“Weapons can never give us total safety, because they will never give us peace.”
Reminder that women who buy guns to defend against DV more often end up being killed by that gun specifically than successfully defending against future DV.
By this framing, there can never be safety, because there are always going to be violent bigots.
Safety is about a state of mind, as they say in the article, but it has to be informed by physical reality on some level, and that will necessarily have to include the ability to not be physically victimized by bigots.
I also have a lot of issues with their choice to give a first-time shooter a machinegun (in the article they both call it a machinegun and semiautomatic, which is contradictory, but they make it sound like it had a 3-round burst, which if true would make it a machinegun, not semiautomatic), because that’s like putting a first-time driver in a supercar; it’s dangerous and non-representative of 99.9% of cars and driving. Of course you would walk away frightened/intimidated by it.As pointed out by another commenter, they were handling a semiauto AR-15, not a machinegun as they stated.
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Those are some nice platitudes, and having rights is important, but the government isn’t going to protect you if someone is trying to murder you for being trans. You’re going to have to live through that situation before you can do anything else. That might mean using violence to defend yourself, it might not, but when you’re especially likely to be a target of violence it’s better to be prepared for that outcome.
That preparation could be a weapon, it could be a plan, it could be anonymity or a fortified home. But whatever it is, if you have something to go on when that moment comes you’ll be a lot better off than trying to think on your feet.
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The rule of law is largely a fucking joke that serves the powerful and protects the status quo. There may be times when it serves a purpose that’s actually positive, but it’s not going to protect you in the face of a dangerous reality.
If you think the law can bodily protect you, go wander into traffic in a crosswalk without looking. The law should prevent any vehicles from hitting you, no?
The fact that murdering trans women is generally illegal isn’t sufficient to protect us when someone tries to kill us. We have to be ready for that ourselves.
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Ew, who said anything about being a libertarian?
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No one said anything in this context about securing legal rights through violence, we’re talking about protecting yourself from individual or community-level acts of aggression. That’s literally what the ranch was created for, and what most LGBT+ mutual-defense groups form around.
But since you brought it up…
Until democracy literally collapses, a gun is not ultimately the means by which a right or safety should be secured
Violence is always the ultimate (i.e. final or most fundamental) means to protect your life and rights, whether it’s a society promising that violence in the form of laws and the police that enforce them, or via your own personal defense against an attacker.
if someone thinks that then they don’t actually believe in the rule of law
Laws always only exists through the promise of violence (against body, possessions, liberty, etc) against people violating them.
or the democratic process. They believe in rule through violence.
All modern nation-states operate this way. Democracy doesn’t change that, unless it’s a fully consensus-based or consent-based-participation system.
Rights are about being free and protected by society.
And what means do you think society uses to protect the rights it decides to grant or deny?
I have a lot of thoughts on the strategy of rhetorically censoring yourself in order to attempt to avoid right-wing accusations of left-wing revolutionism, but I will leave that for another time and place (like c/socialism).
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“Being able to live a peaceful life without fear of being murdered or lynched is a fundemental right.”
Yes, but it isn’t a right we universally enjoy.
Tbh, you do have that right (in the US), that is why it is illegal to murder or lynch people. The problem is that simply because rights exist, it doesn’t mean they’re magically provided at all times, there are simply people in the world who would transgress upon your rights (in this case, the right to not be murdered, by trying to murder you.) But since not everyone can carry a policeman on piggyback everywhere they go, sometimes it may fall upon you to defend your own right to not be murdered, if you want it defended in real time someone who is there at the time has to unfortunately do it.
Like sure, I have homeowners insurance and I can call the fire dept, but I also have a fire extinguisher because it’d be a lot cooler if I could just PSSSHT that fire out real fast instead of having to lose everything and file reports about it, or just hope the FD makes it in time when I totally could’ve just sprayed it myself had I the appropriate tools on site when it started.
