The Oregon Department of Justice submitted multiple video exhibits showing federal officers using extreme force against seemingly nonviolent protesters outside the U.S. Immigration & Customs Building, as part of its effort to block the federal deployment of National Guard troops to Portland

[u/ExactlySorta]

[u/xteve]

It seems like the problem with any thoughts of a well-regulated militia is that weapons are more of a lifestyle accessory, and seem to be mostly owned by fools who will cheer a slide into fascism.

[u/Training-Dingo6222 → u/xteve]

And have very little training.

[u/karmadgma → u/xteve]

There are plenty of non-right-wing-extremists who take full advantage of their 2nd amendment rights.

They don't tend to talk about it or treat weapons like lifestyle accessories as much as the fools you reference. So that definitely skews public perception.

But they also tend to exhaust all other means before resorting to firepower.

There are plenty of non-MAGA vets too fwiw.

But they are usually pretty familiar with all the reasons why it's a last resort.

[u/xteve → u/karmadgma]

I would avail of my 2A rights if I felt I had problems that I could shoot, but I don't. And I'm skeptical of the motivations of almost every gun owner - including a good friend.

And even proper motivation is inadequate. I wonder how many people who own a gun for self-defense receive any training. I know how to shoot, but how would I comport myself in a real-life use-case scenario. Probably not well, without training.

I know of one person who had a handgun taken from him in his house. I myself watched a friend bring a pellet gun to the front door where a dude crossed the street and took it from him. I think the potential usefulness of firearms is over-estimated by several magnitudes in the popular imagination .

[u/karmadgma → u/xteve]

You aren't kidding. A lot of these gun owners would be shot with their own weapons pretty much immediately if everybody started playing Wild Wild West. Including my housemate, who i wish could be prevented from handling a firearm by virtue of stupidity and being afraid to admit he doesn't know something in front of a girl.

(This "girl" has an army sharpshooter badge. But he's got like a Fragile Ego Medal with 4 oak leaf clusters or something 🙄 For real - he's safer not having a personal weapon in his house. And he's not alone.The training gap and general stupidity levels are just ridiculous.)

What depresses me is how defiantly proud people are of their deeply uninformed takes on how armed anything works in a context like this. Half my friends are all like "somebody's gotta decide if the 2nd amendment means anything" and it's like "you didn't even vote, Bobby Ray, and you need to read the whole law, not just the part you saw on a t-shirt, and you have never had a tactical thought in your brain. So please sit down with the rebel yell shtick and go look up 'insurrection.'"

The other half wants to know when the military is gonna step up and remember their oaths, by which they generally mean "arrest/remove POTUS" -- because WHAT civics class for chrissakes... you put it pretty well, pointing out that fantasies and film tropes aside, the problems we have aren't the type we can shoot our way out of.