Who owns guns and you carry?

[swansonbb]

I'm very glad I live in Canada after reading this thread. I find it fascinating how people think about guns and carrying in America. There are some people who feel the same way about it here, but obviously not nearly as many!

Cat - I was thinking about guns & Canada last night, strangely enough. My thoughts settled somewhere on the idea that rifles & shotguns can kill you just as effectively as a handgun, so what's the difference? Secondly, I kept thinking about that kid who was decapitated on that bus a few years back. The whole bus ran away. It would have been great if someone had been carrying.

I'm by no means an enthusiast, but being a parent has really changed my thoughts. As I see it, I have a moral obligation to protect my little girls. When my daughter was cornered by that dog, I felt largely incapable of defending her. Once was enough.

The world can be a scary place. I wish it wasn't that way - in fact, I'm happiest when I'm in places in which I feel no need to be armed. I've been looking into moving closer to my work over the last few weeks. Between the criminal reports at EVERY apartment complex (including recent armed home invasions in one of the nicer places) and the public records of the convicted pedos and rapists (not to mention the ones that were never caught) that live within a few blocks of every affordable rental house, having the ability to defend myself, and more importantly, my girls, seems more imporant than ever.

[swansonbb]

I brought up the fact that i felt id be able to kill a home intruder if they were stealing my stuff and not one person really agreed with me. I sorta felt evil for having those feelings lol.

Mike,

IMO, there's a world of difference between seeing someone leaving out of your backdoor carrying your stuff, and a home invasion. In the first, there is no risk to you. Stuff can be replaced. Shooting someone in defense of your life is completely different.

[sorraia]

Open carry isn't allowed here, and concealed carry is darn near impossible to get, so no, I don't carry. But as crazy as this world is getting (every week, sometimes it feels like every day, I hear about someone getting shot or stabbed in an attempted robbery, a month or so ago a teenaged boy was stabbed to death in what authorities say was a botched robbery but what locals rumor was a gang initiation), I wish I did. I carry a tazer instead.

I do have a shotgun for home defense. I bought that rifle due to drug dealing neighbors I had at the time. one night one of them decided it was a great idea to get high and come onto my property. I had security cameras that caught him on tape. He walked across the screen, flipped the bird to the camera, then started harassing my horses. It was nothing more than a short walk for him to come to my back door, break in, and rape or murder myself and my infant as we tried to sleep. I have no way of knowing if that's what he really would have done, but considering what drugs can do to a person's mind (and these people weren't just doing MJ, they were using meth), make them do things they wouldn't normally do, I was not willing to take the chance.

ETA: HAD that drug addict broken into my house that night, the police would have been a MINIMUM of half an hour away. The police in my city are extremely under-staffed and extremely over-worked. They can't be every where all the time. That's no fault of their own, but it does demonstrate a very important point: In my own home, it is up to me and my husband to protect ourselves and our family.

[OsirisRa32]

Im saving up for a glock 22 and a mossberg 12G 500 series tactical version...enrolled in CC class for april.

[3skulls]

I love my Mossberg.

[MrLang]

I think the media likes to sensationalize things that make good news stories. I think a lot of Americans fall victim to the media trap. It's for making money, not sharing facts about the world we live in. Here's one that supports both sides of the claim: How many of you have known someone who was shot in an act of violence excluding wartime and how about knowing someone who shot someone in defense excluding wartime? Please share the circumstances so I can wake up from my delusion.

How many of you are actively concerned in your daily activities with preventing damage from heart disease and cancer? Those are the things that will kill you. This is fact.

How many carry firearms for protection but are obese, smoke cigarettes, or live sedentary lifestyles?

Again, no attack here... just food for thought / request for feedback.

[3skulls]

My dad was shot twice.

There are armed robberies around my house all the time. It's never on the news. My info comes from police officers.
My house has been broke into. I have seen robberies go down. I have had people try to get in while I'm at home. A person living in my cellar. Drunks and crackheads and homeless.
I thought for sure this guy was dead the other day. This is my front yard.


I do not smoke and I try to be healthy.

Cops can only do so much.

Everyone should have the right to protect themselves.

[Seanjackmc]

I think the media likes to sensationalize things that make good news stories. I think a lot of Americans fall victim to the media trap. It's for making money, not sharing facts about the world we live in. Here's one that supports both sides of the claim: How many of you have known someone who was shot in an act of violence excluding wartime and how about knowing someone who shot someone in defense excluding wartime? Please share the circumstances so I can wake up from my delusion.

How many of you are actively concerned in your daily activities with preventing damage from heart disease and cancer? Those are the things that will kill you. This is fact.

How many carry firearms for protection but are obese, smoke cigarettes, or live sedentary lifestyles?

Again, no attack here... just food for thought / request for feedback.

It's completely ok with me if you choose to not carry or own guns. I think no less of you. I pray everyday I will never need to use my weapon. Unfortunately, if you watched any news the past month or two you will notice it doesn't matter where you live, where you work, where you shop or go to a movie, there are sick people out there who want to do harm. I refuse to be a victim. I've never had a gun pulled on me nor as anyone in my family. I'm willing to bet a lot of the poor victims in a Colorado movie theatre never had either. The point IMO you are missing is that there is no second chance. I choose to take a proactive stance on personal defense. You don't know if it will happen or when it will happen but ill be prepared if it does.
This is my personal decision.

[Seanjackmc]

While I get the Texas motto on shooting criminals, I lived there for years (Best damn state I lived in) personally I know I don't need a gun to stop that situation from escalating. Best yet, no one has to die.

How do you figure you could stop it? Gun to your head, wants your wallet, you give it to criminal, he gets nervous and decides to pull trigger. Not saying if you had a gun you could stop it either but I like your chances better if you are armed.

[Rob]

Everyone has the right and should protect themselves as they see fit. But statistically we are living in the safest times in human history. That being said we are also living in a time where media loves to sell fear. Thus we are constantly having shootings and every violent act taking place thrown in our face. This is naturally going to make everyone in edge and think that chances are high they will need a weapon, when in actuality the chances are slim. Now if you live in a really bad part of town or something of that nature your chances are higher but as a whole nation we are relatively safe going about our daily business unarmed.