Hacker News Reader

Comment by bupku5 | Hacker News Reader

And I have a Glock 17 and a years' worth of ammo, so I don't need to stockpile the other stuff, you are doing it for me.

(edit: hopefully it is obvious this is a play on words, speaking in the voice of a hypothetical desperate citizen. obviously I do not own a gun for the purposes of threatening others, only for self-protection)

Sounds trollish but my point is that Californians in particular eventually need to square this neo-survivalism with their long-standing desire to create a gun-free society.

You should not assume friendly cooperation in a crisis. You should assume people will do what they have to do or have always wanted to do.

The Bay Area in particular is deeply polarized and we should assume the worst if law enforcement is temporarily absent

View on HN

Well, for one I live in Colorado, not the Bay Area.

Two, you're assuming that I also don't have a firearm. I actually don't, but you're still making a big assumption that whoever you try to steal from can't fight back. How much overlap do you think there is between emergency preparedness and firearm possession? Certainly in Colorado, even Boulder, that's not a bet I would be willing to take.

This is a situation where you get one shot, since emergency services likely won't be able to save you if you get shot. If you've got a handgun but I've got a pump-action shotgun packing buckshot, I would have a decent shot since I only need to aim in your general direction but you have to aim pretty well, in a stressful situation that you've probably never been in. Ever shot someone?

Three, consider what you're honestly suggesting here. I'm not anti-firearm, but I am against the the disgusting sentiment you espouse in that post.

You make a damn good point. I was talking to some of my more conservative friends the other day about the potential for civil unrest at some point in the future, and they said something along the lines of "rednecks have guns, they'd win the war". Problem is, while I'm not really a "gun person", I'm not anti-gun either. I don't go around bragging about my gun collection or how much ammo I have, and I also don't go around in public showing off or even talking about the four rifles, two shotguns, and the handgun I own. Even my closest friends, while knowing I own guns, have never seen them unless we've hunted together.

It never really gets talked about much, but if the people who like to brag about their guns somehow think they're the only ones who own guns, they're going to be very surprised in an actual emergency situation. Plenty of people quietly own a gun and would be willing to use it to defend their property again criminals.

I mean if you think about it, how many people own a bicycle? Now how many people are dressed in spandex in public bragging about their VO2 max? There are a lot more quiet, casual bikers than there are braggadocios bikers. You just only hear/see the ones out bragging about it.

Obviously the people who tout their gun ownership are just asking for trouble...most notably they are just begging to have their guns stolen.

(edit: people keep responding to me as if I have left myself vulnerable...uh sure, you know the LTE tower I connected to HN from)

Still, you cannot separate emergency preparedness and self-protection. Anyone who questions this should look back at Hurricane Katrina or the LA riots.

You should expect some of those people living under onramps in SF will attempt to upgrade to Pac Heights in the event of an absence of civil order...

> Obviously the people who tout their gun ownership are just asking for trouble

> And I have a Glock 17 and a years' worth of ammo, so I don't need to stockpile the other stuff, you are doing it for me.

Uh-huh.

> I only need to aim in your general direction

Maybe I'm just bad at trap/skeet but in my experience you still have to aim with a shotgun! ;)

Trap targets are ~4.25" and moving very fast. People are 6' and not moving very fast. General direction would work just fine.

Haha, dude, this isn't the movies. In the absence of medical care, it's more important not to get shot than to shoot someone.

Because if one of them hits you, you're a goner. It's not a rational option to try to steal shit because someone out there will shoot you, and then you'll die. It won't matter that you shot fifteen people before you got shot because life doesn't have a K-D ratio.

you presume I have some desire to use my gun or create a situation to use my gun. No. It is an insurance policy. Like all policies, it can also fail, but I would rather have it than not.

my original reply was more a play on words as to what one can expect from others...you should assume desperation and access to weapons...this is America not Lichtenstein

Why would you travel to Colorado and take his supplies during a California disaster?

Do you think it would be worthwhile to go so far?

I'm being really sarcastic, but it's kind of hilarious to post such an abrasive comment while not even noticing that they aren't in California.

>>Glock 17 and a years' worth of ammo, so I don't need to stockpile the other stuff, you are doing it for me

Great, you have a sidearm that presumably fires 9mm ammunition that you are qualified to shoot downrange. I stock pile not only food, water, and medical supplies, but carry a 9mm of my own and have far more useful home defense weaponry in the form of a Mossberg 500 Flex (as well as various rifles that I don't expect to be all that handy if things really do go down). I also own ballistic vests.

If you wanted to be edgy about looting people, you could have picked something besides a sidearm.

In a real survival situation I believe you will use your stockpiles to help others.

To the extent that I was able to do so without jeopardizing my own family's survival, absolutely.

What's more, I'm more than happy to use my skills and equipment to equip and train neighbors in the event it were necessary. I have lots of guns and ammo because I enjoy them, not because I see them as magical talismans or because I intend to use them against the innocent during civil unrest.

The stereotype of a slightly-unhinged and heavily-armed prepper is just that - a stereotype. In truth most people who the general public would call "preppers" are like me; I have enough "stuff" to get my family through reasonable hard times and the rest of my capital is spent trying to build a foundation for retirement.

One family like mine in a small community with a few other families all pitching in, given basic training and loaned arms would be handily deter the opportunistic during a Katrina-scale "event".

Absolutely I would. The other guy is talking about looting and all this other nonsense.

I have been thru a number of minor crises and I have found people to be amazing. I think the majority of people are still good and would cooperate. Of course it depends on how fast the crisis happens.

Katrina

I have a TEC-9, thanks for stockpiling the ammo for me!

You only need a couple of rounds for a TEC-9 - I've never seen one fire more than that without jamming anyhow :)

Reply on news.ycombinator.com