ManedWolf has a good point about not feeding the monkeys.
It seems that a few of these people are either academia types who never stray far from campus or they are so heavily medicated they can't see reality.
you feel that to avoid becoming a VICTIM you have to carry a GUN???
there are other means of self-defense. seems to me you need a medical evaluation, in your world the ONLY way to diffuse a situation is to use EXTREME VIOLENCE.
- So a neighbor's 5'1", 101 pound Vietnamese wife has to spend
how many months or years training to defeat the 6'3", 240 pound rapist who just forced his way into her car at the grocery store?
- What special ninja techniques are available for my 85 year old mother with arthritis in her knees and ankles? Mind you she is most likely to be defending against an 18-25 year old male who is anywhere from 6" to a foot taller and 80 to 120 pounds heavier.
- What
other means do you suggest for a 53 year old man who has had two spinal fusions, has limited mobility due to a knee injury? Keep in mind that his work as an insurance adjuster means he frequently enters "bad areas" of town while being required to dress professionally and drive a late model car. And he's been assaulted by both policy holders as well as common street thugs (hence the knee injury).
Note that when a person threatens you with a gun, knife, broken bottle or even fists, it is
he that threatens extreme violence. If he is prepared to inflict violence to get what he desires, he cares
not at all about the injuries you will receive, about the law or the police catching him. What do you do when what you
can give him isn't enough? What do you do when he decides you'd simply look better with your throat cut?
The people so adamant about carrying a gun in public are just as a reckless part of society as the criminals they seek. This need for power is the same as in violent criminals. You think you are different because of who you aim your aggression. Violence is violence, the simple fact you want to carry a gun reveals just how unbalanced you are. The propensity to violence is no different in cops, criminals or in wannabes. There is a place for people like you but it's not in a civilized society.
Reckless? Is it reckless to put on your seat belt? Or to carry fire insurance on your home? Or to put smoke detectors up? Why is it "reckless" to take measures to protect yourself against violent crime? Are people who put alarms on their homes paranoid? Is it paranoid or reckless to lock up your car when it's parked? Is carrying pepper spray reckless and violent?
"Violence is violence" is a true statement, however you have the right to defend your life against one who threatens violence against you. There are people who will violently assault you for their own reasons, however meaningless to you. There are people who will assault you as a group because you are wearing the wrong color or you are in their "turf". Some will attack you because you "looked at them" while others will attack you because you
didn't look at them.
The difference is, the violence I may offer is only in response to violence initiated by others.