shotgun pistol
Dan Z. for TTAG

According to this Washington Post article, the percentage of Americans who own guns has jumped from 32% to 39% in the past year. That’s due to huge waves of new, first-time gun owners, of all political and cultural persuasions, deciding that owning a firearm is a good idea.

For many new gun owners, though, the decision to arm themselves is a political pivot — an accumulation of anxieties that led them to discard long-held beliefs. It’s a decision that is particularly difficult for people who belong to groups at higher risk of being on the wrong end of gun violence.

Jabril Battle, a 28-year-old account representative at a financial services company in Los Angeles, had always believed that “anyone who had a gun was a gun nut,” he said. “I really bought into the whole idea that the more people have guns … the more likely it is for people to start killing each other.”

But as the pandemic paralyzed the nation, Battle said, “I just saw how crazy people got.” He found himself conjuring the worst scenarios: “I was like, if my block has 10 houses, how many people in these houses have guns? If the food and water gets cut off, [if] supplies run out … what does that look like? Is this going to be a ‘Mad Max’ situation? Like ‘The Walking Dead,’ but not with the zombies?

“I was just, like, ‘Do I want to be the person who has a gun or doesn’t have a gun?”

Battle bought a Beretta 92FS, then added a Glock 34 pistol.

Still, he had reservations: “Being Black with a gun is a very high risk, a way higher risk than other races,” he said. “You are seen as a threat without a gun, and with a gun you are seen as a super threat.”

He kept imagining the scene if he were stopped by a White police officer.

“It’s still in my head, honestly, when I go to the gun range and I have my gun in my car,” he said. “If I get pulled over, and they ask, ‘Are there any weapons in the car?’ [and] I say there’s a gun, and then I hand in my registration, will they shoot me?”

But he’s enjoying the new world that guns opened to him — classes, an organization of Black gun owners, shooting competitions.

“Once I started being around guns more, and I kind of saw the culture and the environment, I’m falling in love,” he said.

In Battle’s family, guns were “not a good thing,” he said. “It kind of represented crime, especially for Black people. It’s just different for African Americans.”

But his family has accepted his decision, he said. His grandmother and two aunts came to the range with him and are considering returning to take lessons.

— Marc Fisher, Miranda Green, and Andrea Eger in ‘Fear on top of fear’: Why anti-gun Americans joined the wave of new gun owners

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

73 COMMENTS

  1. Nice that Jabril’s family is now associating guns with safety rather than crime. Joining a black gun owners group was likely a critical step in overcoming the stereotypes that had previously jaundiced his family’s views on gun ownership. Now, they continue on their journey of taking full responsibility for their own protection. Good for him! Good for his family! Good for the USA!!

    • If you aren’t eating your meatball sub while driving down the road and talking on the phone, then you have too much time on your hands.

        • Obviously being Black today did not disqualify Battle. However his concern for being Black with a Gun most likely stems from the many years of fear tactics used on Black Americans by the Gun Control military wing of the democRat Party know as the KKK.

          Let’s describe “fear.” There was an entire Black neighborhood burnt down in 1921 Tulsa following a Black man displaying a gun at a protest which he refused to surrender. That started a race war that resulted in many deaths and lots of destruction. Blacks were to stay ‘in line’ or else.

          There were Jim Crow Gun Control laws that put the fear of God in Blacks thinking about owning a gun and that level of fear of having a gun obviously has not just up and vanished and it has a ripple effect for average Black Americans like Battle.
          Nonetheless it is important for every gun owner to have their “papers” in order. Proof of insurance, driver’s license/plates/inspection sticker current and no beer cans in back seat, show some hands, etc. Get a ticket argue it in court, get harassed get an attorney.

          With all the racist and genocidal baggage attached to Gun Control it makes Gun Control the most despicable agenda today in America and ignorance of Gun Control is what propels it.
          When you see two bit media mouths and politicians, judges etc. talking Gun Control you are seeing sneaky gutless wonders carrying on the work of the KKK and Nazi SS. It is what it is.

          BTW dude…When it comes to driving you can either lead, follow or get the f out of the way.

        • Excellent point, I usually get out of the way, just to be polite.
          Road Rage can get you into a hemp of trouble. As can the 3 fingers stalute!

        • “I usually get out of the way”

          I don’t. if I do, half the time the frustration-maddened cannonball behind me is whipping into the next lane and accelerating to 120 just as I’m moving over, and then it’s MY fault. and besides why should I have to watch out for and dodge traffic that is BEHIND me? nope, I drive the speed limit, if you don’t like it then go around on your own time and effort.

    • if you read the article you’ll find that just because someone now has a gun doesn’t suddenly make them pro-gun….

  2. I would wager that many, if not all new gun owners envisioned scenes from The Walking Dead as they came to awareness that they should own a gun…or five.

  4. I’d bet the rate of gun ownership is greater than 39%. I think many “moderate” lefties own firearms, but do not say anything for fear of being ostracized within their social circle.

    • lot of weird views expressed in that article…many of them want a gun to protect themselves from a “Chauvin type” police officer…or when the “January 6” crowd comes rampaging down the street…liberals can be strange and delusional…and completely out of touch with reality as we all well know……

      • “liberals can be strange and delusional…and completely out of touch with reality as we all well know……”

        I think they are completely logical. Once the “deplorables” are disarmed eliminated, liberals will gladly turn in their firearms.

  5. Jabril’s family should try to come full circle and shoot with all races. After all, we are all Americans. Many white have extended a hand of friendship to blacks(maybe not gang members), so, just maybe, they should try a little, also.

    • I’ve never understood this whole “racism” thing, from my childhood all the way thru my life to today. It just doesn’t make sense to me. The issue is actually cultural on a macro scale, and ignorance on an individual level.

      In any case, glad to read another article about new gun owners.

      • The whole racism thing was on the way out. Normal people understood how terrible it was and believed in King’s dream. Then Obama and company realized the power it would give them if they brought it back in the 2010’s. Now, it’s all you hear about. It’s sad that I have to explain to my children that it wasn’t always like this.

        • Bush was still in office when Kanye accused him of hating black people. Obama may have stepped on the racism gas, but it was already well on the road.

        • ^^^THIS^^^
          Prior to Obama, race had been largely a non-issue for decades, according to numerous surveys with none dissenting.

        • “The whole racism thing was on the way out”

          no, it never was. most people simply hoped and pretended that the entire issue had been favorably resolved, that everything would just turn out ok. but it wasn’t, and it didn’t, and it can’t be (blacks as a whole have an average iq of 86 and simply cannot be absorbed into any civilization), and all the predicted consequences that were shouted down are now being felt. some blacks have succeeded in america, but most blacks, having been told that they are citizens too but having found themselves unable to comprehend and enter into american civilization, have festered in bitter resentment. on being told that “america is racist” (and that the constitution is racist, that history is racist, that math is racist), they readily believe it – because, for them, it is – and they are now ready to act on that belief and that reality. and their reaction is and will be to burn it all down, because only then can they be free of what it means to them and what shows them to be.

  6. ““Being Black with a gun is a very high risk, a way higher risk than other races,””

    Uh, that often depends quite a bit on with whom one decides to hang, one’s overall demeanor around others in the general public, one’s dress and a number of other factors.

    The Second Amendment is a God-given right to all human beings of every race, creed, color and gender and I’d be first to fight verbally and physically to defend that. It is not for me to pick and choose nor is it an option for others concerning my particular “armament”.

    On the other hand, overweight, overbearing, unshaven, coarse-talking caucasians in old, worn out BDUs dragging customized SKSs around in public make me as watchful, even as nervous, as any supposed gangsta. In the end, either we’re civilized, as proven by our daily actions, or we’re not. Right now, I still choose “civilization”.

    • apparently the “risk” comes from what they think will occur when confronted by a cop while armed…interesting how a recurring theme in that article paints police as more of a threat than their fellow blacks

  7. Politics and politicians can change overnight. But no single politician or party is going to undo the iron river of guns flowing in this nation created by barry and joe xiden.

    We should be grateful to them. They did a better job of normalizing guns than the NRA ever could.

  8. Still, he had reservations: “Being Black with a gun is a very high risk, a way higher risk than other races,” he said. “You are seen as a threat without a gun, and with a gun you are seen as a super threat.”

    Maybe blacks should consider just what it actually is that BLM stands for because it isn’t improving how black people are perceived.

    Then there is all the destruction from the left. Obama came to destroy America just as so many blacks go to abortion clinics to destroy black lives. Just what is it exactly that holds the black community to the democrat party? Blacks are seen as a threat because of what blacks do to themselves and everyone around them. From black on black crime to drug use in the home and fatherless families to 12 year olds becoming cop killers. While prominent black men that see this and publicly comment about it are quickly dismissed as ‘uncle toms’ and puppets of republicans if not getting their lives destroyed through meaningless accusations.

    “…being on the wrong end of gun violence.”

    You mean like the untold number of women that have their minds, bodies, and lives takin from them through rape?

    as if all that violence would never happen if every gun on the planet were to suddenly disappear!

    People have been killing eachother since LONG before humanity had guns. Violence is a part of living in this world. This world EXISTS in the first place because of violence. Being black has nothing to do with anything. Voting democrat will never change it.

    “According to this Washington Post article, the percentage of Americans who own guns has jumped from 32% to 39% in the past year.”

    This is completely absurd. There is no way WaPo can know this. There is no way for ANYONE to know this. The fact that so many on the left want gun registration is proof of it. They don’t know but desperately want to.

    “But as the pandemic paralyzed the nation, Battle said, “I just saw how crazy people got.” He found himself conjuring the worst scenarios: “I was like, if my block has 10 houses, how many people in these houses have guns? If the food and water gets cut off, [if] supplies run out … what does that look like? Is this going to be a ‘Mad Max’ situation? Like ‘The Walking Dead,’ but not with the zombies?”

    The pandemic did NOT paralyze the nation. What paralyzed the nation was the horrific response Washington had and the push by major media outlets to create and spread fear.

    Rather than allow yourself to be overwhelmed by baseless fear of who around you has guns, knowing people around you have guns is something to take comfort in. It’s when NO ONE around you has guns that allows for criminals to victimize. This is another twisted concept from a fear mongering left. You do not have to be a victim.

    • ” insant improving how black people are perceived .”
      BLM thing works both ways.
      Around here I used to be able to say “Howdy ” to people with African ancestry, now I’m being looked at like I’m a vampire. Open the door for the older lady, “Thankyou.”,,,Your Welcome.,,now she looks me up down , dont say a word and walks on thru. ?? That’s sad.

  9. “If I get pulled over, and they ask, ‘Are there any weapons in the car?’”
    You’re not required to answer that question. Be respectful, but decline. And do not, under any circumstances, consent to a search.

    • You beat me to it. I was going to say the same thing because that part of the article popped out at me as well. The only reason anyone should answer that is if they have a valid CCW permit and are required in that particular jurisdiction (of being pulled over) to declare or answer. Otherwise, proceed through the conversation only as necessary.

    • some states..Ohio, for example…require that you divulge the presence of a firearm in a vehicle at first contact….

      • If you are a concealed carry holder, perhaps. HOwever, if you are illegally possessing that firearm, not only should you not divulge its presence, you cannot be prosecuted for failing to do so. You have a 5th amendment right to refuse to incriminate yourself.

        That point is why gun registration laws are so pointless, BTW. The people who are most in need of regulation are exactly those who will not register, and who cannot be prosecuted for failing to register.

  10. “. . . the percentage of Americans who own guns has jumped from 32% to 39% in the past year.”

    Hmm. That’s a 22% increase in a single year. (39 – 32 = 7; 7 / 32 = .219) Such a jump is hard to believe; but who am I to doubt the Washington Post?

    We do know the percentage of gun owners is up; and, particularly among minorities and urban dwellers. But, what does this mean? That’s the real question facing us.

    Suppose (counter-factually) that we were observing a really large jump in gun-ownership rates in RED states, counties, precincts. That would NOT mean much. Before, 50% of voters were gun owners and now it’s 60%. That polity didn’t vote for gun-control before and it’s not much less likely to do so in the future. Moreover, subsequent growth spurts are unlikely inasmuch as the remaining field of potential converts shrank from 50% to 40%; how many more of these are likely to join the gun-ownership caucus? Would it make any difference in election outcomes?

    Contrast the foregoing with what might be occurring now.

    Suppose that we ARE observing a really large jump in gun-ownership rates in BLUE states, counties, precincts. Before, 10% of voters were gun owners and now it’s 12%. No, that’s NOT the right math.

    The 22% increase is a national average. The total numerator over the total denominator for all states combined. In the BLUE jurisdiction we are contemplating here the jump might be from 10% -> 20%; i.e., it has DOUBLED! (Or, 10% -> 15%. Pick any pair if values you wish.)

    The remaining number of potential future converts hasn’t changed much. 90% were not gun owners in the past, now only 80% remain as non-gun-owners; a reduction in the potential for growth of just 11%.

    Moreover, now the number of potential converts who are acquainted with one or more gun owners has probably doubled. These potential converts observe: ‘My friend/neighbor/relative just bought a gun, maybe I should consider doing so as well.’

    By the foregoing reasoning, the 22% figure may grossly UNDER-estimate the shift in sentiment IN the POLITIES that MATTER.

    Democrats are apt not to notice this phenomena, if it is really occurring. Confirmation bias will lead them to count the number of gun control signs at Democrat Party rallies being carried by precinct captains. They observe growth in support for gun-control; they aren’t noticing the long line of their constituents at gun shops; that’s not visible to them.

    Meanwhile, the rank and file are quietly undergoing a tectonic shift in sentiment. That which they eschewed in the past has turned into a vested interest. They don’t want their guns confiscated; nor do they want their right to acquire a gun taken away in the future. Instead, they want government to fund “butter” projects not “gun”-control projects.

    Eventually, this will manifest in the polls. In primary as well as general elections. Democrat candidates who espouse “butter” projects will gain voters while those who continue to advocate “gun”-control projects will suffer.

    How will this play out? The Progressive wing of the Democrat Party is too caught-up in the confirmation-bias phenomena to notice. Party apparatchiks, however, have been there and done that. They lost their T-shirts in subsequent elections.

    The Party apparatchiks know how to “do what’s necessary” to prevent disaster. If the ballot box in a general election can be stuffed then it’s easier still to stuff the box in a primary election. There will be no GOP poll watchers in relevant precincts to make a fuss.

    The outcome might be a lose-lose proposition for both gun-control and election rigging. Progressives, Democrats and Independents might all wake-up and realize that gun-control advocacy leads NOT to passing legislation; it leads to losing power. Failure to secure the ballot box leads not to control in the hands of the Proletariat, it leads to control by party apparatchiks.

    • “By the foregoing reasoning, the 22% figure may grossly UNDER-estimate the shift in sentiment IN the POLITIES that MATTER.”

      I think it’s more likely they are now admitting to other Leftists they are gun owners.

      I’ve never trusted the accuracy of ‘polls’ claiming so few of them are gun owners. I’m convinced a whole lot of them are gun owners ‘in the closet’, so to speak.

      And I seriously doubt any of them will change how they vote, since Leftists somehow think gun laws will only apply to those knuckle-dragging, sister-fornicating, racist Trumpsters… 🙂

    • Given that in may “blue” hives it is, for all practical purposes, impossible to find a gun store, in which buy make a purchase, you’re off base.

      What the info means is that EVERY household in the free states is armed. Though is unlikely there were many such two years ago.

  11. ‘had always believed that “anyone who had a gun was a gun nut,” he said. “I really bought into the whole idea that the more people have guns … the more likely it is for people to start killing each other.”’

    So he’s admitting that he was ignorant and prejudice.

    “He kept imagining the scene if he were stopped by a White police officer.”
    “I say there’s a gun, and then I hand in my registration, will they shoot me?”

    In other news, propaganda still works.

    “In Battle’s family, guns were “not a good thing,” he said. “It kind of represented crime, ESPECIALLY for Black people.”

    Battle’s family is not only prejudice toward gun owners and white cops, they’re prejudice toward black people with guns. Keep in mind that if he works for one of these woke corporations, then you are asked to be quiet so black people can talk and you can learn. I suppose pre-epiphany, he could have taught you how to be a racist just like him and his family.

    • Some concerns are well-founded.

      “The police dashcam video[34] shows that 40 seconds elapsed between when Yanez first started talking to Castile through the car window and when Yanez began shooting at him. According to the dashcam, after Yanez asked for Castile’s driver’s license and proof of insurance, Castile gave him his proof of insurance card, which Yanez appeared to glance at and tuck in his outer pocket. Castile then calmly informed Yanez, “Sir, I have to tell you that I do have a firearm on me.”[35] Quoting the Star Tribune description of the next 13 seconds of the video:

      Before Castile completed the sentence, Yanez interrupted and calmly replied, “OK,” and placed his right hand on the holster of his own holstered weapon. Yanez said, “Okay, don’t reach for it, then … don’t pull it out.” Castile responded, “I’m not pulling it out,” and Reynolds also said, “He’s not pulling it out.” Yanez repeated, raising his voice, “Don’t pull it out!” as he quickly pulled his own gun with his right hand and reached inside the driver’s window with his left hand. Reynolds screamed, “No!” Yanez removed his left arm from the car and fired seven shots in the direction of Castile in rapid succession. Reynolds yelled, “You just killed my boyfriend!” Castile moaned and said, “I wasn’t reaching for it.” Reynolds loudly said, “He wasn’t reaching for it.” Before she completed her sentence, Yanez again screamed, “Don’t pull it out!” Reynolds responded, “He wasn’t.” Yanez yelled, “Don’t move! Fuck!”[35]“

      “He kept imagining the scene if he were stopped by a White police officer.”
      “I say there’s a gun, and then I hand in my registration, will they shoot me?”

      Yes.

      • Mine too! I’m married to an actual black women. Most of y’all are clueless as is this article. There’s a LOT of legal black gun owner’s/cop’s and workers in my local gun shop’s. A black guy sold me my last gun in Mokena,ILL at Shoot Point Blank. Ditto Westforth in rural Gary,IN. Will some of these gun owner’s stop supporting dims and being BlackLootersMurdering? Maybe. It certainly help’s if yer not dressed like a gangbanger but chef don’t judge. Quit quoting MLK. They don’t care…

        • I work with a boatload of black people running the gammut from middle class American, to ghetto American, to immigrants from Africa and the Caribbean islands. I try to talk to everyone about guns whenever I can and try to take new people shooting any time they express any interest.

          I have noted the following phenomena;

          1) For a significant majority of middle and lower economic class blacks, guns in black hands do equal crime. This is the toughest nut to crack. Even when these people realize they need a way to protect themselves it is often impossible for them to overcome this association. They grew up with only thugs and white people having guns and they just can’t shake that idea.

          2) Almost all of them do believe they are at greater risk from police if they are armed. Even if you know the factual details of various police shootings of black men and explain exactly where and why in the interaction the reason to shoot occurred you can almost never disabuse them of the notion that they will get shot for almost anything, and especially if they have a gun.

          2.1) A good black friend of mine and I have discussed in detail the misadventures of his younger brother. Every time he tells me about an incident where the young man got sideways with police I can interrupt at some point and say “That is where it went wrong.” My friend still doesn’t think anything would have been different if the item I identify was altered. None of these incidents involved guns and no one was shot, thank God. But I just can’t convince him that a different handling of the situation on his brothers part would have made all the difference.

          3) The guns=crime trope is strongest in immigrants and middle class blacks. A lot of blacks from the hood already own and carry a gun if they are not prohibited. I see this a lot with single mothers who work multiple jobs. They almost all have a pistol and License To Carry. Especially the ones over 30.

          4) A disturbing proportion of black men are prohibited people. I have a lot of conversations with black men who are interested and even eager to learn and go to the range. Then we get to the magic question; Have you ever been convicted of a crime. “Naw, man, I just got arrested a few times.” “Or I just got ran in that one time.” Great. Were you charged with a crime? What was the disposition of your case? What happened? Most people (black or white) don’t even know. I was helping a white friend in Washington state with this last summer and he didn’t have a clue beyond knowing he had been arrested in California for DUI a few times in the 90’s. Sometimes I can look up in the courts portal. Sometimes I can’t. Once I know someone has been arrested I almost always have to tell them they need to consult at attorney to figure out if they are prohibited. That’s $100-$300 depending on how complicated their situation is, and that usually ends the entire thing because they don’t have the money or don’t want to spend it.

          4.1) In Pennsylvania this is serious. State police have been charging and prosecuting every unappealed background check denial since 2014. So if you decide to roll the dice by trying to buy a gun or get a License to Carry and it gets denied you are in a far worse situation that is going to be way more expensive.

          5) The black people I know who own guns and have their LTCFs are far fewer than those that don’t. And they all voted for Obama twice despite that. Even if they were registered Republicans or Libertarians. They mostly all think like we do about guns, gun rights, police shootings and black on black crime. But they all still voted for Obama twice.

        • With so many blacks growing up in “gun free zone’ public housing, the only people with guns really were the criminals. The law abiding residence weren’t allowed to defend themselves.

          Sadly many can’t bring themselves to think about having a gun for self-protection. And that really is government brainwashing. According to Eric Holder. And he supports it.

        • “…you can almost never disabuse them of the notion that they will get shot for almost anything…”

          In other news, propaganda still works.

          “The guns=crime trope is strongest in immigrants and middle class blacks.”

          Thankfully we can always counter this dumb argument because Vermont exists. Our biggest hurdle in getting through is that people aren’t taught how to think, they’re taught what to think. There’s a reason the scientific method has been deemed racist.

          2015 Brown University pamphlet:
          “As you might learn in your time at Brown University, research and academics have often emphasized and valued quantitative data, statistical information, and documentation through written word. Our goals through our research are to push back on this systematic oppression through valuing our personal experience, oral and creative histories and the celebration of collaboration and community.”

          Got that? Quantitative data, statistical information, and documentation is OPPRESSIVE!

        • “But I just can’t convince him that a different handling of the situation on his brothers part would have made all the difference”

          the nearly universal response by blacks when another black is shot down by police is “he didn’t do anything wrong!” and they sincerely believe this – for them, rape robbery murder and threatening a police officer is just normal life (“he’s jus’ did what he gots t’do!”). so probably when you’re telling your friend that “this was wrong or that was wrong” he doesn’t get the distinction between one action and another – to him the distinction sounds irrational and incomprehensible and thus not something he can navigate and accomplish.

        • “Quantitative data, statistical information, and documentation is OPPRESSIVE!”

          for them, it is. when you grasp that, that reality oppresses them, then what is coming becomes clear.

  13. interesting admission on their part…that attempts to restrict access to guns has actually increased demand for them…maybe the light bulb is actually starting to turn on…

  14. All you have to know about our changed politics:

    “Drawn to last summer’s protests against police violence, Savannah Grace found herself face-to-face with a camo-clad officer’s long gun. She’d always hated guns, but went out and got a Glock 45. […]
    “Other than her attitude toward guns, Grace’s politics haven’t changed, but she’s had to alter the way she thinks of herself: She now defines herself as a gun person ‘who hates gun people.’”
    —Marc Fisher, Miranda Green, Kelly Glass, and Andrea Eger, “‘Fear on top of fear’: Why anti-gun Americans joined the wave of new gun owners”, The Washington Post, 10 July 2021

    • “She now defines herself as a gun person ‘who hates gun people.’”

      yep, that’s exactly how most of them think. don’t get too excited about spreading gun ownership, these people are not on your side.

  15. Jabril still voted for Biden and other gun haters at lower governmental levels. Matters not, for now, that he is a new gun owner.

  17. When have leftists not been massive hypocrites? I see absolutely no reason why more of them owning guns means reduced support for gun control. And even if they become full blown 2A absolutists, so what? They won’t stop voting D so what does it matter?

    • “I see absolutely no reason why more of them owning guns means reduced support for gun control”

      it’s not about guns, it’s about who has them.

      “When have leftists not been massive hypocrites?”

      never. they’re highly logical and rational. what you’re missing is that they are morally self-centered – they are the good and the just and the righteous, and everyone else is an ignorant prole who need to be manipulated into doing the right thing. so you hear their lies and manipulation and think “these people don’t know what they’re talking about”, and they just say “you’re’ ignorant” – because if fact you are indeed ignorant of what they’re doing and what their goal is.

  18. The new, mostly Liberal democrat gun owners, will not be voting for a progun republican. And there are no progun democrats in office, in numbers large enough to support new pro-freedom legislation.

    The Blue states are on there own.

  19. @ant7

    “…for them, rape robbery murder and threatening a police officer is just normal life (“he’s jus’ did what he gots t’do!”). so probably when you’re telling your friend that “this was wrong or that was wrong” he doesn’t get the distinction between one action and another…”

    The above is enlightening. Had to read through a coupla times to “get it” (I think).
    Doing normal isn’t “wrong”, no matter what the “normal” thing is. If crime is a “normal” part of life, then being shot (or whatever) in commission of a crime is abnormal, unreasonable; thus the “dindonuffin” claim is a reaction to punishment for doing “normal” stuff. “Normal” becomes, right, correct, no matter the actions covered by “normal”.

    You provided better insight into cultural differences than I’ve ever seen.

    And, no, understanding something is not equivalent to endorsement.

  20. It should take a lot of the steam out of the liberal anti-gun crowd to have millions of them become legal gun owners. It will REALLY help for them to go through the process of background checks, training, registering their gun (in some states), a separate ammo card in some states, gun locks, safety classes. Many will attempt to get a concealed carry permit, with all that entails, especially in many blue cities and states that make it extra difficult. They might begin to see that LEGAL gun owners are pretty thoroughly screened and monitored. They might even discover the gun folks they meet along the way are friendly and reasonable people.

    • IMO, the best thing happening is that liberals are finding out that the Leftist BS about easy gun ownership promotes murder is just that, BS. The easier ability to obtain a firearm is in the safer states. Where murder rates are high, the majority if not all have difficult procedures for buying a firearm. Baltimore is high in gun deaths, but purchasing a handgun requires a permit, a BG check, safety training, limits on what can be bought and up to 14 days before you can receive the handgun. The Dems want to apply the same rules to long guns/shotguns in MD although long guns are a minor issue in shootings; knives are used much more in murders so outlaw them? Chicago and NYC have worse regulations.

  21. It would appear to me after watching video of almost every police shooting in recent years, that all one has to do to keep from being shot is to obey police orders. You don’t run, you don’t fight, you certainly don’t pull a weapon on the police. Sit down and do what you’re told. Period. George Floyd would be alive today if he had just sat down in the back of the squad car and not acting insane. The other person in his car obeyed orders and walked away alive. Many forget that little detail.

    • “George Floyd would be alive today if he had just sat down in the back of the squad car and not acting insane.”

      Now, you are blaming the victim. A citizen has the unalienable right to react to oppression in any way that pleases/satisfies the citizen. Restricting that right is physical violence itself. Indeed, anything that infringes on the right of people to feel good is violence in action. This is 2021; if LE/police/authorities cannot talk soothingly and at the same time convince a person to stop causing trouble, those authorities should be dismissed and prohibited from holding any position of trust ever again.

      Viva Max !
      Viva Zapata !
      Viva Che !
      Viva Las Vegas !
      Free the internet !
      Free the whales !
      Free Slick Willie’s willie !
      Workers of the world untie !

      • “George Floyd would be alive today if he had just sat down in the back of the squad car and not acting insane.”

        Floyd would probably be alive today if he hadn’t taken a potentially lethal dosage of fentanyl, along with a significant quantity of meth. His symptoms were just what you would expect of that mixture. The cops were just faked out, because they weren’t looking fir a combination.

        • “Floyd would probably be alive today if he hadn’t taken a potentially lethal dosage of fentanyl, along with a significant quantity of meth.”

          I think you missed it altogether.

          There was a list of clues.

  22. @Carlos T

    “I’m a gun owner, but…”

    And people say punctuation is no longer important.

  23. ‘But when she’s going to a protest where she expects to be near “right-wing gun owners,” she carries openly, “just to be, like, ‘Hey, we both have these, let’s keep our distance.’’

    Yup. I feel the same way about “left wing non-gun owners.” Knives, rebar, and rocks are deadly too. My gun protects me from those violent left-wingers.

    ‘”Other than her attitude toward guns, Grace’s politics haven’t changed, but she’s had to alter the way she thinks of herself: She now defines herself as a gun person “who hates gun people.”’

    That’s how I feel about left-wing anti-gun people, except I don’t “hate” them. I just think they’re stupid.

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