Ask Lemmy

Protesters who use violence to protect their neighbors will be killed. This is fascism. We can't use force to defend ourselves.

Best and simplest answer is that technically they're still considered law enforcement. Nearly everything they're doing is constitutionally illegal, but only the courts have the right to determine that.

If we start threatening police with guns, every single nook and cranny of our legal system justifies the police murdering us. Maybe some cops would get paid leave for a few weeks, or possibly even lose their badges, but that's about it.

And then they'll use it to justify an even more inflated budget for ICE, and everything will get exponentially worse.

Because people won’t open carry when it’s against the law so they don’t get arrested. Unlike ICE, they’re following the law.

I believe open carry is illegal here in Illinois.

The meta I've heard is also that, if you're gonna brandish or draw a gun, you'd better be prepared to kill with it. I'm not prepared to die shooting cops so I don't feel like carrying. In the confusion of a gun fight I don't think I'd have much to add by shooting anyone

Like if someone told me that the 2nd amendment just causes more shootings and doesn't actually protect people on average I'd say yeah...

I'll give you a real answer instead of all of these other dork ass answers.

First, there aren't enough of us to do so.

Second, you really haven't thought through the repercussions of open carrying. Which relates to the first reason.

Open carrying puts a huge target on you. You need lots and lots of people to remain "safe". And you won't be safe. What are you going to do, shoot an ice agent if they try to arrest you? If that's your goal, why open carry? Do you think that the government here is going to suddenly follow constitutional law around a citizens right to bear arms? As they're literally illegally arresting people?

Sooner or later the amount of guns in this country is going to catch up to the ruling class but it's not going to be at a protest.

Because people who are legal concealed carry permit holders regularly get shot in the back by police. People who act like you can stand up to a major world military are idiots.

Because trump is hoping people will do something stupid so that he can overreact and put the entire country in lock down?

Unless you're going for a violent uprising, violent protests typically do less than large scale continuous peaceful protests

The problem is that the latter also doesn't happen in the US, it's as if Americans just don't care..

Oh yes, I know the excuses, we have a job, we have a family to feed, and DUDE YOU ARE A JEW IN GERMANY 1934, WOULD YOU PLEASE FRIGGING DO SOMETHING ALREADY?

Because the White House is looking for an excuse to have the military start slaughtering civilians and imprisoning democrats. A general strike is what we need to do

Armed victims increase the cost of tyranical actions but modern warfare and thus miltia movements is not just (have weapon, intimidate or kill enemy). Honestly one of the failures of the defense of the second amendment has been the failure to modernize and includr other parts of warfare.

Honestly there is a mixture of denial in what is actually happening and support too

The No Kings protest in Utah ended tragically because armed "peacekeepers" (aka armed civilians) shot at a protester who was open-carrying an AR-15 at the protest. The protester had no ill intentions, but the peacekeepers didn't know that. The peacekeepers missed and killed a bystander.

That's why you don't open carry at protests. The untrained "good guy with a gun" is likely to shoot you. Carry concealed if you're going to carry, or don't bring a gun at all.