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

tvanhuisen

I guess that you are agreeing with my point. If someone was riding somewhere where he would feel that carrying a gun is necessary to protect his life, maybe he is riding in the wrong place.

I use to ride through the Tenderloin neighborhood of San Francisco twice daily (not a good part of the city). I rode quickly but I never considered my life in danger and never imagined that carrying a gun to protect myself was at all necessary. If I would have felt vulnerable or in danger, I would have taken a different route, not pack a gun.

Hazmat

Wow. I'm stunned. It seems this site may in fact be over run (is that two words?) with hoplophobes. Just because someone carries a gun means neither that they want to use it or that they will. The simple fact of the matter is there is nothing wrong with personal protection, whether it is a knife, spray, or gun. Having it on you, concealed, will not send secret mysterious signals to someone elses brain close by that will make the do a ninja flip out and kill everyone in the room, but you know what? If they do you will be prepared. I am dying to get my chl here in Texas, I simply don't have the money right now as I have spent well over 10K in the last 8 months modifying one of my cars, I am in self imposed brokedom becuase of one of my many passions.

Spearsliger - good facts, and for those that suggested or bandwagoned about the ban being lifted, ya'lls rational is not different than those that want to the see the .50s out of the picture. When was the last time someone robbed a bank or knocked over a liquor store using a Barrett M95, yep, never happened, nor will it.

Boudreaux - you lump an RPG in with a Glock? what point exactly were you trying to make?

Luft and West make very clear logical arguments and it seems. . . oh boy. . . am I gonna say it. . . eeeeaaaarrrggghhhhh. . . I have to. It seems the bleeding heart liberals just can't seem to cope. The only fearmongering going on is by them. I will say it again, simply having it on you doesn't make the world less safe, it's quite the opposite, and what if it is not you, what if you are witness to a mugging and can do something about it? Are you honestly going to run up to some thug with a knife of gun, ravaging some poor person, female, male, child, adult w/e and try to reason with them, try to defend against their weapon with your fists and flowery words?

I know violence. It can and will happen anytime anywhere. And guess what folks, ppl do shoot at strangers in broad daylight for no apparent reason. When I was in HS going to Cranbrook in MI, I was at the ABA on 3 mile with a buddy in his dads SAAB, we got our beer (we were 17, and there were too many cops in Pontiac, meh), driving away we hear pop, pop, pop and I feel a sting in my calf. Someone had shot at our car with a .38 and one of the slugs went through the door and hit me mid calf. No, having a peice wouldn't have helped in that situation, the point is YOU NEVER KNOW when or where the truly bad shit is going to go down, so being prepared is your best defense.

btw Joe, you remind me greatly of my oldest brother (just turned 36 least week and said he'd buy and FNH for christmas), very driven, intelligent and logical in his actions and thoughts. He lives in Houston and carries 24/7, even when we are sitting at a KFC having lunch, or working on my moms car. Its part of him, its just what he does; shirt, pants, cologne, wallet, handgun, watch....you get the idea. And people can say whatever they want to about Texas, hillbilly, John Wayne, and cowboys and so on, but I could care less, you'd have to be out of your mind to pull some crazy shit in a large crowd, you will have so many sights on you so quickly your head would spin.

anyway, my newbie leg humping tirade is done. Thank you for your time please drive through. And before anyone says something, yes, I read all ten pages. WHEW!

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Can I put a turbo on my bike?

Weisse Luft

If I were to ride only on known roads, I wouldn't feel the need to carry. Matter of fact, I don't carry on such conditions. I also do not carry during supported group rides.

But when I am by myself or riding with a small group, over roads I have never traveled and in areas where loose dogs are a possibility, you can rest assured that extra 10 ounces of weight in my bag are to prevent dogbites and angry humans from putting my life in jeopardy.

That I have had the need to use it and not had it are enough justification. Unsymmetrical force? Sure. But I am on the right side of the law, permit to carry included.

menglish6

So do you shoot the dog before or after it bites you?

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"There aren't evil guys and innocent guys. It's just... It's just... It's just a bunch of guys." -- Steve Arlo

Joe West

Hi iameviljez,

A gun isn't a killing machine... humans are the killing machines... what they choose to kill with is simply a tool whether it be a Bic pen, boxcutters, knife, fire extinguisher, handgun, or atom bomb. It's men that kill and not the tool.

The fact that the consideration to carry a gun wouldn't enter your mind simply means that you have been well trained by your government to be a good citizen and accept that guns are evil bad horrible killing machines which have no place in a civilized society. What you fail to understand is that your government has guns. Why do *they* need them if they are bad for you?

You have been bred to not like guns... as were your parents, and as likely will be your children and their children and... well; you get the idea.

I think its great that you live in such a loving utopian society. I however, will never trust anyone who tells me guns are not for society while they hold strongly to their own weapons as your government does.

You don't know any better... and that's okay. You can't imagine ever needing a gun... that's okay also.

Chances are likely that neither of us will ever been in a situation where we need a gun... the difference is; if I need one I will have one and if you need one... well... dial 911 and wait for your government to arrive to save you.

Joe

Fat Hack

Sorry, but "you guys" have gotta do better than this.

Why were guns invented in the first place?

If it's all about the man and not the weapon, then why aren't wars still fought using spears and arrows?

Why were machine guns used in most wars sine 1945 instead of Bic pens and boxcutters?

Because guns are MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH, MUCH more effective as killing tools!!!

Would you rather confront a lunatic who has an AK47 or a Bic pen?

How much damage could those psychos in Columbine have done with Bic pens and boxcutters?

BLOODY HELL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

alienator

Is there any chance that this thread will end? Even if it was, at some time, remotely viable as a 'cycling equipment' thread, it is certainly not so now. Now it has become a forum for people to stump for a political viewpoint, a place for character assassination and smarmy self-righteous insinuations.

There is absolutely nothing of value left in this, if there ever was any value in it. So maybe those still persisting in continuing it will finally either put a sock in it or realize that the thread should go elesewhere.

What a waste of space.

iameviljez

Cheers Joe.

Perhaps to further explain my point, does anyone carry a neuclear warhead whilst riding a bicycle? Well, why not?
jez

Joe West

I can't tell you how much different Columbine would have been with boxcutters... but I can tell you that simple boxcutters were pretty effective at bringing down the world trade center and killing thousands of people.

Now... what was your point again?

Joe

Joe West

Cause its too big?

mickhall-uk

joe, over here in the uk ,unlike usa and aus , even our coppers dont carry shooters and unless an individual runs with a gang the average brit is super unlikely to ever see a kosher handgun...... military excepted.
In fact the only place i have ever seen a gun in real life is at Manchester airport and even in the hands of a copper it freaked me out!!!

Many people reckon that the uk is 15 years behind the states in terms of social trends so perhaps what we have to look forward to here in the future is best avoided.
In fact perhaps it is Britain that is responsible for your gun culture, in that the militias formed originally in reponse to king george's army???
ooops sorry america.....

Fat Hack

Are you serious?!?!?!?!?!?

A pair of boxcutters brought down The World Trade Center?!?!?!??

Oh, I thought it was a pair of 50 billion trillion gazillion tonne jets, carrying 5656565000000000000000000000 gallons of fuel.

The boxcutters were used to over-power three or four people who were trained to hand over a jet to hijackers at the drop of a hat, or Bic pen.

It's like saying that if someone used a pair of boxcutters to steel an atomic bomb off two guys in a truck, set off the bomb in the middle of Manhattan, killing 10 milion people, that the boxcutters killed 10 million people.

Once again, BLOODY HELL

Fat Hack

Can you at least imagine that the outcome may have been at least slightly different?

iameviljez

Perhaps the most damming argument to the progun lobby is that the statistics overwhelmingly show that this whole, wacky, potsmoking no-gun thing WORKS. People don't get shot where we live dammit!