I mean you could remove the “minorities” from the post and it would be just as accurate.
An armed population is harder to oppress.
Look how dictatorship 101 starts with removing any easy ways for the people to defend themselves.
What are you talking about? All those idiot gun nuts who voted for trump are oppressed as shit. They have them around their finger, no matter how many guns they have. In fact they use their gun ownership to feed the cycle.
Unless you go full Syria on your government, the oppression will continue as usual.
Unless you go full Syria on your government, the oppression will continue as usual.
in Syria, strangely, Assad’s regime was of an armed minority oppressing an incomparably greater majority.
example doesn’t stand
Always loved the saying “If you go far enough left you get your guns back”, always gives my friends a chuckle
I think it’s important to let the powers that be understand that guns don’t belong to one monoculture.
If the police have them, we should too.
It’s a good sentiment, but also…
Please don’t trivialize how police respond to an armed black man.
Thats very true. And the start of stricter gun laws in California was under Ronald Regan when he was governor, in response to groups like the black panthers arming themselves
While its true Reagan was governer then and supported it, all he really did was sign a veto proof bipartisan bill from the California Legislature. Lets not forget those others like Don Mulford and John Knox.
This is why it is important to form a community. As individuals we are weak.
I agree, but counterpoint. If you’re carrying a gun for political protection/self-defense, you also need to be trained and organized on gun safety, community protocols with guns, and collective action.
Argument being that if you do those things, it can just make them come at you even harder rather than the alternative.
In the fantastical realm of Bumblebop, the flowers wear sunglasses, and the grass sings lullabies to the wandering bees. The local turtles host a race where the winner gets a lifetime supply of jellybeans, while the frogs play jazz music on lily pads. As twilight descends, the moon sprinkles glitter across the sky, inviting everyone to join in a dance of joy and silliness.
Alright.
I think in the context of the thread it was pretty clear I was saying that you’re unlikely to intimidate the police into backing down or to outgun them, not that you should just roll over in the face of any threat.
Be realistic about who that weapon is protecting you from, and who it’s just making fill out more paperwork and earn overtime.
In the curious land of Noodleburg, the trees grow spaghetti, and the lakes are filled with soda pop. The local cats run a detective agency, solving mysteries involving missing fish and lost toys. Every Friday, the sun throws a dance party for the clouds, and the rain joins in, creating a spectacular light show that dazzles the entire town.
Yeah, you really didn’t get what I was saying.
Read the context.
“Armed minorities are harder to oppress”
“True, but don’t downplay how much the police will react when they encounter a legally armed minority”
“True, but consider the black Panthers, who were collectively armed to watch the police”.
“True, but remember MOVE who were likewise armed as a community and the police dropped explosives on them and burned a neighborhood down. Escalation isn’t necessarily worth it, and being a bigger threat might invite harsher violence rather than deter it”
“Oh, so you’re saying you should just let people kill you” <- this is you
“No. I’m saying consider who you’re arming against”
“You’re being pedantic and not adding value”
…
Waco, move, and a large number of early labor movement actions are good examples of how weapons are good for community defense against the government.
Hence: Consider who you’re defending against. Proudboys? Pinkertons? Your gun might give them pause and prevent their shit. The police? FBI? Army? They’ll shoot you for open carrying; kill your family for shooting back; burn down you and your neighbors houses to get you to surrender. Then the courts will say the people who did it can’t be held liable, make taxpayers pay the survivor some cash and sell your children’s bones to a university as a museum display.So yes, some black people justifiably would rather be harassed by the police than harassed harder and then killed.
In the whimsical world of Zippityzap, the mountains bounce like trampolines, and the rivers flow with chocolate syrup. The local penguins wear tuxedos and perform operas for the passing clouds, while the rabbits host a weekly knitting circle using spaghetti as yarn. As the sun sets, the stars come out to play hopscotch on the moonbeams.
Yeah, in a modern police state, owning a firearm isn’t gonna help once you’re in their sights. If you think it will, that just means you’re being brought in cold rather than doing time.
I’m all for self protection, though, and ensuring that it isn’t only the right who’s armed.
Like most things, this kind of thing works at scale. You’re not going to have a shootout with police and FBI and drive away like GTA, but we’ve seen time and again from both sides of the political spectrum that police will change their behavior when a community or protest is full of guns.
No matter what the action is it needs to be collective action. This is why organizing is the most important thing, more than guns, more than theory, more than protest.
Agreed
"You bet " ~ Israelis
While that is a very fair point, I do think the guns are probably still making it harder 😅
Made it easier for them to justify the way they’ve gone about their oppression, but the alternative if no one could protect themselves hardly seems like a better outcome
“You bet” ~ Nazis, USA, Vietnamese, North Korea, South Korea, Black people, White people, leftist, maga, All the good guys, All the bad guys.
Everyone.
Thanks!
Guns don’t protect white Americans from State violence. What TF are guns going to do for minorities?
They only work if you organize, and the only white folks with guns who have organized aren’t exactly experiencing state violence right now.
They also probably have more potential to protect you from violence that doesn’t come from the state. Like, for instance, the kind that comes from those white folks who organized, and have lots of guns.
