• bestagon@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    0
    ·
    11 days ago

    But we’re not talking specifically about protecting children here, I’d agree with you that less guns are better to those ends. For fighting fascism though? It took a lot of gun deaths to unseat Hitler and Mussolini

    • Doomsider@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      0
      ·
      11 days ago

      Sure in a hypothetical alternate reality where the only way to defeat evil is to shoot it. Unfortunately we live in the real world and it just means more dead people.

      • bestagon@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        0
        ·
        11 days ago

        Maybe I’m feeling cornered, vulnerable, angry, as is often the case with these things. But how do you suggest we protect ourselves and our allies from an evil that strengthens itself off of your sickness, your hunger, your homelessness, and has absolutely no qualms about meeting you with violence and coming up with an excuse later?

        • Doomsider@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          0
          ·
          11 days ago

          I would not suggest purchasing a gun if you are feeling cornered, vulnerable, and angry. Fear is the mind killer.

          I would suggest reaching out to others, talking, getting political, and organizing.

          • bamboo@lemm.ee
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            0
            ·
            11 days ago

            Bringing a good argument to a gunfight is unfortunately not a winning strategy. When the fascists have no qualms shooting you simply for being yourself, no amount of peaceful organizing is going to stop them. Peaceful protests and organizing only work because they have the implicit threat of violence if the demands are not met.

            • Doomsider@lemmy.world
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              0
              ·
              edit-2
              11 days ago

              Yeah because that is what Martin Luther King Jr. would have wanted. We also have to ignore all the peaceful demonstrations throughout history to believe your line of reasoning.

              I totally get you live in a fantasy world where moar guns are the only solution. I guess the good guys just magically kill the bad guys. Glad we got that all worked out.

                • Doomsider@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  11 days ago

                  “If the Negro succumbs to the temptation of using violence in his struggle for justice, unborn generations will be the recipients of a long and desolate night of bitterness, and his chief legacy to the future will be an endless rain of meaningless chaos.”

                  I heard his words and understood the significance. You pretend he would support a literal genocide on the American people through gun violence. It is sickening really.

              • frezik@midwest.social
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                0
                ·
                edit-2
                11 days ago

                Would you like to investigate what the Black Panthers did? The number of times they shot their guns in anger is very small, but having guns was integral to their strategy of protecting the rights of black people being harassed by police. They were so effective that they changed to rules to prevent them from using guns the way they did. There were little more than 100 Black Panthers around at the time.

                Perhaps you’d like to have a broader view of history beyond peaceful protests? Peaceful and violent means of protest rarely exist alone, and are rarely effective alone.

                • Doomsider@lemmy.world
                  link
                  fedilink
                  arrow-up
                  0
                  ·
                  edit-2
                  11 days ago

                  India would like a word. I have a very broad view. The difference is people don’t always have to murder each other. In fact, murdering each other rarely brings about the kind a change we need in our society.

                  On today, the day we celebrate MLK Jr. maybe you could give peace a fucking chance. Tomorrow you can go back to being murderous gun nutter.

                  • frezik@midwest.social
                    link
                    fedilink
                    arrow-up
                    0
                    ·
                    edit-2
                    11 days ago

                    There were violent groups working for India’s independence against the British.

                    Which brings me to this: https://cup.columbia.edu/book/why-civil-resistance-works/9780231156837

                    This book sometimes gets framed as “this proves non-violent protest is always better”, but its text is far more nuanced than that. For any peaceful group that succeeds, you can find a more violent group working for the same goals. This is so consistent that making an academic case that peaceful protest works in isolation is an impossible task. For MLK, it was groups like the Black Panthers. For Gandhi, it was the Indian National Army.

                    Fascists would very much like it if you swallowed the idea that peaceful protest on its own is sufficient.

                    On today, the day we celebrate MLK Jr. maybe you could give peace a fucking chance.

                    So if we come back tomorrow, do we get to argue without this shield around bad facts?