You really did get me with the beto bit BTW, that was a fuckin zinger and a half. It really does give legitimate concerns to Joe's potential gun policies.

I particularly hate the assault weapons ban debate. If they actually want to reduce firearm murder, they would go after conceal able firearms like revolvers and pistols. Pistols account for >90% of all firearm murder and suicide. "assault" rifles are just a bogeyman.

I agree with independence, personal freedom, and promoting self reliance, I just found that many people promoting the elimination of government programs were grossly lying /distorting facts / misrepresenting things in their arguments most of the time.

Food stamps have very little abuse, as does welfare. The majority of welfare usage is temporary and legitimate. There is abuse but it's <1% of people. There are people who sell their food stamps, but again, less than 1%. Most of the time it's a bridge that helps regular people cross from one part of their life to another, or survive a life crisis.

On the issue of guns as well, they grossly lie and distort the actual levels of murder and violence in the US. Our murder rate is CRAZY high for a 1st world country. It's literally 500% higher than the average of all the other 1st world countries. They try to blame it on a few specific cities (Detroit, Chicago, etc), but the numbers there are a small percentage of the total. I have done extension research on the topic of violence in America and written numerous papers about it. It's a very nuanced topic.

Particularly when you get into the fact that even when you obfuscate all firearm murders in the data, the US murder rate is still 200% higher than the 1st world country average.

I believe it's a mixture of culture and accessibility based on the information I have soaked in. Can't be solely blamed on guns, especially not ARs, but ease of use and accessibility of the power of firearms do play a part.

I have guns of my own, g27 for ccw, bushmaster long barrel. 223.