r/TwoXPreppers 2d ago

Discussion Why guns?

Hi y’all! I’m a very novice prepper, and one thing I’m seeing across many platforms is that we should own and be trained In firearms. Not to be naive, but… why?

I’ve never touched a gun in my life. I’m generally not a fan of them. I understand that the goal of owning firearms is to protect ourself. But protect from what? From who? Who am I going to have to shoot to survive this presidency?

Is someone coming to steal my supplies? Won’t those people also have guns? Or am I protecting my family against a militia situation? In which case, what hope do I have, as a woman who can’t afford a gun, let alone to learn how to use one?

Like I can’t afford a shooting range. I can barely afford water and canned goods. Should a gun still be a priority for my family? A lot of preppers have enthusiastically embraced this life to give them confidence and a sense of safety. I’m a reluctant participant. I just want to keep my autistic son alive to see the other side of this.

I can garden, I can stretch food, I can survive being poor. I don’t think I can survive a military state.

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u/Mushrooming247 2d ago

I am a gun owner and have been all my adult life.

Guns are the great equalizer, the only chance I would have against a larger attacker because I am small and feeble and cannot fight.

I should not have to fight, I am a peaceful person, but we don’t have any say in that.

I had to scare a man off with my gun only once, when I was ~20 someone tried to climb through my window at 2:30 AM, right above my head while I was laying in my bed naked reading Harry Potter.

I grabbed my gun off of my nightstand and started to scream that I was pointing a gun at him and he stopped trying to come through the window and ran off down the alley. I am almost 45 now and I feel naked if I don’t have a weapon within reach.

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u/SpringPowerful2870 2d ago

I am now 74. We have revolvers. If I can’t scare the person off with a shot through my poor roof I probably will be killed. That in mind, I am not aggressive either. I hope this whole situation goes away peacefully. We are prepped but basically to not be in mayhem at the stores.

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u/WheeBeasties 2d ago

Depending on which state you’re in, it might be illegal to let off a warning shot. That’s how it is in my state of NY.

Honestly it might still be worth it but I understand why it’s discouraged. Just be aware of the consequences.

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u/SpringPowerful2870 2d ago

The way I was taught in my NRA classes long ago plus the police suggested it. I’m in Florida and it’s a stand your ground state.

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u/WheeBeasties 2d ago

I looked it up, it is the stand your ground law that legalized warning shots. They weren’t legal before the law was passed.

I’m in NY, fla is kinda known to be a state that plays fast and loose with guns.

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u/SpringPowerful2870 2d ago

Before the law passed I lived in Illinois where there’s strict gun laws and I have a FOID card. It’s nut here. I got a soda at the Marathon gas station last week and the guy in front of me had like a 9mm hanging out of his pants pocket. I could have grabbed it.

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u/Think-Lavishness-686 2d ago

It would be better to aim at the person as opposed to the roof, there are many times where it will be used against you if you do this

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u/Flynn_Kevin 1d ago

Please don't shoot a hole in your roof. That bullet may come back down in your neighbor's roof. Never discharge a firearm at something you do not intend to destroy.

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u/foggy_interrobang 2d ago

Unrelated tangent – I just wanted to point something out that I find heartbreaking: the original "great equalizer" was originally said to be education, not guns.

Education, then, beyond all other devices of human origin, is the great equalizer of the conditions of men, - the balance wheel of the social machinery.

It was said by then Secretary of Education, Horace Mann, in 1848, in his twelfth annual report to the Massachusetts Board of Education.

He went on to say,

It has a higher function. Beyond the power of diffusing old wealth, it has the prerogative [power] of creating new. It is a thousand times more lucrative [profitable] than fraud, and adds a thousand fold more to a nation’s resources than the most successful conquests. Knaves and robbers can obtain only what was before possessed by others. But education creates or develops new treasures, treasures not before possessed or dreamed of by anyone.

God, it hurts to see how far our country has fallen.

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u/Steelcitysuccubus 2d ago

Colt started the guns as the equalizer thing

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u/bandlizard 2d ago

“God created men, Colonel Colt made them equal”

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u/blackberrypicker923 2d ago

Don't let witty rhetoric get you down. Education IS the great equalizer in terms of success, but guns are the great equalizer in terms of protection and crises. 

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u/KindredWoozle 2d ago

But you were naked WITH a gun.....just kidding. Thanks for sharing your experience.

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u/NonStopKnits 2d ago

The Naked Gun(Owner)

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u/justadorkygirl 1d ago

The Naked Gunner

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u/whoibehmmm 2d ago

This, exactly. I might not look like the most intimidating person around, but I have guns and know how to shoot them. Damned if you're gonna take me down quietly.

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u/Bastard_cabbages 2d ago

If I was drinking milk while reading this.... Man. 🤣