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Comment by delichon | Hacker News Reader

That would be popular here. This is a place where people who open carry, and there are lots, get thanked for it by strangers. We're 150 miles from the border but there's a lot of alarm about the increased flow of migrant groups walking through. Several of my neighbors now have enough ammo for multi year sieges. One guy has enough assault weapons for an expeditionary force.

Here a 40 minute response time from a sheriff's deputy would be excellent, so people take responsibility for their own defense more seriously. Another neighbor is a progressive liberal with another house in a big blue city. She recently bought a shotgun and took a training class for it.

The closest market doesn't have an ammo vending machine, but it doesn't need one because it's also a gun store and the home of the busiest hunting guide in the county.

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The first time I spent time in a rural desert community, where it was clear no one was responding to your 911 call for at least an hour, was when I understood the desire for a shotgun. Or even a weapon of any kind.

I still wouldn't get one, it's against my Buddhist practice, but I understood the fear that comes up a lot better when you're in the middle of nowhere and everyone else around you has guns. And a not insignificant number are probably on meth.

Every 4 years the migrant caravans start up again and get loads of news coverage. Thankfully they'll be done by mid November like they always are.

I will never understand why the people who are most concerned with illegal immigrants don’t go after the businesses exploiting them instead of chasing after desperate poor people. Literally not a peep about it and it could be solved at the Federal level. If they are not employable most of them won’t come!

Because politics and money. Let's say the Department of Justice went after a bunch of tomato growers. Word is going to get around among the tomato growers, the companies that buy from them, the companies that distribute them, that these certain politicians are not to receive any campaign contributions. They will hire a lobbyist and go after them. So the politicians do not pressure the department of justice, and the administration does not make it a priority for the department of justice, or any of the organs of government. That's putting aside the cultural, racial, and the American political divide.

So how do candidates get by with promising tougher border controls, if that would end up cutting off the supply of cheap workers that these other businesses rely on?

Perhaps they promise it and then don't do it?

Or make a lot of talk about a big physical, obvious and newsworthy solution like “the wall”.

If you solve a problem you can't campaign on it in the next election, especially if that solution causes a bunch of other problems.

As someone who knows very little about this, could you give an objective assessment of how much risk vs perceived risk migrants are to the physical or mental safety of people in your area? Don't need to go into specific locations to keep it simple.

I've been fortunate enough to have some experience with stealth immigrants as a long distance hiker. Their kindness was memorable on several occasions, beyond what I have grown used to in other strangers. I'm afraid I can't be very objective about it. There was a recent attack on a deputy and some damage from squatters. In a county with the population of an urban high school, that makes waves. But it seems short of an invasion to me.

Still, I don't care to be at the mercy of any strangers. I respect most of the people here and find their preparations more comforting than alarming.

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