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

[stevebaby]

They actually didn't. Like it or not, the Philippines were moving toward independence and did not have a large enough economy to provide for a top notch military, but only if you count the Philippine Army did the combined allied forces outnumber the Japanese.

Our navy had suffered a bit of a setback and was unable to adequately defend a resupply effort or an evacuation when the end was near, especially since the ships would have been within reach of land planes from Formosa as well as the Imperial Navy.

You may not be aware of this, but in 1942 our nation was still severely economically depressed and many of the voters and their representatives had strong isolationist and pacifist feelings. Our military ranked something like 20th in the world in terms of size and the pre-Pearl Harbor army budget was, I think, smaller than Romania's.

And who was the Commander-in Chief of the Philippine Army?
The $500,000 "gift" that Macarthur took with him may have gone some way to supplying the troops.

 

[garage sale GT]

How was he supposed to redress the fact that there wasn't enough time or money to prepare, besides working without pay?

 

[cyclemanx]

AHH terrorists!!!! Protect your Country by carrying firearms during your leisure activities!! Help win the war on terror! Turn your road bike into a mobile field unit. Your country needs you!

Seriously though, its sad to think that some people cant go out on a leisurely cycle without carrying a live, and potentially lethal firearm. Its a shame to see america becoming so paranoid about homeland security. When i cycle its an opportunity to forget everything and just push myself to my limits, placing all my concentration on each stroke.
I could never feel comfortable carrying a gun on a cycle. But i live in a different cuclture i suppose..

The quick answer is "No".
My cycling equipment consists of -
1 spare inner tube.
2 tire levers, also known as tyre levers.
A chain breaker tool - Never used since I broke a chain seven years ago, when I didn't carry one.
An Allen key set thingy.
A long pump.
That's about it really, if you don't count food and drinks.
I did carry a knife once, but a spoon was better for eating tinned rice puddings.

 

[kdelong]

The quick answer is "No".
My cycling equipment consists of -
1 spare inner tube.
2 tire levers, also known as tyre levers.
A chain breaker tool - Never used since I broke a chain seven years ago, when I didn't carry one.
An Allen key set thingy.
A long pump.
That's about it really, if you don't count food and drinks.
I did carry a knife once, but a spoon was better for eating tinned rice puddings.

I completely agree. I have never carried a firearm with me when I was riding, but I also beleive that any responsible person who feels the need to carry one should be allowed to carry one within the limits of the law, of course. Now anyone in the US who does not like the current situation needs to work to change the law and the way that it is enforced. For those who reside outside of the US, it is interesting to hear your opinons but you appear to have wildly skewed views of our situation here. The US is not a large lawless land. It is very peaceful here and most people don't feel that they have a need for a firearm and the majority of the population does not own firearms. You only hear about shootings because it is news. The news media does not report that "no one got shot today" because this is not news, it is the norm.

 

[garage sale GT]

They actually didn't. Like it or not, the Philippines were moving toward independence and did not have a large enough economy to provide for a top notch military, but only if you count the Philippine Army did the combined allied forces outnumber the Japanese.

Oops, I had it wrong. Roosevelt signed an order in July of 1941 which made the PA a part of the US armed forces. Our efforts from July until December simply weren't enough, but it was still a tall order. Plus, we had previous lend-lease commitments, which was one of the reasons the war department gave Macarthur for why he couldn't get all the supplies he asked for.

 

[mitosis]

About guns and government control

By Chuck Brooks

Courier Mail http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,23515915-5007146,00.html#

April 10, 2008 09:50am

JUST as the sign of the cross tends to discombobulate vampires, stopping them in their tracks, equivalent creatures – such as the hysterically paranoid, anti-personal-responsibility fraternity – go completely apoplectic and phobic at the sight of an autonomous citizen armed with the "great equaliser"of a firearm.

This hysteria has been reawakened in many with the recent death of Charlton Heston. Much has been made of his affiliation with the National Rifle Association, muddying the memory of a man who was a great actor and activist.

"Kill the gun culture", scream the historically ignorant. Our political betters have signed on for the responsibility of "taking care " of us and all they ask in return is that we surrender the devices they seek to employ unilaterally – and that we are loyal to whatever they want to do with our lives, fortunes and sacred honour. But have you observed, that when danger threatens you and your family, the police are always someplace else?

The Gauleiters of the superstate may not like it, but the absolute right of the individual citizen to protect himself, his family and the wider community is not obviated by the absence of the constabulary.

In Shane, arguably the greatest western film, Alan Ladd pointed out to Jean Arthur that: "A gun is a tool, no better and no worse than an axe or any other tool; a gun is as good as the man using it."


Today it is considered too dangerous for most citizens to own a gun, but it is apparently viewed as not too dangerous to release child molesters, rapists and murderers into the community.


After a recent child murder in California, we were informed 400,000 perverts are listed on a government "sex register" in that state alone.


Closer to home, much has been made recently of the release of sex offenders into the community. It is not too difficult to imagine state governments releasing funnel-web spiders and crocodiles into cities, while whispering sweet nothings into our ears that there is nothing to worry about – because each creature is on a register somewhere.


People acquire firearms for the same reason they have created a growing industry of private security and alarm systems. Government is quite simply not performing its primary function of protecting life, liberty and property.


Some examples here in Australia:


An elderly woman is murdered by an illegal immigrant – smothered to death with a pillow. An old Digger is murdered by a 14-year-old youth recently escaped from a government "secure" facility. The murder weapon: a knife. A baby is snatched from the bedroom of her deaf parents by a man with a bus ticket in his hand provided by a government department. That ticket was to allow the disadvantaged youth to visit his family and was given to him by the same type of bureaucrats who have been given responsibility for "controlling" firearms – which are permitted to farmers to control pests, but absolutely denied for personal protection in Australia.


So we must consider the manifest failure of government departments and the prison system to protect victims.


Governments and police regulate those who might legally possess firearms more than they act to prevent guns ending up in the hands of violent criminals. It's easier. Governments can't stop violence, so they go after those who can. To be seen to be doing something they have decided to beat up on inanimate objects; disarming the honest and the brave while doing little against the criminals and crazies. What a primitive mindset; a bit like blaming the pot for burning the beans.

Hopefully you are only visiting Autralia from your native usa.

 

[ProfTournesol]

I never argue with an idiot. However, I do want to make a statement that no one I know of has so far suggested arming schoolchildren. If you cannot accept that remark, be advised I intend to ignore you rather than argue.

so it's not an absolute human right to be armed then? Why exclude school children?

 

[ProfTournesol]

I still won't argue with you but I want to remind you that nowhere did anyone advocate giving law abiding citizens the right to run rampage with their guns, restrained only by their conscience. In addition to the fact that a law abiding citizen is by definition more responsible and law abiding than a criminal, there are civil and criminal penalties for the use of excessive force.

I'd just like to know why some of you seem to want to protect the criminals to the point of criminalizing self-defense, while assuming that a non-criminal would, in the words of Stevebaby, kill someone for breaking a few windows. That a gun owner would go to jail for doing so is beside the point at hand.

I don't want to protect criminals. I want them in jail not armed to the teeth and having shootouts with 'law-abiding citizens' who are also armed to the teeth. That doesn't make anyone safer otherwise the USA would be the safest country in the world along with Somalia and Iraq. I want to be able to ride my bike without wondering which piece I need to pack from the gun locker before I leave. That seems to happen in many countries without protecting criminals.

 

[hammex]

I think that gun manufacture world wide would go down significantly if one of the biggest "legal" mkts disappreared if the US banned handguns...just a thought. The gun maker has to sell it legally to someone, before it gets inot the "wrong" hands.

I love the yank attitude: "you gotta have a gun...in case someone with a gun attacks you..." Hilarious.

 

[kdelong]

I think that gun manufacture world wide would go down significantly if one of the biggest "legal" mkts disappreared if the US banned handguns...just a thought. The gun maker has to sell it legally to someone, before it gets inot the "wrong" hands.

I love the yank attitude: "you gotta have a gun...in case someone with a gun attacks you..." Hilarious.

Hammex, having a gun saved my life and the lives of my family. It is not so hilarious and actually makes sense when you are in this situation. I know it is an old, tired saying, but it is true that if guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns. Give it some more thought.

 

[TheDarkLord]

Hammex, having a gun saved my life and the lives of my family. It is not so hilarious and actually makes sense when you are in this situation. I know it is an old, tired saying, but it is true that if guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns. Give it some more thought.

The point is that US is one of few countries that is in this situation. We don't see this in lots of other countries, which is why people express the view Hammex has posted above. In US, gun ownership is extremely widespread. Hence, the predicament that if you outlaw guns, the outlaws will have all the guns. If guns weren't not so widespread in the first place, you wouldn't have this ridiculous situation of needing a gun to prevent gun crime. So, IMO, the issue of guns and crime in US is very different from that in a good part of the "rest of the world", and hence the conflicting opinions of posters within and outside US.

 

[garage sale GT]

so it's not an absolute human right to be armed then? Why exclude school children?

You call yourself "ProfTournesol" but this objection is sophomorically silly.

 

[stevebaby]

You call yourself "ProfTournesol" but this objection is sophomorically silly.

Just answer the question.

 

[garage sale GT]

Just answer the question.

"Spell it out for me, dammit! You know I don't get the concept of being sophomoric!"

 

[jhuskey]

Just answer the question.

What if you are in a dark alley and two large imposing catfish pull a fileting knife on you and you have no catfish gun or harpoon?

 

[mitosis]

Hammex, having a gun saved my life and the lives of my family. It is not so hilarious and actually makes sense when you are in this situation. I know it is an old, tired saying, but it is true that if guns are outlawed, only the outlaws will have guns. Give it some more thought.

Ha Ha thats the same as the drunk driver claiming they weren't injured in the crash because they were so relaxed.

You don't know that the gun saved your family because you weren't in the same position without a gun to make the comparison.

If you did't have the gun you might not have got into the position of needing saving.

 

[mitosis]

The point is that US is one of few countries that is in this situation. We don't see this in lots of other countries, which is why people express the view Hammex has posted above. In US, gun ownership is extremely widespread. Hence, the predicament that if you outlaw guns, the outlaws will have all the guns. If guns weren't not so widespread in the first place, you wouldn't have this ridiculous situation of needing a gun to prevent gun crime. So, IMO, the issue of guns and crime in US is very different from that in a good part of the "rest of the world", and hence the conflicting opinions of posters within and outside US.

You've just made the same ridiculous claim that the other gun toting good ol boys have made on this thread. There is no evidence to support the claim that carrying a gun prevents shooting. In fact the overwhelming evidence is that carrying guns mean more people get shot.

Next you'll be claiming that guns give protection.

 

[kdelong]

Ha Ha thats the same as the drunk driver claiming they weren't injured in the crash because they were so relaxed.

You don't know that the gun saved your family because you weren't in the same position without a gun to make the comparison.

If you did't have the gun you might not have got into the position of needing saving.

Laugh all you want but you have no idea of the position that I was in. I really don't want to go into it again but if you look back on post 2155 of this thread you will get an idea of the situation. I just hope, for your sake, that you never have to go through it because your laws will sign your death warrant (and that of your family if you are so blessed) in a situation like this. Of course this is assuming that you are a law abiding citizen. I hate to have to be the one to break this to you but not everyone is a law abiding citizen, and those who aren't sometimes get guns and use them. I am very happy that I was not in the same position without a gun. One person who was in that position without a gun is no longer with us and another is still living with the scars and pain of his injuries.

 

[Joe West]

Speaking of guns and freedom...

Very shortly, I will be able to legally carry concealed as I bicycle through our National Parks!!!

My Co-Motion Americano is packed and ready to go!!!

Joe

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Very shortly, I will be able to legally carry concealed as I bicycle through our National Parks!!!

yes, it's about time. ride safely!