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Many Americans agree and are stocking up on weapons after the country's worst mass shooting in three years. Gun retailers are reporting surging sales, with customers saying they want to keep handguns and rifles at hand for self-defense in the event of another attack.
"Everyone is reporting up, every store, every salesman, every distributor," said Ray Peters, manager of Range, Guns & Safes, a company that sells firearms and safes in Atlanta with an indoor firing range. "People are more aware of the need to protect themselves."
[...] Gun sales were already on the rise this year. On Black Friday, the popular shopping day on Nov. 27 after the U.S. Thanksgiving Day holiday, a total of 185,345 applicants were processed through the FBI's National Instant Criminal Background Check System, a 5.5 percent increase from the year before.
The Pew Research Center found last December that 57 percent of Americans say they believe owning a gun helps protect people from crime, up from 48 percent in 2012. The rest said owning a gun would put personal safety at risk.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday December 12 2015, @08:47AM
There's a lot of words I'd use for what's happening, and a lot of them are derogatory, but I don't know if cowardly is really one of them in this instance.
I just found out that my grandparents are leaving me the antique family firearms. A lot of that is centered around the fact that I'm the only one who lives in a state that won't make this a big deal and I'm the least likely to immediately go fence them for drug money. I don't honestly know how I feel about it. Most of them can't fire modern ammo, so they're not very useful from a practical point of view and I don't really have a strong opinion about personally owning weapons myself. Tell me internet, how should I feel?
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 2) by Zz9zZ on Saturday December 12 2015, @09:00AM
Ashamed! How dare you harbor weapons of death, even if they have no effective ammo! But really, feel honored to be given a set of treasured items. The whole "big deal" is just another way to keep people afraid, THE TERRORISTS ARE RIGHT NEXT TO YOU! Which in some sense they are, but freaking out about it does little good. All the people buying weapons, how much good will it do them at the grocery store or coffee shop where they are not allowed to carry them? At least I don't think Cali has concealed carry... and even if it did what % would apply for it and actually carry their weapon daily?
Stupid.
The better solution is for everyone to grow a backbone like people have done on airlines and just mob the asshole shooting a place up. People will get shot, probably some die, but it will send a message to anyone trying that shit out. They will get hammered down, there will be no escape, and the jerkoff will be lucky to stay alive while being disarmed. Suddenly the idea of being some vessel of vengeance will be less appealing when they know that everyone around them will lay the smack down. Shoot a few people, then its curtains which may be opened to a long long LONG public shaming.
Wanna be a real protester? Go the buddhist monk route.... People take you more seriously when you calmly light YOURSELF on fire...
~Tilting at windmills~
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday December 12 2015, @09:06AM
Well, I'm pretty sure I could hand load rounds for it. I have zero problems with it really, but it is strange to me that France, of all the places, basically announces they're going to war over this, and we Chamberlain it and the internet gets edgy over the fact that people have a different opinion.
For what it's worth, I was genuinely impressed with how France handled their situation. I've never really subscribed to the strong sense of fear that appears to be a thing in this country, but this bullshit does need to be put down hard when it actually happens.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @01:12PM
Of course you meant continued being at war - France was bombing ISIS already. The terrorist attack was a response. Or maybe they just hate us for our freedoms?
French planes have carried out air strikes on Islamic State (Isis) targets in Iraq.
Less than 24 hours after President François Hollande announced he had approved a request from the government in Baghdad for air support, at least two French Rafale planes attacked the insurgents' positions.
A statement from Hollande's office read: "This morning, at 9.40am, our Rafale aircraft carried out a first attack against a logistics centre of the terrorist organisation Daesh [Isis] in the north-east of Iraq. The target was hit and entirely destroyed. Other operations will be carried out in the days to come."
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/19/france-bombs-isis-depot-iraq-islamic-state [theguardian.com]
(Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:38AM
For what it's worth, I was genuinely impressed with how France handled their situation. I've never really subscribed to the strong sense of fear that appears to be a thing in this country, but this bullshit does need to be put down hard when it actually happens.
The difference is that the attack in France was apparently planned and carried out by members connected to ISIS, while the San Bernardino attack was carried out by a couple of unaffiliated deluded idiots.
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @09:05AM
Be afraid! Be very afraid! Avoid smokeless powder in "damascus welded" shotgun barrels. Other than that, they should function just fine. The point is, you are not acquiring weapons because you are peeing your pants that ISIS might attack you next. And they probably will. Happened with me. I was worried about Tiger attacks, so this guy sold me a magic stone that prevents Tiger attacks. Ever since I started carrying "snuggums" every day as part of my everyday tactical carry, I have not once been attacked by a Tiger. So I suggest you go get an anti-Tiger attack rock. The Assault Anti-Tiger Attack Rocks are better, since they are painted non-reflective black, which helps keep off the Tigers, and they have the capability to take extended Anti-Tiger Magazines, which is more effective in the event of a multiple Tiger incident. And of course, the "Tactical" model comes with bayonet lugs, for when Tiger attacks get real.
The price of freedom is eternal paranoia.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday December 12 2015, @09:17AM
Well, there were a couple I think, but the one I'm aware of was a hammerless... I want to say, .38 revolver that came from some 100-125 years ago. A relative worked as a railway agent and left that along with a pocketwatch that also came with the job. The watch is broken, and I have it now. Been meaning to get it repaired, but I'm an unreliable asshole and I don't want it to go any further away from me than some place I can show up in person and get in someone's face about it, and there's not many REAL watch repair places in St. Louis, which is a little surprising.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Francis on Saturday December 12 2015, @10:29AM
I'd definitely call it cowardly. It's one thing to start packing a sidearm in response to a specific threat and quite another to start packing because there's a possibility that somebody else will have one and use it for violent purposes.
A large part of why these sorts of crimes have become so common is because the country is awash with weapons that have no legitimate peaceful use. Most of these weapons are not ones that are used for hunting, they're ones that are designed and intended to be used on other people. People bring them into their own homes where they may or may not be adequately secured and a sufficient number of them wind up in the hands of people that shouldn't have them.
If you've been paying any attention at all, the argument against fixing the gun violence problem is mostly based upon unjustifiable fear. There's a ton of fear about rare events like the CA terrorist mass murder. Whereas the more justified fear of the much more common gun related deaths gets largely ignored. Suicide and just regular murder are much more common problems than terrorism and mass murder are, but that's not where the focus is.
When it comes down to it, most of the people running around armed shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a firearm as they're already paranoid and easily frightened. Apart from an actual terrorist or mentally ill person, it's hard for me to come up with anybody that I'd be less comfortable have armed as they're already running low on judgment and critical reasoning skills.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @11:21AM
I know three people who have used handguns to protect themselves from attackers (muggers, possibly rapist in one case). None of them had to actually fire their weapons; just showing that they were able to defend themselves caused their attackers to flee.
None of the three reported the incidents to the police, since they lived in urban areas that ignore the Constitutional Right to keep and bear arms. I suspect that most such incidents never make it in to the statistics.
The anti-gun lobby would have, if they had been able, forced all three to just put up with being mugged, raped and possibly murdered.
(Score: 2) by mhajicek on Saturday December 12 2015, @05:48PM
Oh, but obviously they were cowards to be prepared to defend themselves. /s
The spacelike surfaces of time foliations can have a cusp at the surface of discontinuity. - P. Hajicek
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @06:07PM
If you have time to show of a gun you have time to stab the with a knife.
(Score: 2) by jmorris on Saturday December 12 2015, @10:23PM
There you go, demonstrating your ageist, ableist, male privilege. The great thing about the modern firearm is it the single greatest contributor to equality ever invented. I'd even go so far as to say there would have never even been a general movement to civil rights and equality for all without it. Without the gun you have the strong who do as they will and the weak who must obey. At best you have codes of chivalry to encourage the strong to protect the weak but that doesn't lead to equality.
(Score: 2) by Fnord666 on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:57AM
God made men, but Samuel Colt made them equal.
(Score: 2) by jdavidb on Saturday December 12 2015, @02:29PM
the argument against fixing the gun violence problem is mostly based upon unjustifiable fear
The problem is that if there is any entity to which we all have to justify ourselves, then we are all in extreme danger. The danger posed by such a situation is far, far worse than the danger posed by gun violence.
ⓋⒶ☮✝🕊 Secession is the right of all sentient beings
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @10:24PM
I take it you don't think much of the courts or the rule of law.
Says you.
(Score: 0, Flamebait) by Ethanol-fueled on Saturday December 12 2015, @06:28PM
Look -
People don't buy guns because they are afraid of terrorist threats.
They buy them before hysterical gun-grabbers and Democrat fools in government make guns and ammo more expensive and difficult to get.
This is why gun-grabbing sissy Whites and fifth-columnist Whites within the Democrat party are indirectly making more and more people gun-owners.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @10:38PM
I might agree with you except that gun and ammo sales always seem to spike immediately after some sort of mass shooting or terrorist incident. That suggests to me that this is largely driven by hysteria over terrorism.
And this assertion is in direct contradiction to the facts. Despite calls by the President on down for more gun control there is really no meaningful legislation on the horizon. And, if I recall correctly, the last time lawmakers in Colorado even tried for modest reform, they were thanked for their efforts by recall elections which removed them from office.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Ethanol-fueled on Sunday December 13 2015, @12:27AM
" That suggests to me that this is largely driven by hysteria over terrorism. "
It happens after every mass-shooting, like Sandy Hook, which wasn't considered "terrorism." There may be a small percentage of people who buy out of terrorism or social unrest fears but the real reason most people buy is because everytime there's a mass-shooting the likelihood of increasing the difficulty of buying weapons and ammo increases, legislated or not, one reason of which is because there's a lot of panic-buying with ammo which of course drives up its cost.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 12 2015, @07:45PM
You don't just "fix" people. People are afraid, you don't "fix" the fear. That's why I work in the physical world, and not the psycho-babble world. I can measure, cut, weld, nail, bolt, or otherwise "fix" things. Nothing gets measurably "fixed" in the psycho world. And, if anyone were to try to "fix" me, I would get very belligerent about it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @09:47PM
We've been wishing Jews a "Merry Christmas" for about 2000 years. They don't shoot, bomb, or behead us in response.
Apparently you've never heard of the Jewish Defense League (JDL), an american domestic terror group that's killed 7 people among many attacks and were stopped from bombing california congressman Darrel Issa. [latimes.com]
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 12 2015, @10:12PM
So, I read your article, expecting to find that one or more Jews had attacked Christians. That's not what I find, at all. I find that a couple Jews plotted to blow up a mosque, and to kill a couple other fellow Jews, in a bid for political supremacy.
My quote states that Jews don't kill Christians for such inoffensive bullshit as wishing them a 'Merry Christmas'.
"killed 7 people among many attacks"
Muslims kill dozens of people with every attaack. Well, except those two incompetent boobs who came to Texas to stage an attack. They didn't kill anyone at all, if I recall correctly. Damn - sounds like a good reason for people to be armed. Those two jihadists met an armed man, and they died.
EVERYONE!! GET A WEAPON!! GET 'EM QUICK BEFORE THEY'RE ALL CONFISCATED BY THE PROGRESSIVE LEFT!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday December 12 2015, @10:20PM
My quote states that Jews don't kill Christians for such inoffensive bullshit as wishing them a 'Merry Christmas'.
And neither have any muslims. But consistently applied logic is not your forte so you go ahead and take a gimme on that! Hole in one for you!
(Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Saturday December 12 2015, @10:55PM
Muslims will kill you for being gay.
http://www.cp24.com/world/islamic-state-executes-gays-in-syria-to-demonstrate-ideological-purity-1.2682899 [cp24.com]
Muslims will kill you for going to church.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/muslim.militants.burning.of.churches.persecution.of.christians.in.indonesia.spurred.by.imams.jihad.order/70601.htm [christiantoday.com]
Muslims will kill you for going to school.
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/04/asia/afghanistan-schoolgirls-acid-attack/ [cnn.com]
Muslims will kill you for worshipping the wrong god.
http://www.torontosun.com/2015/12/11/yazidis-face-genocide-at-hands-of-islamic-state [torontosun.com]
Muslims will kill you for not worshipping any god.
https://news.vice.com/article/trapped-between-murder-and-repression-life-as-an-atheist-blogger-in-bangladesh [vice.com]
Muslims will kill you for celebrating Christmas.
http://www.todayonline.com/world/asia/1500-police-officers-guard-indonesian-churches-during-holidays [todayonline.com]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @12:17AM
And Christians will do all those things too. [wikipedia.org]
Right? If one christian did it, then all christians will do it because they are christian right? That is how it works, isn't it?
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @02:17AM
Christians will kill you for being gay.
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-23331832 [bbc.com]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2010/oct/21/ugandan-paper-gay-people-hanged [theguardian.com]
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/jan/27/ugandan-gay-rights-activist-murdered [theguardian.com]
Christians will kill you for going to mosque.
http://www.ibtimes.com/nigerian-christians-attack-mosque-can-country-divided-stand-393688 [ibtimes.com]
http://www.globalpost.com/article/6618021/2015/07/17/violent-christian-mob-attack-muslims-doing-eid-prayer-indonesias-papua [globalpost.com]
Christians will kill you for going to school.
http://articles.latimes.com/1988-06-29/news/mn-5071_1_injures-bombing-bus [latimes.com]
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2009/04/30/1361s480281.htm [english.cri.cn]
Christians will kill you for going to a night club and the olympics
http://www.cnn.com/2012/12/06/us/eric-robert-rudolph---fast-facts/ [cnn.com]
Christians will kill you for worshiping the wrong god.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/africa/tens-of-thousands-of-muslims-flee-christian-militias-in-central-african-republic/2014/02/07/5a1adbb2-9032-11e3-84e1-27626c5ef5fb_story.html [washingtonpost.com]
http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2004/mayweb-only/5-3-32.0.html [christianitytoday.com]
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/17/opinion/a-preventable-massacre.html [nytimes.com]
http://news.rediff.com/column/2010/may/17/delhi-sleeps-while-manipur-burns.htm [rediff.com]
Christians will kill you for not worshipping any god.
https://web.archive.org/web/20140714230115/http://www.humanite.fr/node/4317 [archive.org]
Christians will kill you for celebrating Christmas.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2009/01/17/dr-congo-lra-slaughters-620-christmas-massacres [hrw.org]
What's the point of all this?
Religion doesn't kill people, people kill people.
(Score: 2) by Ezber Bozmak on Sunday December 13 2015, @02:48AM
Christians torture and kill thousands of pre-teens for money
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2007/dec/09/tracymcveigh.theobserver [theguardian.com]
It doesn't get any more despicable than that.
Game Over Man. Game Fucking Over.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 13 2015, @07:02AM
Nigeria, man. Nigeria. Most of those people are less Christian than the Mexicans, who worship two different sets of saints. They keep the Christian saints in the front room, and they keep the old Azteca death cult idols in the back room. Some Mexicans don't even keep their death cult idols in the back room, they show their idols openly. But, Nigeria. EVERYONE worships their little idols in the open.
No, Nigeria isn't Christian. Nor are those "evangelical preachers" Christian.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @02:34PM
Bad christians are not real christians, but bad muslims are real muslims.
No true scotsman to the rescue!
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 13 2015, @02:44PM
Nigeria. Much of Africa is composed of superstitious tribals. Nothing in Christianity suggests that children are evil, possessed, or demonic. That kind of crap comes straight out of tribal animist religions. You're confusing Christianity with other religions. Could that be, perhaps, because you are ignorant of religion? Is religion just some bogeyman, on which you can blame all the world's ills?
I've tried to make it clear, even IF all religions are wrong, all religions are not created the same. You should really take a class on comparative religion.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:11PM
> That kind of crap comes straight out of tribal animist religions.
What? You think Christianity doesn't have a long history with witchcraft? Never heard of the salem witch trials?
You should take a course in logic. You keep pounding that scotsman fallacy.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:19PM
Christianity is ANTI-witchcraft. Sacrificing babies for whatever purpose is more akin to paganism and witch craft than it is to Christianity. The more you say, the more obvious that you really know nothing about religion. You are incapable of determining where various ritualistic practices came from, making you incapable of holding an intelligent discussion on the subject.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:34PM
> Christianity is ANTI-witchcraft.
Wow, the denial in you is strong. I'm curious what happened in your brain when you read the words "Salem witch trials" did you temporarily black out?
Here is some more black-out drugs for you:
Exodus 22:18 - Thou shalt not suffer a witch to live.
Leviticus 20:27 - A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: their blood shall be upon them
It is even funnier that you keep accusing me of knowing nothing about religion. You don't even know your own scripture. Which is actually not surprising, fundies of all religions are the ones with the least knowledge about their own religion.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:42PM
Salem witch trial - a group of rural fools who allowed their superstitions to get the better of them, and they took their frustrations out on members of the community. The "witch trials" were investigated, and condemned, by the church. The country bumpkins ASSumed authorities which weren't theirs to exercise.
No church endorsed that witch hunt.
Run along and play now, you're growing tiresome.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:48PM
> The "witch trials" were investigated, and condemned, by the church
You seriously think the salem witch trials were an isolated event?
That shit happened all over europe and the new world. [wikipedia.org]
> Run along and play now, you're growing tiresome.
That cognitive dissonance really takes the energy out of you doesn't it?
It is so hard having to deny what's right in front of you -- your religion is just as shitty as all the others.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:52PM
ROFLMAO - I'll give you a taste of that "cognitive dissonance". Remember the last time I locked you in that round room, and told you to pee in the corner? You would still be walking in circles looking for the corner if Mom hadn't told me to let you out.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @03:56PM
Let the record show, runaway is running away from the debate because the facts are overwhelmingly against him.
Fucking coward.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday December 13 2015, @04:23PM
Debate? What debate? First, you have to acquire some knowledge with which to debate.
Don't go into the old testament and dredge up the "Law". You dig right into the new testament, and find someplace where human sacrfice is condoned. Find where Christ commanded that witches be put to death. Try to find where Christ or his apostles informed us that AIDS could be cured by having sex with a virgin. Find where Christ commanded that adultresses should be put to death. You can't find any of that stuff. If you make the effort, you can find some of that in the OLD TESTAMENT. You can certainly find it in the Quran. And, you'll find a bunch of that, and even crazier shit in animist religions, which proliferate in Africa.
If you want to debate Christianity's merits side-by-side with other religions, you've got to get into the book, and debate Christianity. No Easter holiday, no Christmas holiday, no animal sacrifice, no human sacrifice - if you wish to debate anything, pick the subject, then STAY on subject.
Otherwise, I'm locking you in that round room again.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 13 2015, @04:28PM
> Don't go into the old testament and dredge up the "Law".
Dodge and weave man. You claimed the origins were in animism, clearly not true, the origins are in the old testament.
You show where Jesus said "suffer a witch to live." He didn't.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 15 2015, @04:49PM
If you're a believer, and you believe that Adam and Eve came first, then yes, Judaism preceded animism.
If, however, you're more into science, I believe the case has been made that animism, among other religions, preceded Judaism. Baal, among others, is referenced by some of the oldest of the old testament prophets and judges.
As for Christianity, we didn't inherit any "occult" teachings from the Jews. Instead, we borrowed stupid things like easter bunnies and Christmas trees and All Hallowed's Night from pagan religions.
(Score: 2) by etherscythe on Tuesday December 15 2015, @04:36PM
Really? I think I see what you're getting at, but on its face I think that "Original Sin" doctrine does say that children are evil by default, possessed by the sin of Adam and Eve. They have to be baptized and brainwashed in a belief they most likely have no compelling evidence for (which they have witnessed personally) to become worthy of first-class citizen status.
Of course, not all Christian sects believe this the same way, but it's an extremely popular religious theory. Religion is not the base cause of the world's problems, but I would say that it is an enabler for the avoidance of critical and progressive thinking. I like freedom of religion, but it needs to be removed as an excuse for failure to face reality.
"Fake News: anything reported outside of my own personally chosen echo chamber"
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday December 15 2015, @04:53PM
"for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God"
Yes, there is the original sin, but there is also the "age of accountability". That age is hard to pin down - some put it as young as 8, others put it after puberty. Children sin, but they aren't held accountable until they reach that hard-to-define magical age. Thus, all children are innocent.
We could just agree that the first time the little bastid gets a woody, we hold him accountable. ;^)
(Score: 2) by Knowledge Troll on Saturday December 12 2015, @05:45PM
I just found out that my grandparents are leaving me the antique family firearms.......Tell me internet, how should I feel?
You should feel like you are going to get your hands on a chunk of history. Some people like to collect old computers and keep them running just to see the old gear still alive and to spend some time on a hobby. Guns that old are neat machines and a part of history. That's how I'd feel about getting a load them handed to me.
Sounds like will not be useful for anything aside from looking at, learning about, cleaning, and maybe shooting for pure enjoyment.
(Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Sunday December 13 2015, @02:59AM
Yeah, that's kinda where I'm at right now I think. The pistol is a legitimate work of art. I haven't laid eyes on the others, but I know there's at least two of them. Maybe three. Loading them is interesting because from what I understand, and I'm not a gun buff, but I don't think they can use modern ammo, so any firing would probably need to be with hand loaded rounds. I think I'm up for that, and would love to give it a shot, but it'll require tools that I don't think any of us have at the present.
I dunno. My dad might actually get them first, though that wasn't what I was told. Mom isn't exactly the most mentally stable, so if he gets them first I'm probably going to buy them a nice safe with the recommendation that the combination is kept from her.
Don't blame me, I voted for moose wang!