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Gun control, the constitution and you, let's keep it civil.


ERDoc

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To be fair, murder rates are grossly under-reported in countries like Afghanistan. Remember, I not only lived there but had to take call at the university morgue in Kabul. It's grossly myopic to use countries that barely function and have no means of reporting even rough estimates of violent crime.

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Just answer one question: why do you personally need to carry a weapon?

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I cannot speak for anyone but myself but a few reasons come to mind of why I personally have made the decision to carry a sidearm when possible.

I carry a sidearm first because it is legal where I live.

I carry a sidearm because I am an individual and take responsibility for my own security and actions, including extensive weapons training.

I carry because I have a family and am aware that wither I am armed or not there are evil people in the world that given the opportunity would do us harm.

I carry because I refuse to be a victim.

I carry because my family deserves to have a dad and a provider.

I carry because it would be irresponsible on my behalf to allow a person who has made all the wrong choices in life ruin my life achievements through the responsible choices I have made.

I carry because I am a law abiding citizen that wishes harm on no person beginning with my family and me.

I carry because even the very best police forces in the world are late to the scene of a crime 80% of the time (lowball estimate based on empirical data).

I carry because it has been effective in protecting my person and property in more than one occasion when evil doers attempted to assault and rob me, possibly even murder me. We will never know because I had a sidearm which I did not draw or point. I just pulled back my shirt and displayed my holstered weapon and the bad guys decided I was not worth the effort.

There are probably other reasons but these are just some that come to mind.

Edited for spelling and syntax.

Edited by DFIB
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Why not make it obligatory to carry arms? Wouldn't that be wonderful, imagine all of the teachers armed, the school kids... How far would he have gotten?

Come on, how can you defend gun ownership and put many lives at stake eyes wide open?

Since you asked, take a look at Kennesaw, GA. With some exceptions, the head of each household is required, by law, to own and maintain a fire arm. Crime rates have dropped since the institution of this law.

Now, this does not mandate people carry firearms which is more in line with your original question. Nor does any of this address other social factors that may be at play in this particular town. But it is an interesting trend that definitely merits further investigation.

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But it's quite funny to see that Afghanistan has a lower homicide rate than the States. It does make you wonder.

On what basis are you making that statement?

Are you counting the tens of thousands of people that have been disposed of by the taliban?

Or basing that statement on the count provided by the evening news?

Any war torn country has a death rate many times higher than what is reported. Look to bosnia , Iraq, Lebanon , syria,any one of the west african nations where hundreds of thousands just disappear, or Mexico where the estimates are 4-5 thousand murders per month by the drug war cartels.

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Since you asked, take a look at Kennesaw, GA. With some exceptions, the head of each household is required, by law, to own and maintain a fire arm. Crime rates have dropped since the institution of this law.

Now, this does not mandate people carry firearms which is more in line with your original question. Nor does any of this address other social factors that may be at play in this particular town. But it is an interesting trend that definitely merits further investigation.

In 2007, the city was selected by Family Circle magazine as one of the nation's "10 best towns for families" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kennesaw,_Georgia

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You're probably right about Afghanistan, but we can all agree that the level of homicides and violent crime is unseen in any other developed nation and comparable to that in many third world countries. Especially striking, considering how much money you spend on the police force, intelligence services, homeland security etc.

DFIB, don't you think that you wouldn't need a weapon if their availability wasn't as high as it is? Don't you think you could actually provoke a situation in which your opponent himself may feel the need to use lethal force against you? Which he wouldn't if you weren't carrying a gun? I can understand not wanting to become a victim. I myself wouldn't hesitate even one second to do what's necessary if I saw my family in danger.

Since you asked, take a look at Kennesaw, GA. With some exceptions, the head of each household is required, by law, to own and maintain a fire arm. Crime rates have dropped since the institution of this law.

Now, this does not mandate people carry firearms which is more in line with your original question. Nor does any of this address other social factors that may be at play in this particular town. But it is an interesting trend that definitely merits further investigation.

Damn, you actually found something supporting that kind of reasoning. Maybe this is about consistancy in both directions, either ban firearms alltogether or make them available to everyone... Restore balance.

http://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/data-and-analysis/homicide.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Number_of_guns_per_capita_by_country

http://bjs.ojp.usdoj.gov/content/glance/tables/viortrdtab.cfm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

It's probably too much of an emotional discussion...

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Kennesaw is an interesting topic. Is no one concerned about the government forcing you to carry a weapon? I don't know how well the statistics from a small, rural Georgia community can be extrapolated to a larger scale. One problem I see, even if all weapons were banned is that they are already out there. You can shut down all of the manufacturers and ban all guns, but the country has been popping them out so quickly over the years that they will still be around for decades to come.

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Perhaps I did not explain my point clearly? I am not buying all the comparisions I see people making to countries such as Norway and Switzerland where gun ownership is high but gun violence is low. Unfortunately, I see people pointing to these countries as justification for the United States to not consider changes. However, what many people fail to appreciate is that the high rates of ownership come with many laws, stipulations and regulations. However, I rarely see people point that side of the coin out. Once again, this makes the situation in the United States unique among other "post-industrial" nations.

The USA also has 132,183 schools at the elementary and secondary level alone by 2010 statistics. Once this is factored in the percentual incidents decreases dramatically.

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DFIB, don't you think that you wouldn't need a weapon if their availability wasn't as high as it is? Don't you think you could actually provoke a situation in which your opponent himself may feel the need to use lethal force against you? Which he wouldn't if you weren't carrying a gun? I can understand not wanting to become a victim. I myself wouldn't hesitate even one second to do what's necessary if I saw my family in danger.

I think you have an valid question about availability, but I don't carry because of criminals with guns, I carry because of criminals period.

As far as provoking a situation that would make a person decide to fight an armed person, I have no way of understanding what goes on in a criminals mind. I do know that if they are threatening me with aggression or thievery I like the odds a lot better when I have a firearm. I have carried a fire arm for 25 years and thwarted two attempts to at least rob and possibly assault me without anyone getting hurt. Before legal carry I left the firearm in the truck.

Before I carried a sidearm I was robbed and assaulted 3 times with very poor results for me. I never ended up in the hospital but did have to seek medical care. I have fared much better with a gun.

Once it was a group of 6 young men that were speaking their native language, unaware that I could understand them. They were talking about how they were going to take me down. I let the 6 of them see that I was armed and they decided to look for a softer target.

Could they have tried to disarm me? Yes. Did they? No. So I suppose anything is possible although not necessarily probable.

Everyone got to go home. No one got hurt. Mission accomplished.

I have carried a gun for so long that it is as normal as a pocket knife or keys. I never brag about my weapon of show it to anyone unless there is a reason to. I have extended family that have been surprised to know, that after years of close personal contact, they had never noticed or even suspected I was carrying. I really only mention it here because of the certain anonymity that the forum offers.

For me it is a simple decision about what id better for me just like the other hundreds of decisions I make every day.

I am glad you bring these questions up. In reality it has been ages since I have thought about this sort of things.

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