@Green Witch,
Thank u for a carefully thought out post, GW.
Quote:
The problem, as I see it as a woman, is that women are attacked from behind
and do not have the chance to draw a gun. I lived in NYC for many years.
Once my purse was grabbed. The guy ran up from behind, snatched the thing
from my hand and kept going. If I had a gun it would have been in my purse and
I would have basically armed this crook.
Understood.
When I travel to other cities (especially outside America),
I carry a false wallet, with some local currency from which I deal,
but keep my real wallet with driver 's license, etc. secure in a safe place.
Likewise, it might be best to keep a gun secure on your person,
rather than trusting it to a handbag, for the reasons that u indicated.
Quote: I also don't think the leather bag and $24 he stole would have been worth killing him for, even if I could get a clear shot in.
We agree on this point.
Quote:
Another time I was attacked by a guy who came up from behind and literally
picked me up in a vise like grip. He carried me down an alley while I screamed
my head off. There is no way I could have pulled a gun on him, and I know
how to use one. Someone must have seen what had happened and flagged
down a nearby patrol car because they pulled up with a blaring siren just as
this guy had me smashed up from behind against a brick wall. The creep took off
over some garbage cans and ran out the other end of alley while I fell to the ground.
The police gave chase but didn't catch him. I don't even know if he had a weapon,
he was just a lot stronger than me and didn't need it. If I had one he might have
taken it and used it on me or the police.
Well, in fairness, most of the tools that we use in our daily lives are not
well adapted to
all jobs; u 'd not throw away your hammers if thay cannot
function as drills or saws, because thay still have value in other circumstances.
In similar situations, some people have heard an approach from behind
at nite that thay suspected, and done their best to deal with it, accordingly.
For instance, if a lady happens to be able to bite off a chunk of his hand
or poke him in the eye, she possibly might have more time to draw a gun.
The idea is to try to arrange possible future options for controlling the
situation in an emergency. It may be better to have some options
than to have no options, and leave your life to the killer 's discretion.
Quote:
Unless an attacker is coming at you head on and you have some time to point and shoot,
you don't have an advantage.
Occasionally, a threat is percieved by hearing something,
or just a hunch, a feeling that something is not right, which can give a moment to prepare.
Quote:
A gun can even make it worse by giving an unarmed attacker a weapon.
If he wants to have a weapon, he will have a weapon.
Some years ago, some criminals in prison manufactured a fully operational
submachinegun in the prison workshop one-part-at-a-time, with the guards
around, assembled in private, and shot their way out of the prison.
Quote:
Few women are physically strong enough to hold onto a weapon if a man
wants to take it out of her hands. It's just the reality of biology. The crook
trying to hurt someone is almost always meaner and crazier than the victim,
that gives the crook a greater advantage when weapons are drawn.
Understood.
If the predator is struggling for her gun, she will need to shoot him, if possible.
That probably will not happen (tho it might); I have it on good authority
from a friend who retired from the NYPD, that most criminals are cowards
who prefer victims who don 't fight back. Thay may well be enfeebled by
their drug dependencies or attendant illnesses.
Quote:
Really David, why are you so afraid? Were you ever assaulted?
Why do you feel so vulnerable? I understand using guns for hunting or sport shooting,
but not to guard against excessive fears or to do violence against others.
Briefly, my history is the following:
Born in NYC. From the age of 3 to 8, I remember lusting for revolvers
that I saw on the hips of police or bank guards. I remember lying in bed,
thinking about them; yearning, tho having possession of no functional guns.
At age 8, I went to Phoenix, Arizona. My parents had some furniture stores,
to which thay attended, such that I was alone until around 8 or 9 PM daily
and on Saturdays. I felt ill-at-ease, from the perspective of personal security,
regardless of the fact that we lived in a neighborhood in which I NEVER knew
of any crime; the police never arrived with lites n sirens. Anyway, I used to
wonder how I 'd be able to defend the house, if I had to; (I never had to).
The other kids in the neighborhood were well armed. A few weeks after my
arrival, I won a .38 revolver in a poker game, when someone bet it to cover
a raise. From that time forward, I lived in serenity, with a full sense of security.
We returned to NY 5 years later. I went thru school and eventually became a lawyer.
While returning home from my girlfriend 's house in Suffolk County,
around 1AM, I was driving slowly looking for a gas station that I knew was there.
I was aware of an old car (judging from its paint job) following, tailgating me;
I thought maybe waiting for a right turn. As I looked 45 degrees forward
and to my right for the gas station, I heard a noise, saw a bullethole in my
left door window about 3 inches forward of my position, and that the old car
had pulled up abreast of me, where it remained for a while. I did not move
the steering wheel, nor alter the speed of the car, but I had a .44 revolver
with a 2 inch barrel, in stainless steel mirror.
When the occupants of the old car abreast saw it, for some reason thay
swiftly departed from the scene. I did not find it necessary to discharge a round.
On another occasion, a gigantic and deceptively friendly dog named Boris
ambled over to me and bit my left forearm. I did not use any weapon on him,
as he instantly ended his attack. I told his humans that I woud not sue them,
and did not; (I have had many big dogs).
That answers your question about my being assaulted.
If my chosen words or their syntax have led you to believe that I live in fear,
then I have failed as a writer. I do not believe that anything threatens me.
I have not felt vulnerable since I was 8 years old and armed myself.
I already have a fairly decent gun collection.
I desire my FELLOW AMERICAN CITIZENS to arm themselves well.
THAT was the purpose of my posting, not my own defenses.
I don 't remember the last time I felt a sense of fear.
No -- wait: yes, I do ! It was when a drunken driver was headed in my direction
and totaled out my car a few nites ago. No weapons were involved in that incident,
and she was arrested at the scene for flunking a sobriety test.
Quote:
I understand using guns for hunting or sport shooting, but not to guard
against excessive fears or to do violence against others.
I like target shooting, but the animals are safe from me
(tho admittedly, I am a carnivore). I am a pro-animal person.
The last time I went hunting, I was 9 years old, when I yeilded to the
coaxing of friends and went out with them to hunt snakes, on the Arizona desert.
We found nothing.
Quote:
I look around the world and see that the more guns a country has the more violent the society.
How about Switzerland ?
Their citizens are armed to the teeth, with an almost zero crime rate.
Its too dangerous for the criminals if
their victims and their neighbors are well armed in their own defense.
Does Israel have a hi crime rate ?
I 've heard that the police chief of Jerusalem urged the citizens
to arm in self defense. Vermont has never had any gun laws,
and it has consistenty been at the bottom of the FBI 's annual crime statistics.
Several years ago, Alaska repealed all of its gun laws, with no rise in crime.
Quote:
Guns make more trouble than they solve. The most peaceful countries, with low crime rates, tend to be societies that do not have an armed population. Really, who is better off - the people of Sudan or those in Sweden? I could give you a very large list of comparisons.
There is another dimension to this issue:
an aspect of political and economic ideology,
to promote self reliance, and rejection of collectivism and of authoritarianism,
welcoming
laissez faire free enterprise, individualism and libertarianism.
I enjoyed the questions and issues that u raised GW; thank u.
David
