Composer_1777
Moderator
Yeah the military is filled with nothing but waste and inefficiency. 700 billion a year can't even defeat Sand people. I'd like to see them take the USA. That would be laughable.
Curious Why some people think the way they do
- Thread starter christcorp
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DiscoRacing
New member
i wasnt ALWAYS partially disabled... but am now... not that I go overboard on self defense/home protection... im just ALWAYS packin...thats all.
I would like to direct my comments to the very first post of the original poster.
I think I get what you are saying - and asking.
First, the reality is that violent crime has gone down in the last 20 years or so, even as concealed carry has increased. That doesn't mean that none of us will be attacked, only that it isn't as bad as seen in the press.
Still, the analogy to insurance is reasonable. I carry just-in-case. It really isn't likely that I will need my handgun, but I admittedly feel more comfortable and secure having it. I don't carry extra mags. If it is very unlikely that I will be attacked, it is even more remote that, if attacked, I would need more than the 8 rounds in the gun. I don't have a back-up gun for the same reason. Now, I understand that the same "just-in-case" argument can be offered for the extra ammo and back-up gun. But I choose to draw the line at the one gun and mag. If you want, you could use the same argument for 2 extra mags and 2 backup guns, but we each have to draw the line somewhere. My car could be involved in a collision with a tractor-trailer, but I don't drive an old tank just-in-case. I draw the line at driving a safe vehicle and wear my seat-belt.
When I go to the range, I see the individual the OP was talking about. They have their AR15 (I have on as well - for fun), their main carry handgun, their backup snubnose or 380 in a pocket, and are wearing military style boots they bought at Sportsman's Guide, desert cammo pants and shirt and boonie hat. Of course there is the pocket clip to their fighting knife hanging out of their front pocket.
There were some young fellows like that, but more were pot-bellied, out-of-condition, middle age guys. I asked a few if they ever took a knife fighting course. The few I asked said, "no." We are not talking about Leatherman knives, but knives to fulfill the fantasy that these guys are tough. The get-up as well as the attitude that drives such a get-up has more to do with a perceived "style" or "statement" they think they are making. Oh, well, to each their own.
Personally, I dress like a normal person at the range and practice my shooting quietly, both in looks and action. I carry a Leatherman as a useful tool, but carrying a "fighting" knife for me is silly because at 63, a young guy is going to kick my butt in hand to hand or hand to knife combat. My intent is to keep my attacker at a distance so that my handgun is useful. I practice so that the gun is not just an extra weight on my body, or an item to use to boast how tough I am to my friends, but a tool that serves to make me feel more secure and comfortable. No more, no less.
Ron
I think I get what you are saying - and asking.
First, the reality is that violent crime has gone down in the last 20 years or so, even as concealed carry has increased. That doesn't mean that none of us will be attacked, only that it isn't as bad as seen in the press.
Still, the analogy to insurance is reasonable. I carry just-in-case. It really isn't likely that I will need my handgun, but I admittedly feel more comfortable and secure having it. I don't carry extra mags. If it is very unlikely that I will be attacked, it is even more remote that, if attacked, I would need more than the 8 rounds in the gun. I don't have a back-up gun for the same reason. Now, I understand that the same "just-in-case" argument can be offered for the extra ammo and back-up gun. But I choose to draw the line at the one gun and mag. If you want, you could use the same argument for 2 extra mags and 2 backup guns, but we each have to draw the line somewhere. My car could be involved in a collision with a tractor-trailer, but I don't drive an old tank just-in-case. I draw the line at driving a safe vehicle and wear my seat-belt.
When I go to the range, I see the individual the OP was talking about. They have their AR15 (I have on as well - for fun), their main carry handgun, their backup snubnose or 380 in a pocket, and are wearing military style boots they bought at Sportsman's Guide, desert cammo pants and shirt and boonie hat. Of course there is the pocket clip to their fighting knife hanging out of their front pocket.
There were some young fellows like that, but more were pot-bellied, out-of-condition, middle age guys. I asked a few if they ever took a knife fighting course. The few I asked said, "no." We are not talking about Leatherman knives, but knives to fulfill the fantasy that these guys are tough. The get-up as well as the attitude that drives such a get-up has more to do with a perceived "style" or "statement" they think they are making. Oh, well, to each their own.
Personally, I dress like a normal person at the range and practice my shooting quietly, both in looks and action. I carry a Leatherman as a useful tool, but carrying a "fighting" knife for me is silly because at 63, a young guy is going to kick my butt in hand to hand or hand to knife combat. My intent is to keep my attacker at a distance so that my handgun is useful. I practice so that the gun is not just an extra weight on my body, or an item to use to boast how tough I am to my friends, but a tool that serves to make me feel more secure and comfortable. No more, no less.
Ron
fuzzy thinking
CC - I do not believe that I am one of "those" people about whom you are ranting. When I carry, it's one gun, five to six shots, no spare mag.
That being said - you are being wildly judgemental and asking questions which are virtually impossible to answer accurately. Some of your own questions are rhetorical in the sense that they provide you a stage upon which to state your thoughts.
Even you, you do not answer your own questions. Look at your last post "why do I think people think this way?" The question is why do you think the way you do? You proceed to state what you think but never why. It would be nice to know why you draw the conclusions that you do. You are very passionate about this.....why?
About this country being unstable.....I think not. Yes, one can look around and find situations and people that we don't like - maybe that we don't like passionately. But, in the most general and best sense, this country runs. Complain all you like about politicians.....we continue, through our likes and dislikes and the frequently acrimonious tone of democratic discourse, to have orderly transitions of power and we do it every four years. We send our kids to school, we buy our homes, we live our lives. Is that an oversimplification? You don't like what happens in government? Then get out and change it or try to, instead of preaching to the choir on internet fora.
Are there dangers? Yes - the world has always been a dangerous place. Cities are never peaceful. Every time I drive up Center Street in NYC and pass the Five Points, I think about the tenement that was there 150 years ago - there was a killing a day in just that building. Now there's a park. There isn't any place today that I know of with that concentration of evil, dissolution and danger.
Does everyone have a sweet life? Obviously not - the American Dream is just that, a dream, for way too many. But those aren't the subject of the "unstable" thoughts here are they? Want to try to guarantee a good, safe life to everyone? ("From each according to his ability to each according to his need") That has been tried; it is an empty philosophy.
And that talk about fighting our own army. What a way to turn young men into "them". Those soldiers that you are talking about.... Some of them went to your high school, shop in the same stores that you do; they are your neighbors for goodness sake. So are the Zombies that we see so often referred to.
Pete
Pete
CC - I do not believe that I am one of "those" people about whom you are ranting. When I carry, it's one gun, five to six shots, no spare mag.
That being said - you are being wildly judgemental and asking questions which are virtually impossible to answer accurately. Some of your own questions are rhetorical in the sense that they provide you a stage upon which to state your thoughts.
Even you, you do not answer your own questions. Look at your last post "why do I think people think this way?" The question is why do you think the way you do? You proceed to state what you think but never why. It would be nice to know why you draw the conclusions that you do. You are very passionate about this.....why?
About this country being unstable.....I think not. Yes, one can look around and find situations and people that we don't like - maybe that we don't like passionately. But, in the most general and best sense, this country runs. Complain all you like about politicians.....we continue, through our likes and dislikes and the frequently acrimonious tone of democratic discourse, to have orderly transitions of power and we do it every four years. We send our kids to school, we buy our homes, we live our lives. Is that an oversimplification? You don't like what happens in government? Then get out and change it or try to, instead of preaching to the choir on internet fora.
Are there dangers? Yes - the world has always been a dangerous place. Cities are never peaceful. Every time I drive up Center Street in NYC and pass the Five Points, I think about the tenement that was there 150 years ago - there was a killing a day in just that building. Now there's a park. There isn't any place today that I know of with that concentration of evil, dissolution and danger.
Does everyone have a sweet life? Obviously not - the American Dream is just that, a dream, for way too many. But those aren't the subject of the "unstable" thoughts here are they? Want to try to guarantee a good, safe life to everyone? ("From each according to his ability to each according to his need") That has been tried; it is an empty philosophy.
And that talk about fighting our own army. What a way to turn young men into "them". Those soldiers that you are talking about.... Some of them went to your high school, shop in the same stores that you do; they are your neighbors for goodness sake. So are the Zombies that we see so often referred to.
Pete
Pete
Very insightful, Pete. Everything you said has great merit. I'm not one of "those" people either. Yet, I find myself being insidiously "categorized" by people who apparently have the self-righteous audacity to presume that only they can define how a fellow gun-toting American should act, dress, talk and, I guess, even think. I have no use for smug, self-appointed elitists.
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The Tourist
Moderator
Of course this country is unstable, society is always fluid. I could find something new to scare myself with just by watching TV, reading a book or with my morning newspaper.
One night I was watching a show called "Gangland" and I found out that the boogeymen du jour was me. Other than going to the gym, I hadn't been out of the house all day.
When will we be safe enough? One gun? Two guns? An arsenal? Having Sarah Brady make sure we're getting a good, organic vegetable diet?
Actually, you guys scare me...
One night I was watching a show called "Gangland" and I found out that the boogeymen du jour was me. Other than going to the gym, I hadn't been out of the house all day.
When will we be safe enough? One gun? Two guns? An arsenal? Having Sarah Brady make sure we're getting a good, organic vegetable diet?
Actually, you guys scare me...
Composer_1777
Moderator
Really, have you ever witness a rebel attack where a private citizen rammed a plan into an IRS building, Another Rebel attack where the guy shoots up a Federal Museum, Incident where the guy shoots SSC office, Mails anthrax to the IRS. Hold on not done yet.
Ever hear of berzerk soldiers shooting up their fellow man, domestic terrorism attacks. A person shooting up a recruiting office.
I have, and this has only happened within the last 16 months or so.
Ever hear of Katrina, Haiti, Chile and that earth tetonic plates have become super active and that California is most likely next. Ever hear of looters and people rioting. Cough cough Greece.
I'm not even starting about the federal threat. These are extremist threats. Private citizens who rise up in turbulent times for revolution. Both Left and Right, Nazists, Communists, Marxists, terrorists, Rebels, Mexican gangs, US gangs.
When a country lacks leadership this is what happens. I take comfort in the fact I will die fighting any of these groups whom threaten me and my rights.
DiscoRacing
New member
LoL..
If ya can even get under my bed..at night..dont light a match or strike up a lighter... what you feel against your shoulder is 32 pounds a powder
Composer_1777
Moderator
PS I do jog, I'm 24, I only own 2 guns. I have rambled off-topic as this forum is such a good creative outlet!
To the OP's Question.
I see no need for a bunch of weapons, just a realistic long, medium, short range option. Depending what position you would want to be in a defensive organized firefight.
For home defense a simple 9mm is good for me. No1 is going to invade my home in body armor and the force of a full size 9mm hitting someone should be good.
To the OP's Question.
I see no need for a bunch of weapons, just a realistic long, medium, short range option. Depending what position you would want to be in a defensive organized firefight.
For home defense a simple 9mm is good for me. No1 is going to invade my home in body armor and the force of a full size 9mm hitting someone should be good.
The Tourist
Moderator
dgludwig said:
LOL, I'm out of the loop today. I got up late and only skimmed the newspaper. I have little idea about what crisis is upon us today.
If you can believe the source, and I don't, but according to rags like "Soldier of Fiction" there are the average of 39 wars and insurrections happening somewhere on the planet every day.
We once bombed the Japanese, now we praise their cars. Mitsubishi is the same company that built the kamikaze planes. I wear cotton blue jeans with raw materials harvested from a section of our country built by slave labor. That fancy motorcycle design we love so much was first introduced by some of the most vicious pathological entities we have ever produced.
Mel Tappan spent his entire life researching how to be safe from war and died of kidney disease. I'm not going to waste one moment of my time in chasing my tail.
Composer_1777
Moderator
The USA didn't start slavery, the Europeans did. Once they built the colony economies using slaves what do you expect the people to do?
Slaves were lucky to be slaves. They could be in Haiti right now instead of teaching at Harvard.
Slaves were lucky to be slaves. They could be in Haiti right now instead of teaching at Harvard.
The Tourist
Moderator
Yikes. Well, somewhere out there is a WWII survivor who had his battleship hit by "The Divine Wind" and drives a Mitsibishi.
My point is that fear can be found anywhere. Don't give into it.
I didn't read any of the 150 responses. I did read the original post in it's entirety. My response to the original poster is you are thinking too much. Do what you want to do for the reasons you want to do it. Let others do what they want to do and don't question what or why they are doing it. Worrying about other people will just give you a headache and unlike the psych doctor you are not getting paid for it.
stable
Comp: Yes, of course I have heard about all those horrors. If those were the only things worthy of note that occurred in the last sixteen months, you'd be 100% correct.
Now...spend as much time and passion making a list of some of the marvelous, good, uplifting things that have happened the world over during the same time frame.
Ugly is only one of the masks.
About slaves being lucky......it is hard to believe that someone who can think and write well could say something like that. Sad. That whole example, as stated, is a pretty classic example of a Post Hoc fallacy.
Pete
Comp: Yes, of course I have heard about all those horrors. If those were the only things worthy of note that occurred in the last sixteen months, you'd be 100% correct.
Now...spend as much time and passion making a list of some of the marvelous, good, uplifting things that have happened the world over during the same time frame.
Ugly is only one of the masks.
About slaves being lucky......it is hard to believe that someone who can think and write well could say something like that. Sad. That whole example, as stated, is a pretty classic example of a Post Hoc fallacy.
Pete
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