There are some other Canadians on this board who may disagree with you on some of that. As to Running shoes, a cool head and some skills keeping the majority of the public safe, you've forgotten some other very important elements - awareness, prevention education are two of the most important and used with Good Choices, you have a really good chance of avoiding most crime. And honestly, you're probably right when it comes to avoidance. But I've lived my life trying to avoid this kind of conflict and have been on the wrong side of violence five times ... four of them from people I knew ... the fifth was on the wrong side of a gun.
Agreed. I did miss those qualities, not that I feel they aren't needed but I suppose I didn't put enough thought into the post. As for violence, there really is none, there is some drama once in awhile when two people get in a fight and then they bring 12 people to "back them up" and the other does as well leading to an arms race that turns into absolutely nothing to begin with. Very childish, but preferable to a full scale riot or something.
Those are easy things to say. Guns aren't THE ANSWER ... there is no panacea for violence - there always has been and always will be violence; the only answer to it is Armageddon if that's really gonna happen. I suppose you need to walk a mile or two in our moccassins in downtown L.A., Watts, the barrios in Chicago and much of New York. Sometimes just reaching for your holster is enough to thwart an attack - just ask Paul Janulis on this board.
Maybe ... but there are already a lot of criminals out there with illegal guns. If more responsible citizens are armed then it makes things a little more fair. But that's still not enough - there are other things we must do as a society to keep things safer and that takes being in the public eye, taking risks and holding ground - something most people don't wanna do.
I think the difference in opinions comes from the fact that we both live in very different social circumstances.
Hm. I don't know about that. I *personally* think that anyone who feels empowered just because they own a gun doesn't really understand what it means that they have brought this weapon into their home. It is a huge responsibility, not to be scoffed at nor taken advantage of. It also means caring for family relations healthily and carefully. It means being responsible for one's anger, frustration, jealousy without taking that gun into one's hands.
I have to disagree, I think everyone at least at first feels a little empowered by owning a gun. I realize and agree that it does or at least SHOULD be a lot of responsibility ESPECIALLY if you have children etc, but with such a power weapon that can literally take life by a movement of a finger, it's hard to believe one wouldn't feel empowered. Take this with a grain of salt though as I don't own a gun, but have fired many .
For Americans specifically, totalitarianism was so hated and so feared, people took enormous risks to leave their secure homes and come here to start fresh. Many, many died on the trip and many more died because they failed. Our founding fathers knew that all forms of government are subject to failure, to corruption and wrote in a protection for the people of the land that should be need to overthrow our government we would have the tools with which to do so. It is old but important.
Which is a great idea, unfortunately I feel that the American people are letting a lot happen that they shouldn't. The founding fathers gave the means, but there has to be a will in order for change, people would have to be willing to die, and as long as people have their conveniences and aren't starving there won't be any revolution on a grand scale. So as long as the bread and circuses continue, I don't expect much to happen, which is unfortunate but thats a very dangerous and off-topic discussion.
I hope I'm not coming across as too argumentative here, just trying to point out some things.
Not at all, I appreciate the feedback, it helps me work things out myself, I try to keep an open mind so my opinions can grow and evolve as opposed to some who have their opinions set in stone and do nothing but try to drive it into other people's skulls.
The opinions vary widely. We have a few people here that are anti-gun as well. One thing is for sure...those of us that shoot, if we didn't feel MA training was important, we wouldn't be spending any time here talking about it and getting to know other folks that train.
That they do, we're all [SIZE=-1]different and thats what makes life interesting.[/SIZE]
This thread has really made me mull it all over and I think I can understand why you individuals would choose to have guns on your person even if it seems strange in my circumstance. I thank you all for giving me this better understanding. I think this thread has done it's purpose at lest for me. Thanks again.
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