THREAD (Read the whole thing before replying)

I can’t stand US gun culture in general. But what I find particularly annoying are US anarchists joining in the fetishisation of firearms and then claiming that anyone who doesn’t support an armed populace is disempowering minorities

I live in Ireland. People can’t privately own guns here except for a few special cases like hunting rifles. And there’s no hunger to change that among the populace

One of the benefits of that is not only that you have to worry less about getting shot, but also POLICE ARE UNARMED

It’s impossible to overstate just how beneficial it is to have the coercive powers of the state defanged to that extent.

As bad as the Irish police are, we at least don’t have to worry about getting shot by them. Their capacity to brutalise civilians is severely diminished.

Let’s say Irish anarchists started a movement to change this state of affairs.

Let’s assume this movement were successful and everyone was allowed to own as many guns as they wanted, like in some parts of the US.

What the first thing the state would do? ARM THE POLICE!

With an armed police, there would be a net INCREASE in the coercive powers of the state over the populace.

More legalised terrorising of civilians. More aggressive policing of minorities by Garda. And almost certainly more shooting of minorities by trigger-happy, power-trippers.

Do US anarchists ever consider things like this when boorishly droning on like "Guns! Fuck yeah!"?

Rarely.

They act like the very specific circumstances of guns in the US ought to apply everywhere.

That arming minorities would always make them more safe instead of less.

Also, on the subject of guns in the US, has it never occurred to you that the extent to which the state allows legal gun ownership may be the extent to which the state doesn’t see an armed populace as a threat?

At worst, gun culture is like a toy steering wheel. A false freedom.

Maybe growing up in a society without guns everywhere has made it impossible for me to sympathise.

But when I think of going to a place where I know everyone is armed, even if carried a gun myself, I’d feel LESS SAFE, not more safe.

And I hope you did wait till the end of the thread before saying anything.

Because I want to make one thing crystal clear:

I am ***NOT*** calling for stricter gun controls in the US.

I think the situation is complex, and yes, sometimes gun control is used against minorities.

What Im saying is anarchists worldwide shouldn’t adopt a one-size-fits all policy on legal gun ownership (or guns in general) which fails to take account of local factors like whether the police are armed

And that disarming the state should take priority over arming the populace

THREAD OVER

You can call me a liberal and accuse me of whatever else now.