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

Unless you're prepared to use the weapon to kill everyone who honks their horn at you,it's hardly a deterrent. Carrying it openly simply shows something valuable that a thief may want to steal from you (very unlikely though)and when you're dead and under the wheels of a truck you ain't going to be using a gun.
All you are doing is making it more likely that,instead of honking or giving you the finger,someone who bears you some animosity will simply clip you with their vehicle and kill you.Then they can either claim "self-defence" or an accident...and get away with it.
I guarantee that,regardless of the weapon you carry,I could kill you and take it,were I so inclined,and there's absolutely nothing you could do about it.

All the guns in circulation in the US aren't making Americans any safer or any more polite,are they?



Actually the safest places are where guns are the least restricted overall SB. You can keep ignoring the evidence all you want. Gun control has never made anyone safer except for criminals and tyrants whom of course support gun control. Of course we know your job is more secure when there are more victims. You don't want people to be self reliant.
If carried on the road does it make you safer? Not if they hit and kill you but if they hit you and don't kill you and decide to come back and finish the job if you are not seriously injured if armed you at least have the ability to do something. Also they may not choose to hit you they might decide to beat the shit out of the funny looking person in lycra. If they see that the person is armed they will very likely change their minds and leave.
You can say you can quarantee that you could kill somebody but even the best make mistakes and if your victim is armed when you make that mistake it could very well be your last quarantee of anything.
You still have not accepted my offer to take all your guns from Oz and we will send you all our poor misunderstood youths and adults and see what happens.

 

I had to carry for thirty years and the LAST thing I want to do is strap one on again. I am authorized to carry by virtue of being a retired police but almost never do. I have had to shoot and was a SWAT guy at one time. I still own long and short guns. I can't understand the reverence some people have for a hunk of metal and plastic or wood that makes loud noises and hurts people. It was a tool, rarely relied on in my job and nothing more. You may have a right to bear arms but do you need to? Not really. Better to arm bears!

 

I


Actually the safest places are where guns are the least restricted overall SB. You can keep ignoring the evidence all you want. Gun control has never made anyone safer except for criminals and tyrants whom of course support gun control. Of course we know your job is more secure when there are more victims. You don't want people to be self reliant.
If carried on the road does it make you safer? Not if they hit and kill you but if they hit you and don't kill you and decide to come back and finish the job if you are not seriously injured if armed you at least have the ability to do something. Also they may not choose to hit you they might decide to beat the shit out of the funny looking person in lycra. If they see that the person is armed they will very likely change their minds and leave.
You can say you can quarantee that you could kill somebody but even the best make mistakes and if your victim is armed when you make that mistake it could very well be your last quarantee of anything.
You still have not accepted my offer to take all your guns from Oz and we will send you all our poor misunderstood youths and adults and see what happens.


Nonsense. The safest places to be are those countries with the lowest number of guns.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
If you really think that you could survive being intentionally run over by a motor vehicle,and still be able to fire a weapon with any degree of accuracy then you've lost your marbles.
I've been riding for 40+ years. I've never been intentionally threatened in any way by anyone on the road. Ever.Neither has anyone I know. Ever.
Maybe Americans are just violent people with little regard for human life,which would explain the gun-love.Exactly the kind of people who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a weapon of any kind.
Your last line is just too stupid for any further comment.

 

Actually the safest places are where guns are the least restricted overall SB. You can keep ignoring the evidence all you want. Gun control has never made anyone safer except for criminals and tyrants whom of course support gun control. Of course we know your job is more secure when there are more victims. You don't want people to be self reliant.
If carried on the road does it make you safer? Not if they hit and kill you but if they hit you and don't kill you and decide to come back and finish the job if you are not seriously injured if armed you at least have the ability to do something. Also they may not choose to hit you they might decide to beat the shit out of the funny looking person in lycra. If they see that the person is armed they will very likely change their minds and leave.
You can say you can quarantee that you could kill somebody but even the best make mistakes and if your victim is armed when you make that mistake it could very well be your last quarantee of anything.
You still have not accepted my offer to take all your guns from Oz and we will send you all our poor misunderstood youths and adults and see what happens.


Nonsense. The safest places to be are those countries with the lowest number of guns.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
If you really think that you could survive being intentionally run over by a motor vehicle,and still be able to fire a weapon with any degree of accuracy then you've lost your marbles.
I've been riding for 40+ years. I've never been intentionally threatened in any way by anyone on the road. Ever.Neither has anyone I know. Ever.
Maybe Americans are just violent people with little regard for human life,which would explain the gun-love.Exactly the kind of people who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a weapon of any kind.
Your last line is just too stupid for any further comment.

Please do not make statements lumping all Americans together that is just too stupid for any further comment, but I will.

Your reference only shows murder rates not firearms ownership per capita. If you had bothered to look the chart showing firearms ownership per capita up you would see very little correlation between it and the one you referenced. Some countries that have removed the right of the people to own firearms and have also had increased rates of murder with knives and other weapons, i.e. Great Britain.

I choose not to carry a firearm at any time and I have been threatened on 1 occasion in about 40+ years of riding, at a train station in Great Britain simply because I am an American. It wasn't much of a threat though.

I am glad that I have the freedom to do so if I feel the need to. Sheep do not.

 

LOL ROTFL Good one. You get the point of this thread... good for you.

 

Actually the safest places are where guns are the least restricted overall SB. You can keep ignoring the evidence all you want. Gun control has never made anyone safer except for criminals and tyrants whom of course support gun control. Of course we know your job is more secure when there are more victims. You don't want people to be self reliant.
If carried on the road does it make you safer? Not if they hit and kill you but if they hit you and don't kill you and decide to come back and finish the job if you are not seriously injured if armed you at least have the ability to do something. Also they may not choose to hit you they might decide to beat the shit out of the funny looking person in lycra. If they see that the person is armed they will very likely change their minds and leave.
You can say you can quarantee that you could kill somebody but even the best make mistakes and if your victim is armed when you make that mistake it could very well be your last quarantee of anything.
You still have not accepted my offer to take all your guns from Oz and we will send you all our poor misunderstood youths and adults and see what happens.


Nonsense. The safest places to be are those countries with the lowest number of guns.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
If you really think that you could survive being intentionally run over by a motor vehicle,and still be able to fire a weapon with any degree of accuracy then you've lost your marbles.
I've been riding for 40+ years. I've never been intentionally threatened in any way by anyone on the road. Ever.Neither has anyone I know. Ever.
Maybe Americans are just violent people with little regard for human life,which would explain the gun-love.Exactly the kind of people who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a weapon of any kind.
Your last line is just too stupid for any further comment.

Let me first state that I do carry on a daily basis as long as I can do so legally. I've been robbed both here in AZ and also across the pond both by knife.

Ok so I have lurked for some time saw this post and quite frankly had to post. Your stats and argument are crap. Take a look at these stats.

total crime - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_vic-crime-total-victims
total crime per capita - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crimes-per-capita
assaults per capita (near a push) - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_ass_percap-crime-assaults-per-capita

Ill take extra murders to get overall lower crime rates. I carry while riding not b/c of the person who clips me while riding. Its the guy who tries to get out of his truck and steal my bike, my wallet, my phone etc. When they see my pistol strapped to my back I can't imagine they have much interest in doing so. Do I want to shoot anyone? No. If someone did get out of their truck and point a gun at me first I'd give them what they want. But you can't tell me that you would walk up to a guy holding a bat or gun and say that his wives pussy tastes like sweet butter when you have never seen the guy before..

 

So you took a gun to a knife fight and lost?

 

Absolutly, many believe that if gun control is enforced, that violence will decline, wrong. Approximately fifty percent of Americans own some form of a firearm, they're here to stay.

 

Actually the safest places are where guns are the least restricted overall SB. You can keep ignoring the evidence all you want. Gun control has never made anyone safer except for criminals and tyrants whom of course support gun control. Of course we know your job is more secure when there are more victims. You don't want people to be self reliant.
If carried on the road does it make you safer? Not if they hit and kill you but if they hit you and don't kill you and decide to come back and finish the job if you are not seriously injured if armed you at least have the ability to do something. Also they may not choose to hit you they might decide to beat the shit out of the funny looking person in lycra. If they see that the person is armed they will very likely change their minds and leave.
You can say you can quarantee that you could kill somebody but even the best make mistakes and if your victim is armed when you make that mistake it could very well be your last quarantee of anything.
You still have not accepted my offer to take all your guns from Oz and we will send you all our poor misunderstood youths and adults and see what happens.


Nonsense. The safest places to be are those countries with the lowest number of guns.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
If you really think that you could survive being intentionally run over by a motor vehicle,and still be able to fire a weapon with any degree of accuracy then you've lost your marbles.
I've been riding for 40+ years. I've never been intentionally threatened in any way by anyone on the road. Ever.Neither has anyone I know. Ever.
Maybe Americans are just violent people with little regard for human life,which would explain the gun-love.Exactly the kind of people who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a weapon of any kind.
Your last line is just too stupid for any further comment.

Let me first state that I do carry on a daily basis as long as I can do so legally. I've been robbed both here in AZ and also across the pond both by knife.

Ok so I have lurked for some time saw this post and quite frankly had to post. Your stats and argument are crap. Take a look at these stats.

total crime - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_vic-crime-total-victims
total crime per capita - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crimes-per-capita
assaults per capita (near a push) - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_ass_percap-crime-assaults-per-capita

Ill take extra murders to get overall lower crime rates. I carry while riding not b/c of the person who clips me while riding. Its the guy who tries to get out of his truck and steal my bike, my wallet, my phone etc. When they see my pistol strapped to my back I can't imagine they have much interest in doing so. Do I want to shoot anyone? No. If someone did get out of their truck and point a gun at me first I'd give them what they want. But you can't tell me that you would walk up to a guy holding a bat or gun and say that his wives pussy tastes like sweet butter when you have never seen the guy before..

Bullshit.Anyone who wants to steal your bike will also have a firearm and a huge advantage in that they only have to concentrate on you,the intended victim while you have to concentrate on every person in sight.Criminals generally do not signal their intentions to victims...they attack without warning and before you can react. Of course,if they spot that you are carrying a firearm that would give them an extra reason to rob you of the gun.
As for your last sentence...I carried a gun for 4 years and on a daily basis I heard and was called far worse than that,every working day.

 

Actually the safest places are where guns are the least restricted overall SB. You can keep ignoring the evidence all you want. Gun control has never made anyone safer except for criminals and tyrants whom of course support gun control. Of course we know your job is more secure when there are more victims. You don't want people to be self reliant.
If carried on the road does it make you safer? Not if they hit and kill you but if they hit you and don't kill you and decide to come back and finish the job if you are not seriously injured if armed you at least have the ability to do something. Also they may not choose to hit you they might decide to beat the shit out of the funny looking person in lycra. If they see that the person is armed they will very likely change their minds and leave.
You can say you can quarantee that you could kill somebody but even the best make mistakes and if your victim is armed when you make that mistake it could very well be your last quarantee of anything.
You still have not accepted my offer to take all your guns from Oz and we will send you all our poor misunderstood youths and adults and see what happens.


Nonsense. The safest places to be are those countries with the lowest number of guns.
http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_mur_percap-crime-murders-per-capita
If you really think that you could survive being intentionally run over by a motor vehicle,and still be able to fire a weapon with any degree of accuracy then you've lost your marbles.
I've been riding for 40+ years. I've never been intentionally threatened in any way by anyone on the road. Ever.Neither has anyone I know. Ever.
Maybe Americans are just violent people with little regard for human life,which would explain the gun-love.Exactly the kind of people who shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a weapon of any kind.
Your last line is just too stupid for any further comment.

Let me first state that I do carry on a daily basis as long as I can do so legally. I've been robbed both here in AZ and also across the pond both by knife.

Ok so I have lurked for some time saw this post and quite frankly had to post. Your stats and argument are crap. Take a look at these stats.

total crime - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_vic-crime-total-victims
total crime per capita - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_tot_cri_percap-crime-total-crimes-per-capita
assaults per capita (near a push) - http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cri_ass_percap-crime-assaults-per-capita

Ill take extra murders to get overall lower crime rates. I carry while riding not b/c of the person who clips me while riding. Its the guy who tries to get out of his truck and steal my bike, my wallet, my phone etc. When they see my pistol strapped to my back I can't imagine they have much interest in doing so. Do I want to shoot anyone? No. If someone did get out of their truck and point a gun at me first I'd give them what they want. But you can't tell me that you would walk up to a guy holding a bat or gun and say that his wives pussy tastes like sweet butter when you have never seen the guy before..

Bullshit.Anyone who wants to steal your bike will also have a firearm and a huge advantage in that they only have to concentrate on you,the intended victim while you have to concentrate on every person in sight.Criminals generally do not signal their intentions to victims...they attack without warning and before you can react. Of course,if they spot that you are carrying a firearm that would give them an extra reason to rob you of the gun.
As for your last sentence...I carried a gun for 4 years and on a daily basis I heard and was called far worse than that,every working day.

The only nonsense is what you are spewing sb. Switzerland has a much lower violent crime rate than the UK or Australia or just about anywhere else. The states in the US where there are the least restrictions on gun ownership are safer than those where more gun control exists. Recently in the north east Massachusetts was listed as the most violent and quess what sb. It has much much more gun control than Vermont or New Hampshire etc.
Gun control does not disarm the criminals it only gives them more power over the innocent.
Also people have survived being hit sb. Who says anyone wanting to steal your bike will have a gun, you. Not everyone that steals has a gun.
Criminals in most instances don't want to face someone that will stand up to them. They want an easy victim and gun control allows them to more easily victimize the innocent.
No my last line would prove how much BS you spew sb.
The reality is not how many guns there are but how many criminals there are and what consequences those criminals face. If the consequences are not severe they will continue to commit crimes and crimes will tend to increase.

 

You know absolutely nothing about criminals,do you? You certainly don't have the experience that I do.I probably encountered more crims in a week than you have in your entire life.
Gun ownership won't prevent crime,since in most criminal offences the victim never sees the person committing the crime.It won't stop your car from being stolen,because car thieves will simply steal it when you aren't around. 90% of burglaries are committed in daytime,for the good reason that the householder will probably be absent at work or school. Most of the remainder are committed at night on commercial premises which are unoccupied.
It won't prevent fraud,or shop-lifting or drunk-driving or taking undersized fish or any of the other crimes committed daily.
Having spent a few years arresting people who commit assault (and waiting in court for their cases,and those of others to be heard) I can tell you that the overwhelming majority of assaults are committed in either the home or in or near premises licensed to sell alcohol. Most of the domestic violence incidents that I attended involved alcohol.
And yet you want violent drunks to be able to carry guns,because you're afraid of your own shadow.
You're a looney.

BTW,Switzerland has more gun murders than either Britain or Australia.The Swiss are increasing their gun regulation as a result. The military firearms often kept in Swiss households have sealed ammunition packs (soon to be abolished).They are srictly regulated...the military can enter any household where a military weapon is stored,without warrant,without warning and at any time to check that the weapon and ammunition are properly secured. It is a crimnal offence to fail to secure the weapon and ammunition.
I have known a few Swiss ex-militia soldiers. They laughed at the idea that their military weapons in any way deterred crime,as it is a military offence to use their weapons for anything except military purposes. Their opinion was that anyone who did so would probably end up in prison.

 

Gun ownership may have no effect on property crimes where no one is around but it does have one where someone is around such as in home invasions, rape and other violent crimes.
Switzerlands overall homicide rate is still lower than Britains or Australias but it seems you only care about homicides commited with guns. Actually their violent crime rate has been going up since the EU has caused them to implement more gun control just like it has gone up in the UK and Australia.
Where did I say I wanted violent drunks to be armed? I want all violent people to suffer serious consequences instead of a slap on the wrist. Gun control does not stop criminals. If you have read my previous posts you would know I don't carry when I am riding but crime is a reality and being unprepared for it just makes you more likely to be a victim. You're afraid of inanimate objects.
It appears that you consider anyone with the exception of LEO and other government agents who are armed to be criminals and that you don't trust most people to be responsible. I on the other hand trust most people to be responsible and consider anyone that wants to disarm the innocent to be the criminal and time and time again history shows this to be correct.

 

What an interesting thread.

I carry when I ride and pretty much everywhere else. No one knows that I carry. I don't talk about it, I certainly don't brag about it and I avoid troubled areas as much as possible. Having spent time in law enforcement and having law enforcement friends and family, I know too much not to carry. I have done several ride alongs with LEOs and I have seen too many examples of why we should be prepared.

I hope that I NEVER have to fire a shot in defense and I never want to have to pull the weapon, but I am prepared with both training and experience (I am a combat veteran). I loathe violence and I hate the sound of gunfire...but I refuse to be a victim. I refuse to depend on LEOs as a means of protection as they are not protectors (everyone of them will tell you that). Police RESPOND to calls. They RESPOND to situations. They do not have the ability to prevent crimes from occurring.

I guarantee that you will never know that I am carrying (if you ride with me). If you demonstrate your intent to do me harm...you will find out very quickly that I am prepared for flight or fight.

 

In the mtns of Colorado... definitely on trails. Roads... sometimes. Several of my teammates have been intentionally run off the road and injured by vehicles. That's assault with a deadly weapon and would justify a response (careful with the laws on this one though... I believe a response would have to be "during" the actual altercation and not after the fact). Not sure I'd feel comfortable about pulling a gun out of my back pouch as I'm being pushed off the road. I'd like to hear comments as to laws here... probably varies by state too. I've never had a incident with a vehicle, but gestures and verbal harassment are common. I'm the type of rider who is over respectful to vehicles. I find a cellphone is an effective detourant when confronted with an angry driver. Used that once when someone actually got out of their car at a stop sign. Also, much lighter than a .44 in response to the post regarding bike weight. I go back and forth on this whole idea, but does give me a little piece of mind... somehow. Yes, I have a permit.

 

I should add... I would never think of carrying while riding in a group.

 

I often ride on a trail that has lots of joggers, dog walkers, and women pushing strollers. Last week, a baby in one of those strollers made eye contact with me and looked kind of threatening. What should I do about this if it happens again?

 

Fill your waterbottle with milk and squirt him in the face! /img/vbsmilies/smilies/smile.gif

 

Wow. I leave for 4 years, come back, and see this same thread.

 

It's a time loop that you are caught up in. If you come back in four years from now you can see the first "Is lance doping thread".

 

+1 Just working security, I tend to stay aware of a lot of things that the "it can't happen in our quiet little town" crowd have no clue about. Seven minutes into the new year, there was a triple stabbing. Two prowlers within a block of my house in the last couple of months. Robberies and aggravated assaults several times weekly. Maybe once a week, one of them makes it into the newspaper. Another might be passed around by the local gossip, but I doubt most of the people here are aware of more than a tenth of the crime going on all around them every day. It's easy to pretend these things don't happen. It's even easy to have no awareness whatsoever that they are happening, but that doesn't make them go away.

Hint: if your town has more than two cops, there's a reason. Buy a scanner and see how much goes on that you never hear about elsewhere.