Why are you special?

[brooklynite]

This is not meant to be insulting; it's meant to be thought-provoking. I've read a growing number of threads about hiding/buying guns/etc. to protect people from a RW outburst of violence when Trump doesn't win. And the question you really need to ask yourself is...why would they come after you? Are you a Democratic candidate? An election official? A noted progressive writer or blogger? Someone with a significant social media presence (and DU doesn't count). If the answer to these questions is "no", why would you be likely to get targeted? Unless you're organizing a march down to the local KKK clubhouse, the odds that you would encounter any violence seem vanishingly small.

[AmericanCanuck]

1. You are correct

They won't go after ordinary people but target people who routinely meet Democratic big-wigs all the time and fund their political ambitions and then broadcast it on the web.

[SoonerPride]

3. They may just clog up roads all over the country

Throwing temper tantrums instead of any real violence per se

[brooklynite]

4. Perhaps so...and yet I'm not quivering in fear...

[sheshe2]

16. Why are you calling out DUers?

You say they are quivering in fear? Please link to all the posts of DUers saying they are going to buy guns/ hiding and are quivering in fear.

I've read a growing number of threads about hiding/buying guns/etc. to protect people from a RW outburst of violence when Trump doesn't win.

Fact is your post is insulting though you say it is not. You have not posted one link to what you say is happening.

[matt819]

20. Good points

I usually like Brooklynite’s posts, but I haven’t seen the kind of posts referred to in enough numbers to make an impact. I’ve seen posts about leaving the country if he wins again. This is fine if you have money and no obligations in the US. But it’s silly otherwise.

Maybe I’m blasé about this because I live in the country. Maybe there are some semi legitimate concerns for people in cities or dems in red areas, but I really don’t see so called average people being targeted but rather caught up in events.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

25. I'm hiding.

And I don't trust trumpers not shooting at me. They have a screw loose.

[cwydro]

30. I've seen those threads.

And you know good and well we can’t link to them.

One DUer actually answered my question about why he was “preparing.” Most of it it just silly talk imo.

[TwilightZone]

2. A minority, perhaps?

Some people are more likely targets of right-wing violence than others.

Personally, I don't think there will be much more than isolated pockets of mayhem and nothing on any kind of large scale. I think the potential is probably being overblown.

I do not, however, begrudge people for being concerned about it.

[Hugin]

5. +1

The opposition is only smart enough to target those who appear different.

Their prejudices are obviously based on who someone is rather than what they have done or are doing.

Good answer.

[relayerbob]

6. If they have seen or see a sign out there

you may well be someone's target od opportunity. You've got to realize that people doing those sorts of things were exactly at the top of their classes. Logic is not the goal, terror is.

However, I agree with another poster, that there is likely to be less violence than people are wqorrying about at the moment. There will almost certainly will be some.

[happybird]

9. That's why I didn't get a yard sign, even though I really wanted one

My cars aren’t visible from the road, so I did bumper stickers. I hate that we had to take such things into consideration this year.

[relayerbob]

12. Mine are proudly displayed

Biden/Harris, MacBath, Warnock, Ossoff, and a pro-BLM/LGBT/women's right sign

[happybird]

15. Nice!

My road is a favorite for low riding (drinking beers while cruising country back roads) so I get a lot of empty beer cans tossed in the bottom of the front yard.
NOVA is blue, but I’m out on the very western edge, in the sticks, where there are still a lot of racists and right wingers. I can easily see some drunken country boys being “provoked“ by a Biden/Harris sign, especially where no one will see them engaging in property damage.

[relayerbob]

22. I get it.

I actually got a trail cam that is hidden, along with a more obvious security light setup on the driveway. Our neighborhood in the Atlanta suburbs is about 15:1 Biden signs vs IQ45

[JoeOtterbein]

7. Bingo! I live on a Main Street in a deep red town and I do not have to worry a bit despite many...

...know I'm a solid Democrat, and not just from my lawn-signs, because they have seen me fighting for us at the polls at almost every election since we moved here in 1994.

No problem for me. But I do worry about jerks from other areas bothering my sisters and brothers.

On a good note, Ladybug lead me by my leash to a different route through the neighborhood. I have seen, and saw more Biden lawn signs tonight, flags and even one 4"x8' sign, than I have ever seen for any of our candidates since we made this place OUR home!

[GulfCoast66]

8. I hunt so I own guns. Also enjoy the shooting sports like skeet and trap.

Tried to get into handgun shooting but it is not for me. did not grow up with them and they are just too fucking dangerous.

I never advise people who are not comfortable with guns to buy one for home defense. The odds are well known. You will more likely kill your self or a loved one.

That said, if I were a law abiding, successful person of color I would have one or 2 and know how to use them. Very well.

If a few of the early Klansmen out terrorizing former slaves had died each and every time the went to do a lynching it would have died in its infancy. And history does repeat itself.

Do I think it likely? Of course not. I’m no CT guy. Possible? Yeah, unfortunately.

What is really driving all these rednecks is that to many of my fellow whites are seething with anger that there are people of color doing better than them. Richer, happier and more accepted by society.

I’m a southern white male. See it all the time.

[hunter]

10. I'm an asshole.

If someone with a gun bumps into me I'm likely to say, "Fuck off, cowboy!"

(It's a good way to start off on the wrong foot with cops, let me tell you...)

On the other hand, I don't let anyone I'd care to shoot live in my head so I don't bother with guns for "self defense," which is something they are quite useless for.

[Buckeye_Democrat]

11. I agree.

I'm not worried about that stuff.

If I was going to a protest, then maybe.

[greenjar_01]

13. On this I agree with you, but honestly, there were people like you saying "Don't worry about it..."

as people were being marched to the shooting pits.

This world-weary, I'm so wise, stop exaggerating posture is all well and good, and cashes out most of the time, to be sure. But it's also sometimes spectacularly wrong, to devastating effect.

[Lars39]

14. You don't have to be special, just different.

When you live among the tribal in small towns, it doesn’t take much. I live in red middle TN. Lots of hate groups in TN, and we have open carry.

[kairos12]

38. Totally agree. If you look like a nail, and there are hammers everywhere. Well.

[TexasBushwhacker]

17. As long as I keep my mouth shut, I'm cool

If my boss found out I was a Democrat, he might shoot me and put my head on the wall, with all the other heads....

....but only after tax season 😜

[LizBeth]

18. They are not going after me, I am a white old lady. They are going after a lot of people they

perceive to be an enemy. Anyone on the left that speaks up or shows support of Biden, blacks particularly and black women. We have been watching it repeatedly for months. Ya, I am safe and no one is going to give me a look, doesn't mean they are not threatening only political people.

[George II]

19. Can you direct us to at least one thread about hiding/buying guns/etc.? Certainly not here....

Thanks.

[sheshe2]

21. Good question!

There must be at least a dozen.

[still_one]

32. +++. Exactly. Now, Sherman tanks on the other hand..........

[akbacchus_BC]

23. Sorry, haven't seen any of those threads.

Care to share a link please?

[George II]

33. This is reminiscent of 2008 when republicans said that if Obama was elected there would be...

...a shortage of ammunition because he was going to seize bullets.

It never happened.

[Progressive Jones]

24. I lived in dangerous neighborhoods for the first 40 years of my life.

I'm armed, but not with a "political" mindset. I became armed a long time ago, for self defense. I was shot at the age of 19, by a street gang "headhunting" another gang in my neighborhood. I was wrongly presumed to be a member of the hunted gang. I was simply walking home from the bus stop after work.

Ever since, I've been prepared. Fortunately, I've never had to pull a trigger.
I also hunted for a few short years in my 20s. I bought a rifle and a shotgun during those years. I lost interest after my Uncle, the guy who taught me how to hunt, passed away.

Back to the subject... I don't believe that there will be widespread right wing violence. They blow a lot of hot air, but I don't think they've got the stones, for the most part. And, like you stated, the violence that may come will likely be targeted, and the targets will be of high value (to the perpetrators).

My advice, for what it's worth, is just stay vigilant. Pay attention to the news if there's trouble in your area. We've never been here before in our lifetimes. We don't know what's next. Anything can jump off at any time.

[herding cats]

26. I missed those threads.

I know a lot of Democrats do own guns, but I've missed any real recent hysterics.

A friend recently texted some minor hysteria, but they were easily calmed down.. My grocery delivery driver did mention a $1,200 order for someone (per them) fearing civil unrest after the election. Which we both thought was pretty wack-a-doodle.

[cwydro]

27. Thank you.

I’ve asked this question in different ways several times.

Never got an answer that made sense to me.

[KentuckyWoman]

28. I am hoping

By the time I can safely go out in the world the whacks are too busy goofing off at bass pro shop for me to end up collateral damage in the crossfire with their neighbor. We have a couple of local houses with eff Trump on the roof.

[fishwax]

29. I think your conclusion is right but your premise is wrong

I don't think there is much reason to suspect that, if there were an outburst of violence in the wake of the election, it would be directed exclusively or primarily at elected officials or candidates or prominent progressive voices. Attacks on folks like that would require more planning and more planning through than attacks on less guarded and more readily available targets, like neighbors with Biden yard signs, or cars with rainbow flag or HRC bumper stickers, or people of color, or any other population that such radicals might identify as the enemy.

That said, I agree that the odds of encountering such violence are very small indeed.

[Crunchy Frog]

31. If I didn't have kids, I would be seriously considering acquiring some firearms...

and learning how to use them.

I hate guns, but I don't like the idea of the country possibly heading into civil war with only one side armed.

[llashram]

34. wow, just wow

It is an attempt at an insult. Why would you post this?

[phylny]

36. Why indeed.

[Hotler]

35. Mom said so. nt

[JustAnotherGen]

37. For me

Highly visible black woman in Hunterdon County NJ.

When you step out of the NYC Bubble. . .

Minorities 45 miles away in one of the wealthiest and supposedly *safest to raise children in* have been getting death threats from racists for years.

You just don't have the frame of reference to understand why a black family in a remote 1 million dollar home that has had letters put in their mailbox about 'killing n*ggers" on November 4th would make sure they had plenty of ammunition.

You simply are out of touch of with the bedroom communities 45 miles away.

[H2O Man]

39. The past is prologue.

[octoberlib]

40. I'm not worried about this at all, personally. More worried about prominent Democrats.

Stockpiling weapons seems bizarre to me. Edit to add: as a white person. Black folks are always targets and should do whatever they need to to protect themselves.

[BumRushDaShow]

41. Get yourself some black or brown skin

and try again.

Why do you think there is BLM?

And no, one doesn't need to hold a BLM march to have your homes, churches, memorials, or murals targeted by racist fucks. We do know that POC are invisible to some.

[betsuni]

42. +1