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Americans own guns to protect themselves from psychological as well as physical threats (mild barf alert)
The Conversation ^ | October 31, 2024 | Nick Buttrick

Posted on 11/02/2024 6:50:10 PM PDT by DoodleBob

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I can only quote from Jeffrey Snyder’s 1993 masterpiece, A Nation of Cowards:

Is your life worth protecting? If so, whose responsibility is it to protect it? If you believe that it is the police's, not only are you wrong -- since the courts universally rule that they have no legal obligation to do so -- but you face some difficult moral quandaries. How can you rightfully ask another human being to risk his life to protect yours, when you will assume no responsibility yourself? Because that is his job and we pay him to do it? Because your life is of incalculable value, but his is only worth the $30,000 salary we pay him? If you believe it reprehensible to possess the means and will to use lethal force to repel a criminal assault, how can you call upon another to do so for you?

Do you believe that you are forbidden to protect yourself because the police are better qualified to protect you, because they know what they are doing but you're a rank amateur? Put aside that this is equivalent to believing that only concert pianists may play the piano and only professional athletes may play sports. What exactly are these special qualities possessed only by the police and beyond the rest of us mere mortals?

One who values his life and takes seriously his responsibilities to his family and community will possess and cultivate the means of fighting back, and will retaliate when threatened with death or grievous injury to himself or a loved one. He will never be content to rely solely on others for his safety, or to think he has done all that is possible by being aware of his surroundings and taking measures of avoidance. Let's not mince words: He will be armed, will be trained in the use of his weapon, and will defend himself when faced with lethal violence.

To own firearms is to affirm that freedom and liberty are not gifts from the state. It is to reserve final judgment about whether the state is encroaching on freedom and liberty, to stand ready to defend that freedom with more than mere words, and to stand outside the state's totalitarian reach.

1 posted on 11/02/2024 6:50:10 PM PDT by DoodleBob
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To: DoodleBob

I know my psyche is much more soothed, knowing I have half a dozen firearms that I can end the life of an unfortunate wrong doer.


2 posted on 11/02/2024 6:56:55 PM PDT by End Times Sentinel (In the conflict between the stone and the stream, the stream will always prevail.)
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To: DoodleBob

I’m leaning toward a baseball bat against any cucks or crazy Karens who get in my face over a sticker on my truck after Trump wins and cause me to fear for my life. More rewarding and less chance of jail.


3 posted on 11/02/2024 6:57:08 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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To: DoodleBob

The government hired Tokyo Rose’s grandson to write this garage....

Poor yankee gun owner, he scared, he thinks he need gun to protect himself...It all in his little brain...There no boogieman, no crazy sick people...hahaha...Silly yankee see monster under bed....Be proud American, give up your gun! You have no need for them. Everything happy happy fun fun!


4 posted on 11/02/2024 7:00:46 PM PDT by dragnet2 (Diversion and evasion are tools of deceit)
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To: DoodleBob

Yep.


5 posted on 11/02/2024 7:00:51 PM PDT by Inyo-Mono
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To: DoodleBob

But why would this guy be a psychologist if he’s mentally unequipped to figure out the nature of fear?


6 posted on 11/02/2024 7:02:17 PM PDT by reasonisfaith (What are the personal implications if the Resurrection of Christ is a true event in history?)
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To: DoodleBob

Only one gun ? Slackers!!!


7 posted on 11/02/2024 7:05:31 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: reasonisfaith

8 posted on 11/02/2024 7:07:07 PM PDT by DoodleBob (Gravity's waiting period is about 9.8 m/s² )
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To: mikey_hates_everything

As someone who once had to get up naked in the middle of the night and confront an intruder with only a baseball bat...
I much prefer a firearm of .45 caliber !!!

Words you never want to hear...Honey, there’s a man in our
kitchen !!!


9 posted on 11/02/2024 7:12:12 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
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To: DoodleBob

.


10 posted on 11/02/2024 7:13:48 PM PDT by sauropod ("This is a time when people reveal themselves for who they are." James O'Keefe Ne supra crepidam)
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To: DoodleBob

My guns and my ammo, they comfort me.


11 posted on 11/02/2024 7:15:04 PM PDT by Nachoman (Proudly oppressing people of color since 1957.)
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To: dragnet2

Guns: You don’t need it till you need it. And when you need it, YOU NEED IT!

Better to have one and not need it, than to NEED ONE and NOT HAVE IT!


12 posted on 11/02/2024 7:18:35 PM PDT by Ruy Dias de Bivar
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To: DoodleBob

“By combining social-scientific research on firearms ownership with a raft of interviews we’ve conducted, we’ve developed a theory that gun owners aren’t just protecting against the specific threat of physical violence. Owners are also using a gun to protect their psychological selves.”

You can make a similar argument about, say, life or car insurance. No specific threat.


13 posted on 11/02/2024 7:21:25 PM PDT by rightwingcrazy (;-,)
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To: DoodleBob

I seriously doubt there are any firearms in Willie Brown’s former girlfriend’s house.


14 posted on 11/02/2024 7:50:35 PM PDT by Organic Panic (Democrats. Memories as short as Joe Biden's eyes)
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To: tet68

I have been around firearms my entire life. It has only been in the past few years have I ever thought about needing a firearm for safety
When you hear more gunfire I. The middle of town than in the woods during deer season, there’s a problem. A major problem
I would not consider the crime, car jackings, murder, gang warfare, blocks from where family members live a perceived psychological threat.


15 posted on 11/02/2024 8:44:29 PM PDT by midwest_hiker
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To: DoodleBob
Nick Buttrick is nothing but a paid propagandist. Authoring the line, "One thing that American gun owners tend to agree on, no matter their differences, is that guns are for personal protection." is an attempt to repeat the lie that guns are for personal protection, not as a protection against tyranny.

Guns are for both, but the Second Amendment was specifically written to codify that government SHALL NOT INFRINGE on our inalienable right to keep and bear arms.

16 posted on 11/02/2024 9:48:34 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Organic Panic

Well, other than the ones in the possession of her SS contingent...


17 posted on 11/02/2024 10:43:29 PM PDT by Don W (When blacks riot, neighborhoods and cities burn. When whites riot, nations and continents burn)
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To: DoodleBob
Owning a gun helps them feel more in control of the world around them and more able to live meaningful, purposeful lives that connect to the people and communities they care for.

Although the article is mostly drivel, I might agree with this part. Unfortunately, most gun owners I encounter know little more than which end goes bang.

18 posted on 11/02/2024 10:59:04 PM PDT by eastexsteve
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To: DoodleBob
Do you believe that you are forbidden to protect yourself because the police are better qualified to protect you, because they know what they are doing but you're a rank amateur?

My father was a cop. Although he was an excellent marksman himself, he once told me to hit the dirt if I ever see a cop pull his gun, because it's likely no telling which direction that bullet is going.

19 posted on 11/02/2024 11:07:16 PM PDT by eastexsteve
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To: tet68

Absolutely. If they are in my house, no bat.


20 posted on 11/02/2024 11:18:01 PM PDT by mikey_hates_everything
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