Rich Men North of Richmond

[Sociopathicsteelerfan]

(08-29-2023, 04:06 PM)Nately120 Wrote: Guns do keep people pacified in a way, at least the concept of owning guns.  I may have a biased view living in rural PA, but a lot of people in these parts are broken down factory workers who were tossed aside by society and watched their kids grow up and move away to get jobs, but they're satisfied because they have guns and they can vote for politicians who will protect their rights to own guns above all else.

This misguided concept that someday we are going to be able to use our god given right to own guns to prevent (insert thing here) keeps people pacified just fine.  We'll know totalitarianism when we see it, and we'll shoot it because we have guns.  And if people come to take our guns, we'll shoot them with our guns.  Why worry?  We have this figured out.

That's an interesting position.  Giving it some thought there are certainly people who are comforted by owning a firearm.  But I don't think that's any different from the self confidence a man feels who knows he can defend himself if necessary.  I've seen thousands of loud, in your face types and deep down they're loud and in your face because ultimately they are scared and lack confidence.  A man, or woman, knows they are physically capable of defending themselves they are generally the exact opposite of this.  There are certainly exceptions, those who got into shape to be able to bully others, but this is generally true.

If you've seen both Alien and Aliens, and shame on you if you haven't, then you know the difference.  In Alien they had zero chance against a creature that outclassed them physically in every way possible.  In Aliens they same being, while still scary, is less so as the means to defeat them is on hand.  Their numbers and the way things play out, e.g. bad leadership, drop ship being destroyed, creates a situation in which having guns is less reassuring, but it's still a far better scenario than that faced by the crew of Nostromo in Alien.  So, I don't know if I agree with your entire premise.  

TL;DR it's better to have a gun and maybe be outclassed than to not have one and definitely be outclassed i.e. defenseless.