Watson could think, “I guess he keeps his gun in his desk.”
This post says “the first episode of sherlock where john watson opens up his drawer and you see a gun”.
So, it’s talking about the Sherlock mini-series from 2010 which was set in modern times. I don’t think that in modern times a military veteran is allowed to keep a gun in a drawer.
I’m a veteran with a .22 in my desk drawer that has a muzzle suppressor (if I am going to use it I don’t want to damage my ears).
And do you live inside or outside of the US?
United we stand!
In the UK?
Merica obviously, those commie governments across the pond don’t allow people on the internet
Looking at the down votes i think lemmy could use a lesson in media literacy
Yeah, this place seems full of people nobody would enjoy being around. Like fuck anyone taking the piss and having fun with something trying to joke around at the shit state of the world.
I am honestly finding myself using reddit more now.
Are you lost? Do you not understand what this whole thread is about?
I think that everyone is over complicating this.
When you see he has a gun in the mini-series, you’re just reminded of how the he had a revolver in the books. You aren’t going to think about it because he’s supposed to have a gun. You just say, “Oh, he still has a gun.”
I think the disconnect is probably between people who know Dr. Watson from the books, and people who don’t know the books. The Sherlock mini-series is obviously targeted at people who never read the books. So it’s entirely possible that they wanted the viewer to question its existence.
It’s still weird to keep it in a drawer
Where else are you going to keep it? The fridge? Hell I keep my muzzle loader next to my desk, mostly because I just got it and have yet to find a proper place for it.
From the other comments I concluded that in the UK the gun stays at the police station. But even if an officer were to be allowed to take it home, in most developed countries it has to be stored in a safe. And the key must be unavailable for anyone other than the permit holder.
The majority of the UK had guns readily available up until the great war. Then the population was disarmed, the homicide rate was lower than it is today in the UK… Sherlock was written for those times, and guns were not unusual.
The majority of the UK had guns readily available up until the great war.
[sic] there were no firearm restrictions in effect, but less than 1% of the population had firearms. The Firearms act of 1920 disarmed this percentage over fears of surges in crime, as well as worries that the working class would get too unruly
I don’t know what % of the population had firearms but they were as you said no restrictions…and let’s be honest…it wasn’t about crime, it was about disarming the working class.
I have no knowledge about the UK, but I can say that was the case for Germany. Gun control in the modern sense only began after WW1 when large numbers of weapons fell into civilian hands.
In the 19th century, shooting practice was mandatory as part of the military system; reserve and conscription. Kinda like how it still survives in Switzerland. But as the UK rarely had a need for large land armies, the population was not militarized to such a degree.
Sherlock is also armed in several of the original sir. Arthur Conan Doyle stories. Iirc most the time he borrows a revolver from Scotland Yard.
This particular series takes the characters and puts them in present day London, what was normal in the 19th century doesn’t apply for the character in the example
Desk guns are for desk pops. When was the last time you did a desk pop?
“Thanks for the F-shack”
- Dirty Mike & the Boys
Summer of ‘08
I do a fair amount of solo bikepacking in the rural Midwest, and have gotten into enough weird altercations that I now ride and camp with a concealed pistol.
A few years ago, I would have called anyone doing this exact same thing a psychopath. I give myself endless amounts of shit for having a “bicycle gun” and would be fucking mortified if anyone I casually ride with found out, but I’m also intensely aware of how batshit crazy and divorced from reality the average redneck is.
Brother, I went camping twice in the South and both times, I had some serious weirdos on the trail. One redneck asked us if we “had any guns on us”. What?
My camping partner said, “If we pull it out, we use it.” And the dude ran off.
My brother is becoming more and more of a gun nut by the day, despite being on the left. It’s kind of a fascinating case study of the Horseshoe theory.
He’s convinced that Trump and Co aren’t going to allow elections. So he’s arming up to be prepared.
Horseshoe theory has no basis in reality. If you actually knew the definitions of Left and Right, you would realize that they’re diametrically opposite. Please educate yourself.
When you run into a Tankie trying to convince you that “LGBT Rights are a western bourgoise concept and a distraction from real issues.” You’ll realize horeshoe theory is very real
I mean, is he really THAT wrong?
Leftist aren’t anti gun. The workers should be armed.
I’m usually less concerned about the hobbyists who learn gun safety than I am about the people who are mainlining extreme stuff online about needing a gun to use against “the enemy”. Hopefully he’s at least a bit in the former camp too.
oh goody, a high comment post about guns. I’m sure the white yanquis on lemmy are going to have a really hinged and normal conversation about this
When I saw the desk gun, my only thought was that it was going to be featured eventually due to Chekhov’s Gun.
I kinda want to buy a handgun just because taking them apart and putting them together looks fun. I know they make fidget toys for that but tue ones I’ve seen are too simplified.
A realistically disassembleable toy gun would go hard
I have to hand it to you, this is the most unique reason I’ve heard to buy a gun before.
You gotta admit, the mechanics of some of them are quite cool.
It’s all fun and gun lube until you have to put back together a trigger assembly.
launches spring across room
Seems like a mighty silly way to blow $500+ bucks. On a puzzle that shoots bullets.
Plenty of options out there cheaper than that
I assume you’ve tried the game: World of Guns: Guns Disassembly (Steam link)?
Im a believer of responsible gun ownership and I do think things like sport shooting and interest in the mechanics are a totally valid thing. Safety being the most important aspect
Also you should check out the forgotten weapons channel on youtube lots of good history also weapons with weird mechanisms
One of the main reasons America isn’t a developed nation, we think being without a gun is scarier than being without a doctor. Even though no mass shooting has ever been stopped by a “Good guy with a gun”
Actually I think that happens pretty often. For example, in this one. It’s unfortunate, but there are so many people with guns and willing to use them that to say they never stop mass shootings is unrealistic.
In that one the shooter killed 26 people, I wouldn’t say they were prevented from doing a mass shooting. Stopped while they would have continued, sure I guess, but the police can do that too in any country.
To be fair, part of my desensitization is from the (100% accurate documentary) Hot Fuzz. Maybe they were just establishing that Watson is a farmer… or a farmer’s mum.
Mr. Webley, I trust you have a license for that firearm?
He does for this one
Yes, but it’s also useful for new-ish writers.
You want to show that the story is in USA without telling it outright? Have someone pull out a gun and nobody bats an eye. You don’t need to fill the scene with fat white men anymore - just the gun and no reaction to it.
Some casual racism would work too,
Or walking past a homeless person without it even registering
That could also be England
Not untrue, but have to say your average racist Brit doesnt sound much like your average racist American.
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British detectives don’t really carry guns though. Unless they are part of a special unit. This Sherlock episode the post talks about takes place in modern day London so he would definitely not own a gun for his job. At least not legally.
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But hes not carrying it. It was in his desk.
Adding to this, in the first episode of Sherlock John Watson isn’t even a detective/detectives assistant yet. He is a depressed, injured, former military doctor.
Also, and its been a while since I watched the show, wasn’t he a former cop or something?
I may be way off.
Former army doctor. He’s doctor Watson after all. But usually you don’t take your service firearm home with you when you’re done in most countries at least, so that would likely be a personal one. And in the first episode he hadn’t yet started the detective work.
Is this media literacy?
It could also be cultural diffrences manifesting
