this post was submitted on 31 Jul 2024
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Political Memes

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 months ago

The real reason

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Americans actually do shoot quite well, but the rules around gun handling are incredibly strict for Olympic shooting.

Things like minor celebrations, emotion, or even the cadence of your walk while leaving the range can cause disqualification.

Since American shooters can't hit a bullseye without shotgunning a beer and magdumping into the sky as eagles carry exploding fireworks in celebration, they often do not place in Olympic shooting

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Or in other words, what's missing from our country's gun use is respect.

The vast majority of our issues with gun violence is the fact that we disrespect guns almost as much as each other, they're just another crass tool for achieving a feeling, like power, masculinity, reassurance and comfort. So then guess what happens when you flood the streets with more guns than every other developed nation combined?

We are a nation of undisciplined shooters, they may shoot "quite well" in some cases, but for every shooter who does quite well at hitting a target you have several thousand who have no idea how to shoot, AND have no clue about gun safety, respect and responsible ownership.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Well, sure, but you don't send a random selection of citizens to the Olympics. You send the best.

The nation with the most gun owners per capita and a huge population should have many pinnacle-tier shooters, even if it also has many bad ones. So the question is, why aren't they at the Olympics?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

A lot of the people who would be excellent at shooting have no interest in specifically Olympic shooting or training for the type of shooting required, unfortunately. That, and the military has probably poached the best of the best, and don't want to show what "best of the best" shooting looks like for strategic reasons.

(side note, happy cake day!)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

In fairness, you see that chick from South Korea?

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

If they had a mass shooting category we would cleanup. Who wants to shoot just one bullet at a time

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Sometimes classroom training doesn't translate.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 3 months ago

Certainly hit lots of live targets in the classrooms of Uvalde.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Not fair, they won't even allow pre-ban machine guns firing tracer bullets in five round bursts.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Try using mathematical triangles to protect yourself from harm.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Isn't it kind of weird to point at medal counts in the Olympics to say that America sucks? Most overall medals and second in gold medals. Shitting on America, no matter if it makes sense or not.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Bit of a woosh. It's a joke about the specific category. America, the country with the largest number of shooting deaths, has 0 medals in the shooting category.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

America is not the country with the highest number of shooting deaths, nor is it the country with the highest per-capita number of shooting deaths. You have been misinformed by propaganda.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

yeah, it would be correct to say: "the country with the most shooting deaths that is not an active warzone"

[–] [email protected] 0 points 3 months ago (1 children)

Who is Brazil at war with? I didn't think they were actively participating in any wars.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 months ago

Brazil has a lot of gun deaths. But it’s worth keeping in mind that lots of the Amazon region is essentially a lawless “Wild West” and that specialized police units are, in fact, in war with enormous trafficking gangs. “Regular people” get shot too, of course, in violent crime incidents. But besides this, many “regular people” don’t own guns and don’t advocate for guns in the same way as in the US. There’s not really a “gun culture” that regular people participate in — it’s not an identity. Certainly not as much as the US.

I think that’s what makes the photo a valid joke and criticism of the US and that it wouldn’t work for other countries like Brazil. It’s not just looking at total gun deaths or other absolute metrics, it’s also taking into account the layers that make guns in the US a cultural symbol. The US is basically the “gun country” of the world because in the US, guns aren’t just a gang or criminal thing, they're a “regular” thing.