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submitted 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) by Emmie@lemm.ee to c/unpopularopinion@lemmy.world

I hate people who treat them like some toys and fantasize about them. That makes me think they are in some sort of death cult. That they found socially acceptable way to love violence.

I would still get one for safety but it is a tool made for specifically one thing. To pierce the skin and rip through the inner organs of a person.

They can serve a good purpose but they are fundamentally grim tools of pain and suffering. They shouldn’t be celebrated and glorified in their own right, that is sick. They can be used to preserve something precious but at a price to pay.

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[-] m4xie@lemmy.ca 3 points 2 weeks ago

I'm being pedantic, but many are designed to take the lives of animals rather than people. Absurdly heavy precision .22 cal target rifles are clearly only for sport.

A few are designed to launch flares high into the air for communication. A very small number are designed to trigger avalanches under controlled conditions.

[-] chiliedogg@lemmy.world 3 points 2 weeks ago

That's like saying all cars are meant for the racetrack or all knives are made for spreading butter.

I own several guns, and none of them are so I can kill. My over/under shotgun is designed for skeet shooting. My 22 pistol is for plinking. My precision rifle weighs 30 pounds with its optic, so is incredibly impractical as a weapon.

[-] WarlockLawyer@lemmy.world 2 points 2 weeks ago

Gotta resist fascism somehow

[-] BradleyUffner@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

How's that working out for ya?

[-] knightly@pawb.social 1 points 2 weeks ago

Luigi did more with three bullets than peaceful protest has accomplished in the last 25 years.

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[-] LeroyJenkins@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

that's not the only purpose dude. you can use a machine gun to shoot a circle around a door knob to unlock any door.

[-] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

I’m gonna go out on a limb here and guess you live in the US - well, I sure hope you do.

In the US I believe that guns are like pick-up trucks: far more people own them to plug gaps in their personality than the number of people who own them because they need their utility.

My personal view - and a generally held one - is that guns are a tool and to fetishise a tool is… weird; and suggests to me a troubled mind.

[-] czardestructo@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

You've never shot one and you're trying to rationalize it,eh? They're simply a lot of fun to understand mechanically and to use. I have mine for home defense and fun, nothing more. No fetish, no mental problems, I hardly even think about them. They're simply an impractical tool.

[-] Noel_Skum@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

I use guns. I use a lot of other tools, too. My chainsaw doesn’t define my personality, so why would a gun?

[-] czardestructo@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

See I think that's where you're getting lost. Most gun owners are not defined by their guns. They just own them and mind their own business. You're seeing all gun owners as those military cosplaying scared little boys that put bullets all over their trucks with gun maker stickers to let the world know they really like guns. The vast majority of gun owners are not tools owning tools.

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[-] Ceedoestrees@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

If I can get excited for a cordless Bosch track saw, I can get excited for a nice gun. Guns have served two purposes in my life - target shooting with friends and the meat I get from hunting. I don't need to take on someone elses trauma and stop enjoying something to respect what they are.

[-] tcgoetz@lemmy.world 1 points 2 weeks ago

This seems like a very urban viewpoint. There are still places in the world and in the US in particular where a firearm is tool for safety that has nothing to do with other humans.

[-] earphone843@sh.itjust.works 1 points 2 weeks ago

Not to mention hunting is a thing.

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[-] disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

They are engineered from the ground up to take lives ~~of other people~~.

I have no love for guns, but hunting for food is the reason humans created weapons in the first place. To your point, I’m pretty sure slaughterhouses aren’t using fully automatic rifles on the killing floor.

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[-] otacon239@lemmy.world 0 points 2 weeks ago

I’ve always looked at them from a utility/engineering/sport perspective. I have no intent of ever carrying a weapon, but the training it takes to learn how to target practice, and the engineering that goes into them are incredibly fascinating.

I don’t encourage people to own guns and I don’t have any myself, but I really wish target practice didn’t have to share a platform with a killing machine.

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this post was submitted on 07 Feb 2025
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