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

kdelong

No matter how many scenarios the anti-gun nuts come up with, I still beleive that it is the individual's right and responsibility to protect himself from the criminal element whenever he or his loved ones are physically threatened by them. The police sure aren't gonna do it. They are too busy handing out traffic tickets.

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mitosis

Your comment is 167 pages too late.

mitosis

You want to carry a gun and shoot people and you are calling me nuts because i'm anti gun? I suspect you have it the wrong way round.

kdelong

The only "people" that I want to shoot are the sub-human animals that are about to harm me, my loved ones, or take our possessions. I really have a hard time understanding the mind set of the anti-gun people. Lets look at a few facts.

A.) There are people on this Earth that want to steal your possessions for what ever reason.
B.) There are people on this Earth that want to see you dead. This may not be a personal wish on only you, but may be because you belong to a certain group of people, be the association due to race, religion, political affiliations, etc. There are also some really insane people out there who want you dead just because you are alive.
C.) There are people out there who want to see your loved ones dead for the same reasons cited in B. There are also people out there who want to harm you and/or you loved ones in all kinds of disgusting ways for their own gratification.
D.) Some countries have seen fit to ban guns in the belief that it will curb violence and the law abiding citizens of these nations gave up their guns.
E.) The citizens cited in A, B, and C will probably not give up their guns since they normally do not follow the law anyway. If gun registration was previously required for firearms prior to the ban, they probably did not bother to register their guns.

Now lets get hypothetical, although this hypothetical scenario is too often reality for some people including myself. If any of the people cited in A, B, or C were to break into your house with a gun while you and your family are there, what are you going to do?
Are you going to call the police? It will probably take them several minutes to get there, a lot longer than it takes to pull a trigger several times.
Talk to the intruder? Save your breath, you'll probably just make him mad.
Fight with the intruder? Do you really think that you will get close enough to do anything before you get shot?
Plead for your and your famiy's lives prior to all of you getting shot? This is the most likely ending to this scenario.

If you had a gun handy and knew how to use it when the intruder broke in, you most likely would be able to protect your family because the intruder is not expecting you to have a gun. In many cases, once the intruder sees that you are armed and ready, they will flee. In this case, just the mere act of owning a gun and letting them know you are armed keeps you safe, and you don't have to shoot anyone.

I know that all politicians think that a gun ban is the answer to the problem of violence. What they do not seem to think about is that guns are not going to disappear just because they passed a law. Here in the US, there are many of us who do not like being led like lambs to the slaughter. If our government starts thinking of banning guns, we fight it to the last breath. If they ever do pass a law banning guns here, they are going to have a real fight on thier hands. The only way that I will give up my gun is if the Government can prove 100% that the criminals are no longer armed and will not be able to arm themselves in the future. No, I don't want to shoot anybody, but my gun has allowed me to save my life and the lives of my wife and girls, so I am not going to give it up easily.

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artemidorus

This point is not straightforward. If enough of the citizenry have guns, then the villain WILL be expecting you to have a gun and may shoot you without any preamble. This has been a documented problem in some areas of South Africa, where in certain areas enough people carry illegal guns to make the criminals simply shoot you without warning before they relieve your corpse of its valuables (including that expensive gun that never left your pocket).

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CAMPYBOB

BZZZZZTT!

I'll take Faulty Logic for the win, Alex.

If "enough of the citizenry have guns" the scum die in a hail of well aimed bullets.

If enough of the scum die, the problem abates.

There are more good people than bad guys, but All that is needed for the forces of evil to triumph is for enough good men to do nothing.

And the sheeple will continue to abdicate their responsibilities to protect themselves and their families while relying on the nanny state to save their sorry asses. They will...do nothing.

Good luck with that. I call dibs on your Campagnolo.

artemidorus

Only the stupid scum.

If adequacy of weapons is the answer, then I guess that explains why the Dark and Middle Ages were such such famously peaceful eras in history, and why the Middle East is so much safer and more peaceful than the Western world at the present time.

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cbjesseeNH

Of course, when ownership of guns by citizens is banned, all guns not in the hands of military & police are illegal. The circumstances throughout Africa are certainly not comparable to the US [Kopel et.al. (2008) Quinnipiac Law Review 26(2)] and S African police are under daily direct attack by armed criminals. So yes - it's not straightforward to expect that what works in the US will work in S Africa, just as one wouldn't expect to prescribe the same cure for any disease.

Published studies of US crime indicates resistance - especially armed resistance - reduces the odds of victim injury during rape and armed robbery/assault. We don't fret as much over criminals taking a thrashing by their intended victims as much as some others - that's indeed true.

Those opposed to firearms always assume a hypothetical situation where the bad guy gets the jump on the good guy, and conclude that a gun will be of no use for self-defense. Well - yes. There will be cases where having a gun will not help.

But - let's consider the 100s of thousands to millions of cases per year in the US where firearms are used in self-defense (whether shots are fired or not) and address the REAL situation where the good guy resists the bad guy through use of a firearm.

Might not work in AUS and S Africa but that's how it works in the US. If you need to be defenseless to be safe - sorry about that...

CAMPYBOB

Only the stupid scum.

Most of them are just that.

If adequacy of weapons is the answer, then I guess that explains why the Dark and Middle Ages were such such famously peaceful eras in history, and why the Middle East is so much safer and more peaceful than the Western world at the present time.

Ah...the good ol' Dark Ages? Yes, even back then the armed free man stood a much better shot at surviving an attack than the unarmed serf/slave. "Peaceful era in history"? When was that??? Will one becoming along anytime soon? I must have mised that memo, but I'm sure you've made certain all the rapists, muggers, thieves and murders signed off with full compliance. Good job, Artie.

It's high noon in downtown Bagdad. You want to run the gauntlet unarmed? Be my guest. I got dibs on all your Campy...go for it. Be sure and wear a t-shirt that says, "I'm an unarmed infidel" in 4" tall letters.

Those that beat their swords into plowshares...will plow for those that kept their swords.

And Jesus said, "But now, whoever has a money belt is to take it along, likewise also a bag, and whoever has no sword is to sell his coat and buy one.".

Me? Despite Jesus' somewhat dated advice, I would never bring a sword to a gunfight. I prefer a 1911A1 to fend off vermin. Hmmm? I guess I would sell off a 1974 Record rear mech if it got me a stainless Kimber Pro Carry!

cbjesseeNH

Our VP, Dick Cheney, did indeed say that the homicide rate in DC is higher than Baghdad, but our US Supreme Court is about to fix that...

RedRider2009

Our own VP Dick Cheney shot a man in the face...hehe

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Joe West

Keeping my fingers crossed... if the US Supreme court comes out with some wishy-washy ruling that "sort of" supports second ammendment rights, we're in for a real fight when/if the anti-freedom folks take over our government in November

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ProfTournesol

more guns=freedom? Come on!

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Joe West

here's the logic:

I equate freedom to having the ability to make decisions for myself
The more decisions I can make; the more freedom I have.

If a government restricts ANY decision I might want to make by taking the right to make it away from me; I consider it a loss of freedom.

More choices = more freedom

The right to own a firearm = a choice

Combining the above two equations

the right to own a firearm = more freedom

In my world... everyone would be free to make any choice they want... ride in cars without safety belts, let their children ride in the back of pickup trucks... carry firearms anywhere at anytime, smoke, drink, do drugs, to ride bicycles without a helmet... do ANYTHING they want to do as long as it doesn't violate our constitution.

Freedom... to be stupid or smart... to entirely control one's own destiny...

Freedom... a right I was born with; not something my government grants me...

Freedom... protected by the threat of force from the guns I carry.

I hope this makes sense... but I'm guessing there are likely cultural issues which make my words sound like those of a lunitic to you.

Joe

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