They're reading what you're saying, they just don't want to acknowledge it because they wouldn't be able to have smug, non-answers.  Trump incited a lot of anger in people, I certainly empathize with that.  They're just incapable of that empathy toward their political opponents.  You don't need to have an IQ over 100 to understand that normalizing political violence for causes you're sympathetic towards normalizes all political violence. 

They've created an image of Trump and bought into all the hyperbole and outright lies about him.  What sane person wouldn't claim to stand against Hitler.  I say "claim", because all of us are posting on an outdated and unreliable message board rather than doing anything of substance.  If they genuinely believe in their cores that Trump is Hitler, what isn't justified?  Radicalism isn't something unique to the fringe and destitute, and when 80%? of mainstream information is facilitating that dishonesty, you can't fault them for being influenced by it.

You were influenced by it.  I remember how you were all in on the Russian shit in 2017.  Fortunately you made the effort to look at what was true, and what was said by someone looking for ad space and attention.  I was influenced by it.  You can look at my posts from early 2009 here and find me making predictions about imminent takeover of socialism and loss of American exceptionalism. I distinctly remember laying on the floor of my office in Iraq for an hour distraught once I saw the election called at 5 in the morning.  I thought for sure I'd be in some UN uniform within a year following orders from some Eastern European general with Saudi soldiers standing to my left and right.  In the years that followed, I became embarrassed by my gullibility and swore I'd never allow myself to knowingly believe something because I wanted it to be true.  But few people are willing to test their beliefs and narratives.  Most people are concerned with having their beliefs validated, not actually validating them.

I'm ok with most of these folks, because eventually their intelligence will override their emotion and they'll realize their initial position was extreme. But you have those very few who are not only passionate, but willing to act on that.  And with the media creating this constant Armageddon narrative for the past 4+ years,  you're giving the nuts the material they need to act violent.  "Trump calls the election stolen" soon becomes "Trump is refusing to leave the White House" which soon becomes "Trump is calling on White Supremacist to stage a Coup and install him as our eternal leader."  Most of us will yell at the TV or insult complete strangers on the internet.  But a small minority will react to it. 

It started several years ago with BLM and Antifa smashing in the occasional window and the occasional act of violence.  Obama was in office and Democrats have a monopoly on anything they can market as racism.  That's why the mother of Michael Brown (the violent criminal who punched a cop in the face, tried to take his weapon, then charge at the cop again before he was shot - this is a fact, it's not something any of you can dispute), was on stage at the DNC convention in 2016.  No one can be to the left of the DNC, so lip service was made to keep them loyal.   But nothing really happened after St Louis, so that became normalized.  Then Antifa starts showing up at protests and assaulting people.  Bike chains to the face, rush the speaker, shatter the windows of the auditorium, that kind of shit.  Feel free to lookup the numerous Berkley videos or any other college campus.  Obama condemned this, but no one in any position of authority did anything to stop it.  In fact, colleges refused to fund police presences at these events to enable Antifa and anti-free speech types to use threat of force to silence people. It culminated with the violence and damage done during Trump's inauguration.  The story the media was telling wasn't about the violence, it was about Trump's crowd size.

Then the right responded with the Proud Boys.  These idiots would show up and fight and beat the shit out of Antifa, and no one really did anything about it.  So left and right idiots beating the shit out of each other in the street became the new normal.  Trump jokes that some loud mouth screaming at a rally should be smacked in the mouth, and violence becomes a major concern and Trump is to blame.  Trump is the worse fucking person in the world to advocate passions and violence be calmed, and the media refuses to cover anything about left wing radicals.  So Antifa gets more and more brazen and decide Charlottesville is the new battleground, because some dead guy has a statue in a state they've never been to.  Of course the extremes on the right are only emboldened because they've watched Proud Boys beat the shit out of them on YouTube the past 16 months, so they show up.  What started out as a rally to stop the destruction of monuments soon became infiltrated and owned by white supremacist shit heads who were more than eager to punch back.  As the video evidence shows, Antifa does their normal swarm bullshit where they block traffic and assault their enemies, and one White Supremacist shit head drove his car into Antifa and killed a woman.  And here's where I'm going to lose those who have no interest in reality and want their narrative.  In a hasty press conference, Trump condemns the violence and says "There were fine people on both side."  We all know that statement, but what people who have only listened to mainstream media don't know, is that Trump immediately followed that statement up that he wasn't talking about the white supremacist, and "totally condemn them".  That important part was left out, and now left wing violence is justified because Nazis are killing innocent counter protesters.  So it continues, and the media continues its efforts to mislead the public into thinking Trump condoned this hateful attack, further justifying the idea that bored 20 somethings in 21st century America are akin to their grandfathers at Normandy. 

Flash forward to George Floyd, and we're at a point where trying to storm the White House, tearing down monuments, setting police stations on fire, firebombing court houses, and taking over several city blocks and declaring autonomy are all normalized.  And the same people calling Trump the reincarnation of Adolph Hitler are baffled that morons on the right pushed their way into a poorly guarded entrance and gained access to the Speaker's office that  is 6 feet away from the path thousands of people who legally tour the Capitol each day walk.  They just don't understand how we got to this point.

It's just convenient that they now support the complete silencing from 21st century information sources, and has nothing to do with their own personal desire to perform something that most people would say resembles the kind of coup enacted by the governments of Orwell's 1984.

Edit:  Yea, they went right past your post ID.  They're not interested in responding to what you post, but please keep it up.  I enjoy reading your thoughts.

If you think carrying an unloaded one is any kind of deterrent,  you might as well get an airsoft if that is your goal.  But if you insist, don't get anything under a .45.  9mm doesn't do dick and over penetrates creating a wound channel and not knockdown power.  Google knockdown power for each caliber.  9mm will go through your wall and your neighbors, a 45 will mushroom and just create a big hole.  This assumes you want something for outside the home. If you're strictly worried about home defense, a shotgun is your best bet.  Just make sure you get buckshot and not bird shot.

if you've never fired a gun before, you should go to an indoor range and practice with a .22 caliber handgun to get the basics of marksmanship down.  There's no recoil at this caliber, and shooting bigger ones without any experience will result in a flinch that is hard to correct.  None of that matters in the heat of the moment, but muscle memory is very real.  You should also look at self defense ammunition - I really like Hydra-shok, but your local gun store will be able to point you in the right direction.  This ammunition is designed to fragment once entering the body, thus hitting more soft tissue and creating more injury.  The goal of firing a gun is to kill someone, I know you know this.  But really think on that and if you're truly capable of pulling that trigger when you or your loved ones are in jeopardy.

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I'm glad your concern manifested now, but I wish you had been concerned when this happened 6 months ago.  I appreciate your purpose on this forum has been stated to keep me in check, I'm sure with your objectivity and ability to look at things from an objective and factual nature will make your contributions immeasurable.  I look forward to your quality posts that are supported and evidenced.

Indeed.  The folks who laughed at Trump in the bunker when Antifa/BLM tried to storm the white house and who denied anything was amiss as far left groups terrorized police departments, statehouses and federal buildings across the country all summer is mindboggling.  They normalized this behavior and trying to weigh which is worse is a fool's game.  Reasonable people condemn all the violence and don't use emotional cries to justify violence and death from a cause they empathize towards. 

That the same people who created "alternative facts" calling riots 'mostly peaceful' as the city burned behind them is just cognitive dissonance at its finest.  Now we're pretending that this is the first time this has happened, despite protests in Pelosi's office just last year by far left groups.  And when pressed for the actual statistics they parrot shows the discrepancy, they just hand waive it and toss an insult. 

Some of us called out the violence all summer and are outraged this happened.  Others denied the violence all summer and refused to accept objective reality.  This isn't a matter of difference of opinion.  This is straight 1984 shit where the powers that be allied themselves with the brokers of information in the 21st century and they decide what is allowable speech.  These same outlets covered up the Hunter Biden story that we know to be true, because they wanted Biden in office.  60 minutes called this riot a constitutional crisis, but downplayed the riots and destruction at federal court houses and statehouses all summer long.

It's truly terrifying that one side wants to complete silence dissent and people on this forum are asking for a list of people they can go after and hold accountable.  Not a single one  of them condemns the "revolution" that inspired some nut to shoot up congress.  It doesn't matter that these people began to force entry while Trump was still speaking, or that ample video evidence of Pelosi and other Democratic leaders exists calling on their supporters to "rise up".  We're all supposed to stick our heads in the sand and pretend something unheard of occured and has no connection to the riots and lawlessness that was celebrated and championed by elected officials and media heads the past 7 months. 

I really feel like I'm in the Twilight Zone.

James, you owe an apology to ID.  That post was completely uncalled for and if you generally believe that, you're the one who has been spending too much time in the sewers of the internet.

The first amendment is the cornerstone of this country.  A baker refusing to make a cake for a homosexual couple is the greatest injustice of the last decade, but corporations aligning with Democratic politicians to silence opposition and the truth is celebrated.

So this is how Democracy dies.  To thunderous applause.

I pray to god this is resolved soon, cause if the nuts want a civil war it won't be the people confused about what a Y chromosome means standing victorious at the end.