Write a controversial opinion

[StillStunned]

Several years ago I bought my wife a set of portable pocket alarms, for when she's out and about by herself. She promptly lost two, and generally leaves the last one at home despite my grumbles.

But yesterday she decided to take it with her, so she tested it first. I was in another room, and the thing nearly deafened me.

I really wish she'd be more consistent about carrying it.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Hoplophobia is more common than homophobia.

 

[TheLobster]

Hoplophobia is more common than homophobia.

And neither is even a fraction as ubiquitous as homophonia.

 

[cw5523729]

Hoplophobia is more common than homophobia.

TIL that hoplophobia is not the fear of hopping

 

[Kelliezgirl]

And neither is even a fraction as ubiquitous as homophonia.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

TIL that hoplophobia is not the fear of hopping

No plot bunnies were harmed in the making of this post.

 

[Off_base]

Hoplophobia is more common than homophobia.

I'm not of the opinion that most fear of firearms is irrational. That's part of the idea to carry concealed, so you don't alarm others.
I think most people just don't want anything to do with guns and the violence that comes with them.
I'm just doing what works for me, in my situation, not judging anyone else for their thoughts.
I just wondered what others thought about it, and probably just because it's today.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I'm not of the opinion that most fear of firearms is irrational. That's part of the idea to carry concealed, so you don't alarm others.
I think most people just don't want anything to do with guns and the violence that comes with them.
I'm just doing what works for me, in my situation, not judging anyone else for their thoughts.
I just wondered what others thought about it, and probably just because it's today.

Being afraid of an inanimate object is completely irrational.

 

[Statius]

I'm not of the opinion that most fear of firearms is irrational. That's part of the idea to carry concealed, so you don't alarm others.
I think most people just don't want anything to do with guns and the violence that comes with them.
I'm just doing what works for me, in my situation, not judging anyone else for their thoughts.
I just wondered what others thought about it, and probably just because it's today.

As .much as I disagree with firearms, I doubt anyone is judging you. If my wife wanted one I may hesitate, but would not discourage her, for the very reason you have one. Much empathy to you and no judgement.

 

[Britva415]

Hoplophobia is more common than homophobia.

Is that why hoplites couldn't get laid?

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Is that why hoplites couldn't get laid?

Obviously...

 

[Erozetta]

Hoplophobia is more common than homophobia.

I mean, my fear isn't exactly irrational. It kinda gets ingrained in you when you've sat on your dad's lap as a pre-schooler while he holds a gun to your back and your mom tries to work out if it's safer to just leave you there with him and take your older siblings elsewhere, or to stay and risk everyone being killed.

Then it gets sorta ground into you when you watch your dad hold a shotgun on your older sister and actually cocks the shotgun as she's laying on the floor and you are both too young to do anything, and are being shoved out of a window by your older brother.

And then it gets a little amped when your brain just constantly reminds you of how quick and easy it would be to off yourself when things get difficult.

And again when you have a baby cousin who accidentally shot himself in the face as a kindergartner because his parents didn't have their guns secured. (And he was okay except for some scarring and risk of fragment migration because he was so little and the only gun he could actually hold was the smallest caliber. He wanted to show his young cousins the gun. There were multiple kids there at the time; the two- and four-year-olds wouldn't have been okay if he'd accidentally shot one of them instead.)

The main thing is I *know* I can't safely be around guns. I'm perfectly calm around other people having them as long as there's zero chance I can get access to it. And I have no issue with gun ownership in general. But I do think that people like me and my dad shouldn't have guns for very different reasons.

 

[cw5523729]

Then it gets sorta ground into you when you watch your dad hold a shotgun on your older sister and actually cocks the shotgun as she's laying on the floor and you are both too young to do anything, and are being shoved out of a window by your older brother.

And again when you have a baby cousin who accidentally shot himself in the face as a kindergartner because his parents didn't have their guns secured.

Hmmm, in both of those scenarios, does the problem really sound like the gun?

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I mean, my fear isn't exactly irrational. It kinda gets ingrained in you when you've sat on your dad's lap as a pre-schooler while he holds a gun to your back and your mom tries to work out if it's safer to just leave you there with him and take your older siblings elsewhere, or to stay and risk everyone being killed.

Then it gets sorta ground into you when you watch your dad hold a shotgun on your older sister and actually cocks the shotgun as she's laying on the floor and you are both too young to do anything, and are being shoved out of a window by your older brother.

And then it gets a little amped when your brain just constantly reminds you of how quick and easy it would be to off yourself when things get difficult.

And again when you have a baby cousin who accidentally shot himself in the face as a kindergartner because his parents didn't have their guns secured. (And he was okay except for some scarring and risk of fragment migration because he was so little and the only gun he could actually hold was the smallest caliber. He wanted to show his young cousins the gun. There were multiple kids there at the time; the two- and four-year-olds wouldn't have been okay if he'd accidentally shot one of them instead.)

The main thing is I *know* I can't safely be around guns. I'm perfectly calm around other people having them as long as there's zero chance I can get access to it. And I have no issue with gun ownership in general. But I do think that people like me and my dad shouldn't have guns for very different reasons.

Seems like you should be afraid of your dad, not the gun. Would it have been any different if he had a knife or an axe?
You're transferring your fear to the object rather than the root cause.
It's tragic, and I'm sorry you went through that, but it isn't rational to blame the tool.

 

[Erozetta]

Hmmm, in both of those scenarios, does the problem really sound like the gun?

The problem has never been the gun. It's always the person the gun is handled by. I have a couple of cousins and uncles I trust handling guns. My dad, not so much. Me definitely not.

 

[cw5523729]

Seems like you should be afraid of your dad, not the gun. Would it have been any different if he had a knife or an axe?
You're transferring your fear to the object rather than the root cause.
It's tragic, and I'm sorry you went through that, but it isn't rational to blame the tool.

Well said

 

[Erozetta]

Seems like you should be afraid of your dad, not the gun. Would it have been any different if he had a knife or an axe?
You're transferring your fear to the object rather than the root cause.
It's tragic, and I'm sorry you went through that, but it isn't rational to blame the tool.

He never had an axe, but a knife was a little different. The knife was dull and my dad didn't like it when I cried, so he couldn't go through with it. So, yeah, the gun makes it a little different because it removes the effort of physically following through on such an attack.

But, also, I never said I had a fear of guns themselves. Just a fear of possibilities around things that happen when guns are involved, particularly because humanity is rarely a factor for the person on the trigger end, and the person at the barrel end is just an object in the moment.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

He never had an axe, but a knife was a little different. The knife was dull and my dad didn't like it when I cried, so he couldn't go through with it. So, yeah, the gun makes it a little different because it removes the effort of physically following through on such an attack.

But, also, I never said I had a fear of guns themselves. Just a fear of possibilities around things that happen when guns are involved, particularly because humanity is rarely a factor for the person on the trigger end, and the person at the barrel end is just an object in the moment.

I understand, I'm not judging, I'm just pointing out that focusing the discomfort on the tool is irrational. It's understandable, and isn't intended as a personal criticism, but it IS irrational.
I've got a friend who was in a pretty bad accident, he avoids that intersection now. It's an irrational fear, but I don't fault him for doing it. Now, if he started demanding no one else was allowed to drive through that intersection...

 

[Britva415]

Controversial opinion:

It's really, really hard to take seriously people who act like they believe anyone's saying the inanimate object is the problem.

Nobody thinks it's a problem when nobody's carrying it.

I'm not attacking their position, just their weak-ass straw man defense of it.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I'm not afraid of guns themselves - I used to do target shooting and a bit of hunting. But I'm afraid of having a gun around my household, because I know all too well that suicidal impulses may only last 10-20 minutes, but if you have a gun in the home, or a bottle of 100 or more paracetamol, it may be too late.

As one cousin said about his brother, once he bought the gun, we all knew it was just a matter of time. If my friend hadnt moved abroad to a country where they don't have restrictions on how many paracetamol you can buy at once, and they don't come in blister packs, she might be alive too. The hospital kept her alive for a few weeks and she regretted her impulse for pretty much the entire time.

I'm also very glad that only extra-specially-trained police here have guns (I've had the hammering on the door at 2am by them), but debate on that would count as politics so I'll stop there.

 

[cw5523729]

I understand, I'm not judging, I'm just pointing out that focusing the discomfort on the tool is irrational. It's understandable, and isn't intended as a personal criticism, but it IS irrational.
I've got a friend who was in a pretty bad accident, he avoids that intersection now. It's an irrational fear, but I don't fault him for doing it. Now, if he started demanding no one else was allowed to drive through that intersection...

A few years back, my wife and I hit a deer on the highway. For a year afterward, she avoided that same stretch of road by driving a much longer route that actually greatly increased the chance of hitting another one, despite knowing it wasn't rational.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

A few years back, my wife and I hit a deer on the highway. For a year afterward, she avoided that same stretch of road by driving a much longer route that actually greatly increased the chance of hitting another one, despite knowing it wasn't rational.

If there was something inherently dangerous about the intersection, then it would be totally rational to avoid it. Avoiding it because rando-idiot ran a light and plowed into you... well that can happen anywhere. That's irrational.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Controversial opinion:

It's really, really hard to take seriously people who act like they believe anyone's saying the inanimate object is the problem.

Nobody thinks it's a problem when nobody's carrying it.

I'm not attacking their position, just their weak-ass straw man defense of it.

No one is saying that. We are saying that being afraid of an inanimate object is irrational.
If a police officer is standing in front of you in the store getting ready to pay for his coffee and the fact he has a gun on his hip makes you uncomfortable, that's an irrational fear.

I'm uncomfortable if there is a gun in the room regardless of circumstances. - Irrational.
I have concerns about people with poor impulse control having access to firearms. - Rational.

 

[AwkwardMD]

I'm uncomfortable if there is a gun in the room regardless of circumstances. - Irrational.
I have concerns about people with poor impulse control having access to firearms. - Rational.

Drawing a distinction between these two, when use of the inanimate object requires a person whose impulse control is an unknown (and variable) quantity, is a meaningless gotcha.

 

[Erozetta]

I understand, I'm not judging, I'm just pointing out that focusing the discomfort on the tool is irrational. It's understandable, and isn't intended as a personal criticism, but it IS irrational.
I've got a friend who was in a pretty bad accident, he avoids that intersection now. It's an irrational fear, but I don't fault him for doing it. Now, if he started demanding no one else was allowed to drive through that intersection...

The discomfort isn't on the tool itself. It's on the access to the tool.

A non-working gun I can handle without issue. I can be around it without issue. Museums are a comfort place for me, particularly American history museums around wars. I find the weaponry showcased fascinating.

A working gun, however, is a problem, not because it's a gun, but because it's a means to an end without much thought behind it. It's a fear of impulsive actions around tools of destruction, and it's not limited to guns, they are just the tool with both ease of access and destructive power behind them.

There are times when I have to be monitored with knives because my impulse when I handle them is to hurt myself, particularly when stressed out, sad, or feeling like a burden to the people around me. My fear of guns isn't about a gun, but about knowing the damage that can be done before someone could actually take it away from me. Not the gun itself, but the power and immediacy of the damage it offers. A knife can be bad, but the likelihood of actually cutting an artery or puncturing a major organ while clothed before someone can take it away from me is pretty low, particularly since I hurt my shoulder, lol. A gun, however? Lotsa ways to do maximum damage with minimal survival chances without needing your dominant hand functional and clothing is a non-barrier to entry.

I'd personally say my fear of access to guns is pretty rational all things considered.