Man assaulted outside of Philadelphia gay bar

[CmdrKing]

All violent crime has been on the downswing since the 1970s.

And advocating for second amendment rights is hardly a "right wing" only thing. Hell, Operation Blazing Sword formed in response to the Pulse massacre, and more recently they have merged with Pink Pistols, which formed in 2000 with the simple mission of teaching queer people to shoot. It's like the NRA for LGBTQ people, if the NRA was still what it was like before the 1970s.

I'm a bit... dubious here.

On the one hand, I appreciate there being groups filling the gap the NRA left behind to become absolutists: promoting education on the safe handling and usage of fire arms among aficionados.
And indeed, there may be something to be said for the knowledge that someone who doesn't flash their gun at every opportunity isn't necessarily unarmed, but rather they know their business and in fact may be better shots than your open carry blusterers.

But.
The trouble with rights like the second amendment is that it's often dead paper for those who are most likely to be oppressed. If you belong to a class who are likely to be shot on sight by police if you're armed or presumed to be armed, and it's well known that those shooting you will face no consequences, then being armed makes you more vulnerable, not less. More people will be willing to shoot you, and the consequences of your firing back are ever more dire.
The question then becomes if queer folk, generally, would fall into that category (independently of other factors). And honestly I'm not sure we really have that data? Intuitively however, I suspect it would simply depend on visibility. That is, straight passing white gays would probably benefit, trans women of color would be turbo-fucked, with the usual sliding scale in between.

Considering most queer-friendly establishments will tend to get a broad mix across the LGBTQ community... I'm not sure being armed wouldn't make things worse.

[Darth Wedgius]

I'm a bit... dubious here.

...
The trouble with rights like the second amendment is that it's often dead paper for those who are most likely to be oppressed. If you belong to a class who are likely to be shot on sight by police if you're armed or presumed to be armed, and it's well known that those shooting you will face no consequences, then being armed makes you more vulnerable, not less. More people will be willing to shoot you, and the consequences of your firing back are ever more dire.
The question then becomes if queer folk, generally, would fall into that category (independently of other factors). And honestly I'm not sure we really have that data? Intuitively however, I suspect it would simply depend on visibility. That is, straight passing white gays would probably benefit, trans women of color would be turbo-fucked, with the usual sliding scale in between.
...

So straight-passing queer white males would benefit from being armed? That should help, anyway. Though I thought more men than women were being shot by the police?

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

I personally don't think that Democrats are against gun rights that much.

All the restrictions they propose say otherwise.

I just mean like certain stuff like not letting them be sold freely at gun shows isn't really anti-gun rights so to speak.

I would say that it is.

Its called threat escalation. You've turned what is statistically most likely to be a simple beating (like I said, murder of LGBT is extremely rare in the US and the West in general) into a homicide.

5 people ganging up on someone and beating them is a potential homicide. More people die from getting beaten each year than die from getting shot.

So question. Does gun rights to you mean absolutely no regulation?

[CmdrKing]

So straight-passing queer white males would benefit from being armed? That should help, anyway. Though I thought more men than women were being shot by the police?

Supposing my framework is remotely accurate?

A white gay dude walking down the street may benefit from the perception he's armed.
A gay bar which has armed white gay dudes in it would invite greater scrutiny and violence on everyone *else* in the bar with them.

I should emphasize this is of course speculation. But it seems more consistent with patterns of policing and discrimination in other forms.

[BridgeConsoleMasher]

When you say scrutiny, by who do you mean?

[Darth Wedgius]

So straight-passing queer white males would benefit from being armed? That should help, anyway. Though I thought more men than women were being shot by the police?

Supposing my framework is remotely accurate?

A white gay dude walking down the street may benefit from the perception he's armed.
A gay bar which has armed white gay dudes in it would invite greater scrutiny and violence on everyone *else* in the bar with them.

I should emphasize this is of course speculation. But it seems more consistent with patterns of policing and discrimination in other forms.

So a gay bar patronized overwhelmingly by straight-passing queer white men would benefit from them being armed? And I have not found where not-straight-passing or being female has made cops assume someone was armed and shoot them on sight. Might I be looking in the wrong places?

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

You know what?

The whole gun discussion is largely irrelevant to this.

This is scary to me because it shows how strong homophobic violence is in this city, where I live, which gets such high rankings for being progressive and queer-friendly. We have huge pride parades, we have gay and trans flags flying all over, we have a city council on LGBT rights...and there's still this.

[Yukaphile]

It can happen anywhere, friend. I live in a largely progressive city with people protesting Planned Parenthood... and yet it was a young Muslim man who went on a stabbing spree. And yet, I'm not afraid of Muslims - I live in a whole city of them. I feel more scared of those who sneer behind their backs "they" should just "go home" as if they aren't real Americans. Hate crimes can happen anywhere, from any ethnic or gendered background.

[Darth Wedgius]

You know what?

The whole gun discussion is largely irrelevant to this.

This is scary to me because it shows how strong homophobic violence is in this city, where I live, which gets such high rankings for being progressive and queer-friendly. We have huge pride parades, we have gay and trans flags flying all over, we have a city council on LGBT rights...and there's still this.

We'll probably always have people who want to hate someone, Fuzzy. I'm sorry, but no place is absolutely safe from any kind of violence for pretty much any reason. All any of us can do is to manage our risks.

It sucks, but tearing yourself up over it just hands a little more victory to the worst kinds of people. Enjoy life as best you can, just to spite 'em.

[Robovski]

You know what?

The whole gun discussion is largely irrelevant to this.

This is scary to me because it shows how strong homophobic violence is in this city, where I live, which gets such high rankings for being progressive and queer-friendly. We have huge pride parades, we have gay and trans flags flying all over, we have a city council on LGBT rights...and there's still this.

We'll probably always have people who want to hate someone, Fuzzy. I'm sorry, but no place is absolutely safe from any kind of violence for pretty much any reason. All any of us can do is to manage our risks.

It sucks, but tearing yourself up over it just hands a little more victory to the worst kinds of people. Enjoy life as best you can, just to spite 'em.

I cannot but agree. It's your life to live, you best be the one living it and not some jerk who doesn't like the LGBT minority.