I live in a high-risk neighborhood of Chicago, and I've lived here for the past 10 years ever since finishing high school in the suburbs. I was a starry-eyed ignoramus that had high hopes for my future and the confidence to accomplish my goals. 10 years of life in this crime-stricken ghetto has changed my opinions of society, my family, my friends, myself, and life in general. What became a very jarring fact for me is that life is short and death comes easy. I have seen a lot of of people fall around here, some of them great friends that I held in very high esteem. The sad fact is that MOST, if not ALL, of the killings in Chicago in a given week/month/quarter are innocent civilians or police. Sure, the bad guys kill each other. It doesn't happen nearly as much as you think it does, though. When you're LA driveby-ing with a pistol canted to its side, it's infinitely difficult to hit what you're trying to. That's how all those poor 6 year old girls playing outside get perforated that you read about in the paper.
The winds ARE certainly changing here in Chicago. Ever since the passage of the CFP (a joke, but that's another post...) many people are joining our ranks. More and more of my friends/colleagues and the strangers are meet are changing their minds about 2A and about CCW. People are getting scared because crime IS rapidly rising. I know 3 people within the last month alone that have been held up by gun point. I know approximately 10 people who live near me that have been jumped, severely beaten, and then robbed.
Don't ask me why I live here or why I stay. It is my choice and I choose to live here. I can't spend my life worrying about how I'm going to survive every day, and this city is great when those threats aren't invading your head. It's a danger I choose to live with because the benefits of Chicago far outweigh its risks, at least in MY mind and for ME. Chicago changed me in a way that distances me further and further every day from my innocent roots. I'm no longer afraid of life because of the things I've seen. I know that life is short and hard and brutal. Chicago is the reason I became a gun owner. If anything, it changed my life in the best way.
I am a gun owner and I am not afraid.
And on a funnier side note: all I have to say is "I didn't vote for the guy!"
"Which one, Shaun?"
"None of them bastards!"
The winds ARE certainly changing here in Chicago. Ever since the passage of the CFP (a joke, but that's another post...) many people are joining our ranks. More and more of my friends/colleagues and the strangers are meet are changing their minds about 2A and about CCW. People are getting scared because crime IS rapidly rising. I know 3 people within the last month alone that have been held up by gun point. I know approximately 10 people who live near me that have been jumped, severely beaten, and then robbed.
Don't ask me why I live here or why I stay. It is my choice and I choose to live here. I can't spend my life worrying about how I'm going to survive every day, and this city is great when those threats aren't invading your head. It's a danger I choose to live with because the benefits of Chicago far outweigh its risks, at least in MY mind and for ME. Chicago changed me in a way that distances me further and further every day from my innocent roots. I'm no longer afraid of life because of the things I've seen. I know that life is short and hard and brutal. Chicago is the reason I became a gun owner. If anything, it changed my life in the best way.
I am a gun owner and I am not afraid.
And on a funnier side note: all I have to say is "I didn't vote for the guy!"
"Which one, Shaun?"
"None of them bastards!"