House Speaker Ongoing Melodrama

[Belsnickel]

(10-24-2023, 07:12 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: You're more pessimistic than I am, which is saying something.  It would be odd for people advocating for firearms ownership by anyone who chooses would then take the route of usurping the government.  Both sides can, and do, buy firearms.  You'd think restricting the sales would be more in line with this goal, seeing as how firearms ownership leans heavily to the right at the moment.

You and I know that both sides purchase firearms. I am a prime example of this. What I can tell you, though, is that much of the 2A community doesn't think that is the case. Do you know the shock I see when people find out my views? I also know many others like me who just aren't open about it to either side of the fence. They hide it from range buddies and play along for fear of creating animosities. They hide their firearm ownership from their ideological brethren for fear of getting into debates there.

I am an open book with my life, which is probably why I will never run for political office. I own up to my failures, my views, everything. I do it because I know many people don't feel comfortable and I hope to set an example for them. To this day I get comments from some of the people I shoot with where they think I see more eye-to-eye with them. I hear all of the anti-LGBTQ stuff, the "Let's Go Brandon" chants, the uniformed opinions on fiscal policy, all of it. And they think I agree with them until I pull out my AR case with the "defend equality" flag on it and explain to them how our $2 trillion deficit in FY23 had more to do with decreased revenues than spending and that if we are ever going to decrease out deficit and the country's debt burden we have to find a way to increase tax revenues, they just look at me with a blank stare and forget all about that conversation until the next range day.

Anyway, that was a long way of saying that the ones in the 2A community that I really worry about don't realize that lefties own firearms, or they don't realize how many of us do.

(10-24-2023, 07:28 PM)Nately120 Wrote: I wouldn't say it's impossible, but it's more likely now to come from the right.  The left can whine about gerrymandering and the electoral college and altering the supreme court, but right now the right is led by a guy who is telling everyone that multiple branches of our government are outright corrupt and under fascist control and need dismantled.  Biden is an illegally installed fascist.  The DOJ is run by fascists thugs who purposefully target republicans and they're coming for you after they unjustly ruin Trump...I guess the legislative branch is corrupt too, I'm sure there is something out there about it.

I'm used to hearing people complain about our government and our system and our country and how much we need to 2A this and overthrow that, but I've never heard such things mentioned by such powerful people with so much mainstream influence.  So if nothing else, I'll say the left isn't going to be overthrowing anything until we can make it out of our current predicament.  Then again, if Trump wins in 2024 maybe a bunch of lefties lose their collective minds and start stockpiling arms.  I've spent most of my life around white people, so my view of people who collect guns to "fight the government someday" is pretty limited to them.  

I would agree with this. I mean, look, I have been to shoots with some John Brown Gun Club and Redneck Revolt folks, card carrying members of the Socialist Rifle Association. They don't talk about an armed overthrow of the government. They didn't when Trump was in and they don't now that Biden is there (who they also despise, FWIW). I have done trainings for them on basic firearm safety and spent a long time talking with them. Everything they discuss is in a defensive posture. They are preparing for the day the state oversteps and they have to defend their community.

Now, I am not saying there aren't some leftist groups out there that are more aggressive in their positions. I also know some who do advocate for a revolution by bullet, but the vast majority are for revolution by ballot box. On the other side of the aisle there is an increasingly concerning number that are losing faith in the ballot box and are talking more about the revolution by bullet. That is where my concern lies. I have faith in the ballot box, but that's not what the propaganda is pushing for coming out of the right, unfortunately. And that is the major difference. When one side loses faith in the ballot box, they turn to the bullet.