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Comment by RandVal30142 | Hacker News Reader

Selling my Romanian AK-47 and other firearms obtained through purchase or inheritance felt great.

Since then there has been several mass casualty shootings in the states.

Wish I burned them now.

edit:

I didn't get rid of my collection over any huge reason, just didn't want the liability sitting around home when I haven't gone shooting in years. That said I feel like I've made a critical mistake in yielding my arms to people who would likely be less responsible than I during my ownership.

For anyone in the same position remember you can disable most firearms pretty easily by kludging a part or two. Hopefully will save someone that nagging feeling I have.

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You aren't responsible for other people's heinous acts.

I know, but I don't know.

It is obviously my duty to deescalate & inhibit violence in my community when possible, while restricting people's avenues to tools that multiply the potential damage they can inflict.

This is why we have mental health care and regulations for buying explosives.

The best I could figure with my firearms at the time was selling them to the most responsible party possible, in my case it was gunsmiths. Recently some criminals attempted to break into their shop. Didn't get away with anything. So my choice already yielded measurable results in a way.

I'm not responsible people's heinous acts, but I am responsible for the environment people choose to act in.

Thank you for taking your responsibility seriously.

(I first wrote "...for being responsible", but then it has two opposite possible readings. Yikes.)

I hope you aren't suggesting selling people a broken firearm.

If you want to be extra cautious in storing weapons, you can take the bolt or firing pin out and store it in a different place. I keep an old rifle out in my house for decoration, but the bolt is stored in the safe.

>I hope you aren't suggesting selling people a broken firearm.

Nah, more like disabling them so I can mount them up on a wall as a showpiece. I honestly never contemplated that route until after I sold them.

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