# Sigh...I guess I joined the gun culture...and it pisses me off **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 29, 2022, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973 "2022-10-29T18:14:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mundane_super_hero/32/6304_2.png) [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mundane_Super_Hero)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/81 "2022-10-31T13:56:07Z")
I think I saw a video once of a guy named Paul Harrell talking about self defense and ‘accessories’. His POV was that hopefully nothing bad will ever happen and hopefully you’ll never have use the item to put down someone attacking you. That said, if you do, you have to realistically expect some processes will take place. The police will come and take the gun. A prosecutor will get involved as will a judge and possibly a grand jury while your gun sits on an evidence table for everyone to look at. Now, do you want them to see a plain old gun, something that looks like your Grandfather’s hand me down? Something that looks non-threatening and ‘community normal’? Or do you want them to see a gun with all of these bangs and whistles and tactical accessory attachments that make you seem (to them) to be a Junior Commando Wannabee, possibly a head case, and possibly a continued threat to the community? It may not seem fair to you, but yes you will be judged by appearances… and that judgement may decide if you’ll be charged and tried for a crime or not. He makes a very compelling argument. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/82 "2022-10-31T14:08:22Z")
A typical .22LR precision target pistol looks like this [![](https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=820x10000:format=jpg/path/s1f11b3ec53c1c582/image/i4bf6c570272117d8/version/1551864424/image.jpg) ](https://image.jimcdn.com/app/cms/image/transf/dimension=820x10000:format=jpg/path/s1f11b3ec53c1c582/image/i4bf6c570272117d8/version/1551864424/image.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/83 "2022-10-31T14:21:43Z")
Oh God. I like you! ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/84 "2022-10-31T14:30:01Z")
> [@Mundane\_Super\_Hero](#): > > Or do you want them to see a gun with all of these bangs and whistles and tactical accessory attachments that make you seem (to them) to be a Junior Commando Wannabee, possibly a head case, and possibly a continued threat to the community? That’s a very good point IMHO. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/85 "2022-10-31T14:32:49Z")
> [@DPRK](#): > > A typical .22LR precision target pistol looks like this And that’s exactly what I would expect. I bet some jurors though would see it differently… ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/86 "2022-10-31T14:46:21Z")
> [@wolfpup](#): > > This conversation is oddly uncharacteristic of the Pit _you … you … you — **not assholes**!!!_ ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/87 "2022-10-31T14:46:38Z")
> [@ExTank](#): > > But then I was told I was a Nazi, a Klansman, a Murderer (of Bambi, no less!), just because I lived in a rural area and owned guns. No you weren’t. You heard someone criticizing your choices and engaged in typical conservative moral reasoning of “by disagreeing with me, they’re basically calling me a Nazi, so I’d better become a Nazi to protect myself.” In other words, the soft-headed childish posturing of someone who claims no agency over their own actions. > [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > FUCK YOU REPUBLICANS! Fuck you you god damned nutjobs. I would have been content to live my whole life without the possibility of shooting, or heaven forbid, killing someone. This is something I really, really don’t want to do. You too. Grow up and own your shit. If you claim you want to protect yourself because MAGAs are more dangerous than ever, fine. Make that affirmative choice. I wouldn’t disagree, or at least not very strongly. But when you say “Republicans made me do this evil thing that I didn’t want to do…” well, congratulations, you’re officially no different than they are. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/88 "2022-10-31T14:55:14Z")
Sooo…Republicans DIDN’T cause me to do this action? I also take issue with your ‘high horse’ SEEE! I YELL AT BOTH SIDES! SEE HOW RATIONAL AND WONDERFUL I AM? I feel really good about myself! FUCK your supposed high-horse morality. People like you with your ‘both-sidism’ are a bane on society today. {There…a post fit for the Pit} ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/89 "2022-10-31T15:06:35Z")
I have to ask, what’s the difference between a 3000 psi air rifle, and a straight up 22 long rifle? Both are pushing 900-1200 fps with the same diameter projectile, even if the pellet is lighter. Seems like quibbling about what is and isn’t a gun for legal purposes. (i.e. the law says you can’t have a rifle, but you can have an “air gun”, so they make one that’s essentially a rifle for all intents and purposes.) ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/90 "2022-10-31T15:18:55Z")
Oh, not to mind. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/91 "2022-10-31T15:19:20Z")
The difference is the weight of the projectile and the ft/lbs of energy a heavier projectile will exert. For instance, I use a 2x8 as my backstop. I staple targets to it for the air rifle. It penetrates the wood about 3/8’s of an inch. A .22 lr would likely go right through it. The difference for my self is that the air rifle is pretty much silent, so I can shoot in my own ‘yard’ (I have 2 acres, and no neighbors. Of course you still treat it as you would any fire arm. My 2 acres backs up to forest service land, and we get hikers wandering around. I don’t want to scare them or ruin their fun with a regular fire arm. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/92 "2022-10-31T15:26:52Z")
You forgot: > **['Light 'em up': Minneapolis officers seen firing paint rounds at people on...](https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/02/george-floyd-protest-minneapolis-cops-shoot-paint-people-porch/3123781001/)** > > A video shows Minneapolis police shooting people sitting on their porch over the weekend when there was a curfew. > **[On the streets of Washington, pleas for change met with batons and rubber...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-minneapolis-police-washingtondc-idUSKBN2392VX)** > > They had come out by the hundreds on the streets of the U.S. capital to protest racism and police brutality. With a curfew fast approaching, they had only a few hours to make their voices heard. > **[Fractured skulls, lost eyes: Police break their own rules when shooting...](https://www.usatoday.com/in-depth/news/nation/2020/06/19/police-break-rules-shooting-protesters-rubber-bullets-less-lethal-projectiles/3211421001/)** > > Dozens of demonstrators have been seriously injured when law enforcement shot them with rubber bullets and other “less lethal” projectiles. ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/93 "2022-10-31T15:31:40Z")
> [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > Sooo…Republicans DIDN’T cause me to do this action? Adults make their own decisions. “Look what you made me do” is something that’s only said by children, bullies, and domestic abusers. Be a grown-up. > [@BlinkingDuck](#): > > FUCK your supposed high-horse morality. People like you with your ‘both-sidism’ are a bane on society today. Moron. “Both-sides-ism” is when you declare that bad behavior is OK because the other side is doing it too. I’m saying the opposite here - bad behavior is bad behavior, it doesn’t matter what the other side is doing. Grow up. ---
**Author:** ![Folacin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/folacin/32/3195_2.png) [@Folacin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Folacin)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/94 "2022-10-31T15:36:17Z")
> [@enipla](#): > > Go to your room, now. Do they get to take the ribbed pistol with them? ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/95 "2022-10-31T15:38:05Z")
> [@HMS\_Irruncible](#): > > Adults make their own decisions. “Look what you made me do” is something that’s only said by children, bullies, and domestic abusers. Be a grown-up. “Just because someone said to your face they were literally ready to willingly murder you doesn’t mean it’s their fault you decided to prepare to defend yourself”. Technically true, but the comparison to domestic abusers is kind of shitty, given that it’s more like the abused party acting in self-defense. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/96 "2022-10-31T15:54:06Z")
Owning and enjoying firearms and maybe having one in the house just in case is sort of gun culture. Joining the NRA and opposing any form of reasonable gun control and carrying eight sidearms with you when you go to Quiznos is GUN CULTURE. The OP is the former, not the latter. > [@wolfpup](#): > > But from a gun violence standpoint, statistically the presence of a gun makes you less safe, not safer. This is true ON AVERAGE. As the old joke goes, a statistician will tell you if one leg is on fire and the other is in a block of ice, on average you’re comfortable. The OP is an individual case, not an average. You do not know, and from what I can tell haven’t even put any thought at all into, whether the OP is safer with or without a gun. Absent relevant evidence, whether the OP’s decision is rational is something you have zero knowledge of. The average household being less safe with a firearm includes many, many people who are rather less responsible sounding and vastly more reckless than the OP likely is, the sort of idiots who have a loaded and chambered weapon in their car where the kids can reach it, or who don’t bother taking safety classes and so fiddle around with a gun they “thought was unloaded,” or any number of idiocies. You also don’t know what neighborhood the OP lives in, what other specific or general threats they may know of, how they plan to store and secure the weapon, whether the OP is violent or insane, and a variety of other factors. > [@wolfpup](#): > > If you want a skill challenge related to target shooting, you could try a pellet gun and have far less risk of killing someone and proliferating lethal weapons. Or archery. Yes, or they could be responsible gun owners. You don’t know the OP. Archery, incidentally, is as different from shooting as volleyball and squash. ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/97 "2022-10-31T15:54:07Z")
> [@Folacin](#): > > Do they get to take the ribbed pistol with them? I think I remember a post some years ago in a gun news thread here, where some idiot shot herself by masturbating with a pistol. All I’m saying is, be careful. ---
**Author:** ![Atamasama](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/atamasama/32/12961_2.png) [@Atamasama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Atamasama)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/98 "2022-10-31T16:08:17Z")
The ribbed gun is naked, 'cause we got a right to bare arms. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/99 "2022-10-31T16:59:28Z")
So, I go to your wife and say I am going to give her a beat down. YOU step in and confront me. Why…you are just as bad as me! Your pleas of ‘he made me confront him!’ fall on deaf ears. You tell me to grow up. I say you should turn that mirror around. Sometimes one side is wrong. Your trying to be cool with your ‘bothsideism’ and feel good about your ‘maturity’ could likely be the immature one? Be a grown up and look critically at yourself and stop trying to look like the rational and cool one by insulting both sides. You may fool some but to most you look like a clown. ---
**Author:** ![BlinkingDuck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/eada6e/32.png) [@BlinkingDuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlinkingDuck)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2022, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973/100 "2022-10-31T17:06:17Z")
Please tell me you are continuing on with the joke. Unfortunately, I think your story might be real ☹ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sigh-i-guess-i-joined-the-gun-culture-and-it-pisses-me-off/973973.md?page=6)