this post was submitted on 24 May 2026
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I don't think Americans quite appreciate how few guns one encounters when you are practically anywhere else in the world.
The only guns I see in my life are in possession of trained professionals. And even then it's a lot if I see one per three months.
I've never been in a situation in my life where I've regretted not having a gun. Rather the opposite, I've been struggling with depression at a point in my life where access to a gun might have provided an easy way out.
And generally I like guns. As in I've been interested in military history for my entire life. When I'm the us I've been to a shooting range and thought that was cool (but also terrifying).
I don't think non-Americans appreciate how few guns one encounters in America if one isn't a gun nut or gun-nut-adjacent. It is not that everybody owns a gun. It's that the relative few people who own dozens or hundreds of guns skew the average.
I'll disagree. I've been mugged. There have also been two times I've visited friends that have been casually cleaning guns when I arrived. A person I do martial arts with has a conceal carry and has come in with it a few times. Every cop has at least one. There's a gun store that's on my commute route. I was hiking and crossed paths with an elderly couple on horseback and they were packing. I've known two people that have killed themselves with a gun. I drilled with fake guns in NJROTC in high school and there were opportunities to train and compete in marksmanship with actual guns. I shot BB guns in Cub Scouts (those two are just examples as to how young gun culture becomes part of an American's life). When I was growing up, Walmart sold guns and ammo. They still do in certain places.
I have to factor into my interactions with people if they have a gun. Like I put up with a lot more shitty behavior on the road because I live in a state with a high incidence of guns being involved with road rage incidents. If I get into an argument with my neighbor, is that conservative asshole going to do something stupid if things escalate (yeah yeah, don't escalate, just an example). All the POCs I know have been taught how to behave during a traffic stop to reduce their chances of getting shot by a cop.
I've never even held or shot a real gun, but guns permeate my life.
Edit: Christ, the people who are advocating fear of gun violence being good for society is how idiotic of a gun culture there is in the US.
It really depends on where you live in the USA. Where I live theres definitely people with guns but it’s unusual to see someone actually carrying one outside their home. Now my cousins live like 1-2 hours away (still in the same state) and it’s super common there for people to carry their gun on them at all times for some fucking reason. So my cousins are way more used to seeing guns than my siblings and I are
It sounds like it's such a part of our culture that you're missing the point: you cannot opt out of gun culture in America. Anywhere.
Yes, there's a huge difference between only rarely seeing a gun in public and acting as if nobody has one.
Are we or are we not counting the fair few you don't see because they're concealed on the people around you?
And yes the stats are absolutely skewed by gun nuts with big collections it's still true that 40% or more of American households have a gun...
All of our street cops are also carrying guns around, which (if I'm not mistaken) is not the case everywhere.
Years ago, the UK government announced they were going to arm the general police. The people with the biggest issue with it was the police union!
The UK has a police by consent basis. The heaviest firepower they carry is a tazer. If there is a risk of guns being involved, the normal police pull back and call in the armed response officers. When they do, however, they call the whole cavalry!
End result, criminals don't feel they MUST have a gun to defend from the police. Conversely, going in armed will bring the whole, focused weight of the armed response down on you. (As in multiple helicopter level searches) Most don't carry guns, and so the status quo keeps everyone safe.
I remember I visited Italy on a Latin class trip back in high school, and got a real culture shock when I saw carabinieri(?) patrolling the airport armed with some kind of assault rifles or SMGs. I don't remember seeing any "normal" police once I was out walking around in the cities so I have no idea if they would've been armed or not, but that was definitely heavier weaponry than I'd seen any American cop carrying, in the airport or otherwise.
Yeah, in Italy there's a lot of armed officials in public places and big stations (even train stations!). Usually they're only there to look intimidating. The ones who will actually bother people (usually immigrants) are regular policemen, who, paradoxically, are less likely to carry firearms
Being heavily armed is kind of the point of the Carabinieri, who are a part of the military.
There's fucking ammo at wallmart. You can't even comprehend how mindboggling that is in most countries
But I'd feel uneasy not knowing which of them is the nutty one.
A lot of the nutters tend to advertise it at least. Super gung-ho patriot driving an oversized truck with Trump and flag stickers, maybe an actual flag, possibly open carrying, yard with one or multiple trump signs and likely American flags in case you forget which country you’re in, probably some cars on the lawn as decoration… you get the picture
Yeah, I think I get it, but I don't want to share the planet with them as well.
Yeah.. can’t say I’m the biggest fan of living in an area where I have several examples within walking distance of me, it has left me feeling slightly on edge at times. I don’t think it’d be taken too kindly if I started to get outspoken about politics so I just let it be
So much freedom. I have to shed a tear for you 🥹
Living in the blessed realm. What a dream!
When I lived in a small town, the MAGA neighbor showed my mixed family how many guns they had to "remind them". He sure didn't like it when I told them I conceal carry because of people like him.
I lived in different countries. Many are friendly with actual neighborly caring folks. Like leave your car unlocked safe. Like if you lost your phone outside, someone will kindly put it somewhere safe. Countries with good safety nets and a government that wants to help people.
Here in America, I'm not afraid of the pickpockets or petty theft. The biggest threats to my family's life are by police officers or ICE, all because of the color of their skin.
I've been to protests where everyone was peaceful and it was violently dissolved by police. Where I've been to protests which had hired security guards packing guns protecting protesters, and the cops were on their best behavior.
hwat
i think you just discombobulated my brain
What is this concept? Who does this? Where?
For Americans, "going to the range" is an average Wednesday activity.
To pretty much anyone else in the world - unless you're in a profession that works with guns - that statement will get: weird looks, people judging you, and a number of friends distancing themselves as they'd be afraid you could go loco and shoot them...
I live in the south and I don’t know a single person who goes to a range ever. I think you are exaggerating.
I think it's income dependent. Going to a shooting range and just tearing through ammo sounds expensive, and I've never done it, but I've known generational-farmer types who do it on a regular basis. They usually bring friends with them. I don't think most people in the south have been to a shooting range, but it doesn't strike me as terribly uncommon.
I think it's a lot like having a boat. If you know a guy who has a boat, you're much more likely to go boating on the regular, and if you know a someone who has a lot of guns, you're more likely to go shooting with them.
I'd say the majority of people in the states don't give a hoot about baseball, but it's still 'America's pastime.'
>.>
Plus, being in the south, why would they go to a range? A friend within an hour probably has property where you could shoot for free.
Yep, not a ton of ranges in the south. Probably 6 in the 200 mile radius of me. They're not that profitable, because everyone has usually land or a friend with land.
Yeah, we lived outside of town, so we just shot in the backyard.
Live in the north where southerners flee to for jobs (still a shitty Red state) and the range is a regular for gun people. When I had friends that shoot, it was an every or every other weekend thing for the cheap shit, once month take out something nice to shoot that costs a little.
as a european, i went to the range a lot as a kid, because my dad's side of the family did game hunting back then and he wanted me to learn. this was exclusively with bolt-action long guns, because that's everything they allow. the process of getting the rifles out of the safe, packing them in locked bags, going to safe ranges far away in the woods, marking every bullet fired on a form, and collecting all the cartridges bored me to tears.
later my dad got in a legal dispute with the police over firearms registration, because as a sporting goods salesman he had to make sure every part he sold had a laser-engraved serial number and it took months for them to finally get that you can't laser-engrave a 2mm spring.
thank god for regulations.
The number of engineering/design choices that go into guns is fascinating. A P90 and an AK-47 have so many different design choices that it's incredible they do basically the same thing.
Yeah I love the engineering and history, but wouldn't want to live with them in close proximity
I don't think people who don't live in the US appreciate the concept of Pandora's box.
I hear a lot of people talk about how bad guns are. How Americans are crazy to own them. How guns need to be made illegal here.
There are literally more guns than people in the United States of America. They aren't going away.
If we could Thanos snap half the guns away, it would solve nothing. If we could Thanos snap all of them, then hey! Yes! Let's talk.
But we can't do that. Guns are just part of life over here. We actually do appreciate how dangerous they are, because we see violence done with them all the time... But there's no easy solution here. Criminals all have guns. Even kids in gangs have guns.
If you live in an area that has a lot of crime, you may want a gun, and that is okay so long as you're trained and responsible.
How often you see guns varies wildly in the US too.
Yeah I think it’s possible to live in the US and not encounter guns. It’s mostly driven by people’s interest and the interests of those around them. There is no obligation to be near or interact with firearms in the US. There are certainly a lot of guns in the US and that does lead to more homicides and shootings, but I don’t think it means everyone sees guns regularly in their daily life. If someone displays a firearm in public, people will not be casual about it.
Here in my country (in Europe), you can just go to any important train station or public place and there'll be a bunch of soldiers doing fuck all with guns in their belts. They're just meant to stand there and look intimidating lmao. I've never even seen them bother immigrants or anything (that's the police's job)
I lived half my life in New York and saw a gun once. I lived the other half in Paris and also saw a gun once. I'm now in Paris and there's a gun range a few blocks away from me.
🤷
Edit: actually nevermind, plutopos just reminded me I see guns all the fucking time in Paris because we have soldiers patrolling the streets with assault rifles, I'm so desensitized to it it completely slipped my mind.
FWIW, I am in the US and I have barely ever encountered a gun really either.
I am pretty sure I have never held a real gun either.
This is a very western/european mindset. Guns, ak's in particular are INCREDIBLY visible in MANY parts of the world.
Im 30 years old and I dont think I have ever seen someone hold a real gun in my own country.