Hardware

I love the blatant lying, or maybe it is just complete willful ignorance and only watching fox news.

https://www.newsweek.com/map-shows-states-ice-arrest-immigration-2107629

Ice is literally by far the most active in the south. In the gun capital of the US, Texas, they are an order of magnitude more active than anywhere else.

America's "2nd amendment" crowd are literally just LARPers with 20 layers of excuses for never doing anything or organizing (except racism rallies) at all. It is "thoughts and prayers" with more expensive equipment.

Isn't that something?

I guess guns weren't the answer after all. Thanks for clearing that up.

They seem to be active in Texas, where guns are fairly ubiquitous. I think it's much more likely they are targeting border states and left leaning "sanctuary" zones. This is for obvious reasons. They have tried to spare the deeply red states because what they are really after is voter suppression. They want every legal immigrant to stay home next election for fear of reprisal. This is the definition of terrorism.

I expect you to do what you people have been saying you were going to do. Which is not sit in your ass and applaud the fascist takeover. Oh and while i haven't found any current figures, the southern states are certainly not behind on deportations. If you have any sources to back up your wild claim, I'd be happy to see them.

You generally have to pass a background check.

This is what I am refering to (generally). Having a de facto optional background check requirement is not a serious approach to responsible civilian gun ownership.

To my understanding, beyond the private seller loop hole (which again de facto negates the background check requirements), I believe there are also other loop holes. Mexican cartels in particular have been documented to use multiple other loop holes that enable bigger throughout versus private sales.

As you mentioned yourself, the safe storage requirement is unenforceable so I don't see how it's relevant.

There are many other externalities to irresponsible civilian gun ownership beyond school shootings (I lived not far from Detroit and visited Flint and similar areas outside of the Midwest).

Note that I am not arguing for or against civilian gun ownership. Nor am I suggesting that Hollywood style scenes with Arnold Shwartznegger grabbing the gun in the store in Terminator is the issue here.

I am arguing that based on my experience of living in the US and research on Mexican drug cartels, it is reasonable to state that a large part of the US population are openly malicious when it comes to responsible civil gun ownership.

Furthermore, much of the polemics around "armed citizenry" are sophomoric and are primarily motivated by theatrics and self-indulgence via claims about "supporting freedom" and trying to portray oneself as being an "independent individual".

One final point, what I am writing might come off as Anti-American; but I disagree with this characterization, from my perspective I am merely discussing a factual point. There are good and bad things in every country/culture.

I don't support civilian gun ownership, so I don't think I am the best person to discuss what's pragmatic or not.

I will give you a real world example from where I live. You think Ukraine having an armed citizenry would have stopped the Russian invasion? Such a claim is preposterous. You need APCs, tanks, artillery, fighter/bombers, anti-air, industrial drones, ballistic missiles, helicopters and a highly sophisticated and expansive arms industry. Armed militia isn't going to cut it.

Even the arguement that gun ownership would have benefit for preparedess is weak. You would need mandatory military service and an intense reservist program not some random who likes the feeling of firing a gun. Not mention sophisticated weapons, military vehicles and so on.

But enough about Ukraine. In the US context, arguments about pragmatic approaches are IMO (from my time living there) irrelevant. My reasoning can be explained by the following question:

Can anyone in America (criminals, the mentally ill, regressives) procure a large amount of weaponry with relative ease (with no background checks) as long as they have a modicum amount of organisational skills and moderate resources?

Yes or No?

You are acting as if you need to reinvent the wheel, completely ignoring the fact that the question of pragmatic gun control is already a thing in most countries in the world. You do know there are countries besides the US, right?