A recent study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reveals that across all political and social groups in the United States, there is a strong preference against living near AR-15 rifle owners and neighbors who store guns outside of locked safes. This surprising consensus suggests that when it comes to immediate living environments, Americans’ views on gun control may be less divided than the polarized national debate suggests.
The research was conducted against a backdrop of increasing gun violence and polarization on gun policy in the United States. The United States has over 350 million civilian firearms and gun-related incidents, including accidents and mass shootings, have become a leading cause of death in the country. Despite political divides, the new study aimed to explore whether there’s common ground among Americans in their immediate living environments, focusing on neighborhood preferences related to gun ownership and storage.
If someone is going to make claims about ARs that are dubious wouldn’t asking for a definition of ARs be the best way to make sure they’re talking about the same thing instead of misunderstanding? I’ve never seen someone ask for the definition of AR from someone who wasn’t talking about ARs. Seems like a completely reasonable question and I have no idead why one would think otherwise.
Telling someone, “define assault rifle,” which is what I see, is not the same as something like, “do you know that there is no such thing as an assault rifle?”
I don’t see how that changes the validity of the question. If we’re not talking about the same thing, the conversation is only going to end badly. What’s explicitly wrong with asking for a definition? Because I’m not understanding you at all.
You are conflating asking and demanding. The problem is the demanding. It’s about the way it is communicated that is the problem.
Okay that makes sense. To me, especially over text, the phrase “Define X” reads as a pretty standard question in a back and forth, the same way English speakers omit the pronoun ‘you’ when using imperatives. I feel like unless they were cursing at you, interpreting that as a rude demand makes a lot of assumptions.
I guess you need to see the context of the sort of discussions I’m talking about, but there’s not one I can provide this second because I’m thinking of Reddit arguments and my VPN is on right now and Reddit wants me to log in to see them and fuck them if they think I’m going to do that.