Unpopular Opinion

That's like saying all cars are meant for the racetrack or all knives are made for spreading butter.

I own several guns, and none of them are so I can kill. My over/under shotgun is designed for skeet shooting. My 22 pistol is for plinking. My precision rifle weighs 30 pounds with its optic, so is incredibly impractical as a weapon.

I'm being pedantic, but many are designed to take the lives of animals rather than people. Absurdly heavy precision .22 cal target rifles are clearly only for sport.

A few are designed to launch flares high into the air for communication. A very small number are designed to trigger avalanches under controlled conditions.

that's not the only purpose dude. you can use a machine gun to shoot a circle around a door knob to unlock any door.

Is this community just popular opinions? Every comment agrees with OP.

I have worked in Accident & Emergency in England and in an ER in America. Guns are a curse.

You all need to see the deserted dead body of a 15 year old laying on the table after an unsuccessful resuscitation attempt. A baby who has been shot through, or the crowds of relatives helplessly sobbing in the streets outside the emergency room.

Every gun owner thinks they are a responsible gun owner until they arent. Its simply not possible to be 100% safe 100% of the time. That's not a thing that humans do.

And no. There are nowhere near as many knife deaths in England.

I never saw a fatal stabbing in the UK, but I've seen many in America. The numbers are insignificant when compared to gun accidents and murders.

All "tools" that kill this many people should absolutely be regulated.

Americans never shut up about freedom, but don't pay attention to the freedom taken away simply by the threat that anyone around you could be carrying a gun. You're all just used to it being your way. It's so nice not to have to consider the possibility. The american way is like spending your lives with the sword of Damocles dangling over your heads. That's your freedom.

I agree with you. You hate them, that's reasonable. They represent humanity's failure at cooperation.

You're also totally justified to hate those who fetishize them.

You are wrong about them being designed only to kill, though. The point of them is to wield deadly force, and they are designed to send a high-speed projectile in order to achieve that goal, of deadly force. It's alittle semantic, but an important distinction imo, because the point of wielding deadly force is to make opponents compliant even if you never use it.

Swords, spears, bows, atlatls, and pretty much every weapon of war was the exact same way. A key difference between them and the firearm, though, is that the firearm takes little to no training in comparison to the others, which take considerable amounts more.

Everything else, we're in agreement about. I think you hold a hate for violence as well, based on your stance. That is also healthy, but I hope you also see violence for the liberating force that it is, able to protect those that are targeted.

We are on the brink of having the US become a full-blown fascist state - as opposed to the fascistic nation it's always been. Should that happen, I fear the only way back is through violence, and I'd much prefer having a rifle in hand to the alternative of charging down gunfire armed with a lesser weapon, as the Egyptians had to during their revolution in 2011.

Love it. You can never post anything bad about guns on Reddit's unpopular opinion section. And I agree, it's to murder other humans. The 2nd amendment's present interpretation is an amazing example why I have such low respect for constitutional lawyers: The well-regulated militia part is in the same sentence to specifically set the context in which the right to bear arms is protected and people getting away without taking the militia part into consideration is total bullshit.

Also, the 2nd amendment does not absolve irresponsible gun owners for the consequences of their gun ownership. Since Americans lose 350K guns annually (!!!!!!!) and provide most of the Mexican cartels' firearms, there's a lot of bad gun ownership that people should be punished for. Generally speaking, you'll be the last to know about the gun ownership of people who actually store them responsibly.

I agree with op. Guns are used to intimidate, and for entertainment. Men and their fascination with power by holding a gun is toxic and a failure of society.

Wish that sniper had a better scope tho

everything made my human minds is a tool. artillery is no exception.

a gun is a tool just like a hammer, a drill, a paintbrush, a glue stick, etc. some people have favorite tools.

personally I have a carpenters pencil my father left behind on the job site we both last worked on before he died. it's my favorite pencil and I only use it on personal projects I wish he was around to help me with. in a sense I feel like he's there with me still, even all these years later.

I know of people who have favorite guns, because they bonded with their fathers over them while hunting.

having an emotional connection to a tool isn't wrong or unhealthy.

that said, having an infatuation with the killing power or firepower of a gun isn't healthy. knowing your tools is one thing but obsessing over how many rounds your gun can fire and proudly treasuring it only for that is sick.

guns are tools to be respected, and like any other tool you hold with your hands, it starts with how you perceive it in your mind.

I pretty much 💯 agree with OP. If there was some absolute method to completely bar anyone from making/using all type of guns, I would make it my life's mission to see it through. The "gun", however it is you wish to consider it, was conceived and engineered to kill. To not repeat everything that's been said... all I'll add is, humans like to play god so much that they'll justify lots of unethical and immoral things... war, hunting.... all in the name of the "greater good". Right... 🙄

They're also used to kill animals, look up some nature docs where they snipe animals

It was interesting reading your thoughts and all the different opinions in the comments. I enjoy firearms, and regularly go target shooting. I forget sometimes people don’t spend their time understanding firearms.

Yes, you are correct, the purpose of a firearm is to kill. That’s why they’re referred to as lethal weapons, where the word lethal can be defined as deadly.

It’s great you came to this conclusion on your own and it’s a great opportunity to explain some other aspects of firearms being lethal that folks often miss.

Since firearms are lethal weapons they’re not appropriate to use when less than lethal force is desired. This is why for example police “don’t just shoot criminals in the leg.” Because if they’re successful the person can still bleed out and if they miss they could accidentally apply lethal force to a bystander or the person they’re not trying to kill.

Another thing to understand is police should only have their weapon drawn if they fear for their lives or others. If the officer is following protocol, you shouldn’t see a firearm until the officer thinks lethal force is merited. Which is to say, if a cop pulls a gun, take it seriously.

I have a permit to conceal carry where I live. The laws understand firearms are deadly, and legally I can’t use or even draw my firearm unless I think my life is threatened or that I might suffer great bodily harm, think knife attacks or broken bones.

To add to that, because firearms are lethal, if someone flashes a gun in a threatening manner such as lifting up their shift to show the firearm in a holster during a heated argument, I could reasonably assume my life was in danger and legally respond with lethal force.

These are just some examples, but yes, guns are 100% designed to take life. You should always think of a firearm as a lethal weapon especially in situations where they’re pointed towards you.

There are too many responses here to reply to all of them individually so I'm just going to post some quotes here, more in response to other comments than the OP, but perhaps also a perspective to consider for OP as well.

"That rifle on the wall of the labourer's cottage or working class flat is the symbol of democracy. It is our job to see that it stays there."

• George Orwell

And the shockingly only increasingly relevant full quote from one of the founders of the Black Panthers party:

"Any unarmed people are slaves, or are subject to slavery at any given moment. If the guns are taken out of the hands of the people and only the pigs have guns, then it's off to the concentration camps, the gas chambers, or whatever the fascists in America come up with. One of the democratic rights of the United States, the Second Amendment to the Constitution, gives the people the right to bear arms. However, there is a greater right; the right of human dignity that gives all men the right to defend themselves."

• Huey Newton

I'd really ask more people to consider their position of privilege, to be less afraid of state sanctioned or enabled violence of all forms than some crazy neighbor with guns who was likely failed many times by that very state to have come to this point. Please just consider the counterpoint, that armed minorities are harder to oppress, and that far, far more people have been killed by state sanctioned and enabled violence, than by access to firearms by "the common people".

I'm not telling anyone that they're wrong, I'm just asking that you really internalize and consider this perspective. Thank you for reading and thinking.