How many of you carry a gun as part of your cycling equipment? - Page 209

You're right - I'm highly confused as to why there are cyclists (other than police officers) that are so paranoid (IMO) that they feel the need to carry a gun while riding. As I've stated long before you arrived to this thread, if I lived in an area where I was so fearful while riding my bike that I felt the need to pack deadly force, I'd move or invest in a very nice virtual reality trainer.

Not interested in a point-counterpoint with you other than to say your attempt at setting up this strawman to argue with is unnecessary. I don't argue with people's beliefs as it's a most pointless endeavor. I made my comment to your comment - that's all...

Lastly, I hope the boogeyman never comes to get me as I won't be adequately prepared - not that I'd have time to pull a gun anyway...Getting out of bed is a calculated risk - everyday; and I'm secure enough with myself to take my chances without a gun in my armpit...

Very true, criminals rely on weak prey and the prey are made weaker by legislation. Criminals are fearful and they learn that putting on an arrogant front will work for most victims.

Pull a gun and watch them fire 6 misses in one second.... but sometimes they get lucky. If they are not lucky then they will wimper and cry foul because of the drugs, the absolute injustise of it all, and they know how to tell lies.

You will only need one shot by the sounds of it even if it kicks like a mule

Tony,
This *is* a thread asking about carrying a gun while cycling. You had to chime in with a criticism, calling us who do "paranoid". I join such threads to share my experience, which includes expertise in handgun competition and instruction, as well as being the intended target of an unprovoked attack in a part of Washington state where I had no expectation that such a thing took place.

I can understand, given your career as a professional football player, that you feel quite capable of handling just about any threat of physical violence from another human. As long as they are *not* armed, you would win any fight.

For me, a tech nerd, carrying a gun levels the playing field. I already spend too much time indoors, professionally. Hiding there in my free time, is not an option.

As for the "straw man" statement, I'm not sure what you mean.
I don't think you're using it correctly, but feel free to elaborate.
I've been posting here for over two years, and I use the name "tackdriver" for anything gun-related, to prevent anti-gun paranoia from being turned against me in my profession.

Hi
After reading many of the posts I saw mention of a 'two legged pole cat'. What kind of an animal is it?
Some of the mountain bikers I know carry pistols but non of the road bikers. And the serious bikers tend not to pack a piece at all even though they spend more time outside.

Hostile Human.

I suspect you'll find that mountain bikers tend to carry a lot of tools that roadies leave home.

I also suspect that cycle tourists carry more tools than racers.
Roadies, especially racers, tend to be weight weenies.

Urban Dictionary: weight weenie

Easy when the support team is no more than 100 meters away with cameras blazing.

Go ALONE on a mountain trail and you better be prepared. Two-legged ferals are the most dangerous because they can be confused with two-legged warm-and-fuzzies.

The reason carrying a gun while cycling makes no sense to most of us is that it's so useless in defending against the primary risks of serious injury death on the road, which is being hit by negligent, reckless or aggressive driver. By getting on a road bike, you're placing a huge degree of trust in vehicle drivers that they will be lawful citizens and respect your rights to the road. Since you've already granted them that trust, seems to me a huge contridiction that you would feel the need to be armed in addition. After all, every motorist who wants to injure or kill you, or just scare you off the road, packs a heavyweight weapon. Better yet, the weapon can often be used with lethal force before you have any chance of self-defense, and the attacker usually gets away scott-free (at least in this state) just by claiming "didn't see the cyclist", or "was distracted just for a second reaching down for my cell phone".

About 30 years ago, I had a passenger stick a pistol out of a passing car and shoot at me. Was one of those events that tends to stick in your memory, like your ax incident. But in both cases, if we were carrying a weapon, would that have done anything at all to prevent the assault or change the outcome?

My point in all this is that I think most of the "pro-gun" voices here are living in a fantasy world where the fact that they possess a deadly weapon is enough to protect them from bad stuff while cycling on the road. If you think displaying your carry-gun to an enraged redneck who's getting out of his pickup to confront you is going to discourage him, well, I'd guess you don't live in the south

Thanks for your thoughtful and civil response, dhk2.

I agree that all cyclists, indeed all drivers, place our safety at the mercy of others. Most, nearly all of those others, are decent people, and mindful of their responsibility.

Even when a cyclist is injured, most of the time it is due to negligence, or drunk driving, and the most common criminal act in these cases, is simply driving away to avoid responsibility: not something one would be justified using deadly force to stop.

When an assault is deliberate, though, and you are alone on the road with no means to respond, you are at the mercy of someone who has chosen to harm you. It's nearly impossible for a bicycle to outrun a car, especially if they succeed in their first attempt to injure you. Firing into the back of a vehicle fleeing an assault makes no sense, but if they come back to make sure you can't testify, they're fair game.

The extra pound I carry in a shoulder holster may seem a burden to some, but it's my burden. I've seen enough myself, and heard enough stories from other cyclists, that I think it's worth carrying.

What happens when some stranger veers off the road into the grass, and puts his bumper up against my bike while I'm chowing a Builder Bar? I guess that depends on how threatened I feel in the moment. I agree that threatening someone is stupid. I was always taught never to pull a gun you don't plan to shoot. The same logic applies to a car or any weapon: don't threaten someone's life with one, or they might think you're serious, and shoot you.

A full time crash-cam sounds better and better all the time.