arnisador said:
I dunno...with widespread violence like that, being armed may be good for the individual but bad for the country as a whole, if it leads to escalation.
Well, as the reality in the US attests, law abiding citizens don't burn businesses. Criminals can't legally own a firearm. Teenage thugs can't legal own firearms. Criminals and teenage thugs burn businesses.
The reality is, guns in the right hands pretty much procludes 'escalation', as the situation usually is isolated to those neighborhoods that will tolerate the violence. As many roaming bands discovered in New Orleans, there are some parts of the city and suburban area you just didn't wander in to, to loot. Signs like "Looters will be shot!" provide the first clue. Armed neighbors on rooftops with long-guns provided the next. What's more, these people worked together as a community, not as disperate roving bands and brigands. That is also one of the differences between thugs and law abiding communities....the very IDEA of community.
In some parts of this country, people won't intervene if they hear a woman screaming rape in the street. If one of my neighbors called and said someone was trying to break in their house and harm them, i'd come running, Benelli M2 or Colt M4 carbine in hand. Doesn't really matter which neighbor, either. I believe they'd do the same for me.
(It's statements like that, that get us folks labelled a 'Vigilante' Culture by certain..... 'sophisticates'...... as a way of seperating us from their 'hiding in my house, shaking, afraid to even dial 911 because the bad man might found it was me that called, hoping the lady in the street will stop screaming' culture.)
What's more, even armed, the average criminal is not very effective with a firearm. The majority of criminals and thugs are too lazy to work, too lazy to study, and too lazy to practice the gun. 99% of the street criminals are very unskilled with the gun, and usually keep their guns in such poor condition and with such questionable ammunition, that their ability to operate is in question. I once recovered a .45 1911 off of a drug dealer. The slide was partially rusted, and the gun would likely only have fired one round. The gun was only loaded with 4 rounds. This is typical of the street level criminal, sloppy in pretty much everything.
That's one of the reasons the safetest person to be when a gang member is shooting, is the person he is shooting AT. It's dangerous to be the kid on his bicycle half a block down, though.
It's been my experience that a moderately trained civilian,armed with a gun and with the appropriate mindset, is skill for skill MORE than a match for a street thug armed with a gun
There are exceptions, but the kind of sophisticated criminal who is skilled with a gun, isn't wandering around the streets looking to mug you. He's involved in more lucritive crime. There is a hierarchy of skills and abilities, even among criminals. He's also not going to be in the middle of a riot. He may be knocking over a bank or armored car somewhere, but that's a whole different thing entirely.
