[fragmede]

The data isn't guns though. Guns aren't a dual use technology that have a nonviolent purpose. Data is. The same data that trains military drones can also be used to train the robot that will bring food to grandma when she's so old that she can't walk up the stairs anymore.

[diydsp]

They don't have equal weight.

Even 100s of yummy grandma-cheeseburgers is not worth feeding private data brokers detailed maps of our own communities.

Nowadays some of them are just as likely to sell the data to the other side.

Nowadays the other side may get access to them without us even knowing.

[sciencejerk]

Nowadays the other side may get access to them without us even knowing.

Yep... collecting domestic geo data is a double-edged sword.

[culi]

Yeah but which use has more research funding behind it? We've always prioritized military uses and tech. The research landscape isn't flat.

[huijzer]

> The data isn't guns though. Guns aren't a dual use technology that have a nonviolent purpose.

Counterexample, guns could be a (non-violent) hobby. I’m not pro guns or violence but just pointing out the logical issue here

[newsclues]

Shooting guns for target practice is fun and non violent.

Guns feed families and protect people too.

They are dual use like all tech from knives to nukes.

[slumberlust]

Peel a potato with your glock and ill buy your pedantry.

[fragmede]

I bet the targets don't feel like they're non-violent. The animal that was killed for food doesn't think anything, because it's dead. That's pretty violent. Shooting someone that attacking you in defense was necessary, but it's definitely violent.

All uses of guns are violent. That's what they do. They make holes in things that didn't have holes in them before. There are uses for them that are justified but they're always violent. This isn't an anti-gun screed, this is a words-mean-things rant. Violence is necessary and justified in various situations, which means guns are necessary and justified in various situations, but if you're going to say they're not violent, I can't agree.

[jstanley]

If making holes in things that didn't have holes in them before is a sufficient condition for "violence", does that make drills violent too? Or is that taking words-mean-things too far?

Or perhaps can we accept that it is possible to make holes in things without doing violence, and that an object that can make holes in things is not inherently a violent object even though it would be violent if you made holes in things like people or animals, or in property without permission.

[throw-the-towel]

Listening to my neighbours drill every morning certainly does feel violent.

[newsclues]

Your words are violence.

Targets are inanimate objects I’m fine with being violent against them just like I’m fine with farting on my chair!

Even if all uses of weapons are violence, sometimes violence is justified. If you disagree happy to violently rob you and disabuse you of your stupid ideas.

Opinions of people who lived sheltered lives are so divorced from reality

[vigilantpuma]

They literally said, "Violence is necessary and justified in various situations, which means guns are necessary and justified in various situations"