2A is for everyone

I'm yet to hear someone defend themselves successfully with a semi-automatic against ICE.

Surprised this group hasn't been mentioned. I have known, and been friends with, several members.

https://www.pinkpistols.org/

The lower left picture (and other knowledge of the groups) makes me think that the upcoming resistance will be led by trans and furry hackers/coders, etc. I hope they can organize. How sick would that be if they're the ones responsible for taking down the fascists.

Yup, I'm a lifelong filthy anti-gun liberal.

Can't be anymore.

It's time to get armed. Wish it wasn't, but the writing is on the wall. If Americans want to go on blowing each other's heads off and having endless school shootings, well, that's better than living under fascism, which is here, now.

Gonna be a lot harder for them to do what they want if we're all packing.

Spent the weekend on private land blowing through thousands of rounds with my AR, Glock, and 20 caliber. I suggest everyone start going to the shooting range and get acclimated to your guns. It will be necessary soon enough. I believe that.

I did the same with a buddy that just got his first pistol, which is believe he did due to the times. I hadn't had my guns out to shoot since pre-pandemic, it was a good time to make sure everything is clean, lubed, and in working order.
- Hell ya! Tell him welcome to the club! I need to take my 30-30 and 30.6 with me next time to train some folks on long distance shooting. My shoulders bruised up from firing 30 round clips in a few seconds tho. Too much fun on private land.
At a minim getting fit. Ideally when doing some boxing. Good work out and confidence building.

I suggest you watch these 3 videos in sequence and in full (assuming you have the attention-span for it):
guns part 1 (technicalities)
guns part 2 (failed laws)
guns part 3 (possible solutions)
especially if you're non-US.

Knew it was Beau before I even clicked on it. Great little video series he did back then!
"Only 3 kinds of people in the world: pro-gun, anti-gun and those who actually know how firearms work."
I miss that man. His wife is doing a great job though.
- She doesn’t do it for me the way Beau did! She’s not bad, she just has a different way of delivering things that I don’t enjoy as much.

I know how to handle firearms and I'm somewhat able to hit a target. But oh my god do I not want to use any, for anything.

Better to have and not use than need and not have.
ideally, you won't have to. Just living within a gun positive culture is pretty preventative of the bad things that could be directly done to you. otherwise, make a range buddy?
- Just living within a gun positive culture is pretty preventative of the bad things that could be directly done to you.
  Ha. I know this is the wrong community to laugh at this, but honestly it's hilarious.
  It takes more than just being "Yeah guns!" to avoid violence between people. It takes a society where people don't take each other for granted.
  Fear is a terrible demotivator for people looking to cause damage. At best they'll be looking for ways to cause damage before you'd notice, before you'd ever be able to pull a gun.
- I'm in Germany, I'll only need to use one if Vlad decides to come over.
- Just living within a gun positive culture
  Ah, yes. I've heard that Vibes-Based gun ownership is 50% more effective than Regular gun ownership.

*paid for by the military industrial complex – commercial consumer division

Finally, some DEI
It is physically painful to watch the American Consumer sold on yet one more retail panacea for a structural social problem.
"Oh, fascist government has you worried? Consider Amazon-brand AR-15s! Walmart is fully stocked with punji sticks and shovels! I think I can get a claymore mine off Temu (shop like a paranoid billionaire)!"
- You can just 3d print them. It doesn’t have to be retail. Also btw, this attitude is what got us into this position.
- Capitalists will sell us the ropes etc etc. Consuming guns is absolutely not "the answer", but being armed, willing and able definitely is.
- Jokes on you, Amazon sold their AR-15 division to Ruger last month, and Walmart only has 80% punji sticks (gotta sharpen them yourself) but they do have shovels yes. And you can indeed get a claymore on Temu.
  (Sidenote, 100% I'm buying one of those claymores for my desk, thanks for making me search it for the lolz.)

Can't do it, my brain is bad

It takes a lot to realize that and exercise that restraint. You're a good egg. With that being said, a paintball gun would have a low chance of self-harm, but they make coyote urine balls that smell terrible on impact. Just saying.
- And pepper balls, and jawbreakers.
  I'll just point out that showing up to a hypothetical gun battle with only paint (or even pepper balls) is a bad idea. Cops and other criminals will undoubtedly act as if you're holding a firearm anyway, even though you aren't, and their guns can do unto you while you can't do unto them. Tread wisely.
Learn to fly drones instead!

Armed minors you say?

"Won't someone think of the children?"

Just start the war already and stop edging us

Needs someone in a wheelchair.

Are there any resources for getting started?

I don't like reddit anymore, but there's /r/liberalgunowners. I'd suggest taking a safety course, then renting (edit: multiple firearms) at the range, and then buying what you think you need/ like.
Edit: Guy bellow me is also right.
Edit edit: I forgot about this part. You should prepare yourself to spend the amount of money needed to buy an older, used car. It depends on the state, but that was my experience. Around 4k with EVERYTHING involved.
- Seconded on the safety course. Ask all your questions then, too.
  It’s worth mentioning that you should try out a few options before going with the first gun you try. My spread went down by half in a day just by finding the one that fit my hand right.
  And lastly, stay in practice. Like anything, if you don’t do it for a while, your skill will plummet. The last thing you want do is try to remember the fundamentals in a life or death situation.
- $4k?? No fuckin way lol. You can buy a glock or even an AR for under $500 right now. 500 rounds of 9mm for the glock is $150 or 1000 rounds of .556 is $450. $50 for a couple hours at the range with a friend that can show you the ropes.
Find a local gun store, tell them you're new and want to learn. If they're not in your face with MAGA, they're probably alright. Depending on where you live, you may or may not be able to be discerning with your choice. Most gun stores are gonna lean right. They're not really gonna side with groups that want to reduce their business.

Waffen für El Salvador

This is one of the more surprising reversals in leftist opinion over the last ten years.

Leftists? I don't think so. Progressives and liberals maybe, yes.
I absolutely believe that giving guns to everybody is a really dumb idea. But if I was living in the present day US, I'd start stocking up on guns and ammo and practice shooting.
- Maybe we can just pool together money and arm the unions. Imagine how hard mass-layoffs would be if unions had a missile launcher.
- If it comes to the point when you need to use a gun to defend yourself, you've already lost. None of the existential threats to a person in US, existing or future, can be solved by shooting at it. You can make a lot of things whole lot worse by introducing armed conflict to it, but nothing can be made better by it. If I was a conspiratorial type, I would say that making the left gun-happy is a psyop by fascists, because there is very little things is as dangerous to a healthy society as the ubiquity of guns, and fasch can't thrive in a healthy society.
I mean, it's not exactly a new opinion. Under no pretext should arms and ammunition be surrendered; any attempt to disarm the workers should be frustrated, by force if necessary
- it's just quite shocking to me as a Canadian. But I can see the logic behind it.
It's always been the case that if you go left far enough you get your guns back.
Liberals aren't leftists.
- I'm aware, and I still believe this is a change in leftist opinion.
it's almost like people change their stances on things depending on the situation
healthy country? kids shouldn't have easy access to guns
whatever the fuck is going on right now in the us? give everybody a gun without question and let's see how it plays out. can't be worse than an authoritarian government
- idk why you said "it's almost like," as though you think I'm stupid for pointing out that it's interesting that this has been a change in the left.
It's true.
But you have to respond to fascism with force.
So it's a necessary reversal.
If we lived in a better society we wouldn't need to have reversed on this topic and we'd still be trying to reduce the number of firearms. But we live in a stupid society that forces us to have to arm ourselves. That's the current reality.
Doesn't seem to matter which side, both ignore that whole inconvenient militia part.
- That's not what it means. The militia part is the reason why they wrote the 2nd amendment. The People is who it's for.

i aint ever seen police shoot tear gas at armed protesters. they left those black panthers alone.

they left those black panthers alone.
I hope this is sarcasm.

If guns were the solution to minority oppression then the US would be the least oppressive place in the world.

Checks notes Apparently guns don't help, but please do tell that to the 50,000 Americans we lose every year to gun violence.

That is right every year we lose more citizens than a major conflict and that is just "normal" apparently.

The only gun control in the US is a result of the Black Panthers
The government is afraid of vulnerable minorities owning guns
- There are more guns than every man, women, child, and baby in the US.
  And no the only gun control is not related to the Black Panthers. There was some California gun control related to it though. It was the Mulford Act.
Doesn't matter. Fascism is here. Time to get armed.
- Facts don't matter? sound pretty fascist to me.
  Besides, fascism has always been here. Anything else requires drinking copious amounts of Kool-Aid.
You serve no purpose in your conversations other than to try to garner support for your paranoia. I notice how quick you are to point at problems, and how you have yet to offer any solutions or propose any alternatives. Nobody should engage you in any meaningful conversation for which you appear to be unable to engage in good faith. You also said this.
“Saying the US is turning fascist is nonsensical.” - Doomsider
Now stand by your words and explain to everyone why you're not wrong without changing the subject and spouting about some vaguely related historical fact to obfuscate. Eat Crow, Doomsider.
- I can support my statement with facts. All you have is feelings apparently. Cheers!
I don't see people in the US being dragged off for posting memes or engaging in wrongthink. Not yet anyway.
The US is FAR less oppressive than places like the UK and Canada.
- They literally dragged off university students for protesting Isreal, and then the President threatened states that boycott Israel. You are completely wrong on the first point.
  The US locks up more people than anywhere else in the world. I think you are not critically examining these issues and instead are going off of years of propaganda you have been spoon fed.
- The US is FAR less oppressive than places like the UK and Canada.
  Hilariously false
- Well they are getting to it. Be patient!
- In your mind it's far less oppressive. You clearly really have no idea.

Nope, I’m a lifelong anti-gun authoritarian.

Good people will hesitate to shoot, an armed society just puts the worst group in charge because they don’t care about killing.

Did you just call yourself an authoritarian?
- Yeah, opposite a liberal. I was satirizing the other comment.
The Black Panther Party would "politely" disagree with you. While armed to the teeth.
Tw'ain't no white racists trying to pick on black people when the Panthers were around.
Edit: Oh yeah, and J. Edgar Hoover labelled this group as a national security threat, so it has that going for it as well.
- Your edit seems to contradict your comment, the most violent group did get rid of them
Then you are giving a complete monopoly of force to the Government, who are the ones in charge and don't care about killing. You surrender all ability to protect yourself for the hope that those in power both want to and are able to protect you.

Genuine question, how exactly do you picture this playing out? Let's say you are a homosexual married person in the US, and the right for gay marriage is overturned. Now what? How is a gun going to help you? When someone tells you "actually you're not married anymore" just shoot them? What is the plan here?

PSA: WHEN YOUR LIFE IS THREATENED BY MASKED THUGS, PLEASE DO NOT RESIST. JUST DO WHAT THEY SAY AND QUIETLY DISAPPEAR. DO NOT MAKE THE FASCISTS KNOW FEAR. REMAIN HARMLESS.
I DO NOT WISH TO SEE ANYTHING THAT THREATENS MY COMFORT OR PRIVILEGE. THANK YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION ON THIS MATTER.
You're sincerely confused? It's clear you have no background in anything military or perhaps even psychology. It's power-projection. You've become so conditioned to believe that power-projection is only used as a tool of oppression that you're overlooking the fact that it's better to point guns than it is to face guns, and it's certainly worse to face guns without one to point back. Would you rather cede power to those who desire it than support empowering those who would wield it to protect your right to exists? You want to exist in an ideal world? Be willing to fight for it -- the ones who wish to oppress others are certainly willing to use violence to achieve their means. Once you've claimed victory over violent oppression, then you can set the guns aside and build a society around the flimsy concept of a disarmed society. Guns are still tools and have uses outside of violence, but that's outside the scope of the point I'm making.

Lib cowards want the minorities to do the dirty work for them and fight so they can get back to brunch.

Everyone is in some way part of a minority. So should everyone have a firearm?

Tell that to German Jews in the 1930s, I'm pretty sure my great grandparents were armed.

There's a lot more to it than that.
There was widespread feeling that if they just went along with it, the Nazis would leave them alone. That was a deadly wrong assumption. There's also factors like having enough able-bodied young adults to do it when there was a need for them to take care of older people.
Forgotten Weapons has a video about a college paper he wrote on the topic. It largely shows that people in the Jewish Ghettos could get crude but workable firearms if they needed, but the factors above tended to get in the way.
As were some of the groups in the Civil Rights movement. There was a group armed and trained by a black WW2 veteran that protected families from retaliation by the KKK for going to desegregated schools. Armed with rifles and machine guns, they would put sandbag emplacements on people's porches to ensure that their kids were safe throughout the night.
Together, monkey strong. When we're divided, it's much easier to silence us one by one. And that doesn't even need guns to be involved in the equation.
- Ape together strong
The ones that fought back often had a higher survivability rate than those that did not. Especially those that survived the ghetto uprisings to join resistance groups such as the Bielski Brothers. So while nothing was guaranteed, armed resistance did increase the odds of survival.
Harder, not impossible.

2A is a hobby. Y'all aren't protecting a thing.

I think you're missing the point. The vast majority of gun owners will never have to use their firearms in self-defense, that much is true. Most responsible gun owners also hope they never have to. It's also true that the vast majority of people with homeowners insurance will never have their house burn down, yet they still pay their insurance company every month.
Wouldn't you at least like to give yourself a fighting chance in the event that the worst happens?
- Just to expand on that, there's value in just having them. The US military has developed anti-insurgent tactics over the past 20 years. One of them is that to occupy an armed populace, they expect to need one soldier for every three civilians in the area. They have to assume everyone is armed and everyone will be against them.
  That would mean that if they want to put the US under martial law, they will need to mobilize 25% of the US population into the military directly and expect them to follow orders to the same level of competence as the existing military. This is a pipe dream. Approximately 10% of the US population was uniformed up in WW2, and agreement on the war was nearly universal. The draft existed not so much to get enough people, but to make sure the military could take in people at a sustainable rate without cutting too much into industrial production at home.
  All combined, the regular military, the National Guard, and ICE do not have enough people to put the entire country under martial law. They don't even have enough to put New York under martial law. They might have enough for Vermont. The ICE recruiting surge won't change this.
- The worst is happening, but in true American style 2A enjoyers won't act until they're individually effected... Y'all won't act when that happens either.
Ever study Black Panther tactics? They were so effective that they changed the rules to make their tactics illegal.
- So why are we being governed by fascists?
Oh yeah, the founding fathers just put that one in there for fun...
- They put it in there because a well-regulated militia is necessary for the security of a free state. Well, we have a military now - by far the largest in the world, in fact.
- Baby, the government is corrupted and I don't see you 2A guys taking back the country.
The fact that guns have been vital to winning wars for centuries proves you wrong.
We just aren't there yet.
Tell us, O' wise one: wtf are you contributing, exactly? 😚
- I'm certainly not contributing to the hobby that allows kids to be shot and killed in a school because said hobby makes one feel like a free strong man and those guns have more rights than those kids.
it’s a current promise by the powers currently in charge. remember: the constitution is not immutable. learn that now and learn it hard.
2A is important and ownership even as a hobby is still very much important. There is nothing “defensive” about some of my guns, they exist purely to make me laugh.
I've seen "Rambo", "Rambo: First Blood II", and "Rambo III: Brave Mujahideen Fighters of Afghanistan" over six times.
I'm pretty sure I could fire an exploding arrow at any evil government officials who would try to give me a hard time.