I try not to let this shit get to me. It's always darkest before the dawn and all that, but damn.
The general population is so fucking broken. They're just absolutely mind fucked from being raised on a steady diet of right-wing propaganda from all major Western parties.
How do you even begin to fix all of this. I feel like I'm drowning and being pushed under by my own damn species. We are all so sick.
See, I like 22 long; but that's only because I have multiple family members with .22lr weapons, so we more or less keep each other sitting pretty, and it's a good enough round for both home defense against random yahoos and for subsistence hunting if absolutely necessary. My great grandfather in law is purported to have been able to bring down any game he went after up to like. Your average whitetail in two .22s at his worst marksmanship.
(He earned a plus in my books because he was one of what I consider the good hunters-- he didn't go after anything if he didn't intend on using every part of it.)
Mileage on this subject genuinely varies dependent on who's selling around you and what kind of recoil you're comfortable with.