If he did this in Florida they would have thrown him a parade.
Having a gun for self defense fucks with your head. When my wife and I lived in a relatively rural area, I used to keep a shotgun under our bed for protection, but I eventually got rid of it. Never shot it a single time, but you’d better believe every time I cleaned it or moved it or just remembered I had it, I was imagining the horrible situation I might be forced to use it in. That shit low key fucked me up. Strange sound in the middle of the night? Better grab the gun.
I can’t even begin to imagine carrying one on me, especially in public. I like to think I have a pretty level head, but some people are just waiting for you to look at them the wrong way so they finally have that moment. So frightened or psychotic or some combination of the two that their first instinct is to just start shooting. Hell, my wife’s cousin-in-law got in a fucking shootout when he cut someone off in traffic.
Used to be very pro responsible gun ownership, but lately I’m thinking that level of responsibility is far too rare in people.
Now we have fascists and paranoid delusionals
I have an airsoft gun and it’s only after I shot my wife in the ass that I considered the considerable weight of responsibility that such a weapon imposes on a man.
I want some sort of driving test for guns. If you fail it, no guns for you. Have to retake it every 5-10 years and it’s pretty easy to pass if you aren’t a moron.
I’ve seen literally the dumbest shit on ranges. People flagging one another. Accidental discharges a few feet from one’s foot, flagrantly breaking the range rules while the range instructor literally just finished explaining the rules to everyone there.
Christ, one time (in a rural state) someone didn’t want to give up their CC to run a combat-style range. It was for safety, in case they ate shit on the course. They said they needed their CC in case there was a “terrorist attack”. I looked around the bumfuck, empty desert we were in and wondered where the terrorists would even come from, lmao.
Hard agree on the gun safety test. Buying a gun, especially in the US, is way too easy and the number of people walking around strapped with absolutely no knowledge of gun safety, let alone armed self defense training, is terrifying.
My wife’s family leans very hard into the guns, god and Trump right wing. My father in law set up a shooting range on his property, and it’s a tradition for the cousins to get together and show off their arsenal. I keep a pistol there because it’s a hellava range gun and the 22LR rounds are dirt cheap, but you can imagine the shit I catch in a family where 9mm is considered a “pussy round”.
The amount of stupid shit I’ve seen on this range would boggle your mind, and I feel a deep responsibility to make sure nobody dies while I’m there. I’ve seen people walk in front of the range with earmuffs on while someone was getting ready to shoot. I had to stop my father in law from breaking his thumb trying to shoot a Glock with his thumb resting right on the slide. I watched my uncle-in-law (a Republican state senator, mind you) hand a loaded AR-15 to his ten year old son, then just walk away.
You know I think that’s actually the intelligence and responsibility I expect from republican state senators. I bet he screams about how responsible gun owners shouldn’t be prevented from ownership just because of irresponsible gun owners
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firearms_regulation_in_Switzerland
This seems to work for the Swiss. Heck they have a shooting range that fires over a freeway, and any incident involving firearms makes national if not global news.
I want some sort of driving test for guns. If you fail it, no guns for you. Have to retake it every 5-10 years and it’s pretty easy to pass if you aren’t a moron.
So basically a CCW permit for carrying. Problem though with “uneducated or undereducated people shouldn’t have guns,” while I agree in principle, is that it’ll play out affecting poor and marginalized communities which are mostly POC more than say some white people who simply had more privileges growing up.
Again, in principle I agree, I just don’t trust our legal system not to turn it into racism like they do with everything else.
I agree with you on everything except that that’s what a CCW permit is. I’m sure in some states it’s that. In other states it’s closer to the test you take to get your temporary drivers permit as a kid.
It does depend on the state, and in some there’s even no permit, but in most that have them they do instruct about basic safety and use of force laws. That is however relegated to the state to form their own policy, and changes all the time. If you feel your state should do more it’s easier to work on that then federal, so it’s probably more effective this way tbh.
Honestly there isn’t much to gun safety, either, it isn’t actually all that hard and doesn’t really take too long to learn. The hard part is making sure people adhere to it at all times, which tbh is functionally impossible beyond “if you see someone being unsafe, say something” which is common to do amongst gun owners, but doesn’t prevent everything. Accidents can happen at any experience level, it’s also a common saying amongst experienced gun handlers/owners that “complacency kills,” and it does, it’s something you have to be ever thoughtful of while handling one (not always while carrying, I mean, but while it is out of the holster for any reason. Be it defense, range unloading/cleaning, leaving it in the car because of a no gun sign, etc.)
Also, just as a sidenote, something you can test for yourself: Go to any pro gun forum, say r/firearms or whatever, or c/leftistgunowners here, any one, and make a post saying something along the lines of “Hey I’ve decided it’s time to pick up my first gun, any advice?” I guarantee you many posts will say “welcome to the club,” many more will say “buy you a glock” and almost all of them will say “but it isn’t enough just to get it and put it under your bed, learn how to be safe and learn how to use it at the range. Last thing you want is to kill someone innocent or die fumbling with it because you never learned how.” It isn’t a legal requirement, and of course you could just waltz into a gunshop and avoid most of that, though they will also offer advice most often if they know it’s your first, but at least the culture at large generally is pretty safety conscious already without it being mandated, so at least that’s something.
Then the government should fund independent organizations that are committed to responsible gun ownership in marginalized communities.
It’s the Jacky Chan effect.
When I was a kid this guy released a movie like every week. And every time we’d go to a Jacky Chan movie, I’d walk out of that theater thinking I was the king of fuck mountain, that somebody aught to just TRY and fuck with me.
I was not the only one. I don’t know who it was, but I saw a comedian on comedy Central echo that exact same feeling, which seemed to resonate with the audience, so I know it’s not unique. You feel powerful just being in the presence of such a thing.
There’s a whole book series about the presence of powerful things being a corrupting presence. They’re pretty good. Turned in to movies and everything.
Lord of the Rings?
Lord of the rings.
I am the same person as you except I actually carried around my gun. Being an stupid 21 year old with a gun sounds so stupid back then. I’m glad nobody died because of me.
Don’t make the classic mistake of thinking everyone is limited to your abilities, there are other people in this world with their own thoughts and feelings that may not line up with yours and projecting your thoughts onto them is simply not a good basis for anything.
I don’t give a shit how good people think they are with guns. They should have to prove they know what they’re doing to own one.
Well with the second amendment being interpreted as it is by the supreme court, that doesn’t seem like it could currently stand unfortunately. We do however require it for concealed carry permits in most states though, so at least that is something. We could also normalize gun shops give a basic multiple choice test before sales even without mandating it legally, as shops have the right to refuse sale to anyone if they seem sketchy (and often do refuse sales, but not often enough.)
Frankly I go a step further, we should make actors who don’t own guns but use real guns as props in movies should also be subject to learn at least Cooper’s 4 rules, like they do at most indoor shooting ranges on your first visit.
Fearing getting shot for pulling in a driveway seems an almost alien concept.
I’ve lived in the city, and way out on a dead-end country road and it’s never once passed my mind anyone could get shot for that.Being the last house… people would turn around here regularly.
No one ever thought about shooting them, like wtf.
Although, for the ones who zoomed by at speed oblivious that the road was being into fieldsand whatnot, we did take bets on how long they would take to come back on foot after sticking their car in a ditch or something.
Anyone who thinks about shooting someone coming into their driveway is a fucking sociopath.In my area, you normally get handed a beer and a spot around the fire.
Kinda wish I had a beer and a camp fire just now.
Good.
Good
Great news. Fuck this guy.
Certified redneck gun nut here: I also say fuck that guy.
I was literally thinking about this case when turning around in someone’s driveway this week. Great precedent for conservatives who believe minorities are around every corner trying to take their homes.
While shooting someone for turning around in your driveway is absolutely ridiculous, I’d also say turning around in some rando’s driveway to be on the rude side.
It happens all the time and only takes 5 seconds tops. It has probably happened to you multiple times and you never noticed.
I also have a downslope driveway that ices up in the winter, and have had someone hit my car and take off doing it, so yeah I’d rather they didn’t. I also respect people’s private property.
Things might be different in the US, but here in NZ the first meter or two off the road is usually road reserve, which is council property. That’s where footpaths/sidewalks, street trees, and utilities are run.
The bit of your driveway that is actually yours doesn’t start until about where your front fence is, if you have one.
Arguably your driveway, front walk, and front step/porch is s there expressly for other people to use. Sure, wandering around the front yard of someone you don’t know is rude/disrespectful, as is hitting their car, but you’re providing a well defined way for anyone to approach your house, so really can’t object to them using it
Nope - absolutely the same here. There’s typically a stretch of property facing the street and potentially in an adjacent alley where the homeowner is responsible for basic maintenance (mowing the grass) but it’s used for utility access and may be taken off they decide to widen the roads. I’m sure exceptions exist, but less commonly.
I also respect people’s private property.
That’s about the most asinine way you possibly could have ended that sentence. You almost had my sympathy for why you feel the way you do until said that.
I respect people. If a person I respect has property, by the transitive property, the property gets a sort of respect.
It’s turning around, not seeing the end of the driveway. Only uses the public part of the driveway anyway. Get your head out of your ass.
Big city guy right here.
I live in the mountains but ok
Go deeper in caves and stay there.
How intellectual of you
♪ I’m… trigger-happy! Trigger-happy every day! (Every day!) ♪
Yank the handbrake and do a 180 in the street. It’s for your own safety, after all!
You can’t ticket me officer! I was just trying not to get shot!
I was just trying not to get shot!
I worry this is a valid excuse for missing school, sneaking out of a concert, doing doughnuts on a lawn, etc.
Pistols are lethal a mile out from where they were fired. Can you imagine how many guns are within a mile radius in many parts of America ?
It seems taking a trip to Mexico is also a valid way to escape gun violence.
Canada would be. Mexico’s homicide rate is almost 5x higher than the USA.
Source?
acorn falls
“I’m in danger :)”
And it’ll get you pussy! Chicks love handbrake turns.
Please tell me this a TopGear reference.
Yessir hahaha. Good eye.
That bit was so funny. Especially since the handbrake turns were awful. Lmao
They’re hot for James May right now!
Where does one get this certification and does it require building things out of beer cans?
I’ve known a lot of gun nuts and none of them were psychopathic, no matter their politics. This guy isn’t a gun nut, he’s a monster.
Now taxpayers get to pay for his food and housing for the rest of his life, neat!
I mean, what would you rather happen?
Release all the inmates that are there on nonviolent drug crimes, so the cost of prisons goes way down?
But that’s too hard of course.
Ok. What does that have to do with this murder case?
25 year sentences would not even be considered if rehabilitation was the intention. It is a sign of a sick system when we applaud 25 year sentences. The guy is not going to get better help for his mental illness after year 24 than he will get in the first year.
Are you suggesting that a 1 year sentence is appropriate for murder?
Why is this thread so full of projection? Why do the people here find it so hard to accept that our prison system is broken?
You really don’t know what that word means, but dagnabbit you’re not going to let that stop you from using it.
I’ll make it simple. What do you think is an appropriate response to 2nd degree murder?
Absolutely nothing, but I get the impression they think this is a compelling argument.
Taxes get spent on all sorts of stuff you don’t want or need - that’s the purpose of tax, so the country can spend money on things it needs but individuals don’t necessarily want. You might as well complain about tax being spent to build roads you’re never going to drive on, or social services you don’t partake in. It’s all the same pool of money.
The US has a for-profit prison problem. 25-year sentences are a symptom of that problem.
So you don’t want him in prison and maybe kill another one that turns up in his driveway?
What you’re doing right now is called projection.
It’s probably closer to a strawman or false dichotomy, than it is projection.
Though, providing basic needs to prisoners seems like a relatively small price to pay to keep them off the streets and hopefully deter other crime.
It’s absolutely a false dichotomy, but when they suggested I must want the other half of the dichotomy, that is projection.
Nah. Just objectification when he uses ‘that’ in place of ‘who’. Different entirely.
You keep using that word, I do not think it means what you think it means.
It’s not.
When you assume someone else’s ideas for solutions must be as limited as your own, yes, that’s what projection is.
That’s not even remotely close what they did. Try again.
I did just fine the first time. Thread full of fascists gonna fascist.
You genuinely sound dumb. I’m sorry you’re like this.
And he gets to sit in a shitty box surrounded by other murderers for the short remainder of his pathetic life. I’m fine with that
Yeah, that’s how prison works. Most people consider it a small price to pay to keep murderous assholes off the streets.
Is the government able to take possession of his house/land and personal property, sell it and use that to help fund his incarceration? Is that a thing?
Is the government able to take possession of his house/land and personal property, sell it and use that to help fund his incarceration? Is that a thing?
Yeah, a gateway to even more corruption. We already have Civil Asset Forfeiture, and it’s abused exactly how you think it would be. In all but a few cases, the money goes to law enforcement (local or otherwise). It’s basically legalized theft, though some states have higher thresholds than others.
Emphases mine:
In the United States, civil forfeiture (also called civil asset forfeiture or civil judicial forfeiture)[1] is a process in which law enforcement officers take assets from people who are suspected of involvement with crime or illegal activity without necessarily charging the owners with wrongdoing.
I don’t know the rules in USA but I’d assume only in case of debt they are not able to pay after some time (years, likely). This could be fines or legal fees
Like good healthcare. Even good prison for is cheaper due to economies of scale.
We could feed way more homeless with some properly consolidated soup kitchens attached to gov bed-spaces.
And he would have gotten away with it too, if it wasn’t for the victim being white.
Consequences. Not enough for the damage inflicted, but at least consequences.
“I feared for my life!”
Yeah I’ll bet you did.
Fucking coward.
Are you sarcastically implying there’s no way someone would fear for their life in that situation, and then in the next sentence that the shooter is an easily frightened person who might’ve feared for their life?
The shooter sounds like a gigantic pussy
“I feared for my life!” Is a direct quote I’ve heard more than a couple times from big burly manly Texas men I’ve worked with. I’d bet $20 this guy used to talk the same trash. They’ll claim that if they ever have to kill somebody, they’ll say that to the cops / judge and get set free for having fired in self-defense. I keep my thoughts to myself.
Except with y’all!
It sounds to me that these guys want everybody to think they’re super tough, but their pre-planned defense is to claim cowardice as a virtue, and they’ll tell you so ahead of time. It baffles me that they fail to feel shame for it, but I believe them when they proudly declare what cowards they are.
If you have the paranoid delusion that a car turning around in your driveway is a threat, you are a serious risk to the public.
Funnily enough, I believe him.
This is what a steady diet of Fox News does to a motherfucker. This is exactly why Americans are so obsessed with guns, it’s why they pour so much money into their military, and it’s why 9/11 fundamentally reshaped their culture. They’re terrified of everything and anything around them, all the God damn time. They have to be armed, they have to be the biggest military power on the planet, and God forbid anyone remind them that none of that does them any good. America is a culture entirely driven by fear.
Fear doesn’t excuse what he did. You don’t get to murder defenceless people just because you’re afraid. He chose to own a lethal weapon and he chose to make using that weapon his first reaction to something that frightened him, instead taking even a few seconds to assess the situation. That’s 100% on him, and deserves every single year of that sentence and more.
It’s what Fox News does to a brain. Remember these people pointing guns at protestors?
As someone who doesn’t own guns. This photo always makes me cringe.
All I see is poor trigger discipline, poor muzzle control, and two dumb fucks. It’s amazing that they didn’t “accidental” start blasting.
He feared that his best chance to get away with shooting someone was peacefully driving away.
I was waiting for some news on this and I’m so grateful to hear that he’s actually gonna be punished.
Absolutely nothing can make up for what he did, but I pray to the cosmos that this deters other fools.
The only harmful thing someone could do in your drive way is illegally park in it. This is when you call a tow truck.
What if people were being gay or black?!?! Next to his house?!?!!
Sorry, best I can do is a police on your neck with his knees.
The judges quotes are great.
Judge Adam Michelini slammed Monahan in court, saying
NO HE DIDN’T. He SLAMMED Monahan by giving a calm milquetoast “what you did is awful and you should feel ashamed” statement? I wanna see a judge suplex a motherfucker before I see the word SLAM used in this context again
Reporter SLAMMED for overuse of the word SLAM in clickbait titles.
Probably not even written by a human though, really.
I don’t know what it is but I love it when the word slam is casually thrown into headlines and articles. Some weird fetish I guess. I don’t like clickbait but the use of that word is hilarious to me, especially when describing casual arguments like this instance.
What the fuck?
He’s now governor of that state. Fuck Montana
Holy shit. Why are people the way that they are!?
Why do judges have hammers if not to SLAM.
In my experience, overly fearful people that get terrified over nothing are the primary audience for gun ownership. The mindset it takes to responsibly own and carry a gun is RARE.
I have 60+ year old relatives that suddenly all decided they wanted a gun, just because one of them bought one and won’t shut up about the confidence it gives her. She literally bought it just to walk to and from her car, which is parked directly in front of the business SHE owns, despite there being absolutely zero crime happening in her parking lot, and not bothering to set up security cameras. She literally bought a gun because she was afraid of a non-existent problem, and made no non-violent effort to correct the issue. I’m waiting for her to shoot some poor homeless person asking for change…
If owning a gun makes you confident, then you’re a scared little baby. Especially the guys with big trucks that drive like they’re trying to provoke people. I KNOW you have a gun. You bought the little dick pride set, so there’s no way you don’t have a gun. Quit trying to make excuses to pull it out. Pussies. FYI, I’m driving slow in front of you BECAUSE you’re driving like an ass hole and riding my bumper. Wave your gun at me again. I do not care.
You hang out with the wrong crowd. I’ve belonged to several gun clubs over the years, of the many hundreds of people I’ve gotten to know, I’ve met probably a dozen who fit the profile you describe. IMO the difference is training and socialization: if guns are a right but at the same time you make guns a taboo and actively discourage organized events and interest shooting sports, the people who do not go into it with a healthy mind and diverse social life end up dwelling on whatever someone feeds them for clicks and ad revenue (Fox News and similar shit, not even partisan just scary news gets clicks and trains fear into people). Shooting is fun if you do it right.
With appropriate legislation and social norms, I’d agree with you.
So I don’t agree with you.
We really need responsible gun owners to form a bloc, and shun the gun nuts and work with the left for gun legislation.
Answer this: how do you work on legislation to ensure responsible gun ownership with someone who detests any form of civilian gun ownership and absolutely refuses to learn the intricacies? How do you collaborate with someone who thinks themselves to be above understanding what they’re working on? Sensible things HAVE been proposed by people with a deep understanding of guns, but they get spit on because they’re something other than another ban on an inconsequential feature or function or type of something.
Edit to add: I cannot count the number of times I’ve given someone a chance and nearly every time the answer to “are you open to the possibility of your side being wrong about anything at all” is along the lines of me being the one who needs to be schooled by someone with zero firearms experience about why banning some specific things will solve mass shootings. On the other hand, I’ve taken many anti gun people shooting, and taught them some basics, and that changed a lot about how they viewed what they’d previously been told. Internet scholars will say this invalidates their ability to be objective and so their opinion no longer counts.
The evidence, that is total intolerance to the actual ideas and proposals by gun owners, and pushing for more of the same that didn’t work the first few times, shows that legislators actual objectives are total disarmament, not the safety and lives of good people.
Hanging out with the wrong crowd? It’s my family. And about half of them aren’t even Republicans. If anything, THEY hang out with the wrong crowd. And considering that you make guns such a large part of your identity, even making it a regular social interaction, I have a hard time believing that you’ll look at it from anyone else’s perspective. I especially doubt your ability to judge who should and shouldn’t have a gun, because you literally go to clubs full of people and judge their ability to responsibly own a gun off of their social skills, which for many people is a facade they create to seem normal. I doubt that the guy who’s excited to kill people is talking about it like that at club time. And my problem isn’t just intent. My problem with my family, specifically, is that they’re all a bunch of scared little bitches who are going to shoot at the first thing that scares their precious little baby asses. And I’ve met a shitload of fearful gun owners. I grew up in the South. Saying you’ve only met a dozen, means that you don’t pay attention, you excuse more than you should, or you’re just lying.
Sorry about your family.
What makes you think it’s so central to my identity? (Granted I’ve got way more hobbies than most people, I’m sure it’s an innocent assumption.)
We might have different ways of judging people. I learned to judge character long before I ever touched my first gun (as an adult), and do not defer or equate a person’s identity to their character.
Yeah people lie, but in the orgs I belong to everyone has the keys and full access to nice facilities, and is treated like an adult - consider that a litmus test, or a baseline level of trust which is exceedingly rare to have someone break. You think fearful people just sign up to be on a “cold” range (unarmed) where someone else is running around with a loaded gun (e.g. USPSA), and submit fully to whoever’s running the range that day? Or join the club at the police or military range? There’s way more fear at the universities (and I live at one of the biggest right now).
Yeah I’m not in the south, only ever lived in big cities that are as blue as it gets.
your guns aren’t welcome here bro
Your gatekeeping credentials are?
idk we’ll see how many downvotes i get i suppose…
Ah yes, the true test of what’s right: how many people’s preconceptions your words appeal to. Perhaps we should have have an AI stroke our egos instead of communicating with other humans.
isn’t that already happening?
There are a lot of far left people on lemmy that would disagree
At least 18 apparently.
It’s such a shame Americans brains are completely dysfunctional when it comes to guns. Despite literally overwhelming evidence that guns are a errible, terrible idea to be so easily accessible. Somehow what you you’d usually call a socially progressive person becomes more like a raving lunatic to most others outside of the USA when it comes to guns…
It’s honestly a fascinating phenomenon, it’s just really, really tragic.
23 now
thanks for the update!
Yeah. I want a gun. Specifically I’d love to have a bolt action rifle I can use as a long range hole punch on some papers and cans. And I can definitely afford it. I don’t have it because I don’t have the free disposable income for it, a secure and sturdy gun safe, and the space for it.
If I thought for a second that I needed a pistol to walk around town I shouldn’t have one. The only times I even consider owning a gun for conflict is when the proud boys occupy a nearby city that I do stuff in regularly. They’re holding semi automatic rifles and it may be valuable for a counter fascist militia to march against them. But I’m not a good shot and that’s expensive and I can’t go to prison.
Guns are not therapy. They aren’t Xanax or Wellbutrin or buspirone or anything else that will actually fix irrational fear. They are a device that exists solely to put a hole in something far away, and often they’re designed for that thing to be a living animal or person.
Ugh
not bothering to set up security cameras
LOL
In my experience most people that get a gun because they are “terrified” are just waiting for an excuse to finally kill another person
Unfortunately, as you get older and closer to death, fear becomes a big factor in your life. This is the reaction you see from boomers. They can’t verbalize or even comprehend the fear of death, so it manifests in these bizarre behavioral patterns.
Source: Myself
Weird, the older I get, the less scared I am of death
Found the goth teenager /s
No, this is just boomers. They were exposed to lead their entire lives and emotional disregulation is one of the consequences. They were done dirty by their parent’s and grandparent’s generation.
