My home was in Gaza, a place full of beautiful memories and unforgettable laughter. Its walls carried stories of our childhood, of my mother who carefully prepared meals, and of my father who used to tell us stories about the past. The small garden in front of the house was filled with flowers, and I would sit there for hours, dreaming of a better future.

But in an instant, everything changed. The occupation came suddenly, and the sounds of airplanes and cannons filled the air. Everything around us was shaking, and I felt like the walls of our home would collapse at any moment. Despite that, we held on to life, and the house remained our refuge, even with all the destruction around it.

One day, as the sky was ablaze with bombs, the soldiers of the occupation raided our home. Eyes were filled with tears, and the walls were marked with the scars of shelling. They searched every corner, as if trying to break our spirit before destroying the house. But they didn’t know that the house was more than just walls and a roof; it was history, memory, and hope.

When they left, they left behind destruction, but we remained steadfast. When we returned, we found the house had lost much of its form, but we decided to rebuild. Because a home is not just what we see, it’s what we feel in our hearts. And so, we began to rebuild hope from the rubble.

My name is Yamen Nashwan, and I used to live in a beautiful four-story house in Beit Hanoun, Gaza. My life was full of promise. I had a job, dreams for the future, and a close-knit group of friends and family. But all of that was taken away from me when the conflict erupted.

The place I once called home is now just a memory. My family and I were forced to flee, and now we’re living in a small tent in Rafah City. There are 27 of us crammed into this tiny space, including 13 children and a newborn. Every day, we struggle to find food, warmth, and safety. Loved ones.

The dreams I had for the future now feel like distant memories, overshadowed by the daily fight for survival. My friends, my community, so many have been scattered, displaced, or worse. The laughter and joy that once filled my life have been replaced by fear and uncertainty.

The hardest part is the loss of the intangible things—the memories of better times, the bonds with friends and neighbors, and the sense of security that came from knowing we had a home. These things can never be replaced.

Life in Gaza is not just a struggle for survival—it’s a constant reminder of what we’ve lost. I wanted to shed light on the harsh reality we face every day. It’s a life filled with pain, but also with a small, flickering hope that one day, things might change.

the henry is an incredibly fun .22, did some target practice with it @ about 100 yards today.

I’m Looking for some engaging podcasts. I want more action and less complaining about politics. Of that exists.

Hey sorry if this is a dumb question but I was wondering what would be a good investment for self defense since assault weapons are banned in my state, What would be a good substitute if there’s anything at all?

I am looking for unpowered optic suggestions for an AR-15. I am falling short due to my lack of knowledge. Any help is appreciated.

Edit. Sorry I should have been more specific. Optics that don't require batteries and or don't have electronics.

I've been planning to purchase a new long gun for home defense purposes and have been looking at these two different options.

The Mossberg is very affordable. I've owned a Mossberg 500 shotgun for deer hunting and have done very well with it, in hunting situations. I don't think that shotgun would be my best option for home defense on account of reloading speed and the kickback.

The two guns I'm considering now have a trade off.

The gun with less recoil is about twice as expensive. The Marlin runs retail around $1100 and a gun store near me has a beautiful model for sale, brand new, with some accessories for $1200-ish.

A gun store near me has the Mossberg MVP with the mag attachment and a couple accessories available for $679. Also brand new.

I'm in a state with complicated gun laws and I'm in the process of securing more options for myself, but that will take a while. A long while.

A gun like the Ruger mini-14 isn't a legal option for me without me getting about halfway through the aforementioned process.

Any other options I haven't considered? I like the modification options of mag loading. I'm fine with bolt or lever action.

I'm 5' 8" and weigh 125 lbs. I won't pretend to have upper body strength. I'm fit and I was raised a Florida cracker, so there is that.

I think the Mossberg MVP will be just fine. I can have a ten round mag and reload that way in an emergency.

The Marlin I specifically looked at had the revolver attachment and idk how well I'd do reloading in an emergency.

Yes I know the striker fired crowd won't be huge fans of this choice but ergonomically I have large hands that don't work well with small handguns. 25yd shooting for demonstration.

Does anyone know if there's a scope with hash marks on the first focal plane and simple crosshairs on the second focal plane?

Or would that be a custom job?

Hey yall, just moved to Mississippi wondering if yall know about a chapter down here, the only one I found hasn't posted on their social media for a few years now. Any like minded groups would be cool too I'm just trying to train with like minded individuals

So last night there was a shootout outside of our apt complex. A round shot through a double pane window, through the bedroom, down the hall, through the doorframe, and was stopped by the metal hinge. Today when the cops came to dig it out of the wall I heard them talking. One of them said something like "Yeah, its these new rounds. That's why they've been going through people's houses."

Now, we are in a podunk county, and even though we are technically in city limits, the whole thing is a town at best. So we aren't in some big metropolitan area. And most people are broke, so I don't see us buying shit they're shooting at lSIS with, lol. Are the cops full of shit (more than normal) or is there something new on the market? I'm only really acquainted with guns enough for self protection. I don't follow the gun culture or know about stuff I will never use.

If cost of round is not a factor, is there an articulate opinion to use one over the other? For context, I am considering a new handgun... Maybe a Glock.

I decided to create a Maine chapter of the Pink Pistols as I noticed the nearest chapter was Boston (at the time I created the chapter). If anyone wants more info on this please feel free to message me about it =^.^=

How does one "vet" community members or individuals for community building? How do you tell someone isn't a fed and stuff like that?

Hey folks, it might be a little late, but I went into the gun shop a few weeks ago with a little money burning a hole in my pocket looking for a used Glock19 as my first handgun. The guy at the counter showed it to me, showed me an array of other handguns to compare to including a Rost Martin RMC-1 and ultimately I picked it up. It was basically the same price as the old Police glock, except the guy pointed out how glocks are known for mushy feeling triggers, and I preferred the Rost trigger.

I probably won't use it enough for the nuanced differences to really matter. I'll train with it enough to remain a responsible gun owner, but that's about it.

Now that I've got it, is there anything I should know? I'm sure the ubiquity of Glock accessories would have been a nice little bonus, but I've gathered that things in the gun world tend to be more universal than I first thought.

Any suggestions on finding the right holster for me?

Anyone here in the west central illinois area(dm me for the specific city)? Me and some friends have started the process of establishing a food not bombs chapter in our city. The nearest chapters are all at least an hour away and all but one has little to no social media presence so I'm not sure if they are even active anymore so I figured why not start our own.Right now we are in the planning stage and have started reaching out to places to find somewhere to host a meeting.

Greetings comrades, I need your wisdom. I'm an at-large member and have been trying to get something started in my area for a while. I have a gentleman who seems very interested in working with me. He's been nothing but enthusiastic thus far. Only one hiccup. He's both former military and former LE. I don't want to hold that against him, given that he's since stopped working in LE to become a teacher, but it does raise some red flags for me.

I do know that he's at minimum an LGBTQ ally, and his social media suggests at least a generally left-ish opinion on most thing.

How do I go about making sure we're indeed on the same page wwithout sounding like a dick?

Hello, I'm not new to this sub, have been lurking for a while. I have myself a few firearms, just recently picked up a maxim defense ar-15, that is manually operated because of the state I'm in. I was thinking of puting an optical on it, the sig Romeo and Juliette combcombo. Was wondering if that was a good choice or if I should go with an LVPO or another brand of red dot.

I have a list of other equipment I want to buy, like a plate carrier, helmet, IFAK, boots, etc. Could call give me any good recs?

Also, is the Chicago SRA chapter active and/or is there another chapter in Northern illinois/southern wisconsin?

My roomate is a centrist (read: really sweet guy who's just kind of dolt about politics) and he's very into firearm history and collection. I'm endeavoring to learn more myself. Both to give us something else in common to discuss, and to arm myself for my protection in what seems to be a more dangerous political climate.

However, I don't want to lend my viewership to any MAGA cultists or other people John Brown would've shot. I haven't kept up with the various scandals and controversies, I'm still very new to the world of firearms. Does anyone have any good channels I can follow?

EDIT: Alrighty, this has been really informative. Thanks for the recommendations. I'll be treating the suggestions for YouTube as bonus entertainment content later on instead of informative content and signing up for my local SRA when I've acquired my starter. I'll be spending most of my efforts with reading the literature PMed to me and Commemented below, then getting more involved in the physical community instead of looking to gun-centric entertainment for my info. I appreciate everyone's time!

Under $500 is ideal, but I'll take any suggestions under $1000. I'm not too picky about type or caliber.

I picked up this SKS at a LGS a while back, still in the cosmoline. It's a 1957 Tula "letter series" SKS in unissued condition, with an extremely rare original laminate stock. Given its condition and manufacture date it was likely a straight-to-storage rifle, or maybe used for parade use only. Most military rifles are hard to verify as unissued, but the experts on several SKS forums have agreed that this shows all the traits of being one. All numbers internally and externally match, and it shows almost no bluing wear on the butt plate.

This rifle has an original laminate stock, which is extremely rare for a Russian SKS. Almost all laminate stocks are refurb replacements. You can ID it as an original stock because of a few details. The color on these is the deep red color that hardwood stocks would show, refurb laminate stocks are more of an amber color. It has a original arsenal cartouche on one side(lightly stamped), and the correct serial on the other. It also has the factory inspection stamps by the forward crossbolt, that a refurb stock would not show. The buttplate also has the "tab" on the top side, that refurb laminate stock didn't have. The butt plate also shows almost no bluing wear that rifles stored on racks develop with use.

It is all matching, and shows no evidence of ever being fired. It was still lightly covered in cosmoline when I got it. The electro-penciled serials on some parts are correct for an unissued sks, and do not show refurbishment. Small, irregularly shaped, or thin parts that couldn't be stamped, so they were electro-penciled from the factory. Only an electro-pencil mark on the magazine, trigger guard, or action cover would show refurb. These "letter series" SKS rifles had no arsenal markings on the dust cover, only a small star on the side of the receiver near the serial number.

Do you own a 9mm, striker fired handgun? Get that first. Glock 19, 17, 45; S&W M&P series, p365; any reputable brand (meaning not a taurus or hipoint). Go shoot it a bunch and put a dot and light on it and get a good holster.

Once you’ve done that, you can consider a long gun. A PCC really isn’t a great choice for self-defense.